5. Jonathan.

A day later, on another rainy evening, I found myself sitting in a coffee shop on the East Side. The place was empty but I’d been told that Jonathan would be there at 7pm so I sat with a decaf at 6:50 in preparation. On time, the door opened and a tall man in shorts walked in. Immediately, a serious looking woman with a stained apron bearing the coffee shop logo, closed the shop and the blinds were pulled down. She disappeared down a corridor behind a counter and I heard a door close.

The cafe was badly in need of better lighting. It felt yellow and old.

Jonathan came to my table and sat down. I guessed his age to be in his forties. His shirt, shorts and shoes and the way he held himself, suggested wealth.

“You survived the flogging I see.”

“Oh…oh yeah you were part of…it didn’t hurt like I thought it would.”

“What were you expecting?”

“Well, for it to hurt. That whip looked lethal.”

“Oh, didn’t you notice?”

“Notice what?”

“About the whip.” He said raising his eyebrows.

“Eh?” I replied, puzzled.

“The whip. Didn’t you notice it didn’t move?”

“What are you talking about? It was moving when it hit my back, I’ve got sting marks everywhere.”

He laughed. “The video must have been engrossing. So you never noticed that the whip never left the post?”

My mind went back to the post. I’d seen the whip hanging on the rail. A coiled snake hanging, menacing, waiting to strike with stinging venom. Then I remembered. It had never moved. When the video feed faded, it was still hanging on it’s hook.

“Oh, fuck.”

“They do things like that.” Jonathan winked. “Scare the shit out of you.”

“I hadn’t even registered…”

“Too many other stimulations eh?” He grinned.

“Yeah.”

My mind was a mix of the events of the evening. The tension of knowing what was about to happen. The vision, smell and sounds of the scene. It had all been intoxicating, so much that…

“I’m Jonathan.” He said finally, jolting me out of my search for the whip.

“Oh, er….Peter…” I was about to extend my hand when Jonathan cut me off.

“Actually, to me you’re slave P and, if you know me to be a master of The Code you should be on your knees.” He laughed. “But let’s not worry about that eh?”

“Oh, er sorry. Er.”

“Let’s just talk and I’ll fill you in on what’s missing if I can. C and C get a bit muddled when they try to explain things, especially with someone new.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Are they always this contrary?”

“Ha ha, yeah.” He smiled easilly. “Have they been making your head spin? They did to me.”

“Yeah, it’s like, one minute they are super friendly and next they snap at you.”

“Yeah, they do find the owner/slave routine a bit hard to handle. Most of the others are much better. C and C are sort of old fashioned but deep down, they’re great.

The take The Code very seriously so at least you have good owners.”

“We’ve talked a bit about The Code but, it seems to me, from the way it’s been explained, to be a sort of sex fetish club.”

“Ah yeah. They got that bit wrong again. The Code is a lot more than a bunch of swingers with a few slaves thrown into the mix.”

“Christopher said it was more of a fraternity.”

“Yeah, that’s not a bad name for it but…look, there’s a reason it’s called The Code for starters.”

“Yeah, I’d been wondering about that.”

“There’s a bigger thing going on than just the sex and stuff. Nice though it is, there’s this idea that we all are trying to work together on.”

I was intrigued.

“The people in The Code are all intimate. “

“All of them?”

“Not necessarily sexually, but they’re sworn to share their intimacies with each other so… Let’s say I have a problem with some fetish or with some feelings I have about what I’m interested in. I can talk about it with absolutely any Code member and it will be respected. Intimacy, feelings. All those sort of quote, deep and meaningful, unquote topics that we always skirt around. That’s what’s important to us.”

“So, it’s a therapy group?” I laughed.

“Yeah, sort of but there’s more.”

“I’m all ears.” I said frowning.

“We have this thing about judgementalism.”

I cocked my eye at him.

“We are all trying not to judge each other. I know that sounds weird but it’s our sort of philosophical goal and…you being one of the slaves; well you’re really key to the way it works.”

“OK now you’ve lost me.” I said.

“Our goal is to be non-judgmental. To not judge. So…let me give you an example. Let’s say you are a normal vanilla guy or girl looking for a relationship. How many times have you been attracted to someone but have been put off by a rolling of the eyes because your job or your clothes or your car aren’t good enough for them?”

