The Collar Club - Chapter 4

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Eliot stood before his mirror. Back home. Back to reality. Gone was the makeup and the lipstick. What remained was the skeleton beneath, bleached and empty. If he closed his eyes, he could smell the sweet perfume of the pink room. With a little more fantasy, he could feel Carmen’s arms around him, even if they were his own.

Two days since Carmen and The Collar Club, and Eliot was wondering if he should call her. The last instruction was to wait. That she would reach out to him. Giving her all the power, of course. That notion pleased him, but it made his nights carving ruts in his floors an exercise in frustrated patience. In between restless nights were days at his job. Walking through sites with his tablet and forms. Another cog in the machinery of regular business. Functional, even essential, but not because of what was inside Eliot. Anyone could do his job. Which made Eliot just another faceless automaton.

This automaton, though, went through his days in women’s underwear. The second day, he wore the panties Carmen sent him, after having cleaned them. While he made the motions of normalcy, his true self was secretly delighted that no one knew the pretty panties he wore. Or that he wondered how it would sound in the big rooms if he wore heels instead of his black work shoes. Cindi, he supposed, the name given to the person inside him all along, coaxed from the shadows by Carmen. And now that she’d had a taste of freedom, she was often annoyed by boring old Eliot.

They had the same end. Get back to Carmen. Get back into the persona that fit him best. Whatever path led to that place, Eliot would follow it.

Carmen was whistling. A high, songless tune that filled the belly of The Collar Club while she tested the globe lights that rimmed the stage. Two were out, and they’d been haunted by electrical problems in the old building. She hoped it was only the bulbs, another electrical repair bill would be a hit they didn’t need. The doors wouldn’t open for another week. She was unscrewing one of these globes when Elektra called out from behind her, surprisingly close.

“Jesus!” Carmen cried, juggling the globe before securing it in her grasp. She saw the bill to replace these custom glass globes flash before her eyes, too.

“Sorry,” Elektra said. Her laughter suggested otherwise. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“What’s going on, besides giving me a heart attack?”

“Purely personal. Tell me about your date on Sunday and I’ll forgive you for almost breaking the glass.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Carmen said, suddenly more interested in the bulb she was replacing. A soft smile played at the corners of her mouth.

“I haven’t seen that look in a while. This must be something serious.”

“It was one session.”

Elektra was circling closer like a hungry predator. “Was it a good session?”

“It was his first time, so I wouldn’t say it was adventurous.”

“Adventure isn’t what you’re looking for, is it, Carmen? You want a new girl. Ever since Tammy, you have been a mopey Miss. But this…” She spread her arms to indicate the whole of Carmen. “Whistling while you work, smiling to yourself… I think we may have something happening.”

“Okay, fine,” Carmen surrendered, turning her attention fully to Elektra. She wore PVC shorts and a bustier over a fetching black nylon bodysuit and thick boots that called bikers to mind. Carmen wished, not for the first time, that her preferences bent toward women like Elektra as partners. Elektra had offered, that was for sure, and they’d dallied a few times, but Elektra would never hold Carmen’s heart, not the way a submissive could. “What do you want to know?”

“Did he dress?”

“Yes. And he looked good. Needs some work, but good.”

“Go on.”

Carmen rolled her eyes and sighed, planting her hands on leather-draped knees. “It was very promising. I dressed him, I put the wig and makeup on him.” Carmen paused and her eyes went far away for a moment. “And he softened. Like he settled into himself. Herself, I should say. For a few minutes, he was Cindi. And it was beautiful.”

“That’s what I thought,” Elektra grinned, black-painted lips spread wide. She turned, offering a long look at her healthy ass, and marched back into the office hallway. She called over her shoulder, “Just make sure she’s ready for opening night.”

Carmen chuckled and went back to work. The bulb under her hand blinked to life as she screwed it in. Sometimes things worked out.

