Hummingbird

This is my submission for the Pink Orchid 2023 for Women-Centric Erotica Challenge.

This story loosely based on my own experience with a boyfriend who took advantage of my specific desires and made them all about him instead. But when I met my husband, he let me slowly explore every single one of them with him, and replaced the bad memories with good ones. I was able to reclaim all my favourite kinks without fear or embarrassment, and put those terrible experiences behind me.

It may seem like my female character in this story doesn't actually have agency because she is submissive. But from my own experience, being able to explore my sexual desires without them being perverted into something degrading and painful was incredibly empowering, and it was a huge step in dealing with my trauma. Being able to say "yes" while knowing that a "no" would have been respected is an amazing feeling, and I wanted my character to have that.

Enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There wasn't much left in Rye's house after Brent had disappeared, leaving his keys on the counter and the door unlocked for anyone to walk in. But Rye was relieved. She didn't care that he stole half her stuff. She was just happy he was gone. A five-year relationship was over, and yet she was happier now than she had been for more than half that time.

After confirming that it was indeed over, and that she had seen the last of Brent, she fumbled with her phone to find her best friend's number. She called it and pressed the phone to her ear, hoping that Cora had already arrived home and wasn't currently driving from work.

"Hello?"

"He's gone!" Rye exclaimed.

"What?!"

"I got home just now and all his stuff his gone. His keys were on the counter. He took some of my stuff too, of course. But he's out of my life!"

"Oh thank fucking God!" Cora shouted over the phone. "Stay put, I'm coming over with some wine."

Cora didn't even give Rye a chance to respond before she hung up. Rye shook her head and chuckled. She was used to Cora's intensity. They had been best friends since college, so they were intimately familiar with each other's quirks.

While she waited for Cora to arrive with the promised wine, Rye quickly went through each room to make sure nothing of great importance had been taken. Her safe with important documents was still in the bottom of her dresser drawer, so identity theft wouldn't be a concern. There was nothing missing from her wallet.

Her front door swung open suddenly, and Cora was standing there with a bottle of wine.

"We should give Sashelle his keys now." She declared. "That way we can both pop in without warning and drive you crazy."

"A spare key is usually meant for emergencies." Rye teased.

"This is an emergency!" Cora said indignantly, brandishing the bottle of wine. "We must get you drunk and laid! Whichever order you prefer."

"I'm so not ready to have sex with anyone yet." Rye said, shaking her head.

Cora groaned in exasperation. "And that's precisely the problem! You had such horrible sex with Brent that you have no idea how awesome it can be."

"Considering he's the only guy I ever slept with, I'll have to take your word for it."

"Not for long! I texted Sashelle already. She's on her way over too."

"Oh no, what are you planning?"

"A girl's night out." Cora said with a mischievous grin.

Rye narrowed her eyes at Cora suspiciously. "A night out where, exactly?"

"How about the Mystic Velvet?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Rye declared. The Mystic Velvet was a BDSM club. Both of Rye's best friends were members and went regularly.

"Come on! I know you're curious. You asked about it before. It's perfectly safe and healthy to explore kink." Cora insisted.

"Not when your only experience with it wasn't exactly done with enthusiastic consent."

"That's precisely why I think you should try it in a safer environment. That way you can satisfy your curiosity and not have whatever you tried with Brent be your only point of reference."

Rye bit her lip, hesitating. She had made a mistake when she suggested to Brent that she wanted to try bondage. She should have gotten suspicious when he agreed a little too enthusiastically, and seemed to know exactly where to get the necessary equipment. Instead of being a sexy couple's game, it became an excuse for Brent to take out his anger on her whenever she did something that he deemed wrong.

Brent had a way of making her believe that it was her fault he was angry, and therefore her responsibility to make it up to him. And the best way for her to do that was through sex. So she simply went along with it.

Cora was the first one to notice that something was wrong. When Rye confided in her, Cora nearly blew a gasket and said that Brent had to go. It took her a while, but eventually, Rye stopped agreeing to anything but vanilla sex, and eventually refused sex altogether. Brent nearly became violent as a result, threatening to just take it by force, but he eventually gave up and left instead.

