Catturata
by Annabelle
Part 2

Hi everyone. I was really happy to find out how much a lot of you liked my last story about Jason and Annabelle...so, given a lot of urging, I am writing another one. And of course, it wouldn't have happened at all without the help of Zack and Graham! I can't say how much I appreciate the help they have given me! Hope you like this one too! :)

For background, read Graham's Settlement stories.

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I had to call the police... I had to call the police.... wait... I couldn't call the police, what was I thinking! Here I was naked and bound in a home belonging to Jason Laird, and I wanted to call the police? Even if they believed my story, that I put myself in bondage and discovered this intruder in my house, the scandal would still destroy Jason... and my restaurant.

I couldn't call the police, at least not unless Jason said so. Oh lord, I wished he were here, I needed him!

So it was Jason I decided to call. Only as I started toward the phone another thought struck me. What if the guy woke up while I was on the phone? What if he came after me? Bound as I was, I was no match for him, and couldn't even run and escape, since I was connected to the girl rails. Even if I went and hid in my cage, he could still get to me, for the cage door was designed for easy access from the outside. It was only meant to keep me in, not anyone else out!

What if he woke up?

Before I could call Jason, I had to do something about that. So I headed for the playroom where most of the cuffs and chains and other toys we had were stored, and working somewhat by touch since my hands were trapped behind me, I pulled out two sets of cuffs connected by a short chain. I had no keys to open much of what was stored in that room, but these cuffs were regular police-style ratchet cuffs, so I didn't need keys.

Never had my chains sounded so loud to me as they did when I tried to sneak back to the bathroom. Every step I took was accompanied by steel on steel, sounding my approach. I had always loved that sound, but now it was my enemy, and I was very afraid when I got to the door and peeked in.

The guy was still out cold, mostly on his front, his arms out beside him, which was good. If he had been lying on an arm, I doubt I could have carried out my plan. And yet, I wondered how I was supposed to put these cuffs on him, cuffed and bound as I was. It would mean pretty much sitting on the guy in order to reach!

But I had no choice, I had to do something, so I walked toward him, my hobble chain clanging against the tile floor, my tether chain jingling as it pulled along the girl rail, until I stood next to my naked intruder.

As I crouched down I took a look at him, and a part of me noted how nicely built he was in his nudity. He had a mass of dark hair, all wavy and curly like I like it, and his face... somehow, his face looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. Still, I needed to move quickly, and I wasn't getting anywhere admiring this naked stranger.

I decided to cuff his ankles first, that way at least I could run... at least to the end of a girl rail, if he woke up. I had to sit down on the cold tile floor and scoot over on my butt, the cuffs in my bound hands. Craning my neck, I looked behind me and, my heart beating hard, I slipped the first cuff over one ankle and ratcheted it closed.

The sound of the cuff closing was very loud in the room, but the guy stayed out, so with a little adjustment I leaned back again and did his other ankle. That was when I started breathing again. But it wasn't over. The cuffs I had found were hogtie cuffs, and to lock the second set on his wrists I had to bring his legs up. But, if I did that I wouldn't have a hand free to handle the second set. Besides, I still needed his hands behind him. So I tackled that first.

Fully aware of both my nudity and his, I got up and stepped across him, my hobble chain barely long enough to give me any slack. And that's when I had the idea on how to get this done. I moved again to stand beside him, and balancing carefully, I used one foot to lift one of his arms up and across the small of his back. I did so very carefully, afraid he was going to wake the moment I touched him, but he stayed asleep.

The other arm was harder, since there wasn't enough room between him and the tub for me to stand in the same place. So I sorta had to stand at an angle, my legs pressed against his hip, as I maneuvered his arm up and across the first. All this exertion and nervous tension was making me sweat, and I could feel it on my skin, especially my face which I wished I could wipe. But bound like this I could never touch my own face, so I just had to deal with it. At least my long, dark hair was still up, I hadn't unpinned it yet.

But if that was hard, the next bit was harder. I had to somehow lift both his ankles to meet his wrists. But I thought I knew how I could do that. I stepped back until I stood at his feet, and shuffled forward until my hobble chain was under his shins. The last thing I wanted to do was to finish his hogtie and find myself stupidly trapped by my hobble chain. So I made sure that wouldn’t happen.

Then I squatted down, my parted knees giving him a very close view of my bald pussy, if he happened to look that is, and practically had to sit on him in order to reach the cuffs on his ankles. The next part was tough, trying to stand with little balance, while lifting his ankles and bending his legs at the knees, all while trying not to fall on him. But breathing hard, I managed to do it, and after shuffling forward even more, I was successful in bringing his ankles up and almost over.

But... the further forward I had to go, the more his weight made it harder to move, and when I got stuck, I didn't think it was enough. Besides, I was facing the wrong way. To reach his wrists I needed to be at his shoulders this way. So carefully let go of his ankles and was surprised when they didn't fall to the floor. But they did fall when I pulled back my hobble chain from under him, and I was back to where I started.

Frustrated, I stopped to think, then decided to try again, only this time facing the other way. This worked better, I was able to squat and pick up his ankles and lift them up high before my hobble chain reached his knees. My only problem came as I shuffled back, the feel of his feet against my pussy, and I shuddered and almost dropped him. But I couldn't let that stop me, so back I went, bending his knees and lowering his ankles as I went, until I was sitting on him.