On Wednesday there was another package waiting for him. No return address. The package was addressed to “Cindi.” Eliot looked both ways from the stoop of his modest home and saw no one. As if carrying a package inside would be suspicious behavior. Before he closed the door to the rain coming down outside, he inhaled. Only the scent of rain on city streets filled his lungs. He had hoped he might catch just a trace of Carmen’s scent. The idea that she stood on his small porch sometime during the day caused a twitch in his panties.

He needed both arms to carry it inside, heedless of the rain dripping off as he carried it from the entrance to the dining table. The chandelier lights woke overhead and Eliot sliced open the wrapping with a pair of scissors, unfolding the flaps to reveal the package’s contents. On top was a note like the first.

Cindi-

I’ll be around at 8. Your outfit is inside.

-Your Miss

“I have a Miss,” he laughed. “My parents would be so proud.”

He removed the layer of decorative paper with widening eyes. He couldn’t make out the full shape of the dress, but he saw it was another complete outfit. Dress, stockings and garters, panties, and shoes. And there was more. A black case at the bottom with the name Cindi inscribed on it in cursive gold leaf. Something jostled when he lifted it. Opening the clasp, he saw it was a set of makeup brushes, and pads of makeup, too. And at the bottom of the box, wrapped carefully in its own paper, a wig. Not the same as before. This sported long waves and the blonde hue was deeper, less white and more golden. It rested on a blank Styrofoam head. When Eliot lifted it out, he stared into the blank, white face of the model head and stroked the hair it wore.

Turning his attention from the wig was like leaving a trance, one that left Eliot feeling light and happy. By the time on his watch, he had two hours to prepare. He wouldn’t waste a minute of it. It was time to welcome Cindi back into the world.

The doorbell rang at 8:03. Eliot stood and straightened his dress. The tops of the stockings only tickled the daring hemline, so he felt a constant awareness of when his upper thighs were exposed. It was a red dress tonight, just as form-fitting as before, but with attached sleeves, little more than cuffs of fabric. With those, red panties and black stockings, and fiery red shoes to match the dress. After applying his makeup to the best of his ability, and with a few pointers from YouTube videos, he found a half-hour before Carmen was to arrive. He spent the time practicing his stride in the red platform heels.

When he opened the door, he stepped aside, one toe pointed at the ground as he leaned on the door. “Hello, Miss. Please come in.”

She chuckled as she passed by, eyes on her toy. As soon as the door was shut, she spun and pinned Eliot against the door, kissing him deep and hard. Stunned eyes opened and then shut as he melted into the kiss. His leg naturally climbed Carmen’s side as he clung to her, clawed at her back through the thick black jacket she wore. Carmen's hands held his side, rose and squeezed his flat chest. He gasped and Carmen bit his lower lip, tugging it firmly, but gentle. When she released the lip, she took a half-step away from Eliot,s ill holding his sides.

“That’s how I like my girl to greet me,” she said, eyes lowered and smokey.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem, Miss.” He held the arms that held him, caressing the leather of her jacket. He chewed the lip that rested between her teeth. His body was inflamed by the rough and hungry kiss, and he wanted more. Whatever Carmen would offer, he would happily take.

“Good girl. Let’s have a look at you,” she said, and now released him entirely. His stomach felt hollow without her touch, but he posed for her and spun. She nodded, looking thoughtful. “It looks good on you. Almost as good as I hoped. The makeup isn’t half bad either. Was this your first try?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Very good. Let’s touch it up and then we’ll head out.”

“Out?” Eliot froze. He couldn’t be seen in public like this. If his neighbors saw him leave, it would be scandalous. He could lose his job.

Carmen’s brow knitted. “Come,” she said, taking Eliot by the hand. His steps were clipped by the platform heels, so he made quick, small ones that made him feel especially vulnerable and soft. Carmen sat on his sofa and pulled him into her lap, as she had in the pink room.

