Untitled Story Part 4
This has been sitting in the hopper for a while. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4
The store was closed that day, giving Anji and Jonathan plenty of time to talk. After completing his chores, there was a ring at the doorbell for the residence. Anji glanced at the security monitor outside, smiled, and looked to Jonathan. "Smitty, could you go downstairs, greet our guest, and invite him upstairs?"
"Yes, sir." The fox affirmed, and headed down the stairs to the storefront. He saw the guest through the glass door before opening it: a broad-shouldered white tiger, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, tucked in to the waist of his jeans. The ensemble was accented by a black leather belt, buckled with two bits. Around the tiger's right wrist was a plain, black leather cuff that matched the belt, and around his neck was a black leather collar. The fox's mind was drawn back to the handkerchief code he had read last night. Was this tiger a submissive?
The fox opened the door and spoke. "Please come in, sir." The tiger, about ten years the fox's senior, nodded and walked inside. Jonathan locked the door behind him as Anji appeared at the top of the staircase. "Reg, good to see you! Come on up. Jonathan, go ahead and dust the shelves behind the counter and when you're done, come back up."
The two disappeared upstairs, leaving Jonathan to his work. As the time passed, he glanced up toward the stairs. It was quiet. Occasionally, there would be a short burst of laughter from either the wolf or tiger, but nothing else came to the fox's ears. Finally, his work done, he climbed the stairs back to the apartment.
He found the wolf in the armchair, the tiger sitting next to him on the couch at an angle. The two had mugs of coffee, and they were chatting as if they were old friends. The tiger first noted Jonathan's presence, and Anji, seeing the tiger's gaze, met Jonathan's eyes. "Come join us." The tiger stood, as did the wolf, and extended his paw. Anji spoke again. "Reg, I want you to meet Jonathan Smith. Jonathan, this is Reginald, or Reg as he likes to be called."
Jonathan shook the tiger's paw, which seemed to dwarf his own. The wolf smiled. "I have a few errands to take care of out in town. Jonathan, I want you to make our guest feel comfortable. The fox nodded. "Yes, sir." Anji slipped on his jacket, picked up his keys, and disappeared downstairs. The two heard the storefront door lock, and they were alone together.
The tiger looked at the fox for a few minutes before speaking. "Well, I suppose I should get this out of the way. I'm no good at being the one in charge." The fox tilted his head. "Sir?"
Reg spoke, sitting back down on he couch. "Well, Master Anji asked me to come over and talk to you, answer any questions you might have about his...lifestyle."
Jonathan blinked. "Sir, why wouldn't he answer those himself?"
Reg spoke as he touched the leather collar around his neck. "He wanted me because I'd be able to provide a different viewpoint from the bottom. I'm a slave...but not like you. I remain free, but I still obey another man as though he owned me."
Reg smiled. "Master Anji was once my 'owner'."
Jonathan blinked. "What? You mean you and he were together?"
The tiger nodded. "Yeah, we met about five years ago at the leather club. I was such a greenhorn...but then so was Master Anji. We muddled through with some good mentorship. We were together about three years. Then, one day, a bear came to town, one of Master Anji's friends. Immediately, we fell in love with each other. We tried to keep it hidden while he was here, but Master Anji's too smart to have the wool pulled over his eyes. Rather than getting mad, he was happy for us, and that weekend, the last night that bear who became my husband was in town, Master Anji 'sold' me to him at the leather club."
"Sold?"
The tiger chuckled. "It's not like you think. It was a nice little ceremony where Master Anji took my collar off, and Master Diego put my new collar on." He touched the collar once again. "Once we got married, I became his slave full-time."
The tiger looked lost in fond memories. The fox just watched as Reg continued.
"Master Diego and I got Master Anji a gift to represent the 'payment'. Come over here." The tiger led Jonathan toward the 'dungeon'. Inside, he turned on the light and pointed to a coin, mounted in a decorative hard plastic fixture and hung on the wall. It was a half-dollar coin, minted in the year 1985. "That was the year I was born. Seemed appropriate."
The fox opened his mouth to speak, and couldn't find words to ask his question. The tiger began to speak again. "You're wondering why I'm not with Master Anji anymore? Well, at least in our circle, relationships aren't as cut and dry. Sometimes, play partners will switch around as the mood strikes, whether it be interest in a particular thing, or whatever. Master Anji and I didn't live together or anything. I lived a few blocks away from here until I moved in with Master Diego. Sometimes, on a Friday night after the store had closed, I'd get a call on my cell phone, and it'd just be Master Anji, and he'd just say 'Five minutes.' I'd rush to get my coat on and get out the door, on the phone with him the entire time, with him counting out the minutes. Then the seconds. I got real good at that sprint up the road. Especially the first few times when I didn't make it."
The fox listened to this story with rapt interest. "So...what happened when you didn't make it?"
The tiger reached over to the A-frame and ran a paw along the leather pad where the body rested. "Well, first of all, I was flogged for hours, or what seemed like hours. Then, the next morning, we drove out to the boonies and he and I went on a long run with me on a leash."
Finally, the fox could find the question he was looking for. "Why did you do this? I mean, you're a free man, so there was nothing keeping you from just telling Anji to take a hike, but you went through it anyway."
The tiger leaned against the A-frame and smiled. "Mostly for the thrill. Master Anji pushed me harder than any other person in my life. Let me show you something." He pulled out his cellphone, and flicked through a set of photographs, before he came to a photo with Anji and himself, several years younger. There was a noticeable girth to the tiger's waist, and his arms didn't have the definition or strength they had now. "This was taken a few weeks after we got together. You see, I was a bit more doughy then. That bit with the 'five minutes' was just one of the things that pushed me to get in shape. Master Anji never asked or ordered me to. I did it because I wanted to please him. He told me after he sold me that it didn't matter what I did to exercise, and that wasn't his intention, just a happy side effect."
Reg smiled, reliving another happy memory. Jonathan watched him through his reverie. "Now, I guess it's my turn to ask you some stuff. What have you done with Master Anji?"
The fox answered. "Well, aside from show me stuff, he's only bound my arms with rope."
The tiger smiled. "And you like that?"
Jonathan nodded quickly. "Well, yeah. Something about being restrained puts this odd feeling down my spine."
"Master Anji's taking it slow, then. Tell you what, he gave me permission to use this dungeon if the mood struck."
"Will that be alright? I mean, you and your husband..."
The tiger shook his head. "Don't worry about it. A month ago, Master Diego loaned me out for an entire week. We're very open. Besides, what I have in mind won't be anything involving contact." He smiled and turned back to the closet, and opened it up.
After selecting a few items, he closed the closet back up and reached out, taking the fox's arm. "Come with me."