Danielle's Story - Part 8
Posted: 03 Jan 2024, 03:29
Dear readers, part 8 breaks the typical mold of the story as it's been written so far, so it's worth giving you a heads up of what you'll encounter here in case I veer into territory that you consider undesirable to read. In part 8, we explore non-consent, abduction, and male chastity (F/m/f).
I hope you enjoy it.
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“Jennifer, you can’t do this,” Joe Young told his girlfriend.
“Okay, so I’m pretty sure I can,” Jennifer replied.
Joe pulled against the restraints she had put him in; an “experiment” to see if she liked Domming. Apparently, she was loving it. She had requested composite cuffs for his ankles and wrists, and she rigged up a setup in her bed in the little mountain cabin her family owned and pulled him spread eagle across the mattress. He had, of course, crafted a backdoor release into the items that he could use to free himself… if only he could reach his phone. Shit, there isn’t even internet this far into the mountains. He was at her mercy… for now. “I wrote the report because it’s my job to write it, Jennifer. I didn’t send it!” he was absolutely going to send it, but for the first time, he was conflicted about enforcing the law. Doing so would certainly mean losing Jennifer.
“And you are not going to send it!” Jennifer screamed at him.
“I won’t send it, Jennifer. You can watch me delete it.”
“Oh, you’re going to delete it, Joe. You’re going to delete it and I won’t even need to watch you to make sure you did it.”
She looked down at Joe’s cock and grinned. “I see you like it when a woman takes the reins.” She straddled his chest, facing his cock, and she leaned forward to give him a view of her ass, which was the only access he ever had to her body since she was forcibly locked into a chastity belt six months prior. “Maybe you’ve got a little bit of masochism in you after all.” She stroked his length, pumping him to grow harder, which he did in earnest. Fondling his balls, she brought him to the brink of climax and stopped. “Isn’t it so frustrating to be denied your climax when you’re so close?”
“Oh, come on, Jennifer. Finish me off!” He tugged impotently at the restraints and bucked his hips, searching for her hands.
“No.” she said as she climbed off of him and opened a drawer to withdraw the sparkly pink cock cage that he kept in his workshop. It had been modified to include a waist band and rear bar, but the cage itself was instantly recognizable. Joe’s face turned white.
“No, no, no, no, no,” he pleaded, twisting around in his bonds, as though he could somehow dodge what was most certainly to come. “You can’t use that on me. That’s a very, very, serious device. One not to be played around with.”
“Joe, I’m not playing around. You can consider it my insurance policy.”
The cock cage was not built to his specifications, but he imagined the waist band and rear bar were. He’d scanned his own body to try out some of his male designs, and the software was easy enough to figure out. She could have managed the modifications without assistance. How she got access to his workshop was another story all together.
“Pineapple!” Joe cried out. “Pineapple!”
“No, no. We’re not safe wording anymore. You hold the key to my freedom with that report you so articulately wrote up, and I will hold the key to your freedom in a secure safe, that only I know the combination to.”
“Jennifer, that cage is not for play! It’s not even for D.O.C. usage. The design was rejected!”
“I know!” Jennifer replied brightly. “You told me all about it.”
“I did?” Shit, I did. On our second date. I was bragging. Fuck!
“Jennifer, if you want to play this game with me, do it with another device. That one is dangerous.”
“No, Joe. I’m going to use this one. No other cage or belt will motivate you to behave quite like this one will. Besides, all of the others you create have a backdoor exit plan, don’t they?”
“For medical emergencies only. The hospitals have copies of the keys required to take the belts off.”
“But not this one!” Jennifer said with a wicked grin. She looked down at his cock. “We’ll have to take care of that before we get you dressed in your pretty new cage, Joe!” She set the pink device down next to Joe on the bed and ran off to retrieve some ice.
“Fuck,” Joe said. “You can’t do this! Pineapple! This is serious!” He wiggled his hips, twisted and turned to avoid the ice bath which would inevitably lead to locking the cage on him. Jennifer smacked his balls hard and he pulled against his restraints in pain. She stuffed some towels beneath him and his cock was doused with ice water. He screamed as the chill was felt through his body. The belt slipped around his waist and she pulled the cage attached to the rear-bar forward, nestling the composite bar firmly against his anus. His balls were threaded through a ring, one at a time, and his cock was stuffed into a tube with a hole at the bottom for urination, and the tube was further surrounded by a cage-like design that could barely contain him. “It’s too tight!” He pleaded with her, bargained with her, flattered her, and begged, but nothing he said stopped her from securing the cage to the waist band and locking the whole thing shut with the magnetic key. Joe looked devastated but Jennifer only smiled like a cheshire cat. She surveyed her handiwork, pulling and tugging on the device.
