“...for all their toughness, they just couldn’t bring themselves to really flog someone,” I heard Burke saying to Katie as I came up. It surprised me. The last expression on Burke’s face had been one of revulsion, as if Katie were some soft worm leaving a trail of tears and perfume all over his manly bar. Yet now he was conversing with her quite earnestly.

“I don’t think that was it. I think they just held back with me,” Katie said, her sweet, demure manner contrasting with the topic. “Their beatings weren’t genuine, if you know what I mean, they never gave me that rush, that drifting off on a cloud of sensations. But then,” she added sadly, “I wasn’t the one those dykes really wanted to flog.”

How the hell had they gotten onto this subject? Charles glanced over at me, eyebrows lifting to tell me he’d had nothing to do with it and was just as confounded.

“More likely they just didn’t know how to do it properly,” Burke said. “Most folk don’t take lessons like they should. They just go at it. And they don’t realize how much practice it takes to really get that swing. To build up the arm.”

“True. But you can’t instruct them when you’re tied up and they’re in the heat of the moment,” Katie pointed out quite seriously. “I tried to advise one of my daddies to use both hands with a belt but she just wouldn’t listen.”

“Got a sore wrist, did she?” Burke tsked.

“Well, she already had a bad elbow. She really shouldn’t have been doing it at all.” Katie shook her head. “But you know leatherdykes. They never can admit a weakness.”

“I just wish they’d admit they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing!” Burke groused. It was one of his pet peeves.

“I wish they’d use something other than floggers,” Katie had her own bone to pick. “I mean, I’ve nothing against floggers. Some of them sting just fine. But you don’t get that pop that comes with a single tail.”

There was a glint in Burke’s eyes now. Katie had pushed the magic button. “Most powerful sound in the world,” he agreed fervently. “Better than gunfire. You’ve seen demonstrations?”

“Oh, yes. Several. I was even part of one back in college. The brother of the girl I was dating at the time had a black snake—”

“Excuse me,” I ventured to interrupt. An idea had sparked in my head, and I could feel it beginning to smolder. “I think... I think I may have a way of giving you your fantasy, Katie. Burke, if I can talk to you for a moment.”