For a moment, she said nothing. She brushed Eliot’s cheek with her fingers and stroked the hair he’d pinned himself and gotten just right. She’d never know it was after a dozen attempts, but it had been made perfect. Sitting in her lap like a diminutive girlfriend, an arm around her back, Eliot felt a nearness to perfection he’d never known. This was as close to himself, his true self, as he’d ever come. Even as his heart soared, his stomach twisted in knots.

“Cindi, I want you to know that I am a serious person about many things. And my choice of a submissive is one of those things I am serious about. I know this new for you, and frightening, and, hopefully, thrilling.” Eliot smiled shyly. “But that seriousness smeans that I can offer you a lot. In return, you have to be willing to give. Have you ever been in a submissive relationship before?”

“No, Miss.” Eliot laid his head on her shoulder. “This is a lot of firsts for me.”

“That’s going to be true for a while, I think. But that means we have to trust each other. The relationship I am proposing is a full-time job. While I don’t expect you to say yes to that tonight, I want you to know that it’s what I aim to have. You won’t be the person you were before, or have the life you had before. You’ll be mine, but you’ll also be free in ways you never have. Don’t say yes or no tonight, not even to yourself. Just know that is the journey we’d be taking together. For tonight, my sweet Cindi, you only have to trust me that your life will not be ruined tonight. You can still go back. But you should get a glimpse of the world I can give you.”

Eliot held Carmen by the back of her neck, her red hair hiding them now. While the changes she described were unthinkable, not feeling the way he did as the pretty girl in her lap was equally unthinkable. To never feel these sensations again, to never brush against his truest nature, that was impossible.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll trust you.” Then. “For tonight. I reserve all rights to say no. And I keep the dress.”

Carmen laughed. “Deal. And counter-offer. Trust yourself, too. Allow yourself to be Cindi for the night and see if it doesn’t suit you.”

Eliot chewed his lip a bit more and considered. With his new hair falling forward as he bent his down to ponder, Carmen’s heart swelled at his girlish gesture.

“I will. For tonight, I’m Cindi.”

“My Cindi.”

“Yes,” Cindi grinned and nestled against Carmen. “Your Cindi.”

The shift in Eliot’s thinking was shockingly easy. The feminine persona within him, the one Carmen labeled Cindi, was eager to take over. While Eliot sat attentively, watching the small changes Carmen made to his makeup for best effects, Eliot withdrew. When she stood, it was Cindi in the room with Carmen. Cindi was new, inexperienced, but she promised to give herself over to Carmen that night, and that’s just what she intended to do.

“You look sexy,” Carmen smiled when the work was done and the Mistress evaluated Cindi in total.

“I feel kinda sexy, Miss,” she replied. “Where are you taking me?”

Carmen slid a phone from her front pocket and checked the time. “A little friends and family thing at the club tonight. After a stop.”

Cindi was focused mostly on the platform heels. Staying upright was more comfortable, but moving in them was a special challenge. Still, the way her hips were swinging when she walked was turning her on some. Being Cindi came with a higher baseline of arousal she was learning.

“Anywhere you want, Miss Carmen,” Cindi said. With her lips colored a deep red, Cindi looked positively hungry.

“That’s the spirit.”

Cindi followed to Carmen’s car. It was a black sedan with a light interior, luxurious in its leather seats and amenities. Carmen held the door while Cindi climbed into the passenger seat. She looked in the side mirror, eying the neighbors’ houses, looking for tell-tale slips of the blinds or curtains ruffling. No one watched. No one cared. Eliot worked hard to create a life where he might go unnoticed by all. In that way, his secret would never be revealed. Now his secret was pulling a seatbelt across her flat chest. Cindi felt a sudden and savage sorrow. Not for Eliot and his lonely world, but that she had been forced to wait so long to emerge from the shadows. There was a world Carmen offered that was terrifying to consider, but could she really go back? Would Eliot ever feel like more than a mask after this?

“You do look sexy, Cindi,” Carmen reaffirmed, starting the car. “You have great legs. I might be greedy to touch them.”

