by Avery Gale
Both men’s expressions had changed from frustration to disbelief and Gage’s question reflected his dismay at her statement. “Your mother sends you memos telling you why she’s pissed off at you? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Yes and no…in that order. Geez, I’m a writer and even I’m not creative enough to make up something that insane. Her memos are usually bulleted lists. And if I don’t respond to her texts, emails and faxes, she has been known to send them by courier. Oh indeed, mama-Celeste does not take being ignored well at all.” This time her laugh was more genuine because the looks on their faces were beyond priceless. When they didn’t appear to be on board with her amusement, she added, “I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t judge her based on your experiences with Aunt Daffy, because they are polar opposites I assure you.”
Both men shook their heads as if they were having a lot of trouble wrapping their imaginations around all things Holly. She was starting to regret having shared so much because it would probably just lead to her being rejected sooner. Someday you’re going to learn to keep your big mouth shut…obviously not today…but someday.
* * * *
Jace knew it was time to begin Holly’s training because she’d managed to leave them once again. If he and Gage didn’t get a handle on her mental meandering quickly, they were going to lose credibility as Doms and that was the fastest way Jace knew to sink the entire relationship. With a quick nod to Gage to make sure he was ready, Jace used every bit of focus he had left to be sure his voice reflected the change in direction of their conversation. “Stand up.”
Watching as Holly snapped back to the moment, he saw her blink quickly. Jace knew she probably thought they were sending her away—she’d find out soon enough that wasn’t the case at all. He watched as resignation flooded her expression and when she stood up from the chair she immediately turned and started to take a step toward the door. “Stop! You were only told to stand up, pet, not to walk away. And by the way, you never want to walk or run away from your Dom—not ever.” He watched her closely for any signs of fear and was thrilled to see nothing but anticipation tinged with unease. A bit of discomfort was fine because it would help focus her attention, but he didn’t want her to ever be truly afraid of either of them. “Since this is just beginning for you, I want you to understand that during a scene, you’ll address us as Master Gage, Master Jace, or Sir. Failure to use the proper address will be corrected quickly. We know you’ll make mistakes and the punishments will increase as time goes along.”
Noting that she was standing stone still with her eyes flitting between them, Jace decided to push her a bit. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tilted his head just a bit to the side and gave the one word command he knew was going to be her first make-or-break moment, “Strip.”
Jace wanted to laugh out loud when her face flushed a deep red and she looked at Gage, the unspoken question in her eyes. He knew she was trying to decide if they were serious, but to her credit she didn’t say a word. Deciding he would give her five seconds to begin before addressing her noncompliance, Jace leaned forward ever so slightly. He had to hold back his smile because her eyes went impossibly wide at the move. Oh you aren’t going to miss a thing are you, pet?
She surprised him by refocusing her attention on him and slowly moved her shaking fingers to the side of her dress and slid the hidden zipper down her right hip. Then, raising her hands to the back of her neck, she unhooked the back of the halter and held the dress against her breasts for a couple of seconds before dramatically letting the entire garment slide to the floor. It felt like all the blood in his body was pooling in his cock and he had to fight the urge to shift in his seat. She was standing in front of them in nothing but the tiniest bit of lavender lace he’d ever seen anyone refer to as underwear. Her nipples peaked tighter under his stare and he let her pause for a few seconds before raising a brow at her. His silent question was answered when she moved her hands purposefully to the top of her panties and hooked her thumbs under the elastic before sliding them down her thighs. Once they hit the floor she bent at the waist and picked up both pieces, folding them, she placed them carefully on the chair behind her.
Jace swirled his finger in the air, the silent instruction to turn around was clear and he saw her hesitate. “Now, Holly.” He’d seen that same pause in subs before and it always mystified him that they didn’t mind a Dom looking at their bare breasts, but ask them to turn around so you could see their ass and they balked. Every sub he’d ever asked about it had given him the same answer, patiently explaining that women always consider their asses to be too large. Jace watched as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit it in a move that made her look exactly like the innocent that he’d bet a week’s salary she was. She began turning and he wanted to laugh as she quickly brought herself back so she was facing forward.
Gage had moved so that he was standing beside Jace’s chair with his arms crossed over his chest. Jace could see his reflection in one of the mirrors they had placed strategically around the room and knew his pose would be intimidating to Holly. “Move your feet a bit over shoulder width apart. A little further, that’s fine. Now straighten and lengthen your spine. Perfect. Put your hands together at the small of your back and grasp your wrists. When we tell you to assume the standing pose, this is what we’ll expect you to do.” He saw her tense and knew exactly what she was thinking, so he answered her unasked question, “Yes, naked. For now, we’ll want you naked as much as possible so you become accustomed to how it feels to have the air wafting over your exposed skin. It will also help you learn to become more attuned to your own body. Careful, pet. I can read that look. You may not believe me now, but I assure you, I’m right.” He didn’t bother to tell her that she would quickly get over her unease at having others see her lovely body because she was going to be spending a lot of time in various stages of undress in front of others.