Well, at least half-sitting on his shins. But his feet were against his butt now, and nervously I fumbled around behind my back until I got both cuffs in my hands. A mad, mad thought struck me at that moment, to lock his cuffs onto mine... but I wasn't that crazy, and instead, all by touch, I closed the cuffs on his wrists and carefully stood up. Now I felt a lot safer, and maneuvered myself and my tether chain until I was standing by the door again, out of his reach.

But what was he doing here taking a shower? Who was this guy?

I was about to find the phone and call Jason when I saw his clothes piled in a corner. His wallet was visible, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to see what sort of burglar would break in carrying a wallet. So I crouched down next to his pants, pulled out his wallet and laid it open on the floor. Turning around to look at it, I read the name on the New York driver's licence...

Christopher Laird... Christopher Laird... Chris Laird, Jason Laird's youngest son. No wonder he looked familiar!

But I had just knocked out and handcuffed Jason's youngest son, oh my god! But... what the hell was he doing here, he lived in New York, I thought!

That's when I heard a groan. He was waking up.

Scared, confused, and very sorry, I watched as Chris came back to the world, and when he opened his eyes the first thing he saw was me... which was when I noticed that the way I was crouching, he wasn't missing anything! Embarrassed and blushing furiously, I changed position to kneel sideways on to him a bit.

He was still blinking the sleep out of his eyes though, and only really came awake when he tried to move. That's when he discovered he was chained up and he began to struggle hard against the cuffs and chains. But like I said, Jason didn't buy anything cheap, and they were strong enough even hold a well built man like Chris. But he was going to hurt himself, and I called out to say so, which made him stop and look at me again.

"What the fuck is going on here!" he yelled. "Who are you, and why... why am I cuffed? Why are you naked, and are those chains on you too? What the hell is going on!"

"It's okay," I kept saying, wishing that it was, "It's okay."

"Like hell it's okay," he growled. "What's going on, are we in trouble? Who are you, and what are you doing here!"

"I should ask you that, Chris!" I yelled back, angry and confused now.

"What? How do you know my name, who the hell are you?"

"My name is Annabelle," I told him, "And I know who you are because your dad told me about you!"

"Dad?" he said, looking very confused, then the penny dropped. "Annabelle. Yeah, I heard about you. Dad's latest thing. But why the hell are you naked and why did you cuff me up like this?"

Latest thing, I thought...

"I cuffed you up because I thought you were an intruder, and I was afraid," I said, still annoyed more than anything else by this arrogant naked man.

"An intruder? I'm no intruder. I always use the guest house when I'm in town." Chris said, struggling again. I could sympathize with his discomfort, those cuffs were nasty but effective. "I thought I'd have the place to myself!"

"Well... I live here," I said quietly.

Chris's eyes narrowed, and he looked me up and down. "You live here... naked?"

"Usually," I admitted, blushing again under his strong gaze.

"And was it Dad who put those chains on you?" Chris asked.

I just nodded, almost unable to look at him. His anger flowed in waves from him, and with it came a masculine power that apparently ran deep in the Laird men. Even though he was the more helpless one, I felt very small kneeling next to him.

"Then go get the fucking keys and let me out of these cuffs!" he growled.

I was so afraid of how he would react, I almost didn't want to tell him that there were no keys that I could reach. But I did so, and Chris did not look happy.

"Then how the hell do you get out of your cuffs?"

"I don't, I have to wait for Jason!"

"Then go get him! What the fuck are you waiting for!"

"I can't!" I said, so upset that I was trying not to cry. Chris's attitude and my whole, stressful day was mounting up on me by then. "He isn't here!"

Chris laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh, more a disgusted one. "He went and left you alone like that, naked and chained up! God, that sounds like Dad, that really does."

"Hey! Jason is a good man!" I yelled at him, angry and upset.

Chris paused. "Sorry. I know. Look, Dad's always been a bit, strange. But... I just want out of these fucking cuffs. Is there any way?"

"No, I don't have keys." I mumbled back, wondering about his apology.

"Well, when is he due back?"

"Some time tomorrow!" I guessed.

"Oh the fuck no! I can't stay like this until tomorrow. Go call him, go on... or can't you reach a phone either!"

"I can reach the phone," I said.

"Then go, and find something to cover me with, will ya! You may have to run around naked for him, but I don't!"

"I don't have anything to put on you," I said truthfully. The girl rails let me get about the house pretty well, but all clothes, linens, anything I could use to cover up with, was out of my reach!

"I still don't believe this. Look, just get the fuck out and go call my dad, okay!"

Still angry, still upset, I stood up and headed for the door. As I passed through I looked back to see him watching me, and I knew as we girls usually knew, what he was looking at. So out of anger and a little disgust, I gave him the finger as I rounded the corner and vanished from his view. But as I walked down the hallway, dragging my tether chain along the girl rail, I was also relieved to leave him behind, and worried about what was going to happen next!

It didn't take me long to reach Jason on his cell phone, and as I talked to him, I thought I could hear jazz music in the background, and wondered if he was at a party.

"Annie, what's wrong?" he asked, and he sounded distracted, like my call was an inconvenience. Or maybe I just imagined it. I was so upset I didn't know what to think or feel. But I managed to explain about Chris being there, and our current situation.

