by Dale Rogers
"Adam, don't forget to take out the garbage when you finish the dishes," Adrienne Ralston called from the living room. When there was no answer, she tilted her head in the direction of the kitchen door. "Adam, did you hear me?"
"Yes, I heard you," came a male voice.
Adrienne scowled. "Well, answer me next time." Then she eased back in the recliner, turned on the sixty-inch HD television, and began to cycle through the channels.
Once again, there was no answer from the kitchen. But this time, it didn't bother her. She knew her husband of four months had heard her and that he would do exactly what she told him to do. She smiled to herself and relaxed, settling on a rerun of an old sitcom.
But as she watched the show, she thought about her relationship with her new husband. He had been relatively compliant - practically subservient - from the beginning when they first met more than a year ago, almost to the point of doing anything she asked - no, demanded - of him. At first, she had rather enjoyed the attention and the power. All she had to do was snap her fingers and perhaps give him a glimpse of her body and he would do whatever she wanted.
But lately, she had to admit, that command she held over him had grown a little stale. She was even beginning to lose respect for him as a man. A part of her - a part that she would never reveal to him - wished he would sometimes take control. She closed her eyes and tuned out the sitcom.
In her mind, she wondered what it would be like if he ever actually said no to one of her demands, said no in a very emphatic voice, said no and then spanked her for even making the demand. She tried to shrug it off as absurd, but she couldn't shrug off the tingle between her legs. Maybe some day I'll have to explore that, she told herself.
A few minutes later, her reverie was broken by the appearance of her husband in the living room. "Dishes done, garbage out," Adam Ralston said, gazing at his wife.
Adrienne opened her eyes and looked at him. The tingle was gone. What else could she demand, she wondered. Ordering him around was becoming a game with her, but probably not to him. "I could use another glass of wine," she said.
He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.
She shook her head and changed the channel. The sitcom was boring her anyway.
The next day as they were finishing dinner, Adam put down his fork and looked across the small table. "Jake called me today," he said.
Adrienne swallowed the piece of chicken she had been chewing. "What did he want?" she asked, trying to keep her tone neutral. In truth, she had ambivalent feelings about her brother-in-law, who was three years older than Adam and a very successful entrepreneur and for whom Adam worked. He also seemed to have a calm but dominant relationship with his wife Rachel. Rachel had even confessed to Adrienne once that Jake spanked her occasionally when she did something to displease him, which wasn't nearly as often as it had been when they first got together.
At the time, Adrienne felt a bit indignant that a modern woman would allow herself to be spanked by her husband - or any man, for that matter. But she also couldn't help wondering what it was like to be spanked by her husband. She quickly put it out of her mind. She knew very well that Adam would never do anything like that, no matter what she did or didn't do.
"He and Rachel are having a small Halloween party," Adam said. "We're invited, of course. He said it's a costume party, but they'll give us our costumes when we get there."
Adrienne smiled as she wondered what kind of costume her brother-in-law would provide. "Sounds interesting," she said and went back to eating.
Two weeks later, on a cool October 31st evening, Adrienne Ralston was both excited and a bit anxious as she studied herself in the mirror over her dressing table. She loved parties and enjoyed showing off her trim, athletic body, especially to her in-laws. While she secretly admired the success and dominant personalities of her two brothers-in-law, she had a near contempt for her two sisters-in-law, as they clearly and unashamedly stayed in the shadow of their husbands.
Since she knew she would be given a costume at the door, she didn't bother to change out of her work clothes. Let them see me as a successful and dominant woman, she reasoned. She was proud of her career as a nurse educator.
Just as she was putting the final touches on her light makeup, Adam came into the bedroom. He too was dressed in his business clothes. She glanced at him in the mirror and scowled. "Is that what you're wearing?" she asked.
Adam looked at himself in the mirror. He was dressed in his usual khaki pants and company polo shirt. "Jake said he would give us costumes when we got to the house," he said. He ran his eyes up and down his wife. "I see you're wearing your same clothes."
Adrienne pivoted on her seat and glared at Adam. He was right, of course, but she didn't like him saying it. "I guess it doesn't matter," she said, definitely not willing to concede his point. She looked at the clock next to her. "What time do we need to be there?"
"Jake said nine," Adam said.
She turned back to the mirror. "Get the car warmed up. I'll be ready in ten minutes," she said, suppressing a smile of satisfaction. She caught a glimpse of her husband in the mirror. He was standing near the doorway with his head tilted toward the floor. Oh, the power, she thought. But she didn't feel as pleased with herself as she thought she should.