“Maybe the addition of the waistband was overkill,” she announced. “I think the cage itself would have been enough.”
“I designed it well,” Joe responded nervously.
Jennifer dashed back to the drawer and pulled out a wireless hand-held controller that looked like a calculator with a large, graphing screen. “Fuck,” Joe whispered, defeated, when he saw it. He was holding onto the hope that maybe Jennifer had not realized that the belt came with the controller, and that it was still safely stored away in his workshop. He’d still need the key to unlock the belt, but with the controller in his possession, she couldn’t do too much damage.
“I don’t want to accidentally lock you in this thing for 10 years. If I do that, I want it to be on purpose! How does this work?”
“Yes, please be careful with that! DO NOT lock me up for 10 years.” Joe’s voice sounded very panicky. He was torn between showing her how to use the controls, or not. If he taught her, she’d know how to give him some serious time in this thing, but if he didn’t, she might accidentally do it when she didn’t intend. She might also try to trial-and-error things. He settled on showing her the basics and reasoned that she could probably figure it out on her own anyway.
“Let’s get started with one day, and we’ll see how that goes.” She keyed the time into the control pad and confirmed and reconfirmed her selection. The cage beeped in acknowledgment of the minimum lock time.
Joe knew there was no possible way that he would be released before one day, and even after the day had expired, he’d still need the key.
“Jennifer, I’m not consenting to any of this. You’re right now holding me, a law enforcement officer, against my will and you’re blackmailing me to prevent me from turning you in. You broke the law, Jennifer!”
Jennifer touched her fingertips to her chest. “Oh my!” she said with a syrupy tone. “I see one day isn’t going to be enough. Let’s make it two!” She keyed the two days into the controller.
“No, Jennifer! That means three days! One day was already programmed in!”
Joe’s belt beeped in confirmation of the new minimum lock time. “Oh,” Jennifer said sounding mildly remorseful. “Well, I’ll be careful not to do that in the future.” She held the remote up and said, “I’m going to go put this away for now. Be back later!”
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“I’m so glad we met up, Jennifer,” Danielle said as she took a warm, welcome sip of coffee. Jennifer smiled and held up her paper cup as if to toast. “Here’s to mending our friendship and forging forward into a new chapter.” They touched their cups and sat back on the patio chairs at the coffee shop, chatting and laughing like old times. Danielle had been over the moon when Jennifer texted her with the invitation for coffee and the promise for a new beginning. Perhaps with her sentence half over and a new boyfriend, Jennifer’s disposition had improved.
As the girls sat and drank their lattes, Danielle told her about the problems with Officer Grant, and Jennifer revealed that she’d heard through the grape vine that he was touching women inappropriately, and soliciting them for sexual favors. He would surely be terminated after the investigation was completed. Jennifer would know, too, given her connection to Mr. Young. She must be getting the inside scoop. Danielle felt a pit in the bottom of her stomach open up and her heart was swallowed up by it as Jennifer described what she had heard, but Danielle understood that moving on was the best course of action, as painful as it was.
“So, I was thinking,” Jennifer said, “I’ve got the cabin for the next month. My parents aren’t using it and they insisted that I take some time for R&R. I need to do some healing from all of this. I want you to come up with me for a weekend. We’ll do crafting, and we’ll do some nature trails, and we’ll watch rom coms together. I think it’ll be a good retreat for you and me to do some healing too. It’s time, Danielle. I need to let go of my anger.”
Danielle’s lips parted in surprise. “Yes!” She said quickly “Oh, my goodness, yes!”
“Great then! How’s this weekend sound?”
Danielle nodded her head quickly. She’d happily reschedule her appointments for time with Jennifer. She just wanted everything to go back to normal between them.
