Another way

by Anna Martin

  “Ooh, low blow, Ross,” Will laughed as he rounded the corner with two bottles of beer already with the tops popped off. “Holy mother of shit.”

  “Hey, baby,” I said teasingly, hanging up my jacket. Will had stripped off his suit jacket and tie, leaving him in the wool pants and a slightly rumpled white shirt, which he’d rolled the sleeves up on.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  Will put the beers down on his prized dresser absently—as if he didn’t even notice that they weren’t on a coaster—as he walked toward me, stretching out his hand to run his fingers through my hair.

  “Wow…,” he echoed my words from earlier.

  “I know it’s different—” I started nervously, but he interrupted.

  “No, no, it’s great. You look awesome. Daddy likes it.” He winked. His fingers kept stroking through the longer hair on the top of my head, then he reached around and lightly scratched his fingers where my hair made a point on the back of my neck. My knees actually buckled as I tried to suppress my moan of delight.

  Will caught me around my waist and pulled my hips to his. I caught him before we got too close, with my hands pushed flat against his chest, then smiled as I leaned in to kiss him quickly.

  “There’s something else I need to show you,” I said in a low voice.

  “Oh yeah?” he echoed my husky tone.

  I took a step back, slowly unbuttoning the plaid shirt I’d dressed in that morning. Maybe slower than I needed to. Maybe I wanted to seduce him. Once my shirt was undone, I shucked it off my shoulders and tucked it into the back pocket of my jeans, standing bare-chested before him.

  “Jesus,” Will breathed, closing the distance between us and ducking down to study my chest. “You got your nipples pierced?”

  “Uh-huh,” I said, letting him get a good look.

  “Do you know how hot that is?”

  “Uh-huh,” I repeated. He caught my eye, and I smirked. “Do you like them?”

  “Uh-huh,” he whispered, brushing whisper-soft kisses over the still-red skin, and the silver barbells through it. “Did it hurt?”

  “You’re asking me if they hurt?” I teased him, cupping his chin to bring him up for a kiss. He brushed his lips against mine a few times before nodding. “Honestly, it was nothing compared to some of the pain I’ve had there before. The crocodile clamps hurt more. Especially when you tug on them. This still aches a lot, but they should heal in a few weeks.”

  “And you didn’t think about what I’m going to do while they heal?” he teased me, running his hands up and down my bare sides.

  “I uh….” I blushed. “I checked with the guy. And you, uh, you can still clamp them. You just need to go, you know, top to bottom instead of side to side.”

  Will looked at me for a moment, and then snorted with laughter. “You asked the guy piercing your nipples if it was still okay for them to be clamped?”

  “Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “He didn’t seem to be fazed by it at all.”

  He pulled me in for another kiss. “I like it a lot, baby. The hair and the nipples. Is there anything else you want to show me? A tattoo, maybe?”

  “Not a tattoo, no,” I laughed. “But there is something else.” I gestured to the tiny, circular Band-Aid in the crook of my elbow. “I got tested this morning.”

  Will looked a bit confused. “For….”

  “My doctor is doing a full STD test.”

  “Oh,” he said, his brow furrowed.

  “I’m in this relationship a hundred percent,” I said softly, my hands clasping around his lower back. “I want you to know that I’m dedicated to being with you, and that I’m being responsible for us. Adele and I didn’t use condoms, and I can’t be sure that she did with the other guy, if she even was sleeping with him. So until I can find out for sure, I wanted to make sure we’re safe.”

  “Thank you,” Will said, kissing me lightly a few times. “I’ve been tested regularly every six months since I got on the scene. I can show you my results. The last one was a few months back.”

  “Have you been with anyone other than me since then?” I had to ask. It was part of being responsible for us.

  “Intimately, no. As a Dom I’ve had one session with Shannon, which you watched.”

  I nodded as I watched his face seriously. “I’m sorry to bring this up now. It was a bad time.”

