**WARNING**

This chapter contains descriptions of some BDSM content (rope play, electric play)

–––––––––––-

The big house, or if you could even call it a house, it was a mansion, was lit with spotlights dug into the lawn and I gawked in amazement at the building. How could Florian afford this, being a janitor? It looked like a ten-million-dollar house at least. Ash seemed to notice my befuddlement and explained that Florian's partner was the reason. Apparently, he was some kind of big-shot finance guy and they had, not counting this house, a villa in Italy as well.

There seemed to have arrived a lot of people before us and when the front door opened Florian stood there with a gushing smile. I didn't really know what to do with myself, this was the guy I'd been so agitated about and now here he was, welcoming us with open arms. Awkwardly I held out my hand to him, but he ignored it completely and hugged me dearly instead.

"It's so nice to meet you, Jamie," he said happily. "I never got the chance to say hello at the party yesterday, but it's great that you wanted to come tonight. Ash, did you explain to him how the evening will work?"

Ash smiled crookedly and I wondered to myself what Florian meant by that.

"I've implied some stuff," Ash said. "I want him to experience it with no preconceptions. He's new."

New? New at what? I glanced at Ash, but he just smiled. I knew what shibari was, maybe not live but I knew that it was bondage and it looked nice.

"I know what shibari is, Ash, I'm not that fucking new to it," I said.

Florian's eyes widened and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Jamie, you're too cute," he hummed and turned to Ash. "You take care of him now, you hear? We don't want him running away. Don't be such a tease, tell him."

Ash groaned but nodded and unabashedly took me by the hand and led me further into the house. I didn't understand one word of what Florian had said, so I was relieved that Ash would explain what the hell was going on. We passed a grand hallway, where couples sat talking. Something felt different, but I couldn't really put my finger on what it was. The hallway ended in a huge room, much bigger than my apartment, with tall ceilings and scattered with couches and tables with drinks. Alongside one of the walls there was dividers sectioning out smaller pieces, almost like different exhibits. In one of them was a mattress and ropes in different colors. In another was some form of gurney and a small table with tools on it. And in the third section was... a large wooden cross. Ash gently but firmly pressed me down on one of the couches and I just stared at him. What was this place?

"Welcome to your first BDSM party," he smiled and there was anticipation in his voice.

"What?" was the only thing coming out of my mouth.

I knew the word. I had stumbled across a lot of those kind of sites when I looked for inspiration for my tattoo, but I had never dared to even venture further. It had felt all too forbidden and wrong. Normal people didn't mess with that, right? And every time my fantasies had even touched on the subject, I had forced away those thoughts, thinking that I would be sick in the head even imagining it. Now I was here, in the middle of just that kind of fantasy.

"Just try to keep an open mind," Ash explained. "Florian hosts these kinds of parties sometimes, to people who want to know more or try it out, or just watch. They're shows, you could say. I know you're curious, you're just too scared to admit it. I wanna show it to you, just so you know what it's about. I wanna share your first experience of it, that's all."

"Has anyone ever told you that you read people a little too well sometimes?" I mumbled.

He laughed.

"No, it's just you I can read," he smiled. "Your signs are way more obvious than you think and it's such a turn-on. I know what I like, but it's gonna be fucking amazing to see how you'll react. I hope I didn't make you mad by not telling you beforehand?"

I shook my head and looked around the room with new eyes. More people had gathered, and the music was flowing. Now I could suddenly see what I had felt was different about this whole setting. The people were dressed in all manner of ways, from really formal wear to hardcore leather. And some were even led around in leashes. How the hell could I have missed that? Me and Ash where the most casually dressed people here, despite the prints on our t-shirts.

Florian walked towards us again and one step behind him followed a man I hadn't noticed before. He wore plain black clothes and looked down at the floor all the way to us.

"Do you get what this evening is about now, Jamie?" Florian smiled. "Hope Ash didn't scare you too much?"

"It's ok, I get why you mean by calling me new now," I said with a nervous laugh.

"Nicola," Florian said and placed a hand on the other guy's arm. "You can greet them now."

I watched in surprise as the man before me transformed. From staring at the floor without moving a muscle, he lit up in a smile as he raised his head and greeted me by holding out his hand.

