Nick heard that and his heart sank. Obviously Damian didn’t want to keep him around for too long; he thought that he was responsible for teaching him and then Nick would be on his own.
Damian sensed that something was bothering Nick and wished the boy would speak up. He ran his hands up and down the boy’s spine slowly. “You have a lovely stripe on your backside,” he offered consolingly.
“Can I see it?”
“Later. It’s not going anywhere. I’ll even take a picture of it for you, because it’s the only one you’ll ever get from me,” Damian said, nuzzling the boy’s ear. He heard the slow sigh that heralded the start of arousal.
“Can I…?” Nick asked, slipping his hand under Damian’s shirt. He loved the slightly rough feel of his hair under his fingertips.
“Feels like you’re recovering, baby,” Damian chuckled as his lover’s erection poked him in the stomach.
Nick unbuttoned the older man’s shirt, laying his chest bare. He bent to suck a pink nipple into his mouth, delighted with the gasp of arousal from Damian. His hands wandered lower, unfastening Damian’s jeans and pushing at them. The older man obligingly lifted his hips, helping Nick to reveal his boxers, the front a little damp.
Damian pulled Nick on top of him and the younger man ground his hips down with a slow rotation. The feel of the boy’s bare skin against his chest made him wish he could take him right now. But he had already hurt Nick enough today and he couldn’t think of a position that wouldn’t put pressure on the boy’s bruised ass.
Nick groped between them, feeling the head of Damian’s cock break free from the elastic waistband of his boxers. He heard an aroused hiss and felt the buck of the older man’s hips under him when he stroked the dripping head. He pushed at the boxers, wanting to see everything.
Damian held him in place with one strong arm, lifting both of them to yank his boxers down. Nick gasped as their silky hard flesh slid together when Damian exposed his cock.
The arm around his waist restrained Nick, making him feel safe and secure once again. He opened his legs, allowing Damian to thrust up against him. He kissed the older man, wanting to feel his tongue inside his mouth, sucking on it desperately as they moved together, gasping and moaning.
Damian felt the sharpness of Nick’s teeth, biting on his lower lip. The boy was moving urgently on top of him and it felt so good to hold the writhing body, desperate for his touch. In one of those sudden moments of insight, Damian knew that Nick needed this to reestablish their closeness. He ran his hand down the slender flank, working it between their frantically moving hips, and pressing both their cocks together, stroked them to a shattering climax.
The wet heat spilling onto his stomach made the boy slide away and Damian held him even more tightly as they came down from their orgasmic high.
Nick continued kissing Damian, only now it was soft open-mouthed kisses, until he came to rest, their open lips just touching, a breath shared between them.
“Go to sleep,” Damian whispered.
“You too?” Nick asked.
“Yes.”
But Damian couldn’t find solace in the oblivion of sleep. He watched Nick’s beautiful unconscious face, lips curved slightly in a replete smile, and wondered at the trust the young man still had in him.
He had made many mistakes with Nick, but none that seemed as irretrievable as giving in to Nick’s request to be caned. Damian groaned quietly, wondering what had gotten into him. Normally he played the responses of a sub like a virtuoso, always stopping well within their limits, while carrying them to the heights of satisfaction for both parties. Now he had shown that he could not trust himself to take proper care of Nick, and that meant that for both their sakes, he would have to end it. If he could find the strength.
“I want too much,” he whispered to himself.
“I MUST have been crazy,” Nick said, peering at himself in the mirror in the bathroom.
“It looks very pretty on your cute little butt,” Damian leered, patting him lightly on that portion of his anatomy.
“I’m stiff.” Nick twisted to look at himself the other way.
Damian laughed. “You are so fucking proud of yourself. Look at you, preening over it.”
Nick protested, “Well you said this was my one and only. I have to appreciate it while I can. And I lived to talk about it!”
Damian stepped closer, allowing their half-erect cocks to duel lightly. “I promised that I would record it for posterity and I will. I think tomorrow it will be at its peak, the most beautiful dark plum color. So if you have time to come to the studio and let me get a shot—”
“This isn’t for the catalog.” Nick scowled in embarrassment at the thought of his marked arse on someone’s coffee table for the ogling.
“No, this is only for me. To always have and look at when—” Damian stopped short, not wanting to say when you leave me.
“Are you going to show it to anyone?”
Damian was startled at the stab of jealous pain that shot through him. “No! No one will ever see it except you and me.”
“Okay, then.” Nick smiled with satisfaction and then sighed. Maybe Damian would remember him after he dumped him for whoever caught his eye next. He wished that he was good-looking enough or smart enough or something enough that Damian wouldn’t get bored with him, but that was too much to hope for.
“Get dressed. I’ll order a pizza. And don’t forget your pillow,” Damian teased, and ducked out of the bathroom before Nick could find something to throw at him.
NICK CAME to the studio after school the next day, walking stiffly. He’d told his mates that he’d done extra workouts and had charley horses. Luckily none of them was the swat-on-the-butt type, and so he’d escaped any extra stimulation of his sore bottom.
