Breaking the Chain

by Golden Angel

  "Nope. It was just something Hilary said to me."

  "What?" Jared asked, curious. He was anxious to start sparring with Rick... but apparently gossip took priority. It wasn't really gossip anyway. Just... looking out for a friend. Right.

  "That Andrew hasn't scened with anyone but Ellie since Kate returned."

  Rick shrugged. "So? That doesn't mean he wants to get back together with her."

  "He cares what she thinks. More than he cares what any of the rest of us think. It doesn't bother him when any of us call him a man-whore, but as soon as Kate's back, all of the sudden he's keeping it in his pants."

  "Wait, what?" That was news to Jared, and apparently also to Rick. Then again, Jared spent most of his nights at Stronghold at the door or in the bar, not scening or even watching down in the Dungeon. And Rick and Maria didn't play at the club unless it was in a private room - Maria was definitely not an exhibitionist. Mostly they came just to hang out with their friends.

  Liam smirked. "He also hasn't had sex with Ellie since Kate returned. When they scene, they literally do just that... scene and aftercare."

  "Shit..." Rick scowled. "That still doesn't have to mean anything. Maybe he's just embarrassed or trying to be discrete until he knows it won't bother her."

  "Keep telling yourself that. I'm gonna be thinking about what six pack I want to buy with your money."

  "Come on," Rick said, ignoring Liam as he tilted his head from side to side, stretching out his neck. "Enough talk. Let's spar."

  Jared had no objections.

  It was a bit more of a workout than he usually got from Rick, probably because he hadn't been to the dojo in so long. Jared promised himself he would start coming back more regularly as he sat down, stretching out his sore muscles to counteract any possible tightness. His bruised calf protested, but he ignored it. Next to him, Rick was doing the same, groaning slightly as his put his arms over his head - Jared had gotten in a heavy chop on his shoulder.

  Standing over them, Liam shook his head. "That was pathetic from you two. Both of you need to get your asses in here more often. I expect that kind of show from Chris, not you."

  Shaking his head still, Liam trotted off to his office, leaving them to sit there in their shame and misery. Well, not really misery. Jared felt surprisingly good despite the bruises and soreness of his muscles - although, they really did hurt. Lifting weights during the week wasn't enough to keep him in the kind of shape he really wanted to be in though. Especially since he was responsible for taking out any trash at the club. Fortunately it wasn't something he was often called on to do, but he took it seriously. Apparently Leigh wasn't the only one who had been lax about exercising regularly lately.

  Jared wondered what she would think about attending some of Liam's kung-fu classes... he knew she'd taken Angel's self-defense course, but it still couldn't hurt. It was something they could do together too, so that he could keep track of her and-

  "So, Maria and I are thinking about moving in together. Into a house."

  Blinking, Jared focused on Rick's face. His friend was focused on stretching and so wasn't looking at him, but his expression was one of calm anticipation. A little smile curved his lips and he looked almost serene.

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, once our leases are up in a couple of months. I'm up in May and she's up in June."

  "So, right after Liam and Hilary's wedding." Although the invitations hadn't gone out yet, as groomsmen they knew that the happy couple would be married on April 25.

  "Yeah, but we'd probably have to be looking already. It takes a couple of months to get everything finalized." Rick gave a small cough. "Actually, we've already started kind of looking. Online. We haven't been out to look at any houses or anything yet."

  "Sounds serious." Jared grinned, happy for his friend, even though it made his chest ache a little bit. As serious as he'd always thought he and Marissa were, they'd never actually moved in together. She was gone too often. They sure as hell hadn't talked about getting a house together, although marriage had been talked about in a distant "this will happen one day" kind of way at various points throughout their relationship.

  Despite the longevity of their relationship and the conversations they'd had, he was starting to realize that he and Marissa had really held back from any actual actions that would initiate permanence. They'd always found excuses on why she didn't need to move in with him - moving was such a hassle and she spent all her time with him when she was home anyway, but since she wasn't always there it didn't make sense for her to be on the lease... Marriage had been pushed back for similar reasons, even though she'd occasionally thumbed through wedding magazines. They'd both just taken it for granted that it would happen eventually.