“Well I…”

“Jobs, money, business. We don’t talk about them, they get in the way We don’t judge.”

“Yeah, but The Code all seem to already know each other. Don’t they know what they all do?”

“it’s not an issue. We don’t get involved in your business life, which is what any of that is. We only get involved in your intimate life and we don’t judge you on it.”

I knew I looked perplexed.

“OK I’m not explaining myself well. Let me give you a better example.” He looked into the empty café, summoning an example. “Let’s say I am at a Code event and I feel like I want to talk about say…think of a fetish…er…that rubber thing where they wear really tight rubber suits.”

“Oh, like the one where they have a sort of mask and tube and stuff?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“OK.”

“So, if I’m interested in it and there’s someone at the event I fancy doing it with, I can simply go ask if they’d be into it. I don’t have to dance around the topic or sound out the situation. I can just walk up to them and ask them, and, in theory, they will say yes or no but, the absolute thing they cannot do is judge me on what I want to try. Does that make sense?”

“So, you can ask for anything?”

“Yep.” He levelled. “You can ask. It doesn’t mean you get to do it, just that you can talk about it.”

“And, have you done that?”

“Well, I’m really just getting started as a Master and haven’t had chance, but, when I was a slave I saw it happen.”

“Rubber suits?” I smiled.

“If you go to an event you’ll see it. “Jonathan continued, ignoring my jibe. “The members approach each other and discuss something intimate and quite often will go somewhere or arrange something to happen. Of course, sometimes, they just want to share intimacies or feelings. You see…it’s not a normal social group. We don’t get in each other’s lives or businesses or want to know how you job is going. We care about intimacy more than anything else and each member cares about every other member.”

I was frowning again.

“Yep. Even slaves like you.”

“So, I can do the same thing?”

“Ah…no it’s slightly different for you. Like I said, as a slave, you’re special.”

“Special?”

“Yeah. You’re the glue.”

“I’m not following.”

“Well…any member can go to another member with an intimate request and, it can be accepted or rejected, but slaves are not allowed to say no. At least as long as the owners have worked with the slave already. It’s a way of everyone being able to enjoy intimacy without being judged.”

“So…” I pondered.

“You have a huge responsibility.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. Take C and C for instance. They’re training you to do certain…things for them but they can also loan you out to do the same things for anyone in The Code.”

“So, all the drinking…”

“Anyone.”

“And I can’t refuse?”

“Not if you have done it with your owners and not used your keyword. If C and C loan you then you do as you’re told. You don’t want anything bad to reflect on your owner.”

It was incredulous. But the more I wondered about it, the more I could see how it would work.

“So, what if I needed help with something?”

“You can talk to any member of The Code about anything intimate but in your case, you have to request an audience so that it’s clear that you have something to open up about as equals; even though you’re not. The Code looks after everyone.”

Something niggled at me. “Are they all like…safe? I mean…well you saw that I was whipped…are they all …”

Jonathan laughed. “I can see where you’re going with that.”

“Well, it just occurs to me that they might hand me over to someone who…”

“What? Treats you bad? Humiliates you? You’re a slave that’s what you’re there for!” He chuckled. “The Code doesn’t allow damage.”

“Damage?”

Jonathan let out a sigh and paused. “A member will never push you more than you can take. You won’t come back damaged. Think about it, how would that look to your owners if they loaned you out and you came back, er… unusable? They’d be furious. Think of all the effort they’ve put into training you. The Code would be furious too. They have standards.”

I pondered and sipped at my decaf. Thoughts swirled around trying to form a question. Jonathan continued. “C and C will want you to sign the submission contract soon. A lot of what we’ve talked about is actually in it. “

“Signed contract?”

“Oh, it has the blah blah blah about you being a slave and stuff, but the important stuff is that you are not allowed to judge. You’re there to share intimacy. It’s primary for The Code.”

“It’s starting to sound like a religion.”

Jonathan laughed and shook his head. “It’s the exact opposite of a religion, Peter. Think about it. Religions judge everyone. They’re like exclusive clubs where you all have to believe the same thing. We don’t do any of that. You can think what you like, fantasize about what you like and do what you like. As long as no damage is done. We don’t judge, and we don’t damage.”

“So if I sign.”

“When you sign.” Jonathan countered. “I think we both know you’re committed to this.”