Chapter 13
Gage stepped forward and pressed his palm gently against the small of her back and watched as her muscles immediately started to relax at the touch. Holly was clearly a very tactile sub and that would serve her well because both he and Jace were firm believers in the power of touch in Ds relationships. “Your body responds to my touch and that pleases me, sweetness. Keep your eyes on Master Jace. Let him see the fire that burns within you. Show him how much you desire what is ours to give you.” Gage heard Jace’s growl and almost laughed because he could well imagine the view his friend was getting from their little fire-ball.
He deliberately rotated his palm so that it cupped the perfect globe of her ass letting the tips of his fingers skim over the tight puckered ring surrounding her rear hole. “Has this sweet ass ever been fucked?”
Gage heard her soft gasp even though it had been so quiet he wasn’t sure Jace would have heard it. He knew in an instant that she hadn’t, but he needed to hear her speak the words. “No, well, not really.” Her voice was so light—the sound reminded him of the bits of white cotton that filled the summer breeze back home and just the picture of that brought a smile to his face.
“Not really? You want to explain exactly what that means? Because I was thinking it was actually a basic yes or no question, so I’m having trouble processing that not really part of your answer.” Oh he knew exactly what she meant or at least he thought he did, but a big part of what they’d be teaching her was going to be the need for her to be totally transparent with them. Considering how she’d been in the past, he expected it to be one of her bigger challenges.
When she didn’t answer him right away he gave her ass a quick swat—not enough to really hurt, but enough to get her attention and sting a bit. “Oh…oh my, that was…that feels like…a slow burning ember that wants to become a spark but isn’t quite enough. Oh fraggle you asked me a question, didn’t you? Shit…don’t tell me, I’ve got this one…” Gage looked up at Jace and knew from the smile tugging at the corners of his lips that he was as captivated by Holly as he was. Holy
hell, if he didn’t know better, he’d swear she and Callie were sisters.
Gage stepped up behind her and pressed his bulging cock up against her bare ass so she’d know what she was doing to him. He leaned down and spoke into her hair, “Baby, as fun as it is listening to you, I really am going to insist that you answer the question. Let me help you out her a bit—I asked you what not really meant.”
He could almost hear the wheels pick up speed as they whirled in her mind. “Oh, well, in college, well, oh, merde, c’est le bordel.”
Gage looked up at Jace and grinned. Oh baby, you are toast if you think you can curse in French to avoid punishment. “Sweetheart, that’s two and this is not a mess. It’s a simple question and one I’m getting more and more determined to hear the answer to the longer you stall.”
“Two?”
“Submissives are not allowed to curse, so that pretty sounding French word that means shit that you tried to slide by? Well, that’s one.” He chuckled when he heard her murmuring under her breath. He caught just enough to figure out she planned to switch to Italian and that wasn’t going to work out well for her either.
“Figlio di puttana.” Even though she’d just called him a son of a bitch in Italian, there hadn’t been any heat in her words and he was fairly certain she was testing the waters more than commenting on his mother’s personality.
“That’s two. And sweetness, my mama isn’t gonna take kindly to you saying she wasn’t married when she had me, just so you know.” Gage hadn’t even tried to keep the amusement out of his voice.
Jace was sitting in front of them shaking his head and chuckling. “Holly, you’re going to rack up a lot of swats this way. Master Gage is fluent in several languages and knows how to curse like the sailor he was in several more. It’s in your best interest to just answer his question, because I’ve already added to his count for your delay.”
“Well, crap on a cracker, I don’t even like to think about Lyle Thomas, let alone confess to being naked with him. And admitting that he shoved the base of a lit candle up my ass and then told me I had to suck him off before it burned me is pretty humiliating. And then finding out his friends had been watching…well, that’s why I left college and never looked back.” Gage was seeing red—literally—by the time she’d finished speaking. Jace was on his feet in a blink and had pressed himself against Holly’s front as tightly as Gage was pressed against her back. He wrapped his large hands around her wrists and pulled them apart, unlacing her fingers from where they were still clasped behind her back. Gage moved her arms slowly so the blood flow didn’t return too quickly and send needles of pain down her arms.
As far as Gage was concerned, life as Lyle Thomas knew it was over. He found himself taking deep breaths to keep the anger from bubbling to the surface and scalding the one person who least needed to witness it. There was definitely a long run on the beach and probably a round or two in the gym’s boxing ring with some unsuspecting fool in his very near future.
* * * *
Jace wasn’t sure Holly’s words had been completely finished when he’d already been moving to stand in front of her. He’d seen the stark devastation in her eyes and God he was proud of her courage. She’d followed Gage’s command and never broken her gaze from his own, even though it had been clear just how much it had cost her. Jace knew Gage well enough to know that he was holding in his anger by the barest of margins and neither of them wanted Holly exposed to that right now, so they’d just tag-team and Jace would step up and lead for a few minutes until Gage could rein himself in.