But now that he was out of her life, she was in control of her own sexuality for the first time. Sex had always been something that just happened to her that she had to go along with. She had never felt like an active participant.

"I don't know if it's a good idea." Rye admitted. "I feel like there must be something wrong with me to want to be tied up and used. If I'm into that sort of thing, why didn't enjoy it with Brent?"

"Because he wasn't doing it right! You told me you wanted to be dominated, not hurt, belittled and demeaned. He was spanking you with paddles, whipping you, and calling you the worst possible names. A dom doesn't have to do those things to make you feel submissive."

"You think?" Rye asked hopefully.

"I know. Trust me, when Sashelle gets here, we'll get ready and take you to the Mystic Velvet. You can just check it out, watch a performance or two, and be done. Or you can go to one of the bedrooms with someone you meet there."

Rye knew that Cora wouldn't have to keep pushing much longer before she would be convinced. Was it possible for a dominant male partner to be in full control without making the other person feel hated and worthless? And without any pain?

Cora seemed convinced that it was indeed possible. And Rye trusted Cora completely. She knew she was in good hands. And with Sashelle involved, she would have two amazing women watching her back while she explored the possibilities of sex without Brent.

"Alright, let's do it."

Cora let out an ear-piercing shriek, briefly making Rye regret her decision. But then she grinned, feeling pretty good about the chance to see what another partner could offer her that Brent never managed.

Sashelle arrived an hour later, with three outfits that made Rye blush. But after two glasses of wine, wearing a low-cut, black latex dress with corset-style red lacing in the back suddenly seemed like a good idea. Cora and Sashelle even somehow managed to convince her to wear tiny, red lace panties under the very short skirt.

She allowed them to pamper her while they continued their wine-fuelled Brent-bashing. They put makeup on her that was much more dramatic than anything she had ever done for herself. Her reddish-brown hair was left loose to tumble over her shoulders. She completed the outfit with her favourite high heeled shoes, the ones Sashelle called her 'stripper heels'.

Later that night, after having finished the bottle of wine amongst the three of them, they rode up to the Mystic Velvet. It was a sex club with live performances on a large stage, private rooms, and all sorts of equipment to play with. Rye had never been there, but Cora and Sashelle were both avid practitioners of BDSM with their partners (and sometimes with each other).

The moment they entered, Rye knew that this was different than anything she had experienced with Brent. The atmosphere was strangely comforting. The lights were dim, the music was low and sensual. On stage, a couple acted out a scenario, demonstrating a complex suspended position.

The club's floor was tiered. In front of the stage was the lowest tier, which was a large empty space, most likely a dance floor. Cora and Sashelle had told Rye that there was always dancing, like one would see at any nightclub, after the performances.

On the second tier, there were tables and booths everywhere, not unlike any other pub or dinner theatre. But the people were all dressed in varying degrees of fetish gear. Definitely not something one would see in most public places.

"Oh! Lisette and Paolo are here." Sashelle suddenly exclaimed.

Rye and Cora followed her to a table where a couple were sitting together, the woman in the man's lap. The two of them were kissing in a way that made Rye think they would soon excuse themselves to a private room.

The two of them stopped making out when they saw they had company. They smiled widely.

"Sashelle! Cora! I didn't know you were coming tonight." Lisette said.

"Who's your friend?" Paolo asked, looking at Rye in a way that made her shiver, but not unpleasantly.

"This is Rye. She got rid of her douchebag boyfriend and now she needs to get herself a proper dom." Sashelle explained, no beating around the bush.

"Mr. Douche didn't understand the game very well." Cora muttered.

Lisette and Paolo both frowned.

"Safe word violations?" Lisette asked. Rye nodded, making Lisette hiss in anger.

"And hitting, too. I'm into domination and bondage. Not pain." Rye elaborated.

"Yeah, that's not how it's supposed to work." Paolo agreed. "You definitely need to try it with someone more experienced and respectful."

"That's why she's here." Sashelle declared. "So, know anyone who could give her what she needs?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Paolo said with a grin. Rye suddenly had the feeling that this conversation had been rehearsed somehow. "My friend Liam."

