Open to the Public

by Mia Sumner

“I’m telling you, Kathy, if we don’t step up our marketing Dungeon Deluxe is going to eat us alive.” Lena said as she walked around the store, pausing to tighten the leather cuffs and straighten the restraint straps on a mannequin. Kathy suppressed a shudder at the name of the new store. It just sounded so… cheap.

“I’ve built a reputation with this business, Lena. Taste. Discretion. Not tawdry theatrics.” Kathy sighed, the arguments stale on her tongue.

“Letting people know we exist doesn’t turn us into a cheap sex shop! I’m talking about experiential retail. It can still be discreet and classy. It’s about giving our customers a more personal experience. I did a case analysis on this in business school…. Kathy? …Are you even listening?” Lena’s tone sharpened, irritation now evident.

“I’m sorry Lena. We’ve been over this.” Kathy studied the window display, a finger tapping her lower lip as she adjusted a silk lingerie set. The mannequin stood against the display frame, its posture held perfectly upright by a set of discreet chrome rings built into the backdrop. It just wasn’t quite right. Perhaps if she moved… Her view was blocked by a handful of papers as Lena shoved them directly in front of her face, the faint scent of leather lingering as she leaned in.

“Our sales are down twenty-five percent in the last month. You need to let me do this. Look just give me one day. One live window display. If I can’t boost our takings by ten percent, I’ll drop it.” Lena folded her arms, waiting.

Kathy looked at the cold, hard text on the paper. Lena was right, the store was in trouble. Everything she had built over the last five years. She sighed.

“One day Lena. But please… make it classy. I don’t want strippers in my window.”

---

“Canceled?” Kathy’s voice deepened with anger.

“I know Kathy, I’m sorry. She just called.”

“She can’t cancel, we’ve advertised. There’s even people out there waiting to see our live display!” Kathy’s mind whirled, calculating what they had already spent on this disaster. Through the front glass she could see a small cluster of them already, breath fogging in the cold air.

“Don’t panic.” Lena’s voice was cool and calm as always. Easy for her to say, Kathy thought. “It’s not ideal, but, maybe one of the salesgirls?”

“I can’t ask them to do that!”

“Well, I’d do it but…” Lena glanced down to her chest, a lock of brown hair falling forward. “I’m not really equipped for it. Not like you.” She looked back up, her gaze unflinching.

The words hung in the air, the store suddenly seeming small and confined. The implication unmistakable. Kathy’s business. Kathy’s reputation on the line. And yet. Could she do that? In the window, like some exhibit.

“Well use one of the gimp masks. No one will know it was you. And the corset we were going to use is perfect for your build. It will focus everyone on your chest without revealing too much. We can anchor you to the display frame so you don’t have to worry about holding a pose.”

Kathy blinked. She hadn’t said yes yet.

“We don’t have long,” Lena took Kathy’s hand guiding her towards the back of the store, snatching a mask from the display case as she went and pulling her into the changing room.

“Look, it will cover your face almost entirely. They won’t even be able to see your mouth, just your eyes. Try it on.”

Without waiting Lena moved behind Kathy and put the mask on her, pulling it tight as she tied it on. The leather was warm against her cheekbones, warmer than she’d expected. Her field of vision narrowed. The store reduced itself to Lena’s hands at her throat. Then the strap tightened at her throat and panic arrived, sudden and specific. That oh so familiar scent of leather tickled her nostrils. She swallowed, about to protest, but Lena was already removing her clothes.

“With that figure, I’m surprised you weren’t a model when you were younger. Now, let’s get you into the corset.”

The first pull was a surprise. The second drove the air from her lungs in a single sharp exhale, her ribs compressing, her chest rising in compensation. She heard the lacing creak. Felt the boning settle against her like a second skeleton. Her skin felt suddenly, acutely awake. The leather mask felt hot and constricting. Her stomach roiled, panic swelling.

