Assumed Master

by Lila Munro

  "Good morning," Blake said once his secretary patched Dante through to his office. "How is she?"

  "She’s as fine as can be expected I suppose," Dante answered, kicking his own ass at Blake’s curt tone, knowing he deserved more than the cold shoulder. "How were the boys?"

  "They’re good. Concerned about Aunt Julie and wondering when they can come home."

  There was no need trying to resolve their issues over the phone. As badly as Dante had wanted Julie to sleep with them a few minutes ago, he knew he owed Blake his full and undivided attention later and tonight he wouldn’t be playing soft Master and giving in to either of their whims. He wouldn’t be passed off from one bed to the other. Everyone would get a piece of him in time in a way he saw fit, starting with his husband who needed him to man up and own what he’d done to him that morning. After he soothed Blake’s hurt, he’d see to Julie’s. With the gravity of everything weighing on him, Dante actually felt a bit of hate simmering for Mason. Why the hell had he done this to them? What purpose did this serve?

  "We need to talk to them," Dante said, tapping his fingers along the edge of his desk. "I want to take you and Julie out to lunch and go get her a nicer collar when you get home. Then we can go see the boys and explain what’s going on. And I need you to take Julie shopping. I’m not sure what she needs or wants, but I’ll leave a credit card. Spend whatever it takes to make her happy. She’s assumed cooking. We’ll discuss the other chores later."

  "Fine. I’ll be home around noon. I have to go now. I have an appointment coming in a few minutes."

  Before Dante could say good-bye or tell the man he loved him, the line went dead. Yep, he had a lot of making up to do. The play room was going to earn its worth over the course of the next few days. That much was certain.

  He left his desk and crept down the hall to check on Julie only to find her curled in a heap, the covers pulled completely over her head. The only thing he could see was her now closed eyes. Typical Jules. It was a habit she possessed long before Mason came into the picture and obviously one she’d never outgrown. When she felt unsafe, she hid as if thinking what she couldn’t see couldn’t see her and therefore couldn’t harm her. A strand of hair that lay across her cheek fluttered with her steady, even breathing.

  Dante returned to his office intent on getting as far ahead as he could on lectures and grading while all was quiet. It was becoming increasingly evident his time was going to be stretched to the limit and what hay he didn’t make while the sun was shining would die in the fields.

  At a few minutes past twelve, Blake ducked his head in the doorway with a half-hearted smile gracing his lips. He was naked save his collar, but even the sight of his cock hanging heavy between his legs didn’t cover up the tension Dante saw in his dull eyes.

  "Good afternoon, Master," he said, thrumming his fingers along the door jamb. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

  So, Blake was back to being the obedient slave. Which was all fine and well except Dante knew it was out of a sense of duty and less of actually wanting to give him that gift.

  "Yeah, cut the shit," Dante finally answered, closing his files and standing. "Do you honestly think after all these years I don’t know when you’re faking it?"

  "No, I don’t," Blake admitted. "So why don’t you cut the shit and tell me what you want so you won’t be further disappointed by my presence. Master."

  "Christ." Dante moved to within inches of Blake. He reached out then fisted his hand and let it fall to his side before taking a measured breath. "I’m not disappointed by anything except the way I treated you this morning. I’m sorry."

  "And I told you this morning I forgive you," Blake shot back, turning to leave.

  Dante grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into his office, closing the door behind them, pushing him up against the smooth back of it and took Blake’s face in his hands. He briefly scanned his husband’s eyes before descending on his lips and taking, needing control of something. For the past twenty-four hours, he’d felt like all his control had been stripped and tossed to the side and everything and everyone around him had gathered it up and now possessed it.

  After fighting Blake’s tightly clamped lips for several seconds, he realized he was doing the exact thing that had earned him this coldness. Swallowing his pride a bit, Dante softened his touch. Right now neither of his slaves trusted him any further than they could throw him so he had to do whatever it took to fix that, starting with the one he’d lived with for the past eighteen years.