Now, I don't hear Jason swear often, but he did this time, and I knew I had his focus when he next said something.

"Okay. Joe and I are coming right back. It'll take us about three hours to fly back and get to the house, but we are on the way. So just hold tight, Annabelle. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, Sir," I said, hearing the same confidence and strength in Jason's voice that I just heard in his son's. And I could easily imagine Jason standing in front of me, gray haired, a little weathered, yet tall and strong, and his voice echoed deep into me.

"In the mean time, go back and tell him that I'm coming, make him as comfortable as you can, and then go lock yourself in your cage." he ordered.

"My cage? Why?"

"Because I said so," he replied evenly, and I could tell that he was holding his own anger in check. "Is that a problem, girl?"

"No, Sir. Not a problem."

"Then go. We're leaving now." And he hung up.

I pushed the button on the speaker phone to shut it off, and nervously made my way back to the bathroom, stopping along the way to go down a side rail to grab a small cushion from the living room.

As I came around the bathroom doorway, I saw that Chris had shuffled closer to the door. "What did he say?" Chris asked, not looking at me.

"He's out of town. Joe is going to fly him back, but he won't be here for three hours," I reported.

"Oh, that's just great," he whispered.

"Jason said... to make you comfortable. But I'm afraid that all I can offer is a pillow for your head," I said, turning so he could see it in my bound hands.

Chris sighed. "Well, at least my splitting head will have something soft to lie on now."

I nodded and started into the bathroom, but he stopped me. "No, wait in the hallway. At least that's carpeted. I want to get off this fucking tile."

So I waited and listened as he struggled to the door, wanting to help, but feeling helpless to do so. I was still angry and hurt and upset, but the intensity was gone now. All that was left was a great unease, and discomfort at the whole situation.

Eventually he made it out to the carpeted hallway and lay on his side. I nervously approached him. Even though he was bound and in no position to touch me, I was still very aware that we were both naked, and that my putting a pillow under his head meant practically sticking my bare butt in his face, something he commented on.

"Well, if I have to be a prisoner for a few hours, you can't beat the view!"

I flushed and finished quickly, working just by touch, and then stood up as fast as I could. I turned to see him grinning at me, but his smile faded when he saw I wasn't playing along with his joke.

"Sorry. I guess I hadn't realized that this wasn't something you wanted, either," he said quietly.

"No, it isn't," I replied.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you either, for doing what you did. In your position, I guess it's easy to be afraid."

I was surprised that Chris understood, at least that much, and my surprise prevented me from saying a word. And I looked into his eyes, something I had tried to avoid doing, and saw a man... well... more man than I initially thought was there.

"You aren't afraid all the time, are you?" Chris asked slowly, "I mean... Dad doesn't make you afraid, does he?"

"No, of course not!" I said, finding my voice again. "Your father is a kind and loving man! He takes care of me, he doesn't hurt me."

Chris just looked at me, before laying his head back down.

"I have to go," I said, turning to head to my room.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Jason said to leave you be."

"You can't leave me alone here! Annabelle, come back!"

He kept yelling at me, but I ignored him and headed down the girl rails to my bedroom, closing the door behind me.

I felt exhausted, drained, both physically and emotionally. Chris's arrival was a huge shock, and I didn't like shocks like that.

I wanted my bed.

But my bed, because I know you guys are interested, was in a cage.

Bigger than the one in Jason's house, this cage took up half the room. It contained my futon pad, a toilet, and a working water fountain. Jason had also wanted to put in a TV and a book case in case I got bored. But I vetoed them because in my mind, being without anything in a cage helped focus the mind on what it was like to be in a cage.

However, Jason vetoed my veto on the water fountain. He told that in this part of the country, especially in the summer, he never wanted to leave me anywhere without a source of water. So the fountain stayed.

But like the cage in Jason's bedroom, this one was built well enough to hold an elephant, let alone a slim naked girl in chains, and once I closed the door behind me, I knew I wasn't getting out until someone decided to let me out. But don't worry, the latch on this cage, unlike at the Spree, was electronically locked, and would spring open if the power went out, or if the fire detector went off.

I passed through the door to my cage, tugged the tether chain in behind me, and then reached back and pulled it shut. All without thinking about it, all without any thought at all, except my worry about what Chris was doing here, and how it would affect Jason.

But... the last thoughts I had as I drifted to sleep curled up on my futon, was of Chris's naked body, and how nice it looked.

* * *

When I woke, it was to silence, and I knew I was alone in the house. There was a stillness in the air that only comes from being alone, so I felt sure that Jason had collected Chris by now. I rolled onto my front and stretched, lifting by bound arms up off my back and pointing my toes, working a little of the stiffness sleeping in this bondage gives me, even after so long. I enjoyed sleeping like this, but it was still hard to do.

My thoughts, however, drifted from what had happened here with Chris, to my coming busy day, although it wasn't easy to dismiss what had happened. Thoughts of Chris lying naked just down the hallway, kept me up and stirred for half of what was left of my night. I couldn't believe my reactions to all this. The man had invaded my home, yet for some reason all that tension decided to release itself in me as a base, sexual response. Was I becoming that much of a slut because of all the nudity and bondage I do for Jason?

This was something I didn't want to think about, so I forced the thoughts from my mind and concentrated on other things.