Rye swallowed. If they already knew someone who could give her the experience she craved, was there any reason not to go through with it? Her knee jerk reaction was to refuse. But the idea of a man finally satisfying that need to have her control taken away was getting more difficult to resist.

"Liam's a great idea!" Cora exclaimed, a little too dramatically for Rye to believe she hadn't known that this is exactly what Paolo was about to suggest.

"Is he here tonight?" Sashelle asked excitedly.

"Not yet, but I can call and tell him I need him to come take care of someone."

Rye groaned and slammed her head against the table. "This is so embarrassing."

"Pff! Look where you are! There's no reason to feel embarrassed in a place like this." Cora stated.

Lisette stood up from Paolo's lap and took Rye's hand. "Come on, let's go have a chat while he calls Liam, sub to sub."

Rye glanced nervously at her friends, but they gave her thumbs up and sat down at the table with Paolo, who was already pulling out his phone.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." She admitted nervously.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Lisette told her as they walked around the club slowly, occasionally saying hi to other members that Lisette knew. "But Liam is a great guy, and a fantastic dom."

"And you think it's possible to enjoy BDSM without pain?"

"Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?"

"I guess it's just what people always imagine when they think about this sort of thing."

"It's sex. There's so many different ways to have it. If pain's not your thing, I can guarantee we could think of all sorts of other stuff to do that would blow your mind. In a good way."

Rye allowed herself a small smile. Talking with Lisette was actually helping, despite not knowing her at all.

When they noticed Paolo was finished on his phone, they returned to the table, and Lisette sat on Paolo's lap once more. Rye sat next to Cora.

"Liam agreed to come tonight. In more ways than one." Paolo joked, making Rye groan again. She hoped she was making the right choice.

For the next half hour, they watched the show on the stage, and Rye was starting to feel more relaxed. The scenarios depicted on the stage were actually exactly what she wanted. So far, she hadn't seen any sort of hitting. One of the partners was simply restrained, and pleasured while being unable to escape the endless stimulations.

This was precisely what had attracted her to bondage in the first place. The idea of being powerless. Ironically, there was something incredibly freeing about it. She had gotten a hint of it when she and Brent had doggy-style sex. With her face on the bed, and her genitals on full display for him, it was a very submissive position, and it soon became her favourite. The problems began when she admitted this to him, and then she wondered out loud if they could do more stuff like that.

It was hard not to feel guilt or shame about wanting to be dominated. Every social instinct told her it was bad for a woman to give all her power to a man in this day and age. She shouldn't voluntarily agree for a man to be her master. But it wasn't like that at all. She just couldn't put into words why she wanted to be dominated during sex. She just knew that it was what she wanted. And being surrounded by other people who wanted the same thing made her feel a lot less like a freak.

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw Paolo check his phone, grin, and then turn around to look towards the back of the room where the doors were. Rye knew that this meant Liam, whoever he was, had arrived.

Sure enough, Paolo lifted his hand and waved someone over. Rye took a deep breath, bracing herself, and turned around as well.

Her jaw nearly dropped, but she managed to keep it contained. He was not at all what she had been expecting. Because unlike most people present, including the men, who wore fetish outfits, Liam wore a suit.

Rye's mouth practically began watering at the sight of him. He was tall, with broad shoulders, and a compact but muscular build. He looked like he had just come from a fancy business meeting. He exuded confidence and authority, the likes of which she had never seen a man demonstrate. Especially not Brent, who she could now see was a weak, pathetic man. She knew right away that this Liam guy was the one to make her forget all about Brent. And she was perfectly fine with that.

"Hey Liam, thanks for coming." Paolo greeted him. "Your playmate for tonight is Rye, this lovely lady right here."

Liam turned to look at her right in the eyes and Rye felt her breath hitch. His piercing blue eyes seemed like they were staring right into her soul. As if he could see everything about her.

"Rye, it's nice to meet you. I'm Liam." He greeted her, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you too." She said a little breathlessly at the sound of his soothing voice, extending her hand as well.

