Free In Training by Michelle Robbins Page B

say?"
    Liz winked. "He said you were a tolerable slave."
    She blinked. "Tolerable? That's praiseworthy?"
    "For Seth, yes." Liz nodded. She used both hands to raise her coffee mug to her mouth and sip. "Normally, he states, 'good for the occasional blowjob' or 'I wouldn't collar it.' He's said to Mike once or twice, 'I wouldn't fuck it with your dick.' I don't think he graduated those cases."
    "Not a very stellar report card."
    "Not one I'd want to take home."
    More giggles arrived, filling their corner of the bistro. Patrons passed by their table, smiling at the overflowing good humor. Kids hustled cheerfully between the tables, laughing and carrying drinks capped with whipped cream and decorated with rainbow-colored sparkles. Liz and Abby huddled closer, their voices dropping with their shared secret.
    "If they only knew," said Abby.
    "Their mothers would run screaming," Liz agreed. She set her mug down and sat back, eyeing Abby with an impish gaze. "So, have you and Seth had any more sex?"
    "Yes, every time he's over. Why do you ask?"
    The spoon Liz used to stir her coffee came to a sudden stop against the side of the mug. She stared at Abby, eyes wide and mouth gaping. "You're telling me that you and Seth have been sexually active together since your training began?"
    "Is that wrong? That's what masters and slaves do together, right?"
    "Abby that's...that's incredible."
    "I don't understand."
    "As a rule, Seth keeps his dick out of the training pens. He says it keeps things from getting complicated."
    "Complicated?"
    "Seth is not looking for a slave and doesn't get attached to those he trains." Liz hesitated before continuing. "That's why I tried to warn you off. Usually, that's a road to heartbreak."
    "Because getting emotional with someone who isn't likewise interested in me would be hurtful."
    "Yes. You know"--a pause where Liz shrugged one shoulder--"complicated."
    They sat in silence for a moment, each deep in her own thoughts. In time Abby found the courage to ask the question uppermost in her mind.
    "Why doesn't he own a slave?"
    "For the same reason that he keeps himself protected these days--Mara."
    The name didn't ring any of Abby's bells. "Who?"
    "Seth hasn't told you? I guess he wouldn't have since he's only training you."
    Lost at sea is exactly how Abby felt. "I'm confused. What does training me matter?"
    Liz concentrated on the coffee mug in her hands. "Seth is a private person. He doesn't share himself easily. The story of Mara is his story to tell."
    Her body language couldn't speak more plainly of a refusal to say anything more, so Abby didn't push. Instead, she glanced outside. It was a normal spring evening as far as she could tell. Budding trees nodded in the cool breeze; the steel gray sky was heavy with pregnant clouds that hung over the reddening west; people dressed in bright raincoats moved about their daily lives. She reviewed her first evening with Seth.
    "I suppose that's why he looked like he was making a major decision before screwing me that first time."
    "I was not happy to hear you two had done so. I worried about..."
    "Complications?" she offered at Liz's hesitation.
    Liz smiled. "Just so."
    But something didn't add up. "Why does he bring condoms if he's not interested in sex?"
    "He uses them for oral sex," Liz said on another shrug. "I'm told Seth prefers to be protected at all times when he's with a kennel slave. Rumor has it he does so because when he chooses a slave for his own, his preference is to go commando. Hence, Mara-- Oh! Um..."
    Abby blinked in surprise. She and Seth had never used protection during oral sex, not that she recalled. They'd always been skin to skin--rather mouth to skin--since their first time together. A condom during oral sex would be annoying, sure, but with reality of mouth-to-genital transmissions of illnesses she could understand the need, unless both had clean bills of health and were exclusive. "Therefore keeping him at low-risk for what he calls