"I'm Nicola, Florian's partner," he said. "I hope you'll get a nice evening here; we have some really good shows for you tonight."

I took his hand in bewilderment. Then Florian and Nicola continued their tour around the vast room, and I was left alone with Ash again. I couldn't help asking about Nicola's strange behavior.

"He's not permitted to speak to other people without Florian's approval," Ash explained. "They're pretty advanced in their relationship you could say."

"Do you like... that advanced stuff?" I said and felt uneasy.

That level of submission didn't exist in my world.

"Really not my thing, no," Ash smiled and pulled me in, planting a quick kiss on my cheek. "I'm pretty basic I think, I already told you. But would you like it if I had that kind of power over you?"

His question sounded dead serious, like he really wanted to know.

"No, I wouldn't," I admitted. "I don't know what I like, but that thing wasn't my cup of tea, that I'm sure of."

"Then we're on the same page," he smiled. "You want me to explain to you what shows we're gonna get?"

That I really wanted him to.

"Well, shibari you already know about. There by the cross it will be a show in different kinds of hitting tools, whips, floggers, canes and stuff." He paused and awaited my nod. "On the gurney over there they will demonstrate electric play, means of giving electric shocks that is. And knife play."

My body went rigid. A shiver ran down my spine and images of knives and skin danced before my eyes. I noticed how my breathing went shallow.

"What... is knife play?" I said and heard how unsteady my voice had become.

Ash looked at me intently and his eyes narrowed somewhat. He ran a finger down my arm and goosebumps followed in its trail.

"The answer is in the name, I guess," he said slowly. "It's very controlled, they use sterilized knives and never cut deep and never in places that are dangerous or would show. But yeah, sometimes it's deep enough that it bleeds. But only if the recipient wants to."

The entire situation suddenly felt weird. To just sit here and wait for people to perform stuff that I had never dreamt about up until just a few days ago. And in this setting too. The people around me seemed relaxed and totally aware of what was going to happen, all the while I was sitting here trying to get my heartbeat under control again. It was bizarre.

The light changed and the music slowed down, people started to gather around the different stations, making small-talk and Ash took my hand.

"Come, let's watch the shibari show first," he said and guided me through the crowd.

A woman was kneeling on the mattress, completely naked. Behind her was another woman organizing a bundle of red ropes in her hand and slowly she started to tie the hands of the naked woman.

"How do they do it, just showing themselves to everybody like this...?" I whispered to Ash.

"Exhibitionists, I guess," he grinned back and continued watching the two women.

The woman that was tying was exceptionally apt at her craft. She altered different colors of rope, made elaborate knots, and really took her time to get every binding perfect. It looked so sensual and finally the woman on the mattress was like and extravagantly wrapped gift. She was placed lying down and was slowly caressed on her back between all the knots and it was almost hypnotic to watch.

After a while the woman tying started to untie the knots again, equally slow and patient and Ash poked me discretely on my arm and nodded towards the next station. It wasn't the station with the cross as I thought, it was the other one.

"Aren't they supposed to show... the tools?" I asked in a low voice as I saw that the booth with the cross was empty.

"They always start last. It tends to get pretty loud, if you know what I mean."

Ash shot me a smile and I suddenly I got exactly what he meant. In the station we got to was already a man strapped to the gurney and the show had already been going on a while. A woman was trailing a weird looking instrument over the body of the man. It looked like an electric toothbrush, but with a different tip and the tip made a sharp sound and a tiny spark lit up. The man squirmed and groaned. She was actually giving him electric shocks.

The woman seemed to tease him, she didn't shock him every time, she just let the tip glide over the skin. When she reached his nipple, the spark went off and he moaned loudly. To my amazement I felt something strange move inside me. This was turning me on. The sounds coming out of the man was a mixture of pleasure and pain and the way the woman treated him suddenly made my palms sticky with sweat.

Ash looked at me and smiled, as if he understood what this show was doing to me. I flinched as I felt his hand against my lower back, and he slid under the waistband of my pants and squeezed my butt cheek lightly. It felt unusual that he did this in public, but nobody seemed to care one bit. When the show was over the man and the woman stepped aside and two men walked up. They both looked to be my age. I could feel Ash discretely nudging me forwards and placed himself behind me.

"I want you to have a good view," he mumbled in my ear and rested his hand on my neck.