Positioning Bella in a wide stance underneath the suspension ring, Peter starts on the rope harness she will be hanging from later. I normally anchor my bondage at her upper back, but he seems to have something else in mind. He winds the rope double-stranded around her upper thighs, then brings it around her ass and over her hip back to the leg he started on. He obviously intends to anchor the center of her weight there, leaving more range of movement to her torso.

He follows this with more rope around her lower thighs before he tells her to lie on her back on the floor. With her arms tied behind her it takes some maneuvering on her part to get into position, but she eventually manages when no one steps in to help her. Once she is stretched out, Peter connects the thick bundles of rope on her upper thighs to the ring that he has lowered further, then adds more rope around her legs – above and below the knee – to also tie those binds to the center ring above her. At last he runs a rope through the ties on her torso to pull in the breast bondage, too.

Once he has made sure that all the knots are holding, he nods at me and I walk over to the winch, hoisting Bella into the air, her entire body parallel to the floor. Peter tells me to stop once she has reached about hip level of everyone standing there, then continues with her ankles, tying them to the thigh ropes that also hold most of her weight.

That way Bella is pretty much helpless and without much range of movement, beyond a little in her legs, and some in her neck. I almost expect Peter to be done but he makes one last trip to the rope rack, returning with two lengths of twine that he subsequently ties around her nipples, the barbell in each piercing anchoring the string and letting him wind it around her nipples tightly. The other end of the twine goes up to the suspension ring as well, forcing her to slightly arch her back to relieve the tension. It all looks relatively harmless, but I know that half an hour from now her whole body will ache from the strain of just keeping her back straight – and I get the feeling that they won't just let her hang decoratively around like this, either.

Beth joins Peter where he's standing next to Bella, and she beams her signature evil grin down at her soon-to-be victim. A pluck on the strings attached to Bella's nipples yields a rather loud grunt, but as usual Beth isn't satisfied until she has made someone scream – a lot. She and Peter then walk over to her supplies, talking in hushed voices, clearly working on some last minute idea. Charlotte meanwhile takes Peter's former place by Bella's side, smiling down at her while she undoes Bella's ponytail and lets her hair cascade down a good distance towards the floor.

She straightens and looks down Bella's body, before she starts touching her again, all soft caresses, staying away from anything important. There's not really that much of Bella's torso left that's not either covered by her corset or with rope so Charlotte walks around her to stroke her thighs, making Bella strain a little towards her in hopes that Charlotte will touch her in more intimate places than her knees.

Beth and Peter return, making Bella look away from Charlotte and regard the other two upside-down as she hangs her head. Peter is armed with a heavy flogger and a paddle while Beth seems to have returned empty-handed. I'm not fooled, though, seeing that she hides something in her right fist between her body, away from where Bella can see it. From the way Bella is frowning I think she doesn't buy it either, but of course she doesn't say anything.

Stepping between Bella's spread thighs, Beth scrutinizes the two rings I've used to replace Bella's piercing jewelry, then gently tugs on them.

"Does that hurt?"

"No, Mistress."

Beth allows herself a small smile at the quick reply, then pulls rather roughly on them again. A low groan, part pain, part pleasure, answers her, but she repeats her question nevertheless. Bella's reply remains the same, although now her tone is somewhat strained.

"Well, if that's the case, I'm sure you won't have any problems with these, either."

An expert at knowing when a well placed pause has more impact than any threat, she waits for a moment, then clips a thin chain to the clasp of the padlock, and starts adding weights to the dangling end of it. Bella lets out a throaty mumble that I think is a half-swallowed curse, the muscles in her thighs standing out when she tenses to brace for more pain to come. And more pain is coming, one added weight at a time, each underlined by Bella's soft gasps, then louder ones, until Beth's hand is empty.

Still grinning brightly, Beth walks around Bella and stops by her head, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Does it hurt now?"

"Yes, Mistress!"

"Good," she retorts, then turns her head and glances over to where Gerard is still standing without having moved a muscle since greeting me. "Fetch me one of the blocks from over there."

He quickly obeys, bringing one of the makeshift wooden steps to her that mostly get used as a replacement for stairs – or to level height differences.