“Oh look at you!” There was just a slight purr to Lena’s voice as she directed Kathy toward the full length mirror. She stared in shock at the woman in the mirror, masked, laced tight, chest offered up like a display piece, and felt something shift low in her stomach that she wasn’t prepared to name. “They won’t be able to get enough of you, Kathy. This is going to work so well!”

Kathy swallowed. She really was going to do this.

“Come on, we’re already late.” Lena’s voice was brisk and professional as she took Kathy’s hand again, leading her back out of the changing room and towards the store window. With every step Kathy’s heart beat faster, palms itching. She kept her head down and forward, nevertheless conscious that each of her employees was watching her right now. Eyes following her as she moved ever closer to the display. Seeing her for the first time in attire like this.

The central display was empty, cleared the night before, just a naked pole with the support rings sticking out of it.

“Up you get.” Lena sounded so certain and so confident, determined to get the job done. Kathy took an uncertain step up onto the small display riser. Lena grasped her hand again and Kathy felt the leather cuff wrap around her wrist. She stared out of the window at the gathering crowd as Lena pulled her hands back attaching the second cuff and securing her around the pole.

Panic swelled in her stomach, threatening to explode upward through her mouth. She could still stop this. All she had to do was tell Lena to uncuff her and then walk away. But the crowd was watching. Promises had been made. She swallowed, her mouth dry, trying to regulate her breathing.

Lena continued with mechanical efficiency, attaching ankle restraints now. Kathy started to ask why and then realized that this mask, did not permit it. She had no way to communicate!

Lena stepped back to study her handiwork, a look of satisfaction on her olive face. Kathy stared at her, eyes wide and pleading. Did she not realize?

“You look amazing Kathy.” Lena said with a nod. “The ankle and wrist cuffs have a nice symmetry. Just… one more thing I think.” She turned and walked from the window, leaving Kathy alone for the first time. Alone with her audience.

It was only a few people so far. A handful gathered in the early, cold morning. All of them staring in fascination. Staring at her. Men and women both, eager to be entertained by this unique display.

There was a click as Lena attached something to Kathy’s mask. She pulled, gently but firmly and Kathy’s head came up and back. Some sort of chain or leash, clipped to her hood and attached to the pole hoop. So short she could barely turn her head.

“There, that should help! It would be hard to hold your position for so long Kathy, now you don’t have to! It’s important you make eye contact with our customers.”

Lena moved into view just at the edge of Kathy’s vision. Her hand ran slowly over the leather outfit, tugging the corset down just a little to expose even more of Kathy’s cleavage. “Although… it may not be your eyes they’re focused on.”

Kathy squirmed, realizing how limited her movement really was. She tried to catch Lena’s attention with her eyes but the assistant manager was positioning the other display items around her. She tried to speak. Mmmmmppph….

Lena glanced up, a smile curving her full lips. “We’ll talk later Kathy. It’s time for me to open the doors!”

Outside someone raised a phone and the bright light of a flash made Kathy blink as they took a photo of the unique display.

She heard the doors open and customers start to enter her store, but the crowd didn’t disperse. They kept watching her. Kept videoing her.

“You’re on TikTok.” Lena called out, obvious delight and excitement in her voice. Kathy trembled, so glad for the mask that covered her face, even with the gag. She could tell the store was getting busy, even though she couldn’t move her head to look. After five years, she knew the sound of her store, could tell how it was doing just by the background noise. Lena’s idea was working.

The crowd outside was growing too. Watching the spectacle. Their eyes on her body. Enjoying, perhaps, the small movements she could make that no mannequin would.

How long had it been now? Kathy had no sense of time any more. Each breath felt endless. Time blurred, contracting and expanding. Her eyes roamed the growing crowd, watching them watch her. What were they thinking? What did they think about the woman who displayed herself like this. Showed of her body like an object to draw their attention?