I would be meeting again today for more training with my crew, preparing for the big dinner. Yesterday, we started with just wrist cuffs, and today I planned on adding the hobble chains. It was Thursday today, so we had only a couple of days left to sort out any problems and become perfect. So, I got to my feet, peed, and then went to push on the cage door, hoping that Jason had unlocked it for me. But it remained stubbornly closed, and I knew I would have to wait.

While it was perfectly within Jason's right to keep me in here as long as he wished, sometimes it was a bit annoying, especially when I had a busy day planned. But from the angle of the sun through the window I could tell that I was awake earlier than usual. Which meant that I had some time to kill.

A drink of water from the water fountain was nice, but not so easy to do now that sleep had loosened my long, dark hair and allowed it to fall. But that was about the extent of what I had to do in my cage, except sit and meditate and focus on my bondage. Which was what I ended up doing, cross legged on my bed.

Every so often I would tug on the cuffs on my wrists, or kick at my hobble chain, but of course nothing gave, nothing should. My bondage, as dreamt up by Kirsten Graham, and made real by Jason, kept me perfectly bound. No matter what I did to it, I would remain as I was, a naked and chained girl.

So deep was my introspection I almost missed hearing the click from the cage door. It was an electronic lock, so Jason didn't actually have to be here to open it. He could, if he wished, set a timer, and apparently that was what he had done. But the little boy inside him often found it funny to program the lock to engage again after just a few seconds, which was why the click was so quiet. If I missed it it locked again, leaving me trapped even longer.

When I brought this up with him, his only comment was that he was unlocking the cage for me, and it wasn't his fault I wasn't ready to leave when he did. So when I hear the click happen, I move quickly, practically running to the door in order to swing it wide and get out, chuckling as I do so.

Working my way along the girl rails to the kitchen, I looked in on the bathroom where I had discovered Chris showering. Of Chris, there was no sign, not even his clothes. But no one had bothered to clean up the rest of the mess, and I knew I would be doing that later.

I felt better when I reached my kitchen though, but then I usually do, because Jason had gone to some length to make it more bondage friendly. My girl rails ran all the way around it, giving me access to every square inch, but that wasn't all. All the lower cabinets, and the front of the stove, were modified to accept a wide riser. A step up that brought the stove top and all the counters within my reach. The upper cabinets were still too high for me, but with this riser and a lot of practice and figuring out, I could still cook many things.

And I said, the lower cabinets had been modified and they had. All the doors were cut to open above the riser, giving me access to everything inside them. Although, to reach, I actually had to sit on the riser facing out, and reach back blind. But over time I had reorganized my kitchen to the point where I didn't need to look, as long as no one messed with things.

So when I got there, I had no problems starting some coffee and taking a grapefruit out of the fridge. My knives were within easy reach, and by touch I cut the grapefruit in half and saran wrapped one half and put that back in the fridge. Then with a teaspoon I scooped the fruit out into a bowl, sprinkled some sugar on it, added some raisins, which I love, poured my coffee and added cream.

All this I set on my kitchen table with its Settlement style seating, a bench seat that stuck out from under the table that I had to straddle to sit down on, forcing my knees wide and well... exposing me to the world. And like this I would eat, picking the fruit out of the bowl with my lips and tongue and drinking my coffee through a straw.

Sometimes, I might even turn the TV on, or if I had my hands free I would check emails or do some surfing. But mostly I just sat and ate while looking out the window at the morning... content to put my mind in neutral.

Once done, everything went into the sink to wash later, and I thought about calling Jason to find out when he was coming, and to find out what happened to Chris. But I used to do that a lot when I first moved here, and Jason eventually let me know that I wasn't to ask. I had to learn to trust him to see that I would be free in time for anything important, especially work. But it was hard, a part of my life I was finding difficult to let go of.

I wasn't Jason's slave, but even I realized that little by little, things like this were making me more and more dependent on him.

And how did I feel about that?

I wish I knew.

It was tough not knowing the when of things though, so I thought I would kill some time by going outside. Sometimes Jason would stop me there too, by placing a bolt in the rail that my tether couldn't pass. But this time I had no problem and I stepped out into the morning sunshine. It was cold though. Not the icy cold of Kansas that you got in middle November, but the chill of a desert night not yet chased away by the sun. It felt good on my naked skin though, and I smiled and relaxed as I made my way along the girl rail out into my garden.

The garden behind the guest house was where most of the grass on Jason's property was situated, and it always felt nice under my bare feet in comparison to the packed earth paths that wound about the rest of the property. There was no furniture back there though, at least none within reach of a bound girl tethered to a girl rail. So to rest, I simply sat down on the grass, smiling as the green blades tickled me.

The grass was wet with dew, and I lay back on my bound arms to stare at the sky. It was a lovely clear blue, and the warming sun painting my naked body, combined with the cool wet grass under me, made me sigh in contentment.

A part of me wondered why I bothered with Catturata and my career, when every day could be like this. I knew that Jason would love it if I decided to go bondage girl full time, and when things were especially stressful at work, or especially peaceful as it was right now, I thought about that too. And sometimes, those thoughts became way too serious for comfort.

"Morning," said a male voice from the direction of the house, and I sat up suddenly and looked around. It was Chris, standing in the doorway to the kitchen, in shorts and a T-shirt, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Please," he said, "I come in peace. Don't hurt me!"

