The Gym (BDSM, and consensual het)

As they head down the hallway behind Kate, Graham, and Michael, Aden's nerves are twitching. Something is wrong here, something dark. He catches Kate whispering something to Michael, and Graham is hefting the ambubag like he almost expects he'll need it. Tommy's picking up on it, too, and he feels her grip his hand tightly.

They're not even all the way to the end of the hall before they can hear the sound of impacts on skin. There's a dull grunting noise, the sound of someone exerting themselves; Kate grabs the handle of the door and rushes in, even though she's trying to be quiet. The rest of them push through behind her. The inside of the room is decorated in old and ratty bondage furniture; a Catherine's Cross which is starting to splinter is in the center of the room, bathed in a hot white light coming from a spotlight which has been erected on a pole and lashed in place. The heat is almost unbearable. As they step in, Aden sees a pretty blonde, one of King Rick's four, strapped to the cross, her body covered from neck to toes in large red welts. Two of the other three of Rick's mirror-image girls are kneeling submissively by a large wooden chair which has been set off to the side. In it, Rick lounges, wiping sweat off his cheeks as he watches Mistress Anne draw her arm back to strike the tied girl again. The look on Rick's face is intense, his eyes dark, his erection sticking up like a knife pointed at the sky. He's got the last girl pinned to the floor in front of him, his foot on the back of her head, shoving her down so her face is pressed into the hardwood. Just on the other side of the room, her gaze locked the bound submissive, Elizabeth is standing, arms crossed, an angry look on her face, her stance aggressive. She looks like she's ready to rush forward at any second. Off to the side, Cecil is also watching, his hard-on visible through his jeans; when Aden enters the room, the man flinches and moves away to a darker area. Tommy freezes, her face going pale, as Mistress Anne brings the whip down onto the ****'s back again, the sound of the leather cracking against skin loud as a gunshot. The **** barely moves, makes no sound; she's either got no sense of pain, or amazing self-control. Either way, Rick isn't happy with the response.

"Dammit, Anne, hit her like you mean it," he growls. "Bitch will never learn if you keep taking it easy on her."

"I'm hitting her as hard as I can safely," Mistress Anne complains, lowering the whip and looking back at the seated sadist. The expression Nick sees isn't love, it's fear. She's terrified of Rick, not physically, but emotionally.

"If you can't do it right, I'll take back over," Rick says, his tone evil. Absent-mindedly, he grinds his foot into the other ****'s hair, forcing tears from her eyes as her cheek scrapes along the floor. Graham crosses the perimeter of the room, approaching Elizabeth. They both look equally pissed off. Michael also moves off to the side, so that he can see Mistress Anne's face.

"I've got it, Rick," Mistress Anne says, her voice unsteady. She raises the whip again, striking the woman's back and buttocks with renewed vigor if no more desire. It's almost like she's beating the girl to prevent Rick from doing so.

"What the Hell is going on?" Nick mutters to Kate, who looks both scared and angry.

"Rick is a total sadist," Kate hisses so only he and Tommy can hear her. "I don't know where he finds these girls, online maybe. He has them sign a contract which gives him total control over their lives. Then he brings them here and degrades them, beats them, abuses them in every way he can think of." She rubs her eyes, suddenly tired. "They don't even get to have safe words, Nick. Theoretically, they've given consent in advance for him to do anything at all."

"Why would anyone let that happen?" Tommy asks, tears in her eyes and a quaver in her voice. Aden has seen her, knows it's not the beating that's bothering her. It's the absolute lack of any sensuality, any concern, any humane instinct.

"Some people get badly damaged in their life," Kate answers, sad. "Assholes like Rick prey on the people who don't have enough self-esteem to tell the difference between playtime and out-and-out ****."

"Why hasn't someone stopped him?" Nick says, his voice going flat. He's watching a bead of sweat trickle down the bound girl's back, tracing back and forth between the bruises and welts as it heads downward toward her ass.

"Everyone here has had it out with him at one point or another, but since these girls agree to it, we're not sure what we can do about it. The rules of the Lifestyle are pretty clear; they're his subs, and as long as they're not permanently fucked up, it's their business what they want him to do."

There's another loud impact, Tommy flinching as if the whip is hitting her. Nick remembers the thin white scars along his lover's back, then Mistress Anne drops her arm, letting the whip rest on the ground, her arm exhausted. "I can't do this anymore," she complains.

"Maybe if you weren't such a fat tub of lard, you wouldn't get so tired so fast," Rick laughs.

"I'm not too tired," Anne whispers. "She's BLEEDING, Rick."

"She hasn't said stop, has she?" Rick stands and stretches, putting almost his full weight on the head of the girl on the floor. Michael starts forward, angry, but Rick lets off the pressure. "Watch it there, boy, or I'll teach you a lesson." He grabs the whip from Anne's hand, and steps up to the plate.

Graham interrupts. "Yer done now."

"Fuck you, Indian," Rick utters, and both Graham and Elizabeth start forward.

Kate raises her hands, motioning them to stop. "Rick, the rules are very clear. When the safety rigger says stop, that's not negotiable."

Rick smiles, and drops the whip on the floor, then spreads his arms expansively, a parody of generosity. "Fine, fine." He steps back to his chair, and pulls out a large garbage bag, something long and square inside it. There's a rattling noise, plastic on wood maybe? Aden feels the monster move, uncoiling, teeth sharp. He stares daggers at the back of Rick's neck as Rick pulls a large wooden tray out of the bag, and a bag of something small and metallic. "Bitch four said she couldn't get off, so we'll switch up to something else fun. Bitch three, get bitch four down quick before I decide to make you join her."

As Rick is putting the tray on the floor, the woman who was under his heel scuttles over to the crossbeams without even getting to her feet. As she rushes to get the woman untied, Rick makes a big show of tearing open the plastic bag and pouring the contents into the tray. Without waiting, he reaches over and grabs the now-untied **** by the back of the neck, dragging her over and forcing her to kneel by the tray. Aden's stomach twists in knots when he realizes the tray is now full of thousands of thumbtacks.

The room has gone deathly quiet, and Rick moves to the other end of the tray, across from the blonde girl. She's looking down into the tray, her eyes wide. Nick catches the look, the terror, the impulse to flee. "Say you don't want to do this," he whispers, not even aware he's said it out loud.

"She can't, Nicki," Tommy moans, bursting into tears. "She can't say no."

"All right, fuckbitch," Rick growls. I'm gonna wave my cock, and you're gunna crawl your skanky worthless as over here and give me the best blowjob of my life. If you don't, I'm gunna string up each of them and fuck them over until none of you cunts can walk."

Something snaps inside Aden, his mind going cold and crystal clear as the monster howls. "Stop right there."