He pushed the door open and Damian heard him. “Nick?” he yelled from the back.
“Yeah, Ian, it’s me.”
“Lock the door and come and look at this.”
Nick locked the door and went into the studio. “What the fuck?”
Damian had set up a platform with a large bed, draped with a swathe of lustrous red silk. He smiled triumphantly at Nick. “Strip and get in bed.”
Nick’s hands went automatically to his jeans, but he said, “I don’t think I can—”
“Not for sex, Nicky. This is for your photographic record of the one lick you are going to experience from the cane. Hurry up; get undressed.” Damian turned and went to his camera, surreptitiously pressing a hand to his crotch. Just the anticipation of seeing Nick exposed and he was starting to get hard. He shook his head over himself.
Nick took off his clothing, draping them on a nearby chair. He walked slowly to the red, running a finger over the iridescent shimmer of the silk. “This is for me?”
He felt warmth on his back and knew Damian was standing behind him. “All for you, baby. Just think of how that silk will look against the sweet honey of your skin.”
“What do you want me to do?” Nick turned and laughed at the mischievous look in Damian’s eyes. “Maybe I shouldn’t ask that?”
“Oh, you should,” Damian assured him. “But for right now, climb up on that bed and be prepared to stop when I say so.”
Nick got onto the bed, kneeling on his hands and knees. A flash of light blinded him and he yelled, “You didn’t!”
“Yes, I did, and it’s a perfect shot of your ass, with that line right across it,” Damian said smugly. “Just for me, remember that.”
“Fine. You’re a pervert,” Nick grunted as he crawled further onto the bed.
Damian laughed, relieved that Nick had recovered enough from his funk to even make a joke like that. “Okay, hold it. Lie on your stomach, yeah, just like that. Let me do a couple tests, for exposure.”
Grabbing the light meter, he passed it over Nick, taking readings from head to foot. He adjusted the level on the power pack and tested again.
“Okay, lie there just like that. Let me do all the work.”
Nick remained still, feeling a ticklish whisper on his skin as Damian worked with the silk, draping it around him. He felt the warmth of the other man’s hands as they brushed over his skin occasionally, wondering what he looked like to Damian.
He felt the caress of the soft fabric on his back, arms, and one leg and shivered at the sensuous feeling, and the thought of the other man looking at him lying there completely exposed, bearing his mark.
“All right, now, don’t move,” Damian warned as he backed away. He checked the viewfinder and gasped at the image he’d created.
As he’d expected, the red silk emphasized the luster of Nick’s warm skin. The play of light and shadow concealed the boy’s face, sending just a hint of reflection off his thick, glossy hair.
The silk wrapped around the slender body with graceful folds, but no less graceful than the splay of the relaxed form in its nest of red. Most of Nick was covered, save for a shoulder and one slim strong leg that was highlighted in a golden glow from the light, leading the eye to the two perfect mounds rising over the silk like twin moons in a dark sky. The bruised line left by the cane was subtly shadowed, so that when one first glanced at the photo, one would see only the naked body of a beautiful sleeping boy. The bruised line added a sinister, yet sensual, element to the composition, a hint of danger.
It was easily the most erotic photograph that Damian had ever taken, and yet Nick was mostly covered. If not for the stripe on his bottom, it was a photo that could have been exhibited anywhere, but Damian had no intention of ever letting anyone else see this one.
Damian took the picture and then directed Nick in a series of movements, but none of those photos captured the pleasing abandon of that first sprawling pose.
Nevertheless, Damian was satisfied. “Okay, I’ve got it,” he called out.
Nick moaned sleepily and snuggled further into the silk. “I could get to like this,” he murmured.
“Come on. I’ll take you home,” Damian said, running his hand lightly over the perfect naked buttocks.
Nick was dismayed when Damian pulled up in front of his flat, but he didn’t say anything. He kissed Damian and got out, standing on the sidewalk, watching the car pull away. It seemed he didn’t know what the hell was going on with anything anymore.
WITHOUT EITHER man explicitly saying anything about it, Damian gave Nick a ride home on those days when he was scheduled to work. Nick wondered if the entire caning incident had disgusted Damian to the point that the older man couldn’t bear to look at him while he still carried the mark. He checked his arse every day, tracking the colors as the line went from purple to yellow, wondering how he could announce when the mark was gone. And if it would mean that Damian would play with him again.
He smiled sadly as he pictured himself walking into Damian’s office and dropping his pants, saying, “Good as new, boss! Let’s saddle up again!”
In fact, he was beginning to wonder whether they were ever going to play again. Or go to bed. He missed being filled, feeling Damian’s hard cock inside, claiming him. He missed being on his knees, breathless with anticipation to find out what Damian was going to do to him next. At work, Damian was considerate and he never once gave Nick an order, instead making gentle requests, which depressed Nick enormously.
Once again, he feared that he had ruined everything without quite knowing what he had done.
“ASHLEY, CAN I have a word?”