During the thirty-minute drive to the mansion Jake shared with Rachel, Adam and Adrienne spoke very little. She couldn't help wondering just what kind of party this was going to be. There was an air of mystery surrounding Jake and Rachel. There was a similar air of mystery surrounding Adam's sister, Jennifer, and her husband, Mike. She knew that Mike also worked for one of Jake's companies and that Jennifer had a MFA and did freelance editing.
However, regardless of the mystery, Adrienne doubted that either wife ever spoke to her husband the way she generally spoke to Adam. She already knew from her few conversations with Rachel that Jake would probably spank for the disrespectful tone. Adrienne wasn't sure about Jennifer and Mike, but she suspected it. Two submissive sisters-in-law married to dominant husbands. What happened to Adam?
They pulled into the winding driveway and parked in front of the five-car garage. Jake's instructions were for them to enter through the garage. Once inside, they would split up. Adam would go to the massive finished basement while Adrienne would meet up with Rachel and Jennifer, at which time she would receive her costume.
The front of the house was brightly lit with various Halloween decorations adorning the facade. However, the inside was lit primarily with candles, creating an air of both intrigue and promise - after all, it was Halloween. "I guess I'll see you downstairs," Adam said as he headed for the steps that led to the basement.
Adrienne nodded. She watched him go, suddenly not sure what to do next. "Adrienne, come upstairs to the first bedroom," came a voice she recognized as belonging to Rachel.
Through the near darkness, she made for the stairs. When she reached the first door, she saw her sister-in-law standing just inside the room. She was wearing a long purple robe made of velvet. Her head was covered by a purple velvet hood.
Next to Rachel was Jennifer, wearing an identical outfit. Behind Jennifer was another young woman Adrienne recognized as Sonya, wife of Jake's chief operating officer, Wallace Baronowski, who Adam said was a cousin. She had only met Sonya a couple of times and wasn't sure what to make of her.
Rachel smiled. "Welcome to our little world," she said. "Come in."
Adrienne crossed the threshold. And as she entered the room, she couldn't help wondering what Rachel meant by 'our little world'. "Hi," she said. It sounded lame, given the setting and the company, but it was all she could think of.
All three women surrounded Adrienne and drew her into an embrace. "Adrienne, this will be a very interesting evening," Jennifer said when they broke apart.
"And full of surprises," Sonya added.
Rachel pointed to the walk-in closet. "There is a robe in the closet for you," she said. She opened the front of her robe, showing Adrienne that she wasn't wearing anything underneath and that her pubic area was cleanly shaven. Sonya and Jennifer did the same thing.
"As you can see, we are naked under the robes," Jennifer said, stating the obvious.
All three women closed their robes. "We ask that you do the same," Sonya said.
Adrienne tried not to look shocked as she wondered just what kind of party this was. "Why?"
"The men require it," Jennifer said.
Rachel took both of Adrienne's hands in hers. "Adrienne, if you're going to be the sister we hope you'll be, you will do this and not ask questions."
Sonya scowled. "And if you won't go along with it, we ask that you leave the party now."
What the hell, Adrienne thought. But she could see that the three women were deadly serious. Her curiosity began to trump her indignation. Finally, after a moment of internal deliberation, she shrugged and nodded. Let's hear it for sisterhood, she told herself as she headed for the closet.
She found the robe. The velvet felt soft and cool and inviting to the touch. She remembered that the robe covered the other women's bodies from head to toe. She also remembered they were naked underneath. She didn't understand the reason for it - "The men require it," was what Jennifer told her. But, to Adrienne, that was far from a satisfactory answer or any kind of justification. She stripped off her dress pants and blouse, then put the robe on over her bra and panties. They'll never know, she reasoned.
She reached the closet door and stopped. What about her shoes? She tried to remember whether or not she looked at the other women's feet. Were they wearing shoes or were they barefoot? She decided against removing her black flats unless told otherwise.
When she emerged from the closet, she could see that Jennifer and Rachel were sitting on the bed while Sonya was standing by the window. Adrienne shifted her eyes between them. "Okay," she said. "What happens now?"
All three women looked at her at the same time. "We wait to be summoned," Rachel said.
Adrienne huffed. "Wait to be summoned?" she echoed. "Why? What's going on here?"
Rachel slid off the bed and took one of Adrienne's hands in hers. She smiled. "The men are planning something downstairs," she said in a cheery reassuring voice. "When they're ready, they'll call for us."
Adrienne wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. She definitely was not reassured. "What are they planning?"
"We don't know," Sonya said quickly.
Adrienne had a strong feeling that they really did know, but she didn't press it. Instead, she thought about her husband participating in what she assumed would be some kind of stupid farce. She already decided that she would never let him hear the end of it.
She glanced around the room again. This time she saw that her companions were wearing purple slippers made of the same velvet as the robe.
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