“They’re yours,” Cindi teased. “Just like the rest of me. At least for tonight, Miss. After that, a new round of negotiations maybe.”

Carmen laughed. “Sassy already. Good girl.”

She leaned to Cindi, took her by the back of the head, and pulled her into a kiss. It was wet and passionate and joyful. When it ended, both were grinning.

“Let’s get you dolled up, princess.”

Platforms were not made with gravel in mind. Cindi wondered if her sly Mistress might not be testing her ability to manage the uneven terrain, but she gave no sign that she was watching.

“It’s out of the way, but places like this aren’t allowed within so many feet of churches and school and all that. Stupid zoning bullshit,” she said with a wave of her hand. She led the way across the gravel parking lot and then to the narrow side street. Miranda’s was across the street from its parking lot, since no actual parking surrounded the small house-turned-business. The name of the place glowed in red neon against a black window. “But Mir does the best work. You are going to be amazed, Cindi.”

“I didn’t even know this place was here.”

“You have to know what you’re looking for. Like everything in life. Life is lived best with specificity. What’s more fun? Saying you like music, or saying you like rock ‘n roll?” She snarled the last and surprised Cindi by pulling her close by the waist, stopping just over the road to kiss her again. Cindi felt the passion simmering between them, and the kiss suggested that more was to come. “And being vague doesn’t get me a girl like you, Cindi. Having fun so far?”

Cindi bent for a kiss but Carmen leaned away from it, her expression turning sly. Cindi made a grunt of displeasure, more charade than real frustration.

“The best night I’ve ever had,” she said.

And then Carmen allowed the kiss. Somehow, that made it better.

The interior of Miranda’s was brighter than Cindi expected, and she blinked against the harshness of it. She saw a guy with dark hair and a wild beard looking through some magazine in one aisle, another occupied by a nervous couple sifting through sex toys on pegs, displayed in bags and boxes. Cindi had never stopped to consider that there would be other members of the public inside, or that the packaging for butt plugs could be so elaborate.

Carmen entered behind her, pushing her into the store whether Cindi wanted to or not.

“Carmen!”

The happy cry came from a small woman with gray hair and a drooping face. She looked like someone’s grandma, Cindi thought, acutely aware of her clothes and manly curves. Worry settle din at how she might be seen, old doubts spreading fast to blot out the joy she felt only a moment before.

Carmen hugged the old woman who stepped from behind a glass counter displaying dildos of all sizes and colors. The woman, who was certainly Miranda, hugged Carmen, her head pressing against Carmen’s rubber-covered breasts in a way that nearly drew laughs from Cindi.

“Miranda, this is Cindi. And we need your help. Nobody else would do.”

Miranda turned away from Carmen and now fixed her gaze entirely on Cindi. Cindi bent a knee and shifted on her heels.

“She’s a pretty one.”

“And feisty when she wants to be,” Carmen added, giving Cindi a wink.

“Cinch her up? Gaff, perhaps. Or chastity if you like. Something up top, I imagine.” Miranda spoke like a craftsman assessing the job before her. No emotion, only problem-solving. Her voice was raspy from cigarettes, but warm, too.

“Yes to the waist, chastity, and boobs.”

“Boobs?” Cindi asked.

“Oh, honey,” Miranda said with real sweetness, “we are going to make you gorgeous.”

Cindi blushed, seeing that the eyes of the other store patrons were on her. And then she felt the attention and joy coming at her like a beam from Carmen.

‘Let them look,’ Cindi decided. ‘We’re all perverts and weirdoes here. But I’m one of the pretty ones.’

“Follow me, sugar,” Miranda ordered.

With a nod from Carmen, Cindi obeyed. She was directed to stand in the middle of a storage room. The unpainted cinderblock walls were lined with boxes of unopened merchandise, and a card table was pushed to one side. The ashtray in the middle was almost full, giving the room the used scent of ash and yellow smoke.