  With a slow, determined resolve, Dante pulled back a bit then ran his tongue along the seam of Blake’s lips, not forcing but asking, pleading really. Anyone that didn’t believe the bottom in any relationship held the power was a fool. Blake completely owned him and Dante had virtually burned a bridge in a matter of minutes because his compass had been spinning wildly. He had no idea how to make it stop except to take and take with greed and zero feeling. A few light licks and Blake began to relax under his touch.

  "I love you, Blake," he whispered over his mouth. "I'm so sorry about this morning."

  "I know you are, but it still hurts," Blake answered. "And you don’t need my forgiveness. You need to forgive yourself."

  "How?"

  "Only you know the answer to that." With that, Blake sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around Dante’s waist, pressing his cheek against Dante’s thigh before moving his hands around to unbutton and unzip Dante’s jeans. "I love you, Master."

  This was the sincere Blake Dante knew. This man on his knees, giving when giving wasn’t deserved. But Dante couldn’t refuse him as he drew his already hardening cock from its confines and lapped at the weeping tip before taking it between his lips and sucking gently. Pulling air between his clenched teeth, Dante turned and leaned back against the door, grabbing two handfuls of Blake’s hair.

  Blake managed to scoot with his movements, repositioning himself without losing suction. He smiled around Dante before looking up and inching down his cock until Dante was fully seated in his mouth, the head neatly fitted into his throat.

  "Do you have any idea at all how good you are at that?" Dante asked, holding Blake’s head still while he swallowed around him, pulling the thread running down his cock, through his balls, and up his spine tighter.

  Blake merely nodded and made a humming noise around him then ran a hand between Dante’s legs to stroke his ever tightening sac. As one finger found its way further behind to stroke his perineum, Dante loosened his grip, allowing Blake to pull back only to take a breath and engulf his cock with warm wetness again. Back up, he razed him with his teeth before falling into a steady rhythm.

  "You arrogant bastard," Dante hissed. "I think your attitude warrants time in the play room later. I think it’s been too long since I set your ass blazing with a cane."

  Blake made the humming noise again in agreement, holding Dante in his throat.

  "Oh, fuck," Dante grunted. "You’re so good, slave. So. Damn. Good."

  With every muscle in his body taut, a warm surge ran down Dante’s cock and he growled, thrusting his hips as he emptied himself into Blake’s welcoming heat. Sweat trickled down his back as he collapsed against the door, heaving for air. While he tried to find center, Blake pulled off, patiently cleaning every inch of him with his tongue before tucking him away and scooting back to sit on his knees with his head down. Dante took one last, long breath and went to one knee in front of Blake.

  "Thank you," he said quietly, taking Blake by the chin and lifting his face to look into the other man's eyes. "I’ll take care of you tonight." Running his tongue along Blake’s lips before slipping it between them, he tasted himself mingled with the sweetness that was uniquely Blake. This time Blake returned his affection and the crack in Dante’s heart sealed up just a bit. "Thank you," he repeated before standing and sinking into the chair in front of his desk. "Would you go wake Julie and let her know she needs to get ready to go to lunch?"

  "Yes, Master." Blake st
ood and left without looking back.

  ****

  Dante watched Julie’s eyes wander across the chokers gleaming under the spotless, streak-free glass case. They darted along the row of precious metal chains of all shapes and sizes before settling on one. He couldn’t help but smile. She was such a girl and had high quality taste. Could he really expect less after she’d been married to someone with more money than God?

  "We’d like to look at that one," Dante said, tapping his finger over the necklace comprised of tiny, interwoven platinum hearts. One larger heart of the same metal, but encrusted with tiny diamonds, looped through the two hearts at the ends of the choker and snapped shut, locking the creation around the wearer's throat.

  "Dante," Julie said so low he barely heard her. "No."

  "Why not?" he whispered back.

  "It’s too expensive," she hissed.

  "We’d like to see that one," Dante reinforced to the sales clerk.

  "Don’t try to argue with him, pumpkin," Blake said from her other side. "He’s like a pit bull. Once he latches on to an idea, his jaws lock and there’s no turning loose."

