What difference did any of this expensive metal and leather make compared to a quality silicone toy?

And what did he mean, "I don't fuck women"?

Was he gay? The thought hit her with surprising force, flooding her cheeks with heat.

Now, the entire puzzle clicked into place. The relentless parade of women, the non-stop sessions, the intense noise, it wasn't about penetration; it was about performance and pleasure delivered in a way that didn't require him to engage sexually.

He was a service provider, alright, one who bypassed the conventional. It's the first time she's heard of something so bizarre. She couldn't wait to tell Jenna and Mari and laugh over it.

Feeling foolish for her blunder but suddenly sympathetic to the hidden struggle of her mysterious neighbor, she inhaled a long breath. She offered him a soft, genuinely apologetic smile.

"Oh, I guess I was mistaken then. I... I sincerely apologize for disturbing you so late in the night. I didn't know gay men offered such services. Nonetheless, it's impressive of you, but that's not what I'm looking for." Ava stated, eyeing the St. Andrew Cross with a distinct grimace.

She thought Noah hadn't heard the word 'gay' over the silence. But his eyes, those terrifying emerald eyes, blazed instantly, morphing into something violent and malicious.

Before she could blink, he was in front of her. He had crossed the wide floor in two massive strides, eating up the distance between them. His large fingers curled hard around her neck, not quite choking her, but certainly delivering a stunning, inescapable pressure.

Her eyes widened with fright, but she didn't try to fight him off. She was mesmerized by the sudden, terrifying shift in his demeanor.

Noah scoffed, the sound rough and low in his throat. "I am not gay. My reasons for not fucking women are none of your business. You walked inside here with a request, and I'm not the kind of person to turn one down."

His grip remained firm, controlling her movement, forcing her to look up at him. "Now, are you in or out?"

Ava may not know who her neighbor was, but one thing was certain after these few minutes she'd spent in his apartment.

He was a man of few words but very straightforward. And there was nothing teenagerly about him.

This was a man who sought control as much as she did. But, where she was willing to lose control for the first time, Noah didn't seem like the person to ever give it up. Ava wondered what storm hid underneath Noah's carefully controlled calm.

She briefly wondered if he's ever let himself go wild in bed. If he wasn't gay then why did he not fuck women? Was he scared of hurting them? Did he really have a defect down there as Mari had guessed? Or was he too big?

The last thought made Ava squeeze her thighs together.

Noah's eyes scanned her face, dropping briefly, possessively, to her lips before settling back on her gaze.

Ava swallowed hard, the movement painful against his fingers. Her brain screamed contradictory thoughts. He just choked me! Leave! But another, deeper part whispered: He didn't refuse your offer. He still gave you a choice.

She had come here to break the rules, to smash her routine, to find that chaos Jenna had joked about. For too long, she had been the go-getter, the rational one, the lawyer who never put a toe out of line.

What harm would it do if I just did something out of character for once?

Noah, her spicy, hot, terrifying neighbor, was the embodiment of the recklessness she craved.

"I want it. I'm in," she said, the words barely a rasp.

At the same instant, Noah released her neck. The pressure vanished, leaving a stinging warmth and the sharp, visceral understanding of his power.

It would be just for tonight. One night of giving in. One night of chaos. And she would go back to her normal life with an experience worth savoring until the New Year.

Noah released Ava's neck and stepped back, restoring the distance between them. The pressure vanished, leaving a stinging warmth and the sharp, visceral understanding of his power. His eyes, now possessing a cold, dangerous gleam, swept over her body.

"Good girl," he murmured, the first hint of satisfaction she'd seen on his face. He pointed toward the center of the room, past the terrifying equipment. "Take off your clothes."

The command hit her with brutal finality. She felt a sudden, unexpected wave of self-consciousness. Her body, the source of so much quiet frustration, felt exposed even in her clothes. 

She thought of her curves and full hips, the D-sized bust that felt too big for her torso, the freckles scattered across her abdomen, all the imperfections magnified under the stark lights of this torture chamber.

(A fleet of women have been here, she reminded herself fiercely, clinging to the only anchor she had. My body will not register in his mind. He won't even see me.)

Armed with that thought and the conviction that she would never be here again, she reached for the hem of her Winnie the Pooh pajama top. She pulled it over her head, letting it drop to the floor.

Standing half-naked in the freezing air of the dungeon, the sudden cool draft made her nipples harden instantly. She watched Noah. 

His eyes swept up her body, a slow, predatory appraisal that lingered for a devastating second on her chest, then her hips. He gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod, acknowledging the change in her expression, the quickening of her breath.

Then he spoke, his voice retaining that cold, detached tone. "Have you ever done this before?"

Ava considered lying, saying she was a seasoned veteran, but decided against it. She didn't need to confess her inexperience with a penis, but she needed him to understand her psychological starting point.

"No," she admitted, her voice low. "Never. I've never been into this."

Noah nodded again, his eyes locking onto hers, studying her like a predator examining a newly captured, complex prey. He didn't ask why she was here or why she wanted him to fuck her in the first place. He only absorbed the data point.

"Will you be fine with anything?" he asked, the question delivered with the weight of a legal waiver.

Ava didn't understand why he was asking her to define her boundaries when he clearly intended to operate outside of them. But she understood the challenge.

"Yes," she replied, letting the word sink in. "I'll be fine with anything."

"Take off your pants then."

She unfastened the drawstring of her matching Winnie the Pooh pajama bottoms. As they dropped to the floor, she stood fully naked in the intimidating room, illuminated by the harsh black and red lights.

