"What are you doing here?" Maria asked, visibly shaken.
"Maria. I knew you were in town, but I wasn't expecting you." said Peter Brown.
"I said, what are you doing here?" Maria was finding her voice again, as well as her anger. She realized that this was the first time since the shooting that she had been alone with the man who had killed Alan. All the anger she had felt back then, anger that she had thought she had put away a long time ago, was suddenly racing through her veins like hot lead.
"I...er...Lisa asked me to stop by and get the truck running." He pointed over his shoulder at the tarp covered vehicle and Maria realized that it was Alan's truck, put in storage after his death. "You look well," he continued, "your hair is shorter than I remember it but..." He never finished. Peter Brown suddenly found himself with an armful of angry woman.
Maria rushed him with all the anger and emotion she had spent a year building up. She hit him like a freight train, slamming him against the front of the truck.
The two went down and for a moment it was all Peter could do to protect his face from the worst of the blows that Maria was raining down on him. Then, when he had gotten his wind back, he got Maria in a bear hug and held her down while she scratched and struggled to get free. All through this Maria cried and yelled, her words almost unintelligible because of her emotions. Peter held on for dear life while listening to her call him every name in the book.
As she struggled, Peter looked around for something to restrain her with. The policeman inside him took over for a moment and his training forced him to look at her as a reluctant suspect.
He saw some rope lying in a pile under the truck and made a desperate grab with one hand. He was successful and in moments his strong hands had bound Maria's wrists behind her.
She continued to yell though, although her volume and choice of words seemed to be winding down. Soon there was nothing but crying coming out of her apart from the occasional "My fault...I'm sorry."
Peter was at a loss for words, instead he just held the now sobbing woman, trying his best to soothe her pain.
He stroked her hair and began to whisper quietly stuff like "It's okay." and "You're fine."
As Maria's struggles ceased, Peter couldn't help noticing that the warm body he held against him wasn't wearing a bra. Normally he wouldn't have been concerned, but he held a dark secret that no one knew about.
He was deeply attracted to Maria, and had been since he first saw her in the hospital over eighteen months ago. The sight of her, lying in her hospital bed, covered in bruises and sores had touched him as nothing had before. She looked so helpless, so in need of protection. At the time he had believed that her boy friend Alan had been the one to beat her, and her continued protests had done nothing to change his mind. Now he didn't know for sure anymore.
What he did know was his attraction for Maria was very real, and having her here, pressed up against him, with her hands bound, was not helping his concentration.
Maria finally stilled, and lay crying softly in his arms. He rocked her quietly until she began to pull herself together a little. He expected her to pull away at that point, but instead she lay unresisting, her eyes closed.
Maria found her anger gone, spent in one mad rush at the sight of Peter Brown. It had quickly been followed by a whole train of guilt, and it was in this that she wallowed now. She was only dimly aware of the rope around her wrists, and the body against which she lay. But slowly she began to realize where she was and who she was with. Yet, to pull away meant leaving something that was very comforting. The way his arms wrapped around her and held her tightly reminded her of things past. She didn't want to let go yet.
"Are you okay?" she heard him ask.
Maria said nothing for a moment, her mind was a jumble of images. "I'll be fine." was all she could manage.
"Me too, I guess. Bruises heal."
Somehow, that struck Maria as very funny, and she couldn't help giggling. Peter was surprised. First a crying fit and now laughter? Was this a female thing or what?
"I'm sorry!" he said.
"Me too." she replied.
"I know, you kept saying that."
Up to now, Maria had kept her face turned down where he couldn't see it, but now she raised her head to look directly into his own face.
"I did?" she asked him. Peter nodded slowly. "I guess I am." she whispered.
Peter felt like he was walking in a mine field, but something prompted him to ask the next question. "What about?"
Maria hesitated. What she was sorry about was something she had only admitted to her shrink. And now here she was, held in the arms of the man who pulled the trigger. But given what she felt at that moment, she found she couldn't blame him. "I'm sorry, that I caused Alan's death."
Peter was stunned. "But you didn't!"
"I did. There's no getting around it."