I was sitting with my back to him, and I pulled my knees up, feeling rather naked in front of him. Yes, I know, I was naked, but there is a difference, believe it or not, between being naked and feeling naked. Being naked is just not having clothes on, but feeling naked was all about feeling exposed, which can happen even when you are dressed. But it wasn't just my body that I felt was exposed to this man, but also my emotions. I felt he could somehow see the frustration in my eyes that he had caused the night before. Sometimes Jason seemed to read my mind about stuff like that, but could Chris? I didn't know, but I hoped the bright morning sun hid my blushing skin.

"You okay?" Chris asked, stepping out and walking toward me. Then I saw that he had noticed the girl rail, something almost invisible inside due to the clever way it was hidden in the floor design, but very visible in the green grass. His eyes traced it to the tether chain that ran to my collar, and his eyebrows raised. "My Dad still has you chained up?"

I nodded, watching him carefully as he walked over to me.

"Wow. I didn't realize that he was so into that stuff. You've got to be cold though, right? It isn't that warm out here."

"I'm okay," I whispered.

"You sure, I could find you a blanket or something. Or maybe get those cuffs off you. How long have you been wearing them?"

I shook my head. "No, that's for Jason to decide."

"Yeah. I guess it is." Chris stood looking down at me, just inches away now, and I began to feel very small and uncomfortable with his closeness. Before, when I was with him, even though we were both naked, I still felt like I had some power because I had rendered him pretty helpless. But now, he was clothed and completely free, while I was still naked and bound.

Chris seemed to sense my discomfort though, and backed off a little bit. He also seemed to be as much as a loss for words as I was.

Eventually, when I couldn't bear the silence any longer, I asked him how his head was.

"It's good. Dad took me in to the ER last night to be checked out, since you did knock me out cold. I have a bruise, and they said not to drive today, but otherwise no damage." He paused to take a long draft of his coffee. "You surprised the hell out of me last night."

"You were surprised!" I exclaimed, looking him full in the face for the first time.

"Well, this is where I usually stay when I'm in town, and usually the house doesn't come with naked women in bondage!"

"Well it does now!" I said firmly.

"An improvement over a flat screen TV!" Chris replied, and his comment made me blush further.

"What are you doing here, Chris?" I asked him, anxious to change the subject. "Aren't you supposed to be some big shot Wall Street guy in New York?"

Chris pursed his lips, evidently I had hit a sore spot. But before I could pursue it, another male voice called from the house.

"Annabelle!" Jason called, but I didn't move, not with Chris watching me.

A moment later Jason stepped outside, and I could see he was surprised to see me with Chris. But he showed it only for a second before walking toward us.

"Christopher," said Jason. "You probably shouldn't be over here anymore."

"Why not, Dad? I just wanted to apologize for last night!"

"Well, Annabelle deserves her privacy, and probably doesn't appreciate your walking in on her like... this."

"It's not like I haven't seen your girlfriend naked already, Dad." Chris said into his coffee cup.

Jason frowned. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. This house is now her home."

"Yeah, I can see that," was Chris's reply.

The two men stared at each other for a moment, before Jason turned to me and helped me to my feet. "Come on, Annie, I need to get these chains off you. Lots to do today, right?"

"Yes, Sir. Quite a lot!" I replied, standing obediently as he began releasing me, although as I stood I tried to face away from Chris.

"Are you okay? I wanted to talk to you last night, but you were fast asleep by the time I got in, and I know how little sleep you are getting lately. I didn't want to disturb you."

"I'm good, really. I'll be better after Saturday, but we'll survive."

"Good," Jason said.

In freeing me, Jason started with my ankle cuffs, removing them completely before unlocking the tether chain from my collar. The last thing he always unlocked were my wrist cuffs, but these too he removed, leaving me wearing nothing but the stainless steel ring around my throat.

"Go," he ordered. "Get started with your day. I'll stop by the restaurant later."

I smiled and started for the house, padding naked across the patch of grass I rarely got to touch since most of the time I only came out here tethered to the girl rails. When I got to the kitchen door though, I glanced back to see both men watching me, and I will always remember that moment.

It was the first time I really got to see them side by side. Both were the same height and they had similar builds. And while Jason's hair was almost all white and Chris's was jet black, they both styled it the same way. And their faces. I had thought Chris looked familiar the first time I saw him, but now I saw just how much he looked like his father. I could well imagine Jason looking exactly like Chris at thirty, which was Chris's age now.

But the one thing that made this flash of a moment memorable, was the way both men were looking at me, for it was exactly the same way. It wasn't lust, or menace, or anything like that... I guess the best way I could describe it was like... with power? Does that make any sense? As though this was exactly the way things were supposed to be... or maybe yet, that I was exactly the way I was supposed to be.

Either way, it made my heart beat a little harder and my knees feel weak. So whatever it was, it echoed in my head the rest of the morning before work concerns pushed it from my mind.

* * *

At Catturata, things were going well, or at least they potentially were. For their first day's training, I just had the crew cuffed in their Velcro cuffs. The women behind their backs, and the men in front.