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It was on Friday that Grant got the good news that the investigation had been settled and closed. No wrongdoing on his part was found to have taken place and he was reinstated to his position. He would normally welcome the downtime to catch up on administrative work and take care of personal chores, but not seeing Danielle at such a critical juncture was terrible timing. “Barry! Thank you for finishing the investigation so quickly,” Adam Grant said to his supervisor as he poked his head through the open door of Barry Raskin’s office. “It’s nice to get back into the swing of things. I do want to talk to you about Danielle Marcan, though. She hasn’t been restored to my care.”
“Oh yes, why don’t you come in so we can discuss that. It’s good news! Have a seat.” Adam settled his large frame into the seat across from Barry. “I’ve reviewed your request and we’ve interviewed Danielle Marcan. We are satisfied that you have adhered to department policies on dating. You can’t control who you like and Danielle reported that all interactions with you have been professional and neutral, including the conversation you had with her about the prospect of dating. I’ve decided to approve your request to pursue a romantic relationship with your former charge, Danielle Marcan. Marcan will be transferred on Monday to Dianna Barella’s care.”
Grant kept his poker face. “Barella? She usually handles only short-term sentences?” Danielle needs someone strong, and Barella is unlikely to interfere with his own plans for her. This is a best-case outcome! “That sounds good. I’m relieved to hear it. I actually tried messaging Danielle when I was reinstated, but she has an administrative block on her profile. Do you know anything about that?”
Barry looked confused. “An administrative block? That’s highly unusual.” He brought her profile up on his screen. “She’s temporarily assigned to Joseph Young. He set the block just this morning when you were reinstated. You’ll have to talk to him and see what’s going on.”
Grant nodded his head. “I will. Thanks, Barry.” He excused himself and went right down to Joe Young’s workshop, wondering along the way why Joe Young, of all people, would be filling in for his duties. He rapped his knuckles on the door only to find the workshop was empty. “Is Joe here?” He asked one of the guards.
The older woman shook her head. “He didn’t show up for work this morning. The other design technician had to reach out to him. He said he was vomiting and forgot to call in.”
That didn’t settle well with Grant. Joe Young was a very meticulous guy, paying a lot of attention to details. He had to be very sick to forget to call into work.
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Danielle scurried through the apartment as fast as her fastened legs would carry her, grabbing items and tossing them into the overnight bag. “I’m so glad I could get a few hours off of work so we could get an early start to the cabin,” Danielle said as she folded a few t-shirts and packed some loose skirts. Pants were out of the question given the thigh bands that now tethered her legs together.
“Don’t forget hiking boots!” Jennifer said.
Danielle emerged from the closet with a pair of canvas tennis shoes in her hands. “Hiking boots? I don’t think so. How about strolling shoes? I can barely climb steps.”
Jennifer chuckled. “That’s right! Okay, strolling shoes it is.
Danielle blushed. “Yeah, your boyfriend has a sadistic mind,” she said wryly. “Officer Grant told me he’d keep me in them for a month, but Young wants them on for the duration of my sentence.”
“Joe can be cruel to his “clients” as he calls them.” Jennfier said sympathetically. “He’s learning to put himself in their shoes, though. I’m working on him.”
How about we leave our phones behind,” Jennifer suggested as she took her smart phone and set it down on the kitchen counter. “I have a burner phone for emergencies; no internet. Calls and texts only.”
But what if Adam messages? Of course he wouldn’t message her. He’s a player and he got caught. If he has any decency at all, he’s feeling too ashamed of himself to even try to reach out. “Okay, yeah sure,” Danielle said, removing her phone from her purse. She set it down on the counter beside Jennifer’s phone, and when she did it, she felt a sense of empowerment. She was getting away from the Adam Grant drama and she was going to have a nice time with her friend. This was going to be a wonderful, phone-free, healing weekend!
Jennifer squealed in delight and the pair made their way to the car. “You’re borrowing your parents’ vintage roaster?” Danielle said when she saw the gleaming, red vehicle waiting for them.
“Hell yeah! We’re going to have so much fun!”
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Grant spent the rest of the day reinstating his cases and making calls to his charges to inquire about their wellbeing and assure them their programs were back on track. One woman who he did not have to call was Eliana Taylor, the woman who falsely accused Grant of sexual harassment. She was now assigned to a new monitor and Grant wasn’t going to miss her.