"You're wrong." Peter felt that he had to convince her it was his fault. It had never felt right to him how the Sheriff and the county District Attorney had managed to make sure that he wasn't charged with anything. The official statement was that while the shooting was regrettable, Peter Brown had acted correctly given the situation as he knew it at the time. He had performed within the guidelines of his position as a Deputy Sheriff.
But the Sheriff and the DA hadn't been there to pull the trigger. He resigned as soon as he was decently able to.
"I'm not wrong." Maria said flatly. "If I had only done what he asked me without...without thinking for myself, then we wouldn't have been where we were when you came by. You may have fired the gun, but I made Alan the target."
"That's bullshit." Peter swore. "If I had been thinking with my head instead of...well, if I had stopped to think instead of blindly shooting, then you and Alan would still be together."
Maria saw something in his eyes. It was there for only a split second before he looked away. It was only because she was still sorting out her own emotions that she didn't recognize the flash of loneliness in Peter's eyes. The two lay in silence for a moment, each unwilling to give in to the other's claim of guilt.
"I'm also sorry I attacked you. It was...well..."
"I understand. I do, really. It was nothing I didn't deserve."
Maria pulled at her bound hands, as if aware of them for the first time. "You tied me up!" It was more a statement than a question.
"Well...You were a little violent there for a moment."
Maria suddenly smiled and buried her face in his chest. In that moment, Peter saw that she wore nothing at all under her dress. The hem had risen up to bare most of her ass. When she looked up again her head thankfully obscured his view. He hoped she couldn't feel his erection. The smile was still there on her face, mixed in with a lot of other emotions. Peter wondered what she was really feeling right then. Could she be as confused as he was?
He felt her pull at the rope around her wrists. "You tie a good knot." she said unexpectedly.
"I've had lots of practice." he replied before he thought to keep his mouth shut.
Maria's expression turned quizzical. "You have?"
It was an impulse, and when he thought back on it later he wished he had restrained himself better, but all he thought to do at that moment was to kiss her. Their faces being only inches apart made it very easy for him to just lean forward and do it.
For him it was a very interesting kiss. At first Maria didn't react at all, then the kiss deepened a little as she moved her mouth to accept it more, then her lips seemed to stiffen and she pulled back. The two of them stared at each other with frightened expressions on their faces.
"Er..." Maria began, but couldn't follow up on it.
"I had better go." Peter said, and carefully rolled Maria off himself before getting up.
"Yes. I think you had better." said Maria finally, looking away from him. Her voice had taken on a bitter tone. He leaned down in order to free her hands, but she moved away from him. "Please...just go." she whispered.
"Sure. Tell Lisa that I'll finish working on the truck some other time." Maria nodded, not daring to speak any more, and Peter left her alone in the barn. She sat on the bare earth floor for a while, thinking of Joseph, of Alan, but mostly of Peter Brown and his kiss.
Peter climbed into his car and drove out of the yard, his head filled with self incrimination over what he had just done. "That was stupid, stupid, stupid!" he kept telling himself. As he followed the driveway up out of the valley he would glance in his mirror at the fast disappearing house behind him, debating whether or not to turn back, when something else caught his eye. Smoke, coming from the tree line on the other side of the stream. "Shit." he said. The area had been going through a dry spell lately and he knew that if there was an uncontrolled fire burning it could ignite the whole valley. Putting thoughts of returning to Maria out of his head, he decided to drive around and investigate.
It was a half an hour after Peter left when Melissa pulled up to the house in her car. She got out and spotted Maria sitting on one of the chairs on the porch. As she approached she saw that Maria was holding her hands behind her back.
"Hi!" Melissa said. Maria said nothing. Instead she stood up and turned so her bound hands were visible. "What have you been doing now?" Melissa asked. "Do you want me to untie you?"
"Please." replied Maria.
Melissa began to undo the tight knot that held the rough rope around Maria's wrists, but stopped when Maria asked the question that had consumed her thoughts since she had been left alone.
"Melissa, tell me about Deputy Brown."
"Peter? He...er..."