The men also had about six inches of play between their locked wrists, while the women all were cuffed with a single link. I decided this after experimenting on myself in my own kitchen, on what was safe for cooking and what wasn't. The six inch gap left enough play for the guys to handle pans and utensils and food with relative ease. And if they needed a wider grip, my two chefs worked together. I had even tried a longer chain, but while it did improve handling, at times the chain swinging around caused problems of its own... one time catching the handle of a pot I was cooking with and almost pulling it off the stove all over me.

So Sean and Alan, my chefs, learned to deal with their cuffs, and did so quite well. And so good was their developing teamwork that I gave serious thought to training my other two chefs the same way. Not so that they would always be cooking in bondage, oh no. But for the lesson in teamwork it would give them. A good kitchen staff has to work as a team.

But as I was saying, yesterday we started with just the wrist cuffs, and today we added the hobble chains.

For the men, this was a bit more an adjustment, but they managed. You are constantly moving about in a working kitchen, but our steps are not so wide anyway, so it wasn't a true handicap either. But that was okay. I only included the men in the Dinner bondage at all out of fair play for the women working the front, and that went for the nudity too! Although I do admit to being seriously interested in seeing the guys naked too.

Naughty me. :)

So the guys practiced prep and cooking in their new bondage, but what they cooked wasn't food, per se. Not for humans anyway. I had them making dog food!

Yes, that's right. I had several recipes for home made dog food utilizing scraps and cuts and other left overs that would normally be thrown away. But this food was perfectly good for dogs to eat, so I had started a practice as soon as I got here to reprocess anything we could into dog food.

We didn't sell it though, oh no. We donated it to a couple of animal shelters in town, and the few employees I had that owned dogs didn't have to buy food for them ever again!

The women, however, had a bigger adjustment when it came to both the wrist cuffs and hobble chains. Unlike the guys who stayed pretty much in the same spot all the time, the women did a lot more walking. Not only did they travel all over the dining room, but also back and forth between there and the kitchen. So instead of the graceful walk they had learned to do when they started here, they now took fast, short steps in order not to trip themselves up.

Today I also had all of them take their shoes off and go barefoot, so they could get used to feeling the hobble chains slapping against their feet and toes as they walked.

But the girls were also limited by one more thing. With their hands bound behind them, they couldn't carry food out on trays, so instead we got them some lovely looking carts, which they could pull behind them. So Charlie had them practicing this for a while, just maneuvering the carts around the restaurant, getting them between the tables, pushing them with their bellies or pulling them with their bound hands. And when they all felt they had gotten the hang of it, Charlie switched them to serving practice.

Serving meant taking a full plate of food off the cart and placing it in front of the right customer. Sounds easy, right?

No, it isn't, not with your hands stuck behind you. Because you are working almost blind, the first challenge is just to get a hold of the plate without putting your fingers in the food. Then you have to pick it up, keeping it level so that the food doesn't slide off onto the floor or the customer... then lower it to the table in the right spot!

To practice this, rather than use real food, Charlie and I decided to substitute marbles. A plate full of marbles all rolling around was a lot trickier to handle than a plate of food, so if the girls could master the marbles, the food would be easy! Watching from the door to the kitchen though, I could see Charlie was spending a lot more time picking up marbles than he should have.

When he saw me grinning though, he called me over, and I worked with the girls as well, my hands Velcro cuffed in a very familiar position, showing them how it was done. Because it really was just a matter of muscle memory, working with plates over and over again until you could tell without looking just how to hold them to stay level long enough to get from cart to table. And I needed to brush up that skill too, because I would be the one loading the carts!

By lunchtime though, we were all getting pretty good at it, and confidence was gained and admired by all. The guys had cooked up some lunch to go with the dog food, although Amanda kept accusing Sean of serving the latter, smiling as she did so. And after we ate, I sent the guys home and the rest of us practiced serving wine and clearing places for the next course.

By the time the rest of my staff began showing up to prep for that evening's business, we all felt pretty good about things. But then they hadn't worked with the tether chains and the girl rails yet!

Catturata opened that night as usual, to almost full bookings, something that still surprised me. Scottsdale was a big place, and neighboring Phoenix even bigger, yet somehow my little restaurant had gotten noticed and that made me happy. And I wasn't sure what made me happier, that my restaurant was showing all the signs of actually succeeding, or of how I now lived with Jason.

Both were fantasies come true.

Speaking of Jason, he showed up as promised, timing it perfectly in the lull between the early diners and the late ones. So we sat outside to talk in a fenced-in area behind the restaurant where my crew could come out and smoke if they chose, or eat at the picnic table we had set up out there.

"I want to apologize about Chris," Jason said with a sigh. "I didn't know he was coming, or I would have made other arrangements for him."

"But why didn't he know I was living in the guest house?" I asked Jason, obviously curious as to why my privacy had been invaded the night before. "He knew who I was!"

"Well... yes, he knows who you are. The whole family probably knows who you are by now, and are most likely wondering about their inheritances because of you," he joked, or at least tried to. He may have chuckled as he said it, but by now I had come to know his emotions pretty well, and his eyes had worry in them. "But... I never told him that I gave you the guest house to live in. I expect he just assumed you would be up at my place."

"Jason," I asked, leaning closer to look in his face. "Just what have you told your family about me? From Chris' reaction, he acted like I was some sort of... flavor of the month!"

"Oh Annabelle, that isn't true!" he replied, standing up and walking away.