“I haven’t decided.” I tried.

“OK.” Jonathan coughed and laughed. “If you sign…that’s funny…”

“Then what?”

“Well, that’s it. You’re a slave owned by C and C and part of The Code.”

“Do they throw a party or something?”

Jonathan laughed. “They could I suppose, it’s up to them what they do.”

I frowned, faux disappointment. “I thought there’d be some sort of signing ceremony.”

Jonathan smiled. “You’ll likely get used by C and C a few times. Then sent home.”

“Like I have already?”

“No, I mean used, used. Christopher will use you properly, not just for amusement.”

“So, sex finally?” I didn’t want to sound willing, but I must have.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get more than enough of him. And don’t forget Catherine, she’s a firecracker and totally insatiable. She can go for hours. Christopher will be prepped to try to keep up with her.” He grinned the grin of someone repeating the visions he had seen, some of which I’d also witnessed. My mind went back to the vision of Catherine licking the last of Jonathan’s semen as she lay on the dining table at 86.

“She seemed to love swallowing you.” I said cautiously, letting the moment linger.

“Oh, she loves it.” He laughed.

I felt curiously at ease with Jonathan. Talking to him so intimately seemed simple and natural; nothing seemed to be taboo. It dawned on me that, never once was he embarrassed to talk about his intimacies within The Code and for some reason, neither was I.

We talked about Catherine and Christopher; their likes and dislikes and he gave me good advice when I asked him how best to please.

“Try to think ahead.” He replied. “Anticipate their fantasies if you can. Even get involved in them.”

“You mean encourage them?”

“Sort of.” He was looking into space trying to conjure the right example. “As you get to know them more, you’ll start to figure out what they have been thinking about, how they’ve thought about using you. Offer yourself into the situation.”

I must have looked puzzled again.

“Well, let’s say they’ve forgotten to crop you for a while. Remind them. Get on your knees and offer them the crop.”

“Volunteer? For that?” I shuddered.

“Absolutely. The more you can do that, the better a slave you become. You’re there for them; not for you and,” He leaned towards me. “More importantly, you know you really want to.”

The woman who had closed the shop, came in and sat at a window table and eyed us. I had totally forgotten that she was in the building and blushed at the wondered of her having an ear on our conversation. I changed the subject.

“So, what do you do for a living?” I asked.

“See now, this is where I check out.” Jonathan said.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“We don’t talk about our jobs, careers, businesses, family and we really don’t talk about money. The Code is entirely about intimacy.”

“Why?”

“That’s how it evolved I suppose.”

“Not even a little? What do people talk about at events?”

“They talk about what we’ve talked about, and why. Bringing your business life to The Code is wasting intimacy time. Intimacy is the most important thing you bring to The Code.”

The woman eyed me and sighed. I’d taken little notice of her on my arrival but the way she stared at us, almost with a seniority about her disturbed me.

“I guess she wants to close up.” I nodded in her direction.

“Yeah.” Jonathan replied. “I suppose you’d better ask what she’d like.”

“Eh?”

“She’s a mistress of The Code and you’ll need to pay her for this.”

“Pay? Really?”

“Well, it’s not payment exactly, but it’s courteous. I’ve got to run myself but I’m sure she can use you.”

“Use me.” I sat back and whispered the phrase to myself. Not, I realized as a request or a question; it was a longing to be used as a thing, an object. It was staring me in the face and I blushed.

“Yup.” Jonathan said, getting to his feet. “Good luck with your er…decision.” He smiled and headed towards the door. “It’s nice that you think you have a choice.”

The woman arose from her table and met Jonathan at the door where she kissed him on the lips. An intimate kiss that surprised me a little since she hadn’t showed any interest in Jonathan on his arrival, or on any of our conversation. She opened door to let him out. I could see it was raining again and, Jonathan was struggling to get his umbrella to open as he disappeared into the tropical steam. She closed the door slowly, turning to face me and the empty café. The door latch made a satisfying clunk as she pushed the door shut with her bottom. Her hand behind her hip, turned the key to the lock.

“Get over here, slave.” She said, raising her skirt to reveal her glistening, shaven mound. She moved to a table and slowly, climbed on, kneeling with her feet on the edge of the table. Her sex and arse fully exposed.

“Let’s see how all that training is going shall we?” she said. “You can start by cleaning me.”