“Well, finally!” Ashley threw up his hands in exasperation. “You’ve come to your senses at last.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ashley Winthrop, Counselor to Tops in Trouble. I should get a card printed,” Ashley said with a smug smile. “What did you do to fuck it up this time?”
“It wasn’t just me,” Damian said defensively.
“You’re the Top, therefore it’s mostly your fault.”
Damian glared at his friend, nettled by the utmost confidence with which Ashley laid the blame at his door. Even though he was right. “I mishandled a scene. And now we’re drifting apart.”
With his usual humor and discerning judgment, Ashley put his finger on the problem right away. “Do you still want to play with him?”
“Oh, yes,” Damian said, hanging his head miserably. “But I’m not sure he still wants to play with me. How could he trust—”
“Only one way to find out,” Ashley said robustly. “And you’re the Top. He’s a sub, granted, but he’s so new to this, he doesn’t know yet how to act out to get what he wants. You’ve got to take the lead on this. It’s up to you to make it right.”
“But I could have hurt him.”
Ashley’s expression softened and he put an arm around Damian. “You could have, but you didn’t. You controlled yourself enough to pull back before you did any damage.”
“I’ve never fucked up this much with a sub before. I don’t know why he affects me this way,” Damian mumbled.
“Don’t you?”
“Do you?”
“You love him.” Ashley sniggered at the look of stark terror that crossed Damian’s face. “Didn’t you know?”
“How the fuck do you know when I’m not even sure?”
Ashley took a moment to weigh his response. “You’ve heard the expression, you only hurt the one you love?”
Damian nodded, looking away from Ashley’s piercing gaze.
“When you love someone, you give them power over you. You’ve been in control for so many years, simply by keeping your heart locked away, that now you don’t know what to do with yourself. Does Nick love you?”
“I haven’t dared to ask. He may think he does now,” Damian said in a troubled tone. “But he’s too young. He doesn’t know—”
Ashley rolled his eyes in exasperation. “He’s old enough to recognize a good man when he sees one. Granted, you’re a good-looking fellow, but he’s smart enough to see past that to the real qualities that make a man. And being a Dom in this lifestyle, if you’re a good one, and you are, one becomes very attuned to the other person. With your ability to read a sub’s response, you lessen the chance that you’ll grow apart in time.”
“How do you know all this?” Damian sounded as if he only needed to be convinced.
“If Nick had any kind of self-destructive tendencies, he would have chosen me over you.” Ashley laughed. “I’m a handsome devil, and a snappy Top, but I wouldn’t be good for him.”
“You think I’m good for him?”
Although Ashley wouldn’t show it, his heart was wrung by his friend’s need for reassurance. “You two were made for each other. Now if only you could get your heads out of the sand.”
“You think I should say—”
“Go slow. Let it develop.” Ashley laughed at his little photography joke, even though Damian didn’t seem to notice. “Don’t just dump him off at his flat. Give him an invitation to play. I assure you, he’ll leap at the chance.”
“Thanks, Ash.”
It was all Damian said, but Ashley felt well repaid as he saw the renewed confidence in Damian’s step. He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. “Ashley Winthrop, purveyor of kinky toys and a surefire cure for Top Drop. I really must have a new card made.”
Chapter 15
THAT NIGHT after Damian finished some pick-up shots for the catalog, Nick was expecting nothing to happen between them, nothing more than some instruction for the next day when the older man called him to his office.
Damian was sitting behind his desk, stroking the polished surface of a wooden paddle with his slender fingers, a wicked smile on his face.
“Strip!”
Nick gasped, arousal sparking through his veins like wildfire and melting his knees. His hands were trembling as he ripped his clothes off, dropping to the carpet without even waiting for an order.
“Very good, pet,” Damian purred, rising to his feet. “I think I told you that I don’t permit my sub to dictate to me. Tonight, you have a choice. You may get dressed and leave, or,
” Damian paused to appreciate the tiny shudder that passed through his sub’s body, “or, you may agree to anything I want to do to you. I’m not going to warn you or ask your permission. Your only purpose will be to please me.”
“Yes, sir,” Nick agreed hurriedly, not wanting Damian to think there was even a moment of hesitation for him in this choice.
“You understand, you’ve agreed to be under my control until I declare that the scene is over, pet,” Damian reiterated. He was enjoying the delicate pink flush that suffused the boy’s entire body; he was shaking like a puppy about to be taken out on a walk.
“Please, sir, do whatever you want, just… just… do something….” Nick ran out of words.
Damian closed his eyes in relief for just a fleeting moment. He had held off as long as he could to guard against his own questionable impulses, he had resolved never to spank Nick again, but he could no longer resist his alluring sub. He had made so many mistakes that fateful day: acquiescing to his pet’s demand to be caned, not setting the scene for him, promising three and then not delivering the stated number. If he’d been able to tell Ashley everything that happened, he was sure that the other man would have yanked his status as a Top, if it were possible to do such a thing.
Damian was filled with gratