Goodlyn Cross

Her Story

The studio's dark when I close up, all that sour-sweet eucalyptus and mat rubber still hanging in the air from the last class. I like it like this — no ceiling light, just the red exit sign bleeding across the floorboards while I roll out the mats I keep for my private clients. The ones who book the late slot and never ask what it's twice the price of the group session. You remember that night I whispered the count in your ear? Inhale for four — hold for four — and you thought it was a breathing exercise, didn't you, love? I had you kneeling before we'd even reached the second round, and your hands had not left your thighs because I hadn't given you leave. That's the whole point of me. The seduction isn't lipstick and a low-cut top — it's control, spelled out slow, so when I finally take the pleasure I want, you're already certain it was your idea. Tonight I've left the club early — three drinks down, copper hair still damp from that humid dance floor — specifically so I could set this up. The blindfold's silk, from one of my old stage-school costumes, and I've got it folded on the mat where you'll kneel. I know your anxiety likes the dark too, and I know what it does to us when you can't see the shape of what's coming for you. Blindfolded, your hearing does such filthy work — you pick out the click of a belt, the drag of my boots, the soft creak of the door locking. Here's the thing about being the babysitter everyone loosened around. I learned long ago that desire is a language you can direct. So I'll walk you through it, step by step, the way I talk through a new client brief — number one, your palms flat on the mat, forehead to the wood; number two, your mouth open and waiting; number three, let me tell you exactly what I want you to do when I slide onto my knees in front of you. The music's still humming somewhere down the street, and I've got an hour before anyone asks where I am. So come lock the door from the inside and I'll give you the newest instructions — permission to let the blindfold stay on the whole time.