I suddenly felt a little scared... scared that the happy thoughts I had been having had jinxed me into believing they were going to continue forever. Was all this just temporary? Would I lose Jason's backing, and my life here, when he tired of me?

At that moment I was too afraid to ask, and Jason didn't seem to want to talk about the subject either, the way he was pacing the space between the fences. In fact, he changed the subject quite directly.

"Have you made your arrangements for your Dinner crew yet, Annabelle?" he asked, not looking at me.

"Yes," I whispered. "It's all done."

"Is this space big enough?"

"It's... just fine. The restaurant's rails won't let us back here during the dinner, so Charlie will supervise the setup crew."

"Good, good," he said, nodding. "It's a wonderful reward for what you all have to do. Is it coming together okay? Can you pull it off?"

"What, the Dinner?" I asked, getting up and walking toward him.

"Yes, of course the Dinner." he replied, watching me.

"Everything will be fine. Tomorrow we practice with the tether chains, and Saturday morning we go naked for the first time."

"Good," he said, as I stood before him.

I looked up at his face, and he down at mine, and the two of us just stood there for a moment.

I didn't want to ask, I didn't want to give voice to the worry growing deep inside me. But Jason showed that he had come to know my emotions as well as I knew his, because he slowly reached out and slipped a finger under my collar and drew me closer.

"Annabelle," he said, "Don't listen to Chris, or to any of them. You are not just some bright young thing I keep around to turn this old man's head. You mean a great deal more to me than that. I wish that all my children had the guts and talent that you do. Even without me, you would have gotten here, and here you will stay. Don't worry about that." And he leant forward to kiss me.

Now, you might think this funny, but despite all the things we had done together, sexual and otherwise, we had rarely kissed. Oh sure, there had been kissing, pecks on the cheek, stolen moments in the heat of passion and such... but almost never a kiss for love's sake.

But right there, Jason kissed me. Deep and warm, his finger still in my collar, his free arm around my shoulders... and after a startled moment, I kissed him back, and felt my whole body warm to him, melt to him.

It was... amazing! And over too soon as he let me go.

"You need to get back to work, you have a business to run." he said gruffly, but with a smile on his face.

"Yes, Sir, I do!" I replied, still glowing from his kiss and feeling a whole lot better.

"Money to make for me!" he continued, lifting his chin.

"Money for both of us!" I said, raising mine as well.

That's when he gave me the look, the one he knows pushes my submissive side into overdrive. "Who says bondage slave girls need money?" he said, almost seriously.

That made me smile and look down. "I guess we bondage slave girls only need our chains!"

He touched my collar again. "And no one wears them better than you do," he said softly, before turning and heading for the gate that led to the parking lot.

I watched Jason go, my body trembling. Not just from the release of tension, but also from the ball of heat burning deep inside me.

* * *

The routines of work helped me calm down somewhat as the night went on, but by the time I got home I was still feeling... needy.

I parked my car in my usual spot, but instead of heading directly for my home I thought about the night before and decided to pay more attention this time. And sure enough, parked among Jason's cars was a black Porsche that I was pretty sure I had never seen before. Not that I pay much attention to cars anyway. Still, Jason's private little parking lot wasn't that well lit, and Chris's black car would have been easy to miss.

Maybe if I had spotted it the night before Chris and I could have met under less embarrassing circumstances. And just maybe, he wouldn't have such a low opinion of me. I wasn't sure why that was important to me; maybe because I was worried about what Chris would say to the rest of Jason's family. Would he report to all of them that I run around here naked and chained up? Would that cause Jason more problems than he would think I was worth?

Despite Jason's romantic reassurance earlier, I still worried about that. Just like I worried about my feelings toward Jason! Because... and this was horrible to admit, even to myself... while I had all manner of feelings toward Jason Laird, I didn't think that Love, with the big L, was one of them... yet.

But that didn't mean that I didn't need him emotionally. Jason had become my rock, my protector... and yes, the Dom I needed in my life. Sure, I had a happy life long before I met him, but my life since then had taken on such a depth and satisfaction that I was still reeling from it all.

However, if Jason's family all started to cause problems for him because of me I would hate it, because it would hurt him so much. And I didn't want the best thing for him to be my leaving him!

That was my worry.

But right now, I didn't want to go back to my cage, to be on my own tonight. I needed to be with Jason! So I turned and headed for the main house.

I came in through the back door, which was always unlocked until Jason went to bed, kicked off my shoes, and made my way through to where I thought he would be, in his study. But as I approached, I heard voices. He and Chris were having a conversation, and for some reason I stopped short of the door and listened, not wanting to burst in on them.

"So you haven't seen her in a month?" Jason apparently asked him. "Didn't you tell me that you were engaged to her, Christopher?"

"That was the plan, Dad," Chris replied, and I heard the chink of ice in a glass.

"Then what happened? All was good the last time you called me."

There was a short pause before Chris answered, and I could tell that what he said took some effort. "I... fucked up, Dad."

"You fucked up. How?"

Another pause. "Callie found me... with one of the pool girls."

"Oh for Christ's sake, Christopher!" Jason almost shouted. "You were engaged to marry the daughter of your biggest client, and you were fucking your secretary?"

"She wasn't my secretary, Dad, she worked for all of us."

"You know what I mean, Chris. Dammit, boy!"