  Now he was relieved that they hadn't made any of those moves. Their lives hadn't really intertwined at all.

  It was strange to realize that he was already thinking about combining his life with Leigh's more than he ever had with Marissa, just by considering bringing her to the dojo. That wasn't how he had thought about it, but it was true.

  "She doesn't want me to propose yet, because she says she wants to actually live together first, but that's the endgame."

  "Sounds like Angel," Jared said, laughing. "I'm pretty sure Adam would have already proposed but he's not sure if she'd say yes."

  While Adam was definitely dominant, Angel was only submissive in the bedroom, and it had taken some convincing on his part to get her to move in with him. Mostly because she'd been concerned that they'd been moving too fast. Adam had relaxed once she'd moved in, but anytime the conversation turned to Liam and Hilary's wedding, he got a little gleam in his eye. One that Angel either outright ignored or honestly didn't notice, and Jared was leaning towards the latter. Whatever Adam's plans for their future were, he was currently playing things close to the vest.

  "Well Valentine's Day is coming up," Rick joked, grinning. "Maybe there'll be a sudden flurry of proposals."

  Jared shook his head. "I almost forgot about Valentine's Day."

  "Well, you and Leigh just started seeing each other. I doubt she'll expect you to really do anything."

  She probably wouldn't... but that didn't mean she didn't deserve it.

  ******

  Leigh held her breath as she took of her coat. Which was stupid, but she was nervous. She was also seriously questioning her outfit choice. Tonight she'd opted for her nice jeans and a silky button-down shirt, but the shirt she'd chosen was red. Should she have really worn red when they were going to be talking about spanking her? Unfortunately she hadn't even really taken that into consideration when she'd been getting dressed. Angel hadn't been home - she'd been called over to her old house for some kind of girl crises her old roommate Sam had gotten into - so Leigh had dressed on her own.

  Not that she couldn't dress for a date on her own, it was just so much more reassuring to have someone there telling her she'd made the right choice and looked good.

  Her nerves settled slightly when Jared just smiled down at her as he settled in across the table. The hostess had led them to a small two-person booth in away from the other diners. Leigh would have to thank Maria later for the extra space.

  Being in the familiar, homey space of Murphy's Meals, where Maria worked as the daytime floor manager, made Leigh feel more comfortable than she probably would have otherwise. She and the girls did a lot of happy hours here, usually to visit Maria at the end of her shift, and also because the food was fantastic. It was comfort food of the best kind, but there were healthier options on the menu too and Leigh knew which she would be choosing tonight. Internally she sighed, no more Murphy's bacon cheeseburgers with cheese fries and ranch for her.

  Yeah, and she wondered why her A1C levels were so high.

  Handing them their menus, the hostess whisked away back to the front where another couple was coming in out of the cold.

  "You look nice," Jared said, his dark eyes glowing as he smiled at her. See? She'd been overly worrie
d about the suggestive color of her shirt. It wasn't making him think about turning her butt the same shade.

  "You do too." She smiled back at him.

  The hunter green crew neck shirt he was wearing complemented his chocolate skin really well and clung to his broad shoulders and muscles without being overly tight. Leigh hadn't missed the appreciative glance the hostess had given him before she'd swished away. She didn't blame the hostess for checking him out. He looked good.

  "So how was your day?" she asked.

  "Pretty normal," he said smiling. "Got up, worked. The only thing out of the norm was that I took a few hours this afternoon to go to Liam's dojo with Rick once he got out of school."

  "Did you have a good workout?"

  "We were mostly just sparring, but yeah, it made me realize that I need to spend more time there. I've been neglecting the lessons for a few weeks now."

  Before Leigh could respond, a smiling, familiar face appeared next to their table, beaming happily at her. "Hello! Welcome to Murphy's Meals, I'll be your server tonight."