  “No, it was a perfect time. I really appreciate everything you’ve done today. For me, for us. And for yourself. It’s good to know that you’re as into this as I am.”

  “I really am,” I vowed. “I needed to let a lot of stuff go. The old Jesse wasn’t happy with a lot of things. The new Jesse is applying for scholarships to go to grad school.”

  Will broke into a wide smile. “That’s amazing. I’m so proud of you.”

  “Don’t be proud yet, I might not get in,” I muttered.

  “I’m proud of you for knowing what you want,” he corrected.

  “The new Jesse wants you to take him to bed,” I said, my husky voice back.

  “It’s good for you that the old Will agrees,” he chuckled and took my hand to lead me upstairs.

  After, and once we were both cleaned up, I settled back into the pillows on the bed and pulled Will to my chest. He complied, eagerly snuggling into my shoulder and carefully wrapping his arm around my waist where it wouldn’t nudge at my piercings and make them sore.

  “I want to take you out tonight,” I said. Will hummed low in his throat, but I couldn’t figure out if that was a hum of agreement or because I was playing with his hair and rubbing the back of his neck. “Verbal answer, please,” I teased him.

  “Sounds good,” he said and kissed my neck. “Where do you want to go?”

  “I don’t know. There’re a few restaurants that I really like, but I don’t really know my way around Seattle’s gay scene.”

  “You want to go to a gay bar?” he asked, incredulous.

  “Sure, why not?” Federico had got me thinking earlier in the day. I was proud to be with Will, our relationship was special and unique, and he was damn good-looking. Now that I didn’t have to worry about being caught out, going out with him in public seemed like a great idea.

  “I know a few gay bars,” he said slowly. “But I’ve never really done the gay scene. I was much more interested in the D/s scene, and trying to keep up with one is more than enough.”

  “Okay. Well, just take me somewhere where we can be comfortable. I want to dance with you.”

  “You can dance?” he teased.

  “Oh, I’m a very good dancer. I have great rhythm.”

  “So I’d noticed,” he said, sucking the skin on my shoulder. “You don’t know how awesome it is that I don’t have to worry about leaving marks anymore.”

  “I like that too,” I agreed. “Can we have a session tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, absolutely,” he said.

  “And you’ll mark me?”

  “We can figure something out, I’m sure,” he said, sounding amused. “Come on. I’m hungry.”

  He tugged me out of bed, and I stretched, insisting I’d change the bed sheets while he took the first shower. I wandered through the house naked to the laundry room and put the sheets on to wash before heading back to the bathroom to jump into the shower as soon as he was done. He didn’t even turn the water off.

  “Here,” Will said, passing an antiseptic shower gel around the curtain. “Use this on your piercings.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  My barbells did sting, and maybe I was putting on a bit of a brave face with how much it hurt when they were done, but in all honesty I had a very high pain threshold. My nipples ached… in a good way.

  Will was already dressed in jeans and a light gray shirt when I got out of the shower, a dark blue sweater laid out on the bed ready to layer up before we went out. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, tying the laces on a pair of leather shoes that made me think of my collar. They were the same color.

  I dried
off quickly and pulled on a pair of boxer briefs, then stood in front of my closet to survey my options. Nothing jumped out at me.

  “Will?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What should I wear?”

  “Jesus. A few weeks of living with me and you’re already turning into a little drama queen,” he teased, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms loosely around my chest. “Wear whatever you’re comfortable in, baby.”

  I growled in annoyance, then grabbed my dark blue jeans and pulled them on, since they were tight-ish and made my ass look good. It was getting colder, so I layered a long button-down sweater over a long-sleeved white T-shirt with a deep V-neck before bending over to search and find some decent shoes.

  “Those jeans make your ass look great,” Will commented from behind me.

  I straightened up with a smirk. “I know.”

  “Little shit,” he laughed. Once I was dressed, I spent far too long in front of the mirror, messing with my hair until it was sitting right. Then I had to dig through all my shit to find the little box from my childhood, one that I’d always referred to as my “treasure chest.”