He didn’t live close to Danielle, but the administrative block left him unable to otherwise reach her and he was growing concerned. There was no response to his knocking, which unsettled him. She should be home from the office by now. It was early for her to be out for the night. But maybe that’s exactly what happened and she got an early start to her weekend festivities with friends and co-workers. He would visit her in the morning and find a way to get her phone number. He and Joe were friends; he would certainly give him her contact information even if he wouldn’t lift the block. Why did he put the block on in the first place? The question bothered Grant and he was unable to sleep well that night. He was no longer Danielle’s monitor, and he felt compelled to drive out to her apartment at 3am to check on her, but he knew how crazy that would look. What if she had asked Joe Young to put the block on so she didn’t have to face him? What if she knew the details about the sexual harassment investigation and believed he was guilty of inappropriate relations with his charges? He would be paying Danielle a visit first thing in the morning to clear matters up with her.
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The familiar sound of gravel shifting under the car tires roused Danielle from her sleep. They were pulling up to the cabin. “I love this place,” Danielle commented as they parked the car. “It reminds me of childhood.” With her thigh-bands hindering her movement, she struggled to get out of the vehicle but when she did, the horrible thigh bands were temporarily forgotten as she took her surroundings in. Mountains sprung up all around in a 360-degree panoramic view. They were spectacular! Trees were in bloom, the grass had turned green again, and the sky was clear as a bell. She walked to the edge of a river situated just a handful of yards away from the little log cabin and inhaled deeply as she took in her surroundings. When she and Jennifer were children, they used to wade in the water to catch salamanders on the rocks and take tubes out to the center of the river where it was too deep for your feet to touch. Jennifer’s father warned them repeatedly to stay closer to shore because he worried that their feet would get wedged into the rocks. She smiled at the memory. The cabin looked exactly the same as the last time she’d been there, when she and Jennifer were still in high school. Shade trees protected the cabin from too much heat, and wildflowers had sprouted, giving the cabin a welcoming touch.
“You loved it. Past tense,” Jennifer said, correcting Danielle’s earlier statement. “I’m not so sure you’re going to love it this time.” With that, she tossed the key to the roadster into the river, as far as she could get it.
Danielle looked on with horror as the key sailed over the water in a graceful parabola and plunked into the water halfway across the river. She put her hand over her mouth as she gaped. “What did you do that for? How are we going to get home?” Danielle looked panicked. She knew the river to be deep enough that wading around to retrieve the keys would not be easy. Not to mention the keys could easily lodge between the rocks on the river bed. For all intents and purposes, the keys were lost to them. “My stuff is still in the car!” Danielle said.
“Relax, I’ve got copies of the keys in the safety deposit box in town. Don’t worry about your stuff. I have everything you’ll need for your stay inside.”
Without warning, Jennifer snaked a hand around Danielle’s wrist, taking her completely off guard. She swiftly cuffed it and Danielle stumbled as the thigh bands thwarted her efforts to take off in a sprint. With Danielle half on the ground, the next arm was easy pickings. Jennifer pulled the free wrist into the cuffs and hauled Danielle back to her feet. Tugging her by the upper arm, Jennifer marched Danielle into the cabin, ignoring her protests and demands for an explanation.
“Are you out of your mind, Jennifer?” Danielle hollered as she was roughly deposited into the entry way of the cabin. The front door was locked with a deadbolt that required a key to open, even from the inside.
“Oh, I’m out of my mind, alright, Danielle. And it all started with you!”
A man wearing a black leather hood and full-body harness was seated in a recliner. The TV displayed a sports channel which he presumably watched for the hours long trip that Jennifer needed to pick Danielle up. He wore a pink, leather collar and his hands were stuffed behind his back. As much as the hood stood out to her, one other item grabbed her attention even more; the glittery pink cock cage she’d seen in Mr. Young’s workshop. This one was attached to a belt, but the design of the cage was unmistakable. An electrical cord led from the wall to the top of the cock cage where it was firmly embedded into the pink composite. The hooded figure silently watched the women.
“Uhm, Jennifer?” Danielle asked quietly. “Please tell me that is not Mr. Young.”
The man lowered his head and Danielle gasped.