  "It’s too much," Julie insisted, crossing her arms under her breasts and hugging her middle. "You don’t owe me anything."

  "I know I don’t." Dante took her elbow and steered her away from the counter as the clerk worked on getting the piece he wanted to see out of the display case. "Jules, why on earth would you ever think I’d do something for you out of a sense of obligation? I want you to have something nice."

  "Aren’t you just keeping me because you feel obligated? Why would this piece of jewelry be any different?"

  Dante wondered if he could ever kick his own ass enough to make up for what he’d done to Julie and Blake over the course of a few short hours. It hadn't occurred to him at first that his reaction to Mason’s announcement probably made her feel unwanted and unloved, not just by him but by her own husband. It never occurred to him that she might have heard his answer to Drake when he told him he didn’t have to do his father’s bidding. Of course she probably felt like a piece of property, not a person with feelings. No wonder she was reluctant.

  "Listen to me. You are not just an obligation to me. Yes, finding out what Mason deemed was a shock. But not because I don’t want you. I just can’t believe he never thought to discuss any of this with anyone. I’m sorry, Jules. As much as I love you and as much as I loved Mason, this sort of put him in the asshole column of my list of friends. True, you’ve been a slave for years, but you’re a person first. I’m not sure he took that into account when he did this. Had he asked, the answer would have been irrefutably yes. I want to take care of you." He pulled her to his chest and kissed the top of her head. "I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I want to make this work, but not because I feel I owe it to him. I owe it to you out of love, Jules. Would you please just try the damn thing on?"

  All those things were true. He did want to take care of her and make it work, but Dante also understood he no more knew how he was going to do any of that than the man in the moon. She was so fragile and soft and different from Blake. Well, hell, she was a woman. Of course she was those things. Wasn’t that why he loved her? But he was set in his ways and had no idea if he could change. He felt like he was making empty promises based on vapors of half-truth.

  Once the choker was paid for and secured around her throat, Julie reached up and fingered it and the most amazing thing happened. For the first time in days, she smiled and Dante swore she breathed a little easier.

  It was after Julie ate more in one sitting at lunch than she’d eaten in the past week combined they made their next stop at the boys’ school to pick them up and deliver them to Drake’s for the evening.

  Spying their sons standing on the sidewalk surrounded by a bevy of girls of all shapes, sizes, and colors, Dante shook his head as he came to a halt at the curb.

  "We definitely have our hands full," he said, honking the horn to get their attention.

  "Please tell me you’ve had the talk about a million times," Julie said, waving as the boys jogged over. "Do you need me to conjure some horror stories from my teen years to convince them rubbers are a must and girls are the devil?"

  Blake snickered from the back seat just as Gavril pulled Julie’s door open.

  "Aunt Julie," he said, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. "How do you feel, love?"

  "Taking lessons from Papi I see," Julie answered, cradling his face and kissing the end of his nose. "I’m okay." Although Dante noticed her eyes grew cloudy again.

  "Can we come home?" Lucien asked, shoving his brother away and leaning in to hug her. "We’ll be quiet while you…" The boy grew still as if not knowing what to say next.

  "We need some time, boys. Aunt Julie needs time to recover a bit, but we do need to talk," Dante said, motioning them to get in the vehicle.

  Chapter Six

  "So, Aunt Julie will be living with us, too?" Lucien asked, reaching for another chocolate chip cookie. "Cool."

  "Hello, Luc. Don’t you get it?" Gavril said, sitting back with his eyebrows knitted together. "She’ll be Papi’s like Dad is Papi’s. Is that right?"

  "Well, yes," Dante answered, wishing he had a beer in hand instead of a cup of coffee.

  "I guess Uncle Mason was a big ass then," Gavril said, reaching for his vitamin water.

  "Gav," Lucien gasped. "Take it back. Uncle Mason was tops. He’s just looking out for Aunt Julie’s welfare. Would you want her living all the way out there on the river by herself? Look at her? She’s a girl for piss sake!"