  Since he was dressed, Will was sitting on the bed watching me.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  I think I blushed a little bit. “My treasure chest,” I mumbled. “Adele… uh. Adele never let me wear any sort of jewelry. She said it was for girls and I looked stupid. But I’ve got some stuff that means a lot to me, and I’ve not worn it in years, so I thought I’d see if I could find it.”

  It was only a couple of friendship bracelets that tied around my wrist; a few that were made of brightly colored cotton and some that were soft, leather cord. I had a shark tooth pendant that I put aside for another day, and a silver ring that my father had given me when I graduated high school. It had “Ross” engraved on the inside. I slipped it onto the fourth finger on my right hand.

  “All set?” Will asked and I nodded.

  “Yeah. Actually… is the playroom locked?”

  “It shouldn’t be,” he said, looking confused. “What do you want up there?”

  “I won’t be a minute,” I said, kissing him quickly. “Meet me downstairs?”

  I jogged up to the playroom, which wasn’t locked, and went straight to the wall to pull down one of my tan leather wrist cuffs. It closed with a silver buckle fastening, and even though it was on the kinky side, it wasn’t so bulky that I couldn’t wear it out.

  Will had both of our jackets out already, looking more than slightly bemused as I came to a skidding halt on his polished floor, stopping just short enough to give him another kiss.

  “Would you put this on for me?”

  “Fashion statement?” he asked as he buckled up the cuff.

  “Sort of,” I said, twisting the leather around my wrist until I was comfortable. “That, and I like knowing that I’m yours.”

  “We’re going to have a proper conversation about collaring later,” Will said as he took my hand. For some reason, that made a little bubble of happiness in my chest.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I BEGGED Will to let us go down to the International District and get some fantastic foreign food that would cost a few bucks and we could eat with our fingers, but he smacked me on the shoulder and insisted on some French restaurant where we ate fantastic foreign food that cost a stupid amount of money and tasted unbelievable. The waitress smiled knowingly at our sidelong glances and surreptitious touches. I made sure we tipped her well for both her excellent service and for a table that was slightly out of view of other diners.

  “And you’re sure you want to go to a gay bar?” Will asked as he hailed down a cab.

  “Yeah, why not?” I shrugged.

  “Okay,” he agreed, giving an address to the driver.

  There was a line outside the club, and we tagged on to the back of it, grateful for the heaters that lined the street that stopped the cold from being too biting. Will didn’t get too close or hold me against him, but after a few minutes of easy conversation he leaned in closer.

  “In a few hours, I’m going to be inside you,” he said in a low voice, his face pressed up against my ear. I gulped, and hardened. “I love being inside you, Jesse. You give me your body and it’s so beautiful, such an amazing gift that I feel like I need to spend hours worshiping you before I find my own pleasure in it. No one has made me this horny before, Jesse. I’ve never wanted to have sex three or four times a day. I know your body, I know how you react, I know how you taste, how you smell….”

  The line moved forward, and I went with the flow rather than thinking about it. My heart was racing now, and I was sure Will could feel it. Completely without me realizing it, my hands had gone to Will’s narrow waist. Holding him close.

  “And then, when I ease into you? Fuck, you’re so tight. So fucking hot. And your face screws up with the pain then relaxes with the pleasure, and watching you is almost as good as the feel of your ass gripping my cock. Almost,” he chuckled. “And you’re so fucking responsive. It feels like every time I thrust into you, you get closer to coming, even without touching your cock. But you need something more to make you come, don’t you, baby?”

  He was smirking, knowing what his words were doing to us both. Will was only about an inch taller than me, and we were closer now than I’d ever intended for us to be. Not while we were outside, in public.

  “Sometimes,” he continued, “all it takes to push you over the edge, to make you come so hard you see stars… is a kiss.”

  And he pressed his lips to mine.

  Holy shit.