"Go to the table," Noah commanded, his voice utterly lacking inflection.

Swallowing hard, Ava walked the few steps to the black leather table. The leather felt cold and slick against her thighs as she climbed up.

"Lie down. Face up."

She obeyed instantly, stretching out on the cool, firm surface. The black leather was an immense contrast to her warm, tan skin. She felt utterly exposed and vulnerable.

Noah moved to a shadowy corner of the room, returning with something dark and soft. He approached the table and stood over her.

"Lift your head."

When she did, he proffered a black cloth piece and wrapped it gently, but firmly, around her eyes, blindfolding her.

Ava's breath immediately became shallow, her heart rate skyrocketing. The loss of sight was a shocking, total surrender. It was as if all her other senses, already heightened by fear and excitement, instantly became violently active.

She heard louder than before, the faint hum of the overhead lights now a buzzing drone. She smelled better than before, inhaling the sharp, clean musk of Noah's body and the deep, rich smell of leather. And her skin was instantly hypersensitive. She could feel the cool air tracing the freckles on her abdomen and the faint, stable breathing that fanned across her cheek as Noah stood over her.

Then his voice, rough and chilling, cut through the darkness.

"There are no safe words in this room. Once I start, I don't stop until I'm satisfied with your performance. The only way to get me to stop is if I'm pleased with your performance. Your crying will not get to me, your curses will not, and your rage will not. This is your last chance. Are you in or out?"

The sound of his voice, low and close while she was blindfolded, sent shivers across her entire body. Ava's core suddenly dripped with something wet and hot as she simmered his impossible warning.

No safe words. She knew, vaguely, that contract clauses existed for such peculiar circumstances. If Noah offered none, it meant two terrifying things:

1. He was operating without any conventional boundaries, a true psychopath.

2. And only another psychopath would agree to this.

Ava decided there and then that she was a psychopath. It felt thrilling. She simply nodded her head.

"Use your words."

"I'm in," she replied, her words from earlier, her voice shaky but firm.

And then the room fell silent. Utterly, unnervingly silent. It was as if Noah stopped breathing. As if he'd disappeared into thin air.

She strained her ears to listen, inhaled deeply to catch a whiff of his masculine scent, but detected nothing.

The anxiety built to an agonizing pitch.

Then came the shock of her life. Two rough, strong hands grabbed her wrists, pulling them taut and strapping them securely to the table. The leather cuffs felt cold and unyielding.

Before she could process the first set of straps, he moved to her ankles, doing the same, pulling her legs apart and strapping them wide. The movement was fast, efficient, and professional, done without any unnecessary touch.

She was utterly exposed and secured, spread-eagled at his mercy. She should feel insulted, humiliated, tied up by a man younger than her who refused to even touch her with kindness.

But instead, Ava felt fiercely alive. Her heart hammered with a savage excitement. This is it. She wondered what would come next.

The silence returned, but this time, her heightened senses detected the faint rustle of leather. Something soft yet textured trailed lightly down the side of her body, tracing her curves. It felt like a small leather fringe, cool and precise, exploring her ribs, her hips, and the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. Ava whimpered softly, an involuntary sound. The cool, slick leather of the table beneath her back only amplified the contrast of the strange, teasing movement.

Then, the focus shifted. A sudden, sharp vibration appeared on her clitoris. It was a small, powerful vibrator, clipped expertly to her most sensitive spot, instantly revving up to an intense, demanding hum.

Simultaneously, she felt pressure at her entrance. Something firm, smooth, and rigid was being inserted. It was a pumping device; a cylindrical object that began to thrust in and out of her at a dizzying, relentless pace.

There was no foreplay, no warning. Just straight up thrusting.

It felt like the best and worst thing in the world. The intense rhythm was immediate, demanding, overriding all thought. Ava could feel a storm building in the base of her belly, a hot, liquid current, but she couldn't do anything to stop it because she was tied up and completely immobilized.

Tied up for Christmas.

She writhed against the confines of the straps, the cool leather surface digging into her wrists and ankles. Her breath hitched into ragged sobs. The vibrator's tempo increased, turning the intense hum into a screaming whine. 

Her clitoris felt like it would fall off. She tried to arch her back for some relief, some control, but the restraints were too tight. She was stuck on the table, a living mechanism of pleasure.

She wondered what Noah was doing. He was silent, his presence lost in the noise of the devices. What if he's left the room?

But then, she felt something sharp and precise latch onto her right nipple. It was a clamp, she realized belatedly, as a jolt of sharp pain shot pleasure down to her center, where the pumping device was thrashing and filling her.

Her whole body shook violently as Noah attached another clamp to her left nipple. The combination...the intense, mechanical penetration below, the furious vibration on her clitoris, and the sharp, shocking pain on her nipple...was too much.

Before she could stop herself, she let out the loudest scream of her life, a raw, uncontrolled shriek that echoed off the black walls.

Ava was instantly humiliated, but the intensity of the sensation obliterated any shame.

All her insecurities about her condition died in the dungeon. Because she didn't even stop to think if she was wet or not.

Whatever device that was pumping into her clearly wasn't having any difficulties. That meant her years of using toys had finally made her body open to the possibilities of being penetrated. 

She screamed and screamed and begged for mercy, but none came. The devices continued to play with her, the vibration increasing further, the pumping device refusing to slow its dizzying pace. She was entirely alone in the darkness as she surrendered her body to the machines.

Noah was right. There were other ways to give a woman pleasure without fucking her.