  "Hi Martin," she said, smiling back. The exuberant twenty-year old was a favorite of hers. He was a total sweetheart, constantly cheerful, and as gay as the day was long. Maria doted on him and the rest of the girls followed suit. It was hard not to. "How are you?"

  "Fantastic, darling, and how are you?" he asked her, while batting his eyes at Jared. Jared just chuckled. Pleased with himself, Martin focused back on Leigh. "Is this a date? Please tell me this is a date."

  "It's definitely a date," Jared said before she could answer. Her cheeks turned pink as Martin crowed with glee.

  "Perfect!" He winked at Leigh, lowering his voice even though Jared could obviously still hear him. "And with such a hottie, you go girl." Shaking back his blond hair out of green eyes, he straightened back up, going back into server mode. "I'll just stay out of your way as much as possible tonight then. Waters coming up and then you can let me know what else you want to drink." And with that, Martin was gone, leaving both Jared and Leigh smiling almost as widely as he had been.

  "I take it you come here often," Jared said, looking back at her.

  "Well, we all visit Maria fairly regularly."

  "I come in here with some of the guys on occasion but I know I haven't met him before. I would remember," Jared said, chuckling. He leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on the table and folding one large hand over the other. Following the movement with her eyes, Leigh found herself blushing again.

  "Martin is very memorable," Leigh said. Her fingers traced over the edges of the menu a little nervously as Jared kept looking at her, a warm heat in his eyes. For a few minutes she'd forgotten that this wasn't a normal date and that they were going to be talking about spanking at some point tonight.

  Reaching over, Jared put his hand on top of hers. She met his gaze, trying not to squirm.

  "Leigh. Relax. I'm not going to spank you at the restaurant. Let's just have a nice dinner and afterwards I'll take you back to my place and we can talk about it then."

  "Oh... okay." She felt a combination of relief and disappointment. Jared's eyes crinkled, as if he could sense her confusion.

  Threading his fingers through hers, he tugged their hands to the sides and off the menus. "Let's figure out what we want to eat."

  After that, their date was much more relaxed. Leigh ended up getting a half glass of wine while Jared got a beer, and she ordered the grilled chicken with vegetables and orzo and Jared ordered the same but with salmon. And then teased her about the face she made when he ordered fish. Seafood was just so not her thing. Something that really sucked when living in Maryland, where crab was king and crab feasts were standard fare.

  She ended up telling him about the last time she'd been invited to a crab feast and had done her best to make it impossible for anyone else to eat. Angel had especially suffered, since she'd been sitting next to Leigh and every time she cracked part of the shell, Leigh made little high-pitched screams and squeals of pain, begging Angel not to eat her in a tiny high-pitched voice. In between her lame attempts at ventriloquy, she held a crab by its claws and made it do a little dance number.

  Just imitating her antics had Jared cracking up. "I would pay to see you do that to Adam. He loves crab feasts."

  "That's something to look forward to," Leigh said with a sigh of resignation. "I honestly don't care that other people eat them, I just hate that for some reason the only non-crab entree at a crab feast is always hot dogs and hamburgers. And not good ones."

  "Probably because the feast is about crabs, not hot dogs and burgers," Jared teased.

  "Yeah well, it gets boring for those of us who don't eat crabs."

  "So why go?"

  "Well I don't anymore," Leigh said with a smirk. "No one seems inclined to invite me to them now, much less drag me to them. I think Angel learned her lesson on that one."

  "I might have to drag you to one just for the entertainment value."

  The conversation flowed easily, from crab feasts to family. Leigh confessed that even though her parents only lived about an hour away in Virginia, she didn't see them nearly as often as she should. He was the same way, but his parents lived a little farther away in Ohio. Still, he admitted he could get there easily within a day... but he pretty much only went home for the holidays if he even did that. They just weren't really big into family gatherings. They talked about his college days with Adam and Patrick and she told him more about her and Angel's antics.

  Surprisingly, they managed to keep the ex talk to a minimum, which was nice. She still had plenty of stories to tell that didn't have Michael in them and apparently Jared did too. Not actually that surprising since Marissa had spent so much time traveling, now that Leigh thought about it.

  They teased and flirted. When Leigh ran her foot up Jared's leg, he reached down and caught it, holding onto her ankle while she surreptitiously tried to yank it away. Of course that had to be the moment that Martin came by the table to check on them, and Jared spent the entire time caressing her ankle... which really shouldn't be erotic but somehow was. It was like that small touch of skin on skin set her whole body on fire in anticipation. Maybe partially because he wouldn't let go and it made her think of bondage and naughtiness.

  When Martin asked if they wanted to see the dessert menu, Leigh perked up and almost said yes, but Jared caught her eye and she sighed, letting him turn Martin down. Since she rarely went out to eat, she usually got dessert when she did as a kind of treat... but she had to stop that way of thinking. At least Jared was there looking out for her.

  And if she didn't look out for herself after this, well then he would still look out for her and she'd get a spanking for her lack of effort.

  Speaking of which...

  "So, ready to go back to my place and talk?" Jared asked, his thumb stroking against her wrist on the hand he was holding. His dark eyes were bright with anticipation.

  Leigh licked her suddenly dry lips, feeling strangely shy, and nodded.

  Chapter 10

  Watching Leigh nervously sitting down on his couch, her back ramrod straight, made Jared smile. He could tell that she was anxious, but it was a good kind of anxious. The kind that made his Dom side perk up in anticipation. He put the tea kettle on, giving her a few minutes to compose herself, and picked up a notepad and pen.

  They weren't going to write out a contract like Patrick and Lexie had, but Jared wanted to have everything written out so that there were no misunderstandings about what Leigh agreed to be punished for.

  Energy jazzed through him, although he tried not to let it show. He didn't want Leigh to think he was just excited about spanking her. Of course he was, but not just for the thrill of the spanking... he was still riding the high of her asking him to. Of her desire for consequences - from him. Before Marissa had returned, he'd already been developing feelings for her that went beyond friendship; since Marissa had come back and he'd turned her down, he wasn't holding his feelings for Leigh back an
y longer. To have her reciprocate and then ask for exactly what he'd always wanted to give? He still felt like pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

  She looked so damned cute, all tense and nervous on his couch when he walked back in, notepad and pen in hand. With her hands clasped in front of her, between her knees, and a pretty blush on her cheeks, she looked like she was keeping herself from squirming through sheer willpower.

  "Here," he said, putting down the notepad and pen on the table in front of her. "While I'm getting the tea ready, I want you to write down everything you can think of that you would like to be spanked for. Then we can talk about it and discuss exactly what constitutes a transgression and what the appropriate consequences are."

  "Okay," she said, shifting her weight back and forth as she reached out to grab the pen. Her cheeks flamed even hotter as she looked up at him, deepening to a red that almost matched the shirt she was wearing. It was a good look on her. It would be even better if he got to turn her bottom cheeks into a matching set.

  Clearing his throat to distract himself from the blood rushing down to his dick at the fantasy image that hovered in his mind, Jared smiled at her. "I'll just be a few minutes."

  That would give her some time to calm down and think about what she really wanted. Hopefully she wouldn't decide to bail. He had to admit, he was a little nervous that, when it came down to it, she would change her mind. Only the fact that she'd initially come to him with the idea gave him real hope.

  ******

  Clenching the pen in her fingers, Leigh took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to calm her nerves. She clenched her thighs together, even though it didn't help her racing heart or rising arousal. Being alone in Jared's apartment, watching his incredibly nice ass, which he was smart enough to show off by wearing fitted jeans, wasn't helping her state of mind.

  She was supposed to be concentrating on punishments, and instead she was horny as hell and all she could think about was the fun spanking he'd given her last time. Right here on this couch. For some reason being turned on made her worry that he would think she was a freak, which made her even more anxious...