"Welcome Home, Valentine"

Britney stands on the front stoop of her home as she reaches into her purse and shuffles around the contents inside searching for her house keys.

“Where the hell… Aha!” She says in a slightly annoyed voice that turns into an exclamation of victory as her search has become successful. She pulls the keys from her purse and slides her house key into the deadbolt lock and twists the key counter-clockwise, effectively unlocking the door. Britney pushes the door open and steps inside of her home. After a long day of work, she is ready to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening at home with her girlfriend, McKayla.

“Babe? Are you home?” She shouts through the house before turning around to shut the front door and relock it.

“Babe?” Britney calls again assuming that McKayla hadn’t heard her the first time. She takes her jacket off and hangs it on the coat rack near the front door.

“I thought she was going to be here.” Britney mutters in a disappointed tone.

“And of all days…” Britney says with a sigh as she sets her purse down on the couch and begins to stroll deeper into the house.

Britney walks slowly into the bathroom in the hallway and turns the light on. She begins to examine herself in the mirror above the sink and takes the hoop earrings out from her pierced ears and sets them down on the edge of the sink. She pulls her long, dark hair into a tight ponytail behind her head and wraps it in an elastic hairband. She opens the medicine cabinet located behind the mirror and reaches for a container of dental floss. Just as she pulls a thread from the container, Britney hears a creaking sound coming from deeper inside the house. She stops immediately and turns her head toward the bathroom door.

“ ‘Kayla?” She shouts down the hall.

“Is that you babe?” Britney asks, then waits for a moment, but receives no response. She sighs in frustration and slowly begins to exit the bathroom out to the hallway. She creeps down the hallway toward her and McKayla’s bedroom located at the end of the hall. The bedroom door is closed, which is odd, because McKayla usually leaves it wide open. Britney reaches her right hand out and grabs the doorknob firmly. She slowly twists the knob and cracks the door open ever so slightly to peak inside the bedroom.

The dancing glow of a flickering candle on the end table next to the bed washes an orange color throughout the bedroom. Britney squints as she opens the door further and can see McKayla lying on her back in the center of their queen size bed. McKayla’s arms and legs are spread out on the bed, causing her appendages to make an ‘X’ shape out of her body.

“Babe? I’ve been calling for you. Why haven’t…” Britney begins to say as she enters the room, but quickly stops as she realizes that McKayla is chained spread eagle on the bed. Her wrists and ankles have been locked in steel handcuffs and secured to the posts of the bed frame.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Britney shouts as she enters the room quickly.

“Hawpy Vawephimes phay! (Happy Valentines Day!)” McKayla says from behind a large red rubber ball that has been plugged inside of her mouth and held in place by a thick leather strap.

“Wait! Wha…?!” Britney says as she stops in her tracks and looks around the room. She quickly begins to realize that her first interpretation of McKayla’s predicament is thankfully not what she had thought. McKayla hadn’t been burglarized or kidnapped, she had done this to herself.

“You mean…?” Britney asks rhetorically as she quickly pieces the scenario together.

“Phuwpwise! (Surprise!)” McKayla announces from behind her ballgag as she spreads her finger on both of her hands in an exaggerating gesture.

Britney stands at the corner of the bed for a moment to soak in the situation. She stares at a smiling McKayla who is dressed in nothing but a pair of silky red crotchless pantyhose and a black leather collar fastened around her neck. There is a white massage wand that has been plugged into the electrical socket and resting on the bed just below McKayla’s crotch, ready for use. Britney looks down and sees an unopened bottle of champagne, a heart shaped box of candy and a single red rose resting on the bench at the foot of the bed. Britney smirks with a delighted and flattered expression. She looks up toward McKayla and then to her left toward the end table where the candle sits. Along with the candle, the key to McKayla’s shackles and a roll of white medical tape rest patiently on the wooden table. One of those items is likely to receive more use than the other. Britney looks back at McKayla and glares deeply into her eyes. Britney smiles with delight as she stands there with her hands on her hips. McKayla’s eyes plead with Britney in a doe-eyed expression as she lay helpless and vulnerable on the soft silk sheets. She bites down firmly on the ballgag wedged in between her lips before attempting to speak.

“Wew, awn’ wou gowwa pway wiph phe? (Well, aren’t you gonna play with me?)”