  He was laughing as I tried to take more, and he eased back, brushing his lips over mine quickly.

  “That was too easy,” he smirked.

  “Oh, yeah?” I went to needle him, loving this fun, lightheartedness between us.

  I wasn’t expecting the yell from across the street. A group of men about the same age as us were standing, watching us.

  “Fucking faggots!” one of them yelled. “Go kill yourselves!”

  I saw red.

  “No, Jesse.” Will grabbed for my hand, but I shook it off, taking long strides across the street. It didn’t matter that there were more of them than there were of me. I didn’t give a fuck. No one messed with me and my boyfriend. No fucking way.

  “What the hell is your problem?” I yelled as I reached them.

  “You’re fucking disgusting,” a short guy with a dirty-blond ponytail spat at me.

  “Threatened, are you?” I taunted him. “Secretly like a bit of dick in your ass? So you thought you’d take it out on me?”

  “Dirty fucking cocksucker,” another one said, pushing me hard in the chest.

  I didn’t even think. My fist hit his jaw before I realized I’d told my arm to take a swing. Quite clearly, I’d forgotten that I was outnumbered by about six to one.

  They managed to smack me about a bit before I felt strong arms wrapping around my torso, pulling me back, and two heavy, beefy guys wearing black broke up the rest of the mess I’d caused.

  “Calm down,” Will murmured in my ear. “I’ve got you.”

  “You okay?” one of the beefy men asked, and I nodded, rotating my lower jaw as I realized he was clearly one of the doormen from the club.

  “Yeah,” I muttered. Will had let go of me as soon as I stopped struggling, but his hand lingered lightly on my lower back.

  “You can tell you’re new at this,” Will said, trying to make light of the situation, but I didn’t want to laugh.

  The doormen kept the distance between Will and I and the group of men until they finally moved on.

  “Get inside,” he said to me, effectively pushing us ahead of the line. “You’re gonna be safer in there than you are out here.”

  WE DIDN’T stay at the club for long after that. It was insanely noisy, and too many men were looking at my man with open want and adoration. I’d never been into blatant, open public displays of affection, but the reality probably was me o
vercompensating and clinging to Will instead of adopting my normal, measured distance. As always, he could read my mood and constantly reassured me with a hand lightly resting on my lower back, or a gentle brush of his lips on my temple, or a not-so-subtle squeeze of my ass.

  “We should walk home,” Will said as we nodded in thanks to the door guys again.

  “Yeah, it’s not too far from here,” I agreed.

  After walking in silence for a few minutes, I reached over and threaded my fingers with Will’s. He looked down at our joined hands in shock, then a slow smile spread across his face.

  “First the ass groping, now holding hands?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I shrugged. “I suppose I don’t really mind people knowing that I’m yours anymore.”

  “It’s not as easy as that, Jesse.”

  “I think I learned that lesson tonight,” I said wryly.

  “Something’s bothering you,” Will said after a few minutes.

  “Hmm? No, it’s not.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “No, not about tonight, I don’t think. But you’ve been hiding something from me.”

  I thought for a minute, then stopped and ran both hands through my hair. “Shit.”

  “I knew it!” he crowed. “Sorry. Um, being supportive now. What’s up, Jesse?”

  Laughing, I slipped my hand back in his and tugged on it to keep him walking. “It’s not much. It sort of came out of the ‘favorite things’ session we had.”

  “Yeah, go on.”

  “It’s hard to explain. You know when we’re in bed together?”

  “Yeah,” he said, amused.

  “When we’re in the playroom, it’s different.”

  “Yeah. Well, you’d expect that.”

  “I know,” I sighed. “I’m not explaining it well.”

  “Sex in session is different from sex in the bedroom,” he said succinctly.

  “Yes.”

  “And… not in a good way?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know.”

  Will laughed, and from the corner of my eye, I noticed him glancing down the street, then he leaned in and kissed my cheek. I shouldn’t have been so thrilled at the attention, but it made my stomach turn over.