  "Boys, my God!" Blake scolded. "Watch your mouths."

  "Well, it’s true," Lucien defended. "She's a girl and you and Papi have always taught us to respect them and protect them at all cost. She’s a mess and she needs us. I’m glad she’s going to live with us. Gav’s the ass."

  It seemed to Dante maybe they were teaching their boys just a little too well if they were that perceptive of the situation. In some ways, he thought they might understand it better than he did. Gavril decidedly knew Mason was an ass and Lucien clearly saw through Julie’s attempts at being strong while Mason was ill. Dante didn’t remember being that attentive until he was at least thirty.

  "I’m the ass?" Gavril asked, clearly put off by his brother’s assessment. "And speaking of respecting her, it seems to me no one does."

  "And what makes you say that?" Dante said, hoping to God this conversation ended soon so he could get his night class over with then go home and get the beer he so badly needed.

  "Did anyone think to ask Aunt Julie what she wanted?"

  Silence fell across Drake’s kitchen and not one person looked another in the eye.

  "That’s what I thought," Gavril deduced. "How the hell is that respecting her?"

  "Gav, language," Blake hissed through tightly drawn lips.

  The boy posed a good question. One Dante had no answer for.

  "I was wondering what you boys would like to eat when you come home next week," Julie spoke up, giving Dante a sideways glance that told him move on, this argument wasn’t worth it right now. "I’m going to be the one cooking for a while and I need to do some shopping."

  It sickened Dante how well Julie was around kids and she didn’t even realize it. She’d have made a wonderful mother, would be now to his boys. She should have had a dozen running around behind her. But instead, when the devastating news came that a dozen would never be borne of her womb, something seemed to die inside her and all talk of her and Mason having children ceased. He wondered now whose idea that had been. Was it Mason’s? Every attempt Dante ever made to broach the subject with Mason had been met head on with a wall so high a professional climber would have had issues getting over it. He’d not exactly proven himself a worthy keeper as far as Dante was concerned. If he found truth in his assumptions, it would only further cement Dante's conclusions about the man he’d held as his best friend for so many years.

  "May I have some paper and a pen?
" she asked Gavril, clearly trying to redirect the boy’s attention. "Do you still like pasta as much as your dad does?"

  That seemed to get Gavril’s attention and within the course of a few minutes, Julie had a list of requests and ingredients a mile long. Dante glanced at his watch and realized they needed to get going or he’d be late for work.

  "Boys, I’ve got to get going," he said, standing.

  Clearly ignoring him and Blake, the boys flanked Julie and walked her to the car. While Blake climbed in the back seat, Dante slid behind the wheel, allowing the boys to fawn over their newly acquired cook.

  "I love you, Aunt Julie," Lucien said, planting a kiss on her cheek.

  "I love you, too," Gavril said, kissing her forehead. "I’m glad you’re going to live with us because of what Luc said, but I still think it’s a crock of shit no one asked what you wanted."

  Before Blake could get a word out about his language, Gavril tucked tail and turned toward the house, Lucien aiding Julie in the front seat and helping her with her buckle. Any doubt Dante had ever had that they weren’t raising respectable boys was erased at the sight of the tender care they rendered her.

  ****

  At half-past ten Dante walked through the door, completely wrung out. Until he looked up and found a naked Blake on his knees beside the recliner awaiting his Master. Maybe, just maybe, things were going to slowly return to some semblance of normal, or what would pass for the new normal anyway. A heavenly smell wafted through the house, nudging Dante’s awareness that the new normal included a beautiful, heartbroken woman.

  He placed his leather messenger bag on the entry way bench then went to the chair where Blake waited and sank into it.

  "I missed you, Master," Blake said, immediately going to work on Dante’s shoes, removing them and setting them to the side. He then placed Dante’s left foot in his lap and massaged his instep. "She’s been cooking all evening. It seems to be an obsession, Master. I’m not sure what we’ll do with it all aside from calling in a regiment from the base to eat it."