He dutifully puts it down underneath Bella's head before he steps away again, eyes downcast.

Meanwhile, Peter hands Charlotte the paddle, then takes position between Bella's legs.

"Keep your knees spread."

Bella tries to increase the distance between her thighs as much as she can, considering how she is tied up, and tenses with anticipation. Unlike Beth and me, Peter's sadistic side rarely surfaces, which is a good thing, considering that for his wife an over the knee spanking equals punishment.

But like us, he's never one to pass up a chance when it presents itself, so when he brings the flogger down on Bella's left thigh it is with enough force to make her jerk in her bonds. Her knees remain open, though, and he continues, his pace measured and his aim true.

Bella's forehead is soon scrunched up with pain and concentration, but Beth doesn't give her much of a chance to let herself mentally fall into the flogging. Undoing a zipper at the side of her long leather skirt, she swings her freed leg over Bella's head and onto the step, bringing her pussy right in front of Bella's face.

"Lick me."

Bella has to crane her neck to be able to reach Beth, but I can't say if Beth reaching down and grabbing her hair to pull her head up is really 'helping'

much. The image of her grinding her pussy into Bella's face while she keeps her head locked there is certainly hot, and Bella quickly sets to the task, whether her roots are killing her or not.

For a brief while it is almost silent in the playroom, except for Peter's even strokes of the flogger on Bella's thighs. Only when he switches targets and aims at her cunt, incidentally making the chain with the weights swing, do things get a little more interesting.

It's impossible to say if the muffled sounds she's making are from pain or pleasure, and I'm sure that by now Bella has serious trouble discerning between the two anyway. Beth definitely approves of the added vibrations, allowing herself a moan or two, her hips rocking against Bella's face.

"Oh, you like that, do you? Being in the middle of all that attention, our little painslut and fucktoy?"

Bella's unintelligible answer is clearly affirmative, even if it ends in a high shout as Peter switches to the paddle. The next contact of leather on her pussy is a lot more painful than Bella must have anticipated. She even tries to close her legs and buck away from him, but there's not enough freedom in the bonds to let her do that. Instead of stopping, Peter increases both the speed and strength of the hits until Bella stops fighting, instead screaming into Beth's pussy.

Once he's satisfied with having made his point, he slows down and concentrates on her thighs instead, and Bella's sobs are almost drowned out by Beth's moans. Apparently Bella hasn't really stopped licking and sucking on her pussy, or is increasing her efforts now, because it doesn't take long until Beth comes, briefly smothering Bella as she keeps her locked in place.

Bella lets her head hang down once Beth lets go of her hair, her face red and sticky now, but before she can relax, Charlotte appears by her side.

"My turn now. Open your mouth."

She waits patiently until Bella raises her head again, then inserts a ball gag with a dildo attached on the outside into Bella's mouth, quickly buckling the straps in place to prevent her from spitting it out. Charlotte barely has to roll up the hem of her dress to be able to straddle Bella's head, then slides down on the dildo until her pussy is almost flush with Bella's nose.

"Fuck me. I'm not going to do the work for you."

Bella sets to the task with fervor, even though the strain must be killing her neck, and almost immediately a string of muffled groans leaves her throat.

A quick look at the tautness of the strings leading up from her nipples reveals the source for those – and they increase exponentially when Beth starts plucking on them while watching the dildo disappear into Charlotte's pussy over and over again.

Peter eventually stops paddling Bella to watch what is going on, and after about a minute or so steps up to them to fondle Charlotte's breasts while kissing her passionately. At his quick direction she undoes the fly of his pants and starts stroking his cock while still kissing him, right next to Bella's face where she can see. Soon Charlotte is begging to come. When Peter finally allows her to, she does so with a loud scream before she eases herself off the dildo, right onto her knees where Peter starts to fuck her from behind. Bella's gaze is transfixed on them, ignoring Beth while she removes her gag, at least until Beth pulls on the strings surrounding her nipples, hard enough to make Bella scream and snap her head up.