To her surprise, he didn't shake it. Instead, he lowered his head to kiss the back of her hand. Her lips parted delicately, a little stunned, but so very turned on.

Still holding her hand, he pulled her up, and took her spot on the seat. Then he wrapped his other arm around her waist and gently pulled her down onto his lap. Rye could do nothing but follow his lead. She had known him a grand total of five seconds, and yet he could already have her do something without uttering a single word.

Rye nervously placed her arm around his shoulders and tried to relax. She was so entranced by him that it was very strange for her. His mere presence had rendered her completely speechless.

She was relieved, however, that he hadn't immediately grabbed her and taken her to a private room. He seemed to be perfectly fine with taking his time.

The six of them watched the show together, chatting a bit, commenting on what they were watching and debating whether they would ever want to try something like that.

As they sat there, Liam began to touch Rye. It wasn't overtly sexual. And yet it still felt incredibly sensual. He let his finger slide down her arm slowly at one point, making her shiver. His other hand on her waist held her tightly against him.

Emboldened, Rye let her head rest in the crook of his neck, and planted soft kisses there. After a moment, Liam turned his head and captured her lips with his. Rye brought her other arm up so she could wrap both of them around his neck as she allowed her lips to part.

Liam gently touched his tongue to hers, deepening the kiss. Rye lost all awareness of the fact that she was in public, and allowed Liam to kiss her senseless.

After a few minutes, he pulled away and held her face in his hand.

"I'd like to take you to one of the private rooms, if you're willing."

Rye didn't even hesitate. "Yes."

After years of having sex happen to her without any say in how it would actually proceed, it felt amazing to be able to choose this. And she knew right away that she would be able to set the parameters of their encounter without Liam complaining like Brent had always done until she gave in to his demands.

Liam stood up and gently set her down on her feet before taking her hand once more and leading her away from the group. She gave her best friends a quick wave and a smile to reassure them that she was doing this of her own free will, and followed Liam out of the lounge.

He took her upstairs and led her to one of the rooms. Rye could hear the muffled sounds of pleasure coming from some of the others. Instead of feeling awkward about it, she was excited.

All the rooms were closed, but not all of them had signs on the doorknob to indicate that they were currently in use. Liam pulled a keycard from his pocket and unlocked the door to one of the empty rooms. She realized that he had already reserved it for them.

She stepped into the room, a fairly simple one with a queen size bed. There were restraints set up on the posts for members to use. There was also a cozy chair facing the bed, for the dom to observe the effects of their work on their sub.

There was also a large mirror taking up nearly an entire wall. This made Rye squeeze her legs together tightly. Watching herself during sex was something she absolutely adored. She had always wanted to record a video, but luckily, she never risked asking Brent to do it, too afraid that he would post it on a porn site without her permission.

"Before we start, I need to know your safe word." Liam said, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it on a hook.

Rye sat down on the bed, a little stiffly, but she was still excited to be there.

"Hummingbird."

"Easy enough to remember. And from what I hear, you're not interested in pain, correct?"

Rye nodded.

"How do you feel about ropes?" He asked.

"I've never tried, but I'm curious. My... my ex always used pre-made restraints."

"Ropes are my specialty, so I'd like to try them on you if you like."

"I'd like to try." Rye agreed.

With that, Liam opened a satchel that he had placed on the chair and pulled out skeins of beautiful purple rope.

He turned and approached her, holding up the rope.

"Does this scare you?" He asked.

"No." Rye replied truthfully.

"Nor should it. If it does, say the word, and I'll cut you free."

To prove his point, he reached into the satchel again and produce a pair of large scissors, placing them on the dresser beside the bed, well within reach.

"I assume we also need some of these?"

Rye watched as he removed a condom from the bag. She nodded. She didn't care how nice he was, she wasn't going to take a stupid risk like that with a stranger, no matter who had vouched for him.

But she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. This was already better than anything she had done with Brent, and they had just done some foreplay and set some ground rules. Despite Liam being a stranger, she already felt safer and more comfortable with him than she did after five years in an intimate relationship with Brent.