Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Faith was floating.

Subspace was her happy place, the space where nothing and no one mattered anymore. It was like walking into a white room, closing the door behind you, and putting your feet up. Nothing to distract, nothing to take away your attention.

Nothing but sensations.

Faith didn't know why she loved some sensations, and others she couldn't stand. There was something in her brain chemistry that meant extra loud noises, and very bright lights, and the touch of certain things made her skin crawl. She had earplugs and sunglasses, but most of the time she just avoided being in situations where she knew she'd be set off.

Or at least have somewhere to go afterward, to recharge.

But for some reason, the sensations of impact play didn't set her off. Perhaps it was due to the fact she found them physically grounding, that they kept her in her body, present, when her mind wanted to go off wandering.

Either way, it was fucking great.

And it was even better when Bex was the one delivering the sensations.

Bex knew not to make every stroke the same, knew to vary the placement and weight each time. But the rhythm… The rhythm kept on and it was that which lulled Faith deeper and deeper into subspace.

After her first mouthing off, they'd fallen into an easy pattern, punctuated with Faith's laughter. She didn't know when she'd ever laughed so much.

But slowly, surely, her laughter died away and Faith found herself floating more and more.

Her wrists hung a little more from the cuffs, and she found herself slumped against the cross.

"Hey." Bex's voice was up against her ear. Intimate. "Hey there, pickle. How are you doing? Where are you at?"

"Apples," she whispered. "Apples and pears and kiwis and"—she was babbling now—"cucumbers, though are cucumbers a fruit? Do you think cucumbers are a fruit, Bex?"

Bex chuckled. "I think someone's had enough."

" Nooooooooo ," Faith wailed. "I want more ! More flogs, pleeeeeeease ."

More chuckles. "I think perhaps we take a break, let you rehydrate. If you want to go for round two after that, then we surely can, pickle."

She loosened the cuffs from Faith's wrists, and Faith almost fell into Bex's arms, and only just managed to pull herself back upright.

"Oh you sweetheart! Come on, come sit over here."

Still giggling, Faith followed Bex over to the couch and threw herself down onto it dramatically. Her legs flung upward and back down, and Bex moved forward quickly to make sure Faith didn't accidentally kick her ankles on something hard.

She moved up onto the couch next to Faith, and positioned herself so that Faith could rest her head on Bex's lap.

"Hey, pickle, you still feeling all floaty?"

" Sooooooo floaty." Faith giggled again. "Floaty… it's a funny word. Why didn't you let me apple, Bex?"

"Because," said Bex, "you'd clearly had enough. I'm not an arsehole; when a sub needs a break, I give them a break. And you—my little pickle—needed a break."

"I'm fine ," said Faith, but she was aware she was waving her arms around a little too aggressively. Why was she doing that? She blinked; it felt like the blink was taking forever. "Bex, I feel drunk."

"I know, sweetheart," said Bex. And then there was a bottle of water against her lips, and Bex told her to open up and drink for her.

Faith did, and it was refreshing and gorgeous and holy crap, just how deep into subspace had she slipped?

With the water came the sudden realization of how bizarre she was acting, and Faith sat bolt upright, ready to apologize.

But Bex just pulled her back down to her lap. "You're all good, pickle. You're just going to rest a little bit and make it back up from subspace before we do anything else. There's no rush. I've booked the room for the whole night. We can sleep here if we want to."

Faith shot Bex a look.

"Or not!" Bex said laughing. "Not a fan of camping then?"

"Absolutely not," said Faith. "I'm a woman of a certain age. I need a proper bed, thank you very much."

"A woman of a… aren't you in your twenties?"

"Yes." Faith wasn't entirely certain what that had to do with anything. "And I have become accustomed to a certain way of life. Namely sleeping in a proper bed with a proper mattress."

Bex sounded more than slightly bemused. "I shall escort you back to your room once we are done then, and you can get back into your bed."

That sounded right, only there was something about it that Faith wasn't entirely convinced by. " We can get into my bed. It's big enough for the both of us. And besides, we can't have you roaming the halls on your own, Bex. Anything could happen!"

Bex nodded and stroked her hair. "Whatever you want, pickle."

Slowly, subspace retreated and Faith found her thoughts becoming less jumbled and more coherent. She didn't say anything at first, just continued to lie with her head in Bex's lap, letting the Domme stroke her hair. This was very peaceful. Even with subspace receding further and further backward, Faith found herself smiling.

"I went pretty deep, huh?" she asked.

"Just a little bit," said Bex. "I guess I should take it as a compliment, though I wonder if I should have stopped earlier."

"I'm glad you didn't," said Faith. "I really was having the best time. But I wasn't joking about my bed. It's going to get busy in the Dungeon I think; would you like to come back? And we can continue what we started…"