More chinking of ice and glass, and I could tell from Jason's breathing that he was really mad at Chris. Both men said nothing for a moment, and I thought I should make my entrance, but Jason spoke up again.

"So she threw you out?"

"No... Callie left. Went back to Daddy."

"Did you go after her? Try to explain yourself?" Jason asked.

Chris sighed. "She wouldn't see me! And after the first time I kept getting the brush off from her father's goon. A week after that, Collins pulled all his accounts, and there went over thirty percent of our business! That still wouldn't... the company could have survived that, but Collins bad-mouthed us to his friends and the financial press picked it up and word got around. More clients started pulling out their money. It was a disaster, Dad! Soon you were the largest account we had left, and it just wasn't enough."

"There weren't any irregularities, were there? Your license wasn't suspended, was it?"

"No, we could still trade, but the company had no more money. I was asked to leave the firm, but by then it didn't matter anyway. The writing was on the wall by that time, Dad. We were bankrupt, and the partnership dissolved! Worse, I had been trading on my own account and I guessed the wrong way, big time. I lost most of my money, I couldn't even afford to renew my apartment lease when it ran out. By now I was a pariah on Wall Street, and I was also homeless, jobless, and just about broke. So I came here."

"What about the customer funds?"

"Don't worry, Dad, the customer money is safe. We kept it segregated, just like we're supposed to. There were trading losses, but except for that no one lost a dime. The SEC won't be knocking on my door."

"Well, that's something. But Callie... What the hell were you thinking? I thought I raised you better!"

"Oh, that's a laugh, Dad! You have to be around to raise a child! Or is that what you're doing now?"

"What do you mean, Christopher?" Jason asked, an edge to his voice.

"Annabelle. You never said she was so young, Dad. When you talked about her, we all thought you had found someone closer to your age. She's younger than I am, for Christ's sake! You could be her grandfather!"

"Annie is more mature than you are, Christopher!" Jason said angrily.

"Really? How mature is it to want to spend her time naked and chained all day?" Chris replied, a challenge in his voice too.

"What we do makes us happy. And really isn't any of your business," said Jason slowly.

Chris sighed again. "Yeah... you're right. And the funny part is that, I'm really in no position to call you on it! I just fucked up my life big time, and here I am complaining about yours!"

Another pause, and I could hear someone moving about the room. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Jason asked his youngest son.

"Well, you know Collins. Maybe you can convince him to let me see Callie."

"And if she doesn't want to see you?"

There was no answer, not one I could hear anyway, and I waited in the silence while both men kept quiet company, before finally stepping through the door.

"Hi," I said, glancing at both men.

Jason's face softened into a smile when he saw me, but for a moment it had been full of worry. "Hi, Annie. All done?"

"Yep! Another day over!"

"I'll take you over and put you to bed then," Jason said, setting down an almost full glass of what looked like his favorite scotch.

But I didn't want to go sleep in my cage, I wanted to sleep here, with him. That's what I needed right now. "Do I have to?" I asked him. "Couldn't I stay here with you tonight?"

Jason glanced at Chris, and the two men looked at each other for a moment before he spoke up again. "That would be lovely, Annie, but Chris and I have some things to finish up first. How about I..." and he glanced at Chris again, this time uncomfortably, "Let's just go back now, shall we, and I can get you settled so that Chris and I can work."

The tension was still high in the room, and I knew that the men had yet to finish this conversation, so I nodded and followed Jason out of the room. And as I went, I caught Chris's eye and he winked at me, raising his almost empty glass of Jason's scotch.

"Have a good night, Annabelle," he said as I passed him. "Almost didn't recognize you there with your clothes on!"

That comment pissed me off big time, but I didn't reply. I couldn't. Instead I meekly followed Jason back through the house to his room.

"Strip," he ordered, "and I'll find some cuffs for you."

I did as I was told, since naked was my usual state in Jason's home anyway, and once nude, I stood quietly while Jason got some cuffs from a drawer and put them on me, pinning my arms behind me once more. However I did open my mouth when he went to open the cage door.

"Can't I spend the night with you in your bed, Jason?" I asked him, upset about being isolated from him tonight. "Please?"

Jason sighed. "Annabelle, this really isn't a good night for it."

"Please, Jason," I begged. "All I want to spend the night with you. I just need you to hold me for a while, please?"

"Sorry, Annie. Not tonight," he said with a shake of his head.

"PLEASE, Jason!" I cried.

"NO, Annie!" Jason barked, and I held my breath. "Not... tonight! So either get in this cage or go lock yourself in the cage in your own home."

I didn't want to get into the cage, but even more I didn't want to be alone and caged up in my own house either. At least here, he would just be a few feet away, so without a word I stepped into the smaller cage, where Jason locked my collar to the cage's tether chain before shutting the door on me.

"I'm sorry, Annie," he whispered. "I didn't mean to yell. But Chris... well... we have some things to sort out, okay?"

"Okay," I said quietly, not looking at him, and a moment later the light turned off and I heard the bedroom door close.

A small nightlight kept the room and my cage from going completely dark, but nothing could brighten my mood. From the high I felt earlier that night I had dropped to a low that had me almost crying. And alone, I settled on the futon pad and worried myself to sleep.

End of part 2

Copyright© 2011 by Annabelle. All rights reserved. I welcome your comments. Email me at settlementgirl175[at]yahoo.com