Maria turned to face her friend. "Don't lie to me. Please. We've never lied to each other, let's not begin now."
"We may never have lied to each other," said Melissa, "but we haven't exactly been telling each other the whole truth now either!"
Maria knew she was talking about Joseph, and blushed. After a pregnant pause, Melissa turned Maria round again and worked once more at the rope.
Peter, isn't a Deputy any more. He gave it up shortly after you left (Melissa began). You really didn't stick around to see what havoc Alan's death caused, not that we blamed you at the time. For a while I stayed with Lisa, who was a wreck herself. She and Alan were close, and his death seemed to knock the wind out of her. It also brought the town to an uproar, although most of the details were never released. I guess the BDSM aspects of the case were thought to be too much for the town to handle.
But one person it seemed to affect more than anyone but you was Peter. Here was this kid, relatively speaking, who had only been a cop for maybe a year, and he had already shot and killed someone. He was all ready to take the blame but his bosses figured out a way to brush it under the rug and soon the matter was dropped. With you gone the story died out and soon it was forgotten by everyone but us and Peter Brown. After I got that first call from you, the one where you asked me to come live here and look after the place for you, Peter shows up at the door, drunk as a skunk.
It was pretty late, and Lisa and I had already gone to bed, but he began banging on the door waking us up. It was...well, difficult, dealing with him, especially for Lisa. This was a kid she had baby sat when she was in high school, she had known him most of his life. Yet the biggest impact he had made on her life was in taking away someone she cared for. Well, we let him in and he began a long, drunken apology. At first, we didn't pay it much attention and were just trying to get him out of the house, but as he went on it became apparent that he was baring his soul to us.
We sat down with him, and heard him out. I don't think I can impress on you how bad he felt about what happened. It slowly grew apparent that he had come seeking you, to ask for forgiveness, but of course you weren't here. He must have known that, but he was so drunk that I was surprised he found his way here at all! In the end he passed out on the couch, so we covered him in a blanket and went back to bed.
The next morning he was gone.
He showed up a couple of days later, sober this time, and told us he was sorry for disturbing us. He asked us if there was anything he could do to make it up to us.
Well, this place was getting run down. Neither Lisa or myself were exactly the handyman type, so Lisa put him to work fixing things and generally keeping things up. The work seemed to help, and after a while he stopped apologizing and began to live his life again. Robert gave him a job doing part time stuff at his shop, and he became a kind of general handyman for the town. We found him to be very good with his hands, he could fix anything. Just look around, you said yourself that this place looked good, it's almost all his work.
Then came the time our...relationship...with Peter changed.
Lisa and I had kept up with our bondage, more at Lisa's urging than mine I'll add. At the time she was still very much into being a Ponygirl, and we would try to get in some pony time for her once a week or so. Well, we were out with the pony cart one afternoon, her in harness of course, and as we came off the trails and into the yard I saw Peter's car parked by the barn where he usually parks when he's here. I wasn't expecting him at all. But there he was, up on a ladder doing something to the house gutters. It was obvious from his expression that he had a good view of what we were doing, as well as a good view of both Lisa and myself for we were both naked. Lisa didn't know there was anything wrong however, she had on the blinder for the head harness. That is until Peter called down to ask what we were doing.
If I hadn't had been so embarrassed I would have laughed. Lisa starts to look around as if she could see, but of course she was blind to everything but her feet. I tried to cover up, but then realized that there was no longer any point. Peter had gotten a good look at both of us, especially Lisa, you know how the pony harness reveals everything. He got down and asked again what we were doing, so I told him. While I got Lisa out of her harness I answered all his questions about what we were doing specifically and about bondage in general. Once Lisa was unmasked and able to talk, she wanted him to leave, but I was feeling especially mean that day and made sure that she couldn't give in to her modesty.