A self-satisfied smile creeped up on Jennifer’s face and she strode over to him. Unzipping his hood and removing the ball-gag that had been crammed in the man’s mouth, Mr. Young finally looked up and faced Danielle. “Well, hello, Marcan. I had a feeling I’d be seeing you soon.”
I hope you enjoy it.
====
“Jennifer, you can’t do this,” Joe Young told his girlfriend.
“Okay, so I’m pretty sure I can,” Jennifer replied.
Joe pulled against the restraints she had put him in; an “experiment” to see if she liked Domming. Apparently, she was loving it. She had requested composite cuffs for his ankles and wrists, and she rigged up a setup in her bed in the little mountain cabin her family owned and pulled him spread eagle across the mattress. He had, of course, crafted a backdoor release into the items that he could use to free himself… if only he could reach his phone. Shit, there isn’t even internet this far into the mountains. He was at her mercy… for now. “I wrote the report because it’s my job to write it, Jennifer. I didn’t send it!” he was absolutely going to send it, but for the first time, he was conflicted about enforcing the law. Doing so would certainly mean losing Jennifer.
“And you are not going to send it!” Jennifer screamed at him.
“I won’t send it, Jennifer. You can watch me delete it.”
“Oh, you’re going to delete it, Joe. You’re going to delete it and I won’t even need to watch you to make sure you did it.”
She looked down at Joe’s cock and grinned. “I see you like it when a woman takes the reins.” She straddled his chest, facing his cock, and she leaned forward to give him a view of her ass, which was the only access he ever had to her body since she was forcibly locked into a chastity belt six months prior. “Maybe you’ve got a little bit of masochism in you after all.” She stroked his length, pumping him to grow harder, which he did in earnest. Fondling his balls, she brought him to the brink of climax and stopped. “Isn’t it so frustrating to be denied your climax when you’re so close?”
“Oh, come on, Jennifer. Finish me off!” He tugged impotently at the restraints and bucked his hips, searching for her hands.
“No.” she said as she climbed off of him and opened a drawer to withdraw the sparkly pink cock cage that he kept in his workshop. It had been modified to include a waist band and rear bar, but the cage itself was instantly recognizable. Joe’s face turned white.
“No, no, no, no, no,” he pleaded, twisting around in his bonds, as though he could somehow dodge what was most certainly to come. “You can’t use that on me. That’s a very, very, serious device. One not to be played around with.”
“Joe, I’m not playing around. You can consider it my insurance policy.”
The cock cage was not built to his specifications, but he imagined the waist band and rear bar were. He’d scanned his own body to try out some of his male designs, and the software was easy enough to figure out. She could have managed the modifications without assistance. How she got access to his workshop was another story all together.
“Pineapple!” Joe cried out. “Pineapple!”
“No, no. We’re not safe wording anymore. You hold the key to my freedom with that report you so articulately wrote up, and I will hold the key to your freedom in a secure safe, that only I know the combination to.”
“Jennifer, that cage is not for play! It’s not even for D.O.C. usage. The design was rejected!”
“I know!” Jennifer replied brightly. “You told me all about it.”
“I did?” Shit, I did. On our second date. I was bragging. Fuck!
“Jennifer, if you want to play this game with me, do it with another device. That one is dangerous.”
“No, Joe. I’m going to use this one. No other cage or belt will motivate you to behave quite like this one will. Besides, all of the others you create have a backdoor exit plan, don’t they?”
“For medical emergencies only. The hospitals have copies of the keys required to take the belts off.”
“But not this one!” Jennifer said with a wicked grin. She looked down at his cock. “We’ll have to take care of that before we get you dressed in your pretty new cage, Joe!” She set the pink device down next to Joe on the bed and ran off to retrieve some ice.
“Fuck,” Joe said. “You can’t do this! Pineapple! This is serious!” He wiggled his hips, twisted and turned to avoid the ice bath which would inevitably lead to locking the cage on him. Jennifer smacked his balls hard and he pulled against his restraints in pain. She stuffed some towels beneath him and his cock was doused with ice water. He screamed as the chill was felt through his body. The belt slipped around his waist and she pulled the cage attached to the rear-bar forward, nestling the composite bar firmly against his anus. His balls were threaded through a ring, one at a time, and his cock was stuffed into a tube with a hole at the bottom for urination, and the tube was further surrounded by a cage-like design that could barely contain him. “It’s too tight!” He pleaded with her, bargained with her, flattered her, and begged, but nothing he said stopped her from securing the cage to the waist band and locking the whole thing shut with the magnetic key. Joe looked devastated but Jennifer only smiled like a cheshire cat. She surveyed her handiwork, pulling and tugging on the device.
“Maybe the addition of the waistband was overkill,” she announced. “I think the cage itself would have been enough.”
“I designed it well,” Joe responded nervously.
Jennifer dashed back to the drawer and pulled out a wireless hand-held controller that looked like a calculator with a large, graphing screen. “Fuck,” Joe whispered, defeated, when he saw it. He was holding onto the hope that maybe Jennifer had not realized that the belt came with the controller, and that it was still safely stored away in his workshop. He’d still need the key to unlock the belt, but with the controller in his possession, she couldn’t do too much damage.
“I don’t want to accidentally lock you in this thing for 10 years. If I do that, I want it to be on purpose! How does this work?”
“Yes, please be careful with that! DO NOT lock me up for 10 years.” Joe’s voice sounded very panicky. He was torn between showing her how to use the controls, or not. If he taught her, she’d know how to give him some serious time in this thing, but if he didn’t, she might accidentally do it when she didn’t intend. She might also try to trial-and-error things. He settled on showing her the basics and reasoned that she could probably figure it out on her own anyway.
“Let’s get started with one day, and we’ll see how that goes.” She keyed the time into the control pad and confirmed and reconfirmed her selection. The cage beeped in acknowledgment of the minimum lock time.
Joe knew there was no possible way that he would be released before one day, and even after the day had expired, he’d still need the key.
“Jennifer, I’m not consenting to any of this. You’re right now holding me, a law enforcement officer, against my will and you’re blackmailing me to prevent me from turning you in. You broke the law, Jennifer!”
Jennifer touched her fingertips to her chest. “Oh my!” she said with a syrupy tone. “I see one day isn’t going to be enough. Let’s make it two!” She keyed the two days into the controller.
“No, Jennifer! That means three days! One day was already programmed in!”
Joe’s belt beeped in confirmation of the new minimum lock time. “Oh,” Jennifer said sounding mildly remorseful. “Well, I’ll be careful not to do that in the future.” She held the remote up and said, “I’m going to go put this away for now. Be back later!”
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“I’m so glad we met up, Jennifer,” Danielle said as she took a warm, welcome sip of coffee. Jennifer smiled and held up her paper cup as if to toast. “Here’s to mending our friendship and forging forward into a new chapter.” They touched their cups and sat back on the patio chairs at the coffee shop, chatting and laughing like old times. Danielle had been over the moon when Jennifer texted her with the invitation for coffee and the promise for a new beginning. Perhaps with her sentence half over and a new boyfriend, Jennifer’s disposition had improved.
As the girls sat and drank their lattes, Danielle told her about the problems with Officer Grant, and Jennifer revealed that she’d heard through the grape vine that he was touching women inappropriately, and soliciting them for sexual favors. He would surely be terminated after the investigation was completed. Jennifer would know, too, given her connection to Mr. Young. She must be getting the inside scoop. Danielle felt a pit in the bottom of her stomach open up and her heart was swallowed up by it as Jennifer described what she had heard, but Danielle understood that moving on was the best course of action, as painful as it was.
“So, I was thinking,” Jennifer said, “I’ve got the cabin for the next month. My parents aren’t using it and they insisted that I take some time for R&R. I need to do some healing from all of this. I want you to come up with me for a weekend. We’ll do crafting, and we’ll do some nature trails, and we’ll watch rom coms together. I think it’ll be a good retreat for you and me to do some healing too. It’s time, Danielle. I need to let go of my anger.”
Danielle’s lips parted in surprise. “Yes!” She said quickly “Oh, my goodness, yes!”
“Great then! How’s this weekend sound?”
Danielle nodded her head quickly. She’d happily reschedule her appointments for time with Jennifer. She just wanted everything to go back to normal between them.
=====
It was on Friday that Grant got the good news that the investigation had been settled and closed. No wrongdoing on his part was found to have taken place and he was reinstated to his position. He would normally welcome the downtime to catch up on administrative work and take care of personal chores, but not seeing Danielle at such a critical juncture was terrible timing. “Barry! Thank you for finishing the investigation so quickly,” Adam Grant said to his supervisor as he poked his head through the open door of Barry Raskin’s office. “It’s nice to get back into the swing of things. I do want to talk to you about Danielle Marcan, though. She hasn’t been restored to my care.”