They didn’t look at her like a person. Their eyes openly roamed her body. Studying her curves, admiring her cleavage with no sense of shame or restraint. She squirmed against the pole. She could almost feel their gaze like a caress on her skin. Her mind conjured up lurid images of what they must be thinking as they looked at her. She wasn’t a person to them, they had no need for restraint.

What would they say if they knew who it really was? To most it would mean nothing but, for some of them, she recognized some of the faces. What were they thinking of doing to her right now?

“This is going so well Kathy!” Lena’s voice bubbled with excitement. She was standing behind Kathy, making sure that the public could still see the full display. “Time to give them just a little more, don’t you think?”

More? Kathy tried to turn her head. They hadn’t discussed doing more Yes, the model had been willing to show more skin, but Kathy hadn’t agreed to anything like that.

Lena’s hands brushed against Kathy’s chest as they moved to the lace strings at the front of the corset, tugging on them, loosening them. MMMMPPHHHHH! Kathy protested, struggling harder against the cuffs.

“We need the sales Kathy. It’s going so well. You don’t want to ruin it now do you?” She pulled the corset slowly apart. “Nobody knows who it is. You need to do this for your store.”

Kathy’s breasts spilled free of the corset, cool air tightening her nipples, as Lena presented them to the watching public. The gasp on the other side of the glass was silent but obvious. Eyes fixed on her chest. Staring at her naked breasts.

Inside the store it went quiet for a moment. Broken by a nervous giggle, Alicia, one of the salesgirls. A sharp reminder to Kathy that while the people outside did not know who was on display, all her employees did. All of them knew she was topless in the store window. Any of them could stare at her bare breasts.

“You’re doing great Kathy.” Lena whispered in her ear. “You’re a natural.”

Time looped. The crowd moved and jostled. Faces changed but the expressions did not. Fascination, judgment, hunger. All of them looking at her. No, not at her, at her body. At her breasts. No social filter, no restraint. More and more of them taking out their phones. Recording her display. Something to laugh about. Something to share. Something to… do other things to.

Not until they got home perhaps. Not until they were alone. Or maybe with their partner, but thinking about her. She was something to fuel their fantasies now. Not just a facilitator of kink and desire any more. Now she was it.

Her face flushed, sweaty under the mask. Fear had given way to other sensations now. Her mind conjuring endless thoughts of what her audience might do to her if given the chance.

The store was packed, the busiest it had ever been. Lena had been right, so right. This was working! How much longer though? Her calf muscles cramped, she must have been standing in this position for hours now. Her mind drifted, eyes surveying the crowd. The crowd that wanted to fuck her. No, not her, an anonymous sex doll.

“Time for a break Kathy.” Lena was back, removing the ankle cuffs and the collar chain with brisk efficiency, then finally the wrist cuffs.

Kathy wobbled, leaning against her as she stepped down off the podium. Her legs protested the movement after so long motionless. Lena’s arm went round her back, supporting and guiding her as she walked her towards the back of the store. Customers moved out of the way, but only just enough for her to pass, eager to see the live mannequin close up.

A hand, she couldn’t tell if it was male or female, brushed against her ass, and her body tensed up, but Lena kept her moving forward. She locked eyes with Alicia for just a moment and saw her suppress a giggle as she glanced down at her employer’s chest. Kathy was so glad for the mask to hide her now scarlet face.

They reached the back of the store to Kathy’s relief and Lena opened the door to her office. Kathy stepped in and froze, staring at Victoria Hale.

---

Lena stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. Kathy stood, uncertain and unmoving. What was happening?

“I’ve got to hand it to you Lena, this was a brilliant bit of marketing.” Victoria said. “I’m surprised you persuaded Kathy to do it, she’s got such a stick up her butt. So prim and proper.”

“Thank you Victoria.” Lena’s voice was cool, but not hostile. Kathy glanced between the two of them, still not sure what was happening and scared to give away her identity.

