Darkest Love by Melody Tweedy Page B

was her world.
    â€œStart the other one,” he said as she was flicking the sponge between each toe, watching the occasional sud fly up and admiring the oily glow of the bubbles lodged in Rain’s tufts of toe hair. He removed his foot from her lap, scraping her arm with a long nail. She had told him to be brutal.
    The other foot was in her lap. Annie repeated the process. She pumiced each heel. She lay flat to reach his heels and felt her thighs dripping. She was fully prepared for sex though her neck was begging for a lie-down.
    When Rain’s heels were smooth, she dropped the pumice stone in the bucket and slid the sponge over each foot once more, removing any residue of dirt and dry skin. She was ready.
    â€œTowel me. Then I’ll get your leash.”
    When his feet were dry, Rain rose and strode to the other side of room. Annie knelt shivering, watching his legs moving from her child-height position on the floor. The feet followed each other—fresh, fragrant and soft. She had heard him grunt, barely audibly, as he rose from the chair.
    He was out of sight. She didn’t dare look behind her.
    The next thing she felt was the collar around her neck. Steel studs pecked Annie’s neck, shocking her with their coldness. Rain secured the collar with a click and clicked the leash into place. Annie could hear him breathing.
    He tugged. It was so hard Annie gasped–she only just managed to eke the sound out before the tight leather collar choked her, sending her breath back down and making her eyes bulge in their sockets. She felt her heart hammering. For the first time since her homage began, she was not aware of the pulsing around her clit.
    â€œJust a quick walk today. We’ll start slow.”
    Another pull of the leash sent Annie’s head down. The clasp section of the collar twisted to the back of her neck. Every pull of Rain’s hand put pressure on the delicate cords at the front of her neck. She submitted, scampering forward on her hands and knees, hissing with pain as her palms and knee knobbles pressed against the hard floor. One of her feet was slightly asleep–the numbness was creeping up her leg.
    â€œMy foot is numb.”
    â€œOff with your kaftan,” Rain ordered, allowing her to stop. Annie fumbled for her button. There was just one–a single button at the top from which the folds of her garment billowed. Easy access. With a twist of Annie’s fingers, the bead was through the buttonhole.
    Head still down, she watched Rain’s feet. They had a foot-soak glow. She had spoiled them rotten, really.
    A sharp pain pierced her armpits as he tugged the kaftan from behind.
    â€œArms up.”
    Annie obeyed, rising up onto her knees like a whinnying horse, happy for the break this gave her palms. She glanced at them. The skin was white and patchy where the blood flow had been blocked.
    â€œYou will continue to crawl alongside me, slave.”
    Naked now, Annie followed him to the cupboard. She examined his calves, noting scars and unruly hairs, then turned her eyes to the walls of the hut. There were blemishes there she had never noticed before. Child-height was truly a different way to live. She remembered reading about Stanley Kubrick’s camera work in The Shining. People had praised his innovation when he directed scenes from a child’s point of view.
    She could see why. Annie had entered that same Kubrick space: the realm where adult faces glower above you. Sunflower heads sit level with your own and tiny hands rest on tricycle handlebars. Her favorite scene in The Shining had been the one where the child cycles through the halls of the haunted hotel.
    Tonight is my night of innovation . She had never seen the world this way before, or felt feelings like this. Every scamper forward brought her breasts into view for a microsecond. They swayed at the bottom of her view. A breeze entered through the window, cooling the space between her buttocks and