“Oh yes, why don’t you come in so we can discuss that. It’s good news! Have a seat.” Adam settled his large frame into the seat across from Barry. “I’ve reviewed your request and we’ve interviewed Danielle Marcan. We are satisfied that you have adhered to department policies on dating. You can’t control who you like and Danielle reported that all interactions with you have been professional and neutral, including the conversation you had with her about the prospect of dating. I’ve decided to approve your request to pursue a romantic relationship with your former charge, Danielle Marcan. Marcan will be transferred on Monday to Dianna Barella’s care.”
Grant kept his poker face. “Barella? She usually handles only short-term sentences?” Danielle needs someone strong, and Barella is unlikely to interfere with his own plans for her. This is a best-case outcome! “That sounds good. I’m relieved to hear it. I actually tried messaging Danielle when I was reinstated, but she has an administrative block on her profile. Do you know anything about that?”
Barry looked confused. “An administrative block? That’s highly unusual.” He brought her profile up on his screen. “She’s temporarily assigned to Joseph Young. He set the block just this morning when you were reinstated. You’ll have to talk to him and see what’s going on.”
Grant nodded his head. “I will. Thanks, Barry.” He excused himself and went right down to Joe Young’s workshop, wondering along the way why Joe Young, of all people, would be filling in for his duties. He rapped his knuckles on the door only to find the workshop was empty. “Is Joe here?” He asked one of the guards.
The older woman shook her head. “He didn’t show up for work this morning. The other design technician had to reach out to him. He said he was vomiting and forgot to call in.”
That didn’t settle well with Grant. Joe Young was a very meticulous guy, paying a lot of attention to details. He had to be very sick to forget to call into work.
=====
Danielle scurried through the apartment as fast as her fastened legs would carry her, grabbing items and tossing them into the overnight bag. “I’m so glad I could get a few hours off of work so we could get an early start to the cabin,” Danielle said as she folded a few t-shirts and packed some loose skirts. Pants were out of the question given the thigh bands that now tethered her legs together.
“Don’t forget hiking boots!” Jennifer said.
Danielle emerged from the closet with a pair of canvas tennis shoes in her hands. “Hiking boots? I don’t think so. How about strolling shoes? I can barely climb steps.”
Jennifer chuckled. “That’s right! Okay, strolling shoes it is.
Danielle blushed. “Yeah, your boyfriend has a sadistic mind,” she said wryly. “Officer Grant told me he’d keep me in them for a month, but Young wants them on for the duration of my sentence.”
“Joe can be cruel to his “clients” as he calls them.” Jennfier said sympathetically. “He’s learning to put himself in their shoes, though. I’m working on him.”
How about we leave our phones behind,” Jennifer suggested as she took her smart phone and set it down on the kitchen counter. “I have a burner phone for emergencies; no internet. Calls and texts only.”
But what if Adam messages? Of course he wouldn’t message her. He’s a player and he got caught. If he has any decency at all, he’s feeling too ashamed of himself to even try to reach out. “Okay, yeah sure,” Danielle said, removing her phone from her purse. She set it down on the counter beside Jennifer’s phone, and when she did it, she felt a sense of empowerment. She was getting away from the Adam Grant drama and she was going to have a nice time with her friend. This was going to be a wonderful, phone-free, healing weekend!
Jennifer squealed in delight and the pair made their way to the car. “You’re borrowing your parents’ vintage roaster?” Danielle said when she saw the gleaming, red vehicle waiting for them.
“Hell yeah! We’re going to have so much fun!”
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Grant spent the rest of the day reinstating his cases and making calls to his charges to inquire about their wellbeing and assure them their programs were back on track. One woman who he did not have to call was Eliana Taylor, the woman who falsely accused Grant of sexual harassment. She was now assigned to a new monitor and Grant wasn’t going to miss her.