Don't ask me why I did it, I don't know. Any other day I would have sent Peter packing. But now the genie was out of the bottle. When it became apparent that his interest was genuine, and not meant to accuse or hurt us, Lisa calmed down and we all had a long talk about bondage and how it was a part of our lives. I still remember that first day, because it was so very odd. Even though we were both naked in front of him he hardly showed any interest in us as women at all. Later, as we began to educate Peter a little better by actually including him in some of our games, there were plenty of times where he could have made a move, sexually speaking, and it would not have been unexpected. But he never did. Over time, between his handyman visits and his social calls, we got to know him pretty well, but I get the feeling sometimes that there is a part of him we'll never reach.
By now both women were sitting on the love seat, Maria's hands long since free.
"So," said Maria, "that's what he meant by having lot's of practice."
"He was here?" Melissa asked her nervously.
Maria nodded. "I should get going. I've left Joseph alone far too much lately."
"But, Maria! What did Peter say? What did you say to him? Was it him that tied your hands?"
Maria reached out and pulled Melissa to herself. They hugged, and parted, and an astonished and very curious Melissa watched Maria climb into her car and drive away.
Peter was standing in a small clearing within the tree line, the smoldering evidence of a small camp fire at his feet. He looked around carefully, for signs of whoever had set it, but other than some crushed grass where someone had obviously slept, there was nothing. He could clearly see roof of the house and a good part of the climbing driveway from this position, and again debated whether to go back or not. Thinking about Maria's bound hands reminded him of the last time he had been in this clearing.
A couple of weeks ago he had been working all morning in the barn. He was just thinking of taking a break to eat when Melissa showed up with a basket in her hand.
"Hi Peter." she said. "Hungry?"
"I sure am!" he replied, the growling in his stomach echoing the sentiment.
"We're doing a picnic thing today, if you care to join us."
"Sure!" he said smiling, and grabbed his shirt for he had been working without it.
"Just follow me." Melissa said with a smile.
She led the way along the path down to the swimming hole next to the stream. Peter caught up with her and offered to carry the basket, but Melissa refused. They reached the little beach, and Peter expected her to stop, but instead she carried on, following the trail that exited from the far side.
"Where's Lisa?" Peter asked.
"Oh, she's waiting for us."
"Okay."
The pair walked slowly and silently until they got to a place where it was possible to cross the stream easily. Peter was used to Melissa being quiet when they were alone together. It was if she just didn't have much to say to him, although she treated him very nicely. It was always Lisa who led the social graces as far as he was concerned.
"I hope you don't mind getting wet?" Melissa said, as she waded into the water.
Actually he didn't. He waded in after her and then bent low to scoop water over himself. It was a hot day made hotter still by the work he had done in the barn. The cold water felt very refreshing. Melissa waited until he was done, before moving on. Now they climbed, and Peter was getting pretty hungry. He hoped they brought enough food. The basket sure looked big enough. Soon they exited the trail and entered a clearing where Peter saw Lisa waiting on the other side. He stopped for a moment and looked at Melissa, who smiled sweetly at him and began to lay out the picnic stuff.
They were playing one of their games again, for Lisa was nude. She was also standing with her back to the clearing and clearly had her hands cuffed behind her back.
"Lisa?" Peter called out, and her head turned. It had been hidden from behind by her hair, but she had also been blindfolded.
"Peter?" she replied.
"It's me. I guess it's going to be one of THOSE lunches."
Melissa laughed and Lisa gave him a strained smile.
"Why don't you go give her this drink, Peter." Melissa said, handing him a can of pop with a straw in it. "It's been a while since she last had something."
He carried the can until he stood in front of Lisa, and saw that her bondage wasn't limited to her hands. A thin chain had been padlocked to her nipple rings, passing round a small tree trunk and holding her there. A second chain did the same thing lower down, this one attached to her pussy rings.
Shaking his head, he pulled off Lisa's blindfold. She blinked her eyes in the bright sunlight, then avoided his eyes by staring at the can of pop.
"How long have you been here?" he asked her.
"Since before you came." she replied.
That was several hours ago, he thought. He held the can up and she began drinking from the straw.
Thinking back on it now he wondered why the two women kept placing him in such situations. It wasn't as if they were looking for another sexual companion. He didn't think they saw him that way, and it wasn't as if he was interested anyway because... He took one last look over toward the house and started walking back to his car.