Smiling as if she hasn't done anything, Beth then turns to Gerard, almost forgotten on the sidelines again. She just snaps her fingers and points at the floor, making him drop to his knees and crawl over to her immediately.

He follows her dutifully as she walks to the area between Bella's legs, then pulls the butt plug out of her. It only takes another point of her hand and he lowers his face to Bella's ass, then starts to lick around and into her anus, still open from hours of wearing the plug.

Bella relaxes almost instantly, enjoying the sensation even when Beth unclips the weighted chain, which makes her yowl for a moment. Gerard only uses his tongue and lips, his hands obediently on his thighs, and he soon has Bella trying to rock into his face as much as the bonds let her.

Her eyes stray in my direction for a moment before she goes back to watching Charlotte get banged from behind, idly licking her lips all the while.

Peter finally climaxes, pulling out at the last moment so he can shoot his come all over Charlotte's back, then helps her to her feet. She's still a little unsteady and leans into his embrace as they both watch Gerard continue to lick Bella's ass, making her sigh and moan softly every so often.

"Do you think she looks bored? I think she needs a little something to challenge her," Charlotte observes dryly. Beth nods, then picks up a bottle of lube and commands Gerard to stop, with another snap of her fingers. He pulls away and remains kneeling at her side.

After having had to strain her neck for so long, Bella simply doesn't have the energy anymore to see what is going on between her legs. While Gerard and Beth switch places she slumps in her bonds, but tenses a little again when she feels Beth's well-lubricated fingers push into her ass.

Clearly enjoying the sensation, she soon tries to hump back but with little success, besides making the strings pull on her nipples a little more. After all the action Bella's ass has seen today it doesn't take long until Beth has four of her fingers worked in, but it actually takes her tucking her thumb in and easing it along slowly with yet more lube for Bella to catch on.

That moment is easy to recognize for she goes still, then her eyes snap to me, wide and full of need even from upside down. She utters a barely audible 'fuck!' under her breath, making me smirk at her, before she relaxes almost completely.

"What did you just say?" Beth asks with a teasing lilt to her voice, her fingers already pushing in up to her knuckles.

"Nothing, Mistress."

"Are you sure? Because I swear I heard you say something. Some kind of protest maybe?"

"No, Mistress."

Beth pushes a little more, then stops, withdrawing a bit so she can squirt more lube onto her hand, and as if in afterthought, also over Bella's clit.

Holding the bottle out to Gerard, she doesn't even look to see if he's ready to catch it before she lets go, then starts rubbing Bella's clit while continuing to work her fist into her ass.

Until then Bella has been good about keeping herself in check, but with her body tired and screaming for release, plus the added excitement, the more direct stimulation soon makes her jerk in her bonds and moan loudly. Her eyes flutter shut but snap open every so often, and she's writhing in the ropes as much as the tight restriction will let her.

Bella seems close to begging for release when Beth finally has mercy on her nerves and pushes that little bit more, making Bella's anus ease up enough to allow her entire hand to slide inside. Yet unlike me, Beth doesn't stop there but continues to rotate her wrist and move her hand inside Bella, not easing up until Bella's hoarse moan cuts through the room.

"Please let me come, Mistress!"

"Not yet."

Frustration has Bella screwing her eyes shut and balling her hands into fists where they are still bound underneath her back.

"Please, please, PLEASE!" she keeps shouting, fighting in her bonds and inevitably adding even more friction to what Beth is already supplying.

The answer, though, remains the same. "No."

Bella actually starts crying with frustration then, her body torn between going rigid with the impending orgasm she's trying to fight and the dire need to come. I've seldom seen her this horny. Hours of teasing with little relief have left her strung out, but even between her sobs she continues to ask and plead.

My cock is so painfully hard that I nearly come myself when Beth finally utters a single, low, "Come," but to watch Bella succumb and thrash around in the ropes is more rewarding in some ways. Beth continues to fuck Bella until she goes still again, then slows down a little but she still manages to coax another orgasm out of her barely two minutes after the first.