“What are you thinking?” Miranda asked. The question was aimed at Carmen, so Cindi remained quiet. “Something with a key?”

“Naturally. And a full chest. My girl’s going to be a looker. And a collar with a ring. Leather, rubber, or latex, preferably pink.”

“I got something for that.’

Cindi's eyes widened when she looked at Carmen, who winked. Miranda knelt at Cindi’s feet. “I’m gonna touch you and sorry for the cold hands, honey. Don’t take this the wrong way, but…”

Miranda reached under Cindi’s skirt and traced the shape of her cock hidden beneath. Cindi started at the unexpected touch, but recovered quickly and resumed her pose, much to Carmen’s delight.

“Alright, give me a minute you two.”

Miranda slipped out of the storeroom back to the floor. Carmen approached, circling Cindi and running her fingers over the new blonde’s belly.

“Having fun?”

“I am,” Cindi said with a smile. “What’s this about a key?”

“I’m going to lock up your little clit for the night, sweetie. I will control you down to that sweet little mushroom between your legs. I get to decide when you use it.”

Cindi shivered. Carmen knew instinctively what to say to raise the hairs on her neck, hidden by the luxurious blonde wig. “What about-?”

“There’s a hole in the tip. Don’t worry, your bladder will be fine.”

Cindi giggled, a happy and high sound that drew a surprised and delighted look from Carmen.

Miranda returned with boxes of varying sizes in her arms, stacked but wobbling. Cindi lifted the topmost from the pile before it could topple over. Deluxe Chastity Cage was written in Black block letters on the top of it.

“At least it’s deluxe,” she mused, drawing a smile from the older woman.

“Only the best for a sexy little thing like you. You want the honors?” she asked, now turning to Carmen. She took the chastity cage from Cindi and removed it from the box. It was made of a hard white plastic with interlocking ribs and a small padlock hung open from the base of it. There was a natural curve to the design of the thing, imitating the natural curving droop of his phallus.

“You do the top, I’ll do the bottom.”

“Works for me.”

Carmen took the cage from Miranda and opened it, like a plastic tube being opened at the meridian. She bent low, assuming the position Miranda occupied, and unceremoniously slipped Cindi’s panties down to expose her cock. Before she trapped it inside the cage, she gave her pet’s member a teasing stroke.

“I like that this is mine,” she said. “I think you will, too.”

She closed the cage around him and Cindi heard the plastic snap into place. The lock o the padlock was a similarly high sound, but more metallic and final. When the job was done, Miranda covered the cage with Cindi’s panties and patted the plastic, a gesture both affectionate and possessive.

Cindi found the act of being locked intensely arousing. In a moment, her shaft swelled against the limits of the cage and then bent painfully. Even this discomfort was pleasure, knowing that Miranda could free Cindi’s sex at her whim. Or not. Cindi was able to define what she felt in the cage. She felt owned, and found it suited her.

While her attention was on the imprisonment of her penis, Cindi was also being disrobed from the top down. Miranda produced a set of fake breasts from the largest of the boxes was pressing the flesh-colored latex against his skin.

“Close,” she observed, measuring the skin tones, and painted the area where the fake boobs would sit with a clear glue. It felt cool on his chest before the latex was attached. “A little more work, and…” She trailed off. She had a jar of foundation in one of the boxes, and was using it to blend the edges of the latex with his skin. Powder came after to reduce the rubbery look of the false breasts and to further color his chest in a more natural manner.

Looking down, she was stunned to see her new boobs, and how they hid her belly thanks to their size. As soon as Miranda stepped away, Cindi’s hands gripped them. They felt real, down to the nipples under her hands. Maybe not warm, but the weight and sway of them was amazing. They had to be filled with water or gel or something, Cindi decided, because it felt like copping a feel always had to her. And she was just as obsessed with her own tits as those of the girls he’d fooled around with in high school and college.

“Pull your dress up, you minx.” Carmen winked and drew close. He rhand felt o Cindi’s ass and rested there. “How are you feeling, my sexy little slut?”