“You clearly have an eye for opportunity, amongst other things.” Victoria’s gaze swept up and down Kathy’s exposed body. “She’s the ideal model for your clientele. Mature. Full figured. Natural. Relatable”

Her hand reached out with casual indifference to cup Kathy’s breast. Kathy’s eyes widened in protest, her gasp smothered by the mask.

“I thought so too.” Lena agreed, and Kathy blinked. She was nothing like the model that Lena had hired for this role. “It’s why I picked her.”

Kathy stared at Lena, who didn’t acknowledge her, focused instead on Victoria. Picked. Had this been the plan all along? Anger flared inside her, but there was nothing she could do right now.

“Kathy never really understood kink.” Victoria mused, her hand still squeezing Kathy’s breast. “She always wanted to keep it wrapped up and discretely hidden. That’s why Deluxe Dungeon has been eating your lunch, because I understood that kink is something to be experienced. Just like this.”

Victoria’s fingers pinched and rolled Kathy’s nipple. Pulling on it, making it harden further. Kathy stiffened, eyes darting to Lena in disbelief. A hiss slipped between her lips, a mixture of surprise and… pleasure. Humiliation flooded through her to be so casually handled right in front of Lena, and even worse… to like it. Lena watched carefully, as though evaluating a product demonstration.

“I recommend piercings.” Victoria said, tugging both of Kathy’s nipples now. “Nipples like these would look perfect with them.”

“Perhaps we will do a live piercing.” Lena said with a smile, glancing at Kathy.

“Oh, you are good. Kathy is fortunate. Unless… perhaps you would consider…” Victoria let the offer hang in the air.

“No. I think things are going very well for me here. Don’t you?” Lena shook her head, then flipped her hair out her eyes.

“Very well.” Victoria nodded. “They do seem to be. I must return to my store, clearly I have work to do!” She walked to the office door, then paused, hand on the knob. “Oh… one thing. How much for the mask?”

Kathy’s stomach twisted, panic flaring up once more. She was trapped in a vice. She couldn’t protest without removing the mask anyway. But, to be exposed, like this, to her rival, the humiliation would be unbearable.

“We only have the one currently in stock.” Lena’s eyes were calculating. Why wasn’t she just saying no?

“A thousand dollars.” Victoria smiled a small, cold smile. Kathy’s stomach sank. Did she know? Why else would she offer so much.

Lena’s eyes widened in what looked like genuine surprise. “A… a thousand.” She glanced at Kathy, who frantically shook her head. Everything froze. One heartbeat. Two beats.

Lena’s eyes flicked toward the office door, where the noise of the packed store drifted in, then back to Kathy, drifting over her flushed chest and trembling body. Three beats.

Lena stepped behind a stunned Kathy and unlaced the mask, slowly removing the hood. Kathy’s hands twitched uselessly at her sides as the laces loosened

“Sorry boss.” She whispered in Kathy’s ear. “It’s good for your store.” Kathy’s brain screamed at her to stop this, but her muscles wouldn’t work. Her arms limp, her body unresponsive.

Lena pulled the mask all the way off revealing Kathy’s sweaty, flushed, face and bedraggled hair to Victoria, who simply nodded.

“Five years selling fantasies to other people Kathy. Finally you experience it yourself. Now, do you understand?”

Kathy’s mouth opened and closed. She wanted to fall through the floor. Exposed and half naked in front of her biggest rival. The embarrassment was overwhelming. And yet…

Victoria was right. Until now she’d never experienced the overwhelming emotions. The rush. The pure excitement. And the crowd was still out there waiting.

“Shall we go ring this up then?” Lena asked, folding the mask up neatly.

Kathy nodded her head.

---

Victoria went first, Lena escorting her. Kathy trailed just behind them. The low murmur of the packed store muted as people started to notice them, to notice her. Heads turned, her staff first. Staring at their boss, maskless, breasts exposed. The flush spread up Kathy’s chest turning her face crimson. The brief silence became a buzz as some of the customers started to recognize her too. Whispering amongst themselves, their eyes roaming her body.