He didn’t live close to Danielle, but the administrative block left him unable to otherwise reach her and he was growing concerned. There was no response to his knocking, which unsettled him. She should be home from the office by now. It was early for her to be out for the night. But maybe that’s exactly what happened and she got an early start to her weekend festivities with friends and co-workers. He would visit her in the morning and find a way to get her phone number. He and Joe were friends; he would certainly give him her contact information even if he wouldn’t lift the block. Why did he put the block on in the first place? The question bothered Grant and he was unable to sleep well that night. He was no longer Danielle’s monitor, and he felt compelled to drive out to her apartment at 3am to check on her, but he knew how crazy that would look. What if she had asked Joe Young to put the block on so she didn’t have to face him? What if she knew the details about the sexual harassment investigation and believed he was guilty of inappropriate relations with his charges? He would be paying Danielle a visit first thing in the morning to clear matters up with her.
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The familiar sound of gravel shifting under the car tires roused Danielle from her sleep. They were pulling up to the cabin. “I love this place,” Danielle commented as they parked the car. “It reminds me of childhood.” With her thigh-bands hindering her movement, she struggled to get out of the vehicle but when she did, the horrible thigh bands were temporarily forgotten as she took her surroundings in. Mountains sprung up all around in a 360-degree panoramic view. They were spectacular! Trees were in bloom, the grass had turned green again, and the sky was clear as a bell. She walked to the edge of a river situated just a handful of yards away from the little log cabin and inhaled deeply as she took in her surroundings. When she and Jennifer were children, they used to wade in the water to catch salamanders on the rocks and take tubes out to the center of the river where it was too deep for your feet to touch. Jennifer’s father warned them repeatedly to stay closer to shore because he worried that their feet would get wedged into the rocks. She smiled at the memory. The cabin looked exactly the same as the last time she’d been there, when she and Jennifer were still in high school. Shade trees protected the cabin from too much heat, and wildflowers had sprouted, giving the cabin a welcoming touch.
“You loved it. Past tense,” Jennifer said, correcting Danielle’s earlier statement. “I’m not so sure you’re going to love it this time.” With that, she tossed the key to the roadster into the river, as far as she could get it.
Danielle looked on with horror as the key sailed over the water in a graceful parabola and plunked into the water halfway across the river. She put her hand over her mouth as she gaped. “What did you do that for? How are we going to get home?” Danielle looked panicked. She knew the river to be deep enough that wading around to retrieve the keys would not be easy. Not to mention the keys could easily lodge between the rocks on the river bed. For all intents and purposes, the keys were lost to them. “My stuff is still in the car!” Danielle said.
“Relax, I’ve got copies of the keys in the safety deposit box in town. Don’t worry about your stuff. I have everything you’ll need for your stay inside.”
Without warning, Jennifer snaked a hand around Danielle’s wrist, taking her completely off guard. She swiftly cuffed it and Danielle stumbled as the thigh bands thwarted her efforts to take off in a sprint. With Danielle half on the ground, the next arm was easy pickings. Jennifer pulled the free wrist into the cuffs and hauled Danielle back to her feet. Tugging her by the upper arm, Jennifer marched Danielle into the cabin, ignoring her protests and demands for an explanation.
“Are you out of your mind, Jennifer?” Danielle hollered as she was roughly deposited into the entry way of the cabin. The front door was locked with a deadbolt that required a key to open, even from the inside.
“Oh, I’m out of my mind, alright, Danielle. And it all started with you!”
A man wearing a black leather hood and full-body harness was seated in a recliner. The TV displayed a sports channel which he presumably watched for the hours long trip that Jennifer needed to pick Danielle up. He wore a pink, leather collar and his hands were stuffed behind his back. As much as the hood stood out to her, one other item grabbed her attention even more; the glittery pink cock cage she’d seen in Mr. Young’s workshop. This one was attached to a belt, but the design of the cage was unmistakable. An electrical cord led from the wall to the top of the cock cage where it was firmly embedded into the pink composite. The hooded figure silently watched the women.
“Uhm, Jennifer?” Danielle asked quietly. “Please tell me that is not Mr. Young.”
The man lowered his head and Danielle gasped.
A self-satisfied smile creeped up on Jennifer’s face and she strode over to him. Unzipping his hood and removing the ball-gag that had been crammed in the man’s mouth, Mr. Young finally looked up and faced Danielle. “Well, hello, Marcan. I had a feeling I’d be seeing you soon.”