“Sexy,” Cindi grinned. “And maybe a little slutty.”

“Good. One more stop and then we’re going to have a night out.”

“Where to?” Cindi asked.

“Does it matter?”

Cindi thought, but only for a second. “No, Miss,” she laughed. “Not at all.”

“Good girl.”

They said their good-byes to Miranda, who fussed over Cindi until the door closed. The patrons Cindi first encountered were all gone now. The lone couple in the store now saw her, and Cindi saw the man gape. It made her wiggle her ass a little more for him as she left Miranda’s.

In Carmen’s car, Cindi snuggled up to Miranda, hugging Carmen’s right arm while she drove. They barely spoke, each enjoying the moment in their own ways. Once or twice Carmen ran her hand over Cindi’s thigh, and Cindi would nuzzle and kiss Carmen’s cheek in response.

“Come along, angel,” Carmen said after parking the car.

Lifting herself out of the passenger seat in the platforms was more difficult than it sounded, but Cindi was soon on her feet and strolling comfortably behind Carmen. Since leaving Miranda’s, she’d been in a cocoon of femininity, examining the waves of new feelings and sensations that accompanied this kind of freedom. Cindi wasn’t only free to take control, she was an overwhelming force, a creature of pleasure and enticement. She’d gently held onto Carmen in the car like a lover. Like a girlfriend. But Carmen was more than either of those things. She was mother and teacher and mistress. She was everything.

“Oooh!” Cindi cooed when she realized that they had entered a spa. “All for me, Miss?”

“I get to enjoy the benefits, too, slut,” Carmen said with a foxy smile and pulled Cindi close, squeezing her ass and kissing her deeply. “I want you to ooze sex. How does that sound.”

“I love it, Miss. I want to be that so badly. I want to be the gorgeous whore I always envied. And you are making my dream come true.”

“You can thank me later.”

Cindi was so preoccupied with Carmen’s promises, the attendant snuck up on her as they waited in the lobby by a cash register. The old kind that beeped when you touched the buttons. The décor was red and black and gold, all Eastern, with gold highlights in some of the represented clouds and dragons on the walls.

“Seong-hui,” Carmen said, taking the hands of a dainty Asian girl in hers. “You look beautiful.”

“As do you, Miss,” Seong-hui replied, then turned her attention to Cindi. “She is very lovely, as well. But perhaps you would like us to treat her tonight?”

“You are kind and yes. We need a baseline of beauty, and only you and your girls can set it.”

“It will be an honor, after how you helped me. What is your name?”

“Cindi.”

“Good. Follow me, Cindi. When you return, Miss will never be able to peel her eyes of you.”

They giggled together as they entered the bowels of the spa, whispering like schoolgirls while  Carmen watched. She paced in the lobby at first and then stepped outside. Seong-hui and Cindi would be a minute, and she wanted an opportunity to savor what the evening gave her already.

The spa, called Eastern Magic, was nestled between an Indian restaurant and a Lane Bryant. Most of the transactions there were walk-ins, or suburban moms treating themselves to a pedicure. Eastern Magic made a sizable amount in their makeover packages for those who knew to ask. Seong-hui had a little more south of the equator than anyone would imagine. She hadn’t lived as a man in over a decade, and it was hard to imagine she had ever been mistaken for anything other than a woman. Cindi was in fine hands.

The thought of Cindi brought a wistful expression to her face. She worried it was too good. Too easy. She could hear Elektra telling her that easy is when it’s most special. That expecting drama was the first step in creating it.

Eliot was shy and nervous when she met him, but cute. He had a sense of humor, and a twinkle in his eye that suggested he was more than the clipboard and the button-up. And then he’d nearly swooned in the pink room. Only a few days later, and Eliot was in time out, and Cindi was given free rein. And Cindi was everything she hoped. Still tentative, but Carmen saw the lust in her and the willful obedience. She would be perfection.