The walk to the counter was slow. Victoria’s steps were unhurried, clearly enjoying her position in the drama playing out. Lena still holding the hood, all controlled professionalism. Alicia stood at the counter, watching them get closer. Lena handed her the hood. She took it, eyes lingering on Kathy, and carefully scanned the hood, making the register beep. Kathy fidgeted as Victoria handed over the money to Lena while Alicia carefully bagged the hood for her. Kathy’s stomach knotted as she watched the thousand dollars carefully placed into the register. Her anonymity, her identity sold as merchandise by her own staff.

Victoria accepted the discretely bagged item from Alicia then studied Kathy for a moment, a smile of satisfaction on her face.

“It’s so nice to see this side of you, Kathy.” She said softly. “And I think I’ll be seeing a lot more of it in the future.” With that she turned and left the store.

Kathy watched her leave, jumping slightly when Lena tapped her shoulder.

“Time to go back to the window Kathy.”

Kathy swallowed, her mouth dry, the noise of the store dulling again as she focused on the window. Walking towards it almost on autopilot. She paused briefly at the podium, before stepping back onto it again. Lena didn’t use the cuffs this time, they both knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

The crowd stirred, silent through the glass, but their interest obvious. Eyes swept her maskless, exposed body. Phones came out again, recording her, store owner and sex mannequin. Kathy squirmed on the podium, instinctively thrusting her chest out for her audience. She was feeding the crowd, making it pulse and grow. Shamelessly seducing them.

Her cheeks were flushed, her nipples stiff from something other than the air. Between her legs heat grew, a need that was harder and harder to ignore. She had become the fantasies she had always sold. The crowd wanted… her. Wanted to do things to her.

Her hands cupped her breasts, offering them up to strangers. Even through the glass she could see the lust in their eyes. They wanted more. She needed more. Unthinking her hand moved slowly down her stomach to her crotch. More and more phones raised to record the scene.

“Break time Kathy.” Lena’s brisk, businesslike voice broke her trance. Kathy glanced around eyes blinking and trying to focus.

Lena took her hand, helping Kathy back down off the small podium. As she walked her back through the throng of customers in the store, she paused at a display case, picking up a sleek, large dildo and handing it to Kathy in full view of everyone.

“Use the office Kathy.” The instructions were simple but clear. Kathy gripped the plastic cock in her hand, her body on fire with need. The whispers of customers intensified her shame, but she was past resisting, walking trance like towards the office.

Alicia stood next to the door. The smile on her face hid something else this time. Interest, hunger. She bit her lip, eyes lingering on the dildo as she stepped out of Kathy’s way.

---

Lena moved through the crowd with her usual brisk efficiency, glancing at the salesgirls as she did to make sure all the customers were being attended to. She had never seen the store this busy, even with Kathy occupied, the place buzzed with energy, customers excited by the spectacle and exploring what was on offer. This had been so much more successful than she could have hoped.

From behind the counter she took out a sign she’d had made, hoping for even a fraction of this turnout. She returned to the window display and set up the new sign.

LIVE MODEL DAILY

The crowd outside lingered, clearly hoping for more. From the office she heard moans, muffled, but still distinct. She glanced at the door, where Alicia stood guard, stopping anyone from trying to go in and yet also very obviously listening to what was happening.

Lena watched for a moment picturing what her, normally restrained and prim, boss must be doing right now. Another, louder, moan spread through the store. She walked back to the counter again and pulled out a notebook, carefully writing out a list. There were just so many possibilities now they had the right person.:

• Live Piercings
• Demonstrations
• Special Nights

A raw scream of pleasure, pierced the store. Ragged, shuddering, gasping release.

Lena checked her watch. Kathy would need to be back in the window in 5 minutes.