Pulling back from her so he could look into her sweet face, Jace was shocked at what he found. Where there had been heat and desire a few minutes ago, now there was nothing. Her eyes were practically vacant and the complete lack of emotion stunned him. If the incident had been recent, he would have assumed she was in shock, but by her own account it had happened a long time ago. The only other explanation was that she hadn’t ever told anyone until tonight. That realization tore through his mind like a wildfire and all he wanted to do was make love to her until her eyes were once again filled with passion.
Smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks in soothing strokes he spoke softly, “Pet, I want you to know both Master Gage and I are humbled and honored that you trusted us with your story. That’s not to say we aren’t mad as hell at the man who hurt you, because we are. But our anger is directed at him and it doesn’t change the way we feel about you, except to make us admire you even more knowing what you’ve been through. And knowing your interest in this lifestyle survived that incident speaks volumes about just how much you must feel like you have been missing something when it came to relationships and sex. Does that sound about right?”
Jace didn’t doubt for a minute that he was right, but he wanted to draw the point to Holly’s attention. He was relieved to see her blink a few times as if she was trying to bring the world back into focus and then her eyes locked on his and she nodded. “How did you know? I have never understood why…I mean, why would I still want this? But I’ve always felt like a there was something out there that everyone else knew…some celestial secret that made relationships and sex meaningful, and that I’d missed the memo. Kind of like reading a self-help book that has a few of the middle chapters missing. I know I’m not explaining it very well, but…well, maybe you know what I mean or you wouldn’t have asked, right? Because that sounded like a rhetorical question now that I think about it.”
God almighty the woman didn’t miss a trick. Jace briefly wondered what her IQ was, he was willing to bet it was well into the gifted range because even as shell-shocked as she’d been, she had managed to sort it all through in just a few seconds – remarkable. “Your capacity to understand yourself and the people around you is going to be a wonderful blessing to you as you learn to embrace your submissive nature. You’re going to find that missing piece, I promise you.” He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, enjoying the feel of her soft, warm skin pressed against his lips. The sweet scent of her wrapped around him and suddenly the energy between them seemed to crackle with desire.
When Holly turned between them so that she could see both of their faces she lifted her small hand up to cup their cheeks in such a sweet gesture Jace turned and kissed her palm. “You are both very nice men and I’m very lucky you have offered to help me. Thank you for listening. I have never shared that story with anyone because I feared the judgment I was so sure I’d see in a man’s eyes.” As much as Jace wanted to argue with her, he kept his silence and was grateful when Gage did the same. “But you didn’t judge me and I want you to know that I’m grateful.”
Jace found himself so caught up in the emotion of the moment that for several seconds he couldn’t manage to speak around the lump that filled his throat. Gage looked as overcome as he felt but his friend had found the words when they had escaped Jace. “Sweetheart, you are a gift straight from God.” Jace watched as the smile he’d seen Gage use on women so many times swept over his face like a slow-moving tide. “But none of this changes the fact that Master Jace and I are both going to paddle your sweet ass. I do believe you have three punishments coming and at about four swats each, you’ve managed to rack up a pretty healthy spanking, baby.”
Smiling as he saw Holly’s green eyes deepen to a rich shade of emerald green in just a few blinks, Jace watched as Gage showed their lovely sub the punishment pose they preferred. Standing back looking at her smooth ass all ripe and ready for their hands was enough to make any Dom smile. They let her fidget for a few long minutes, knowing the anticipation would be a punishment in itself. They wouldn’t always allow her to hold on to the edge of a table or chair, but for this first spanking, they didn’t want her to be surprised and go ass over teakettle.
Stepping up behind her, Jace rubbed her ass cheeks while he spoke to her, “Since you owe me four strokes and I don’t usually swat as hard as Master Gage, I’ll be warming you up so you are ready for his eight. We are perfectly capable of co
unting so we won’t demand you do it, but you are not allowed to come unless you are given permission.” He was squeezing her flesh so that the blood moved to the surface so she’d be better prepared and then he’d run his fingers down between her beautiful thighs to find her pussy soaking wet. Perfect. “Pet, you are very wet. This just may not be the punishment you are anticipating after all, I’m wondering if you aren’t going to enjoy this just a bit.” He and Gage shared a silent chuckle when her entire body shivered in anticipation.
Jace made sure his first strike was a slightly cupped blow that generated more noise than fire. He heard her gasp of surprise each time his palm landed against her delicate skin, and when he delivered the last one she had let a small moan escape. Stepping up closer he fingered her pussy and didn’t even try to hide his smile from Gage. “Oh, baby, you are so wet.” He slid two fingers deep inside her and pumped several times until he felt her internal muscles beginning to flutter. “Oh no you don’t, pet. No orgasm for you just yet, you’ll need to learn patience because my love, your releases are Master Gage’s and mine to give.”