Beth finally withdraws her hand with a sloppy sound, then holds it out to Gerard to lick it clean, but my concentration is on Bella alone now as I walk over to her and crouch down next to her face. Her eyes are half closed, her face a mess of snot, tears, sweat and makeup, but she has seldom looked more beautiful to me. I kiss her gently at first but she's obviously hungry for my attention, deepening the kiss and sucking eagerly on my tongue when I push it into her mouth.

Her reaction tells me one thing clearly – she may now be too tired to even kneel on the floor, but she's still horny as fuck, and there's no need for me to hold back. Gathering her hair in my hand as much to support her head as to wrench it up so I can sneer in her face, I stare down at her.

"I'm now going to fuck your cunt, and you better fucking come again before I'm done with you, do you understand?"

She nods eagerly, her gaze feverish and filled with need. I let go of her and quickly walk around her, pushing down my pants. My previous assessment has been partly true – swollen as her labia still are, the piercings are high enough so I can comfortably thrust my cock into her pussy, although I'm sure she feels every single motion magnified on the outside now, too.

Grabbing the ropes that keep her suspended I start fucking her, pulling her towards me as much as thrusting forward. She's so wet and ready that I feel my resistance dwindle fast, her cunt gripping my cock soon as she's about to obey the one order she rarely gets to hear.

"Please let me-" she still starts to beg, but as much as I love hearing her voice, right now it just speeds things up for me beyond what I want.

"Come!" I bark at her, then throw my head back and do my best not to succumb myself when I feel her squeeze me hard, her whole body bucking in her bonds. Try as I might, I don't manage to hold out much longer than a couple of seconds, then spend myself deep inside her yet again.

The huge advantage of having three people in the same scene who know their way around ropes is that it takes a fraction of the time it would normally take to get Bella out of bondage once she's gently lowered down onto the floor. Before long I have the sniffling, laughing, satisfied mess that she is in my arms, leaving unspeakable gunk on my clothes although I really don't give a shit about that. The only thing I care about is her smile and her eager kisses, and the sure knowledge that one way or another, I've given her exactly what she wants.

It takes a while to coax some cookies and coke into her to give her body enough sustenance so I can help her up and to the showers. She insists she can clean herself up sufficiently on her own, sitting on the floor of the shower stall, thank you very much. I leave her to it but wait just outside the door, ready to jump in should she need me, but certain that I'm being overprotective. Even when she comes wobbling out she's torn between trying to put up a cocky front and just meekly submitting to my not-quite-suggestion when I hold out some sweat pants and a sweater to her. She finally admits that we'll be both faster and less prone to hazards if I just pick her up and carry her to the car.

I leave Beth to clean up the mess after she shouts at me to be gone, strap-on in hand while she kicks Gerard's discarded clothes to the side. I leave them to their evening entertainment to join Bella in the car. Peter and Charlotte have left already, and I'm happy to be home twenty minutes later.

Bella is too tired to shower a second time so I just deposit her on the bed, then quickly undress both of us and crawl under the covers with her. I reach down between her legs to switch the piercing rings to her usual jewelry but she bats my hand away and in no uncertain terms tells me that until morning she's quite happy to remain my pleasure slave in every sense of the word.

Lucky for her I'm tired enough not to take her up on that, but simply curl myself around her, happy to simply be here with her in my arms. She's about to fall asleep when I nudge her awake again so I can kiss her, and tell her how much I love her. Grinning brightly she mumbles something into my mouth when she kisses me in turn that I think is the conventional reply to all such statements, or the ever classic 'I know,' but she's out cold before I can tease her about it.

Only when I'm about to drift off myself do I realize that even though we have the entire bed to ourselves tonight, we're still curled up together on the right half of it. The other side of it is glaringly empty, and it's missing more than just a warm body to snuggle up against Bella's chest.

Chapter 37

"Honeys, I'm home!"

My eyes flutter open at the sound of a familiar voice floating up through the condo to the bedroom. I blink, half turning to the side so I can get a look at the alarm clock.

7:09 A.M.

Jazz shouldn't even have left California yet, and still, somehow he's already home. I feel a smile tug at the corner of my mouth, my brain still sluggish with sleep, as I listen to the telltale sound of the fridge door opening and closing. Then steps on the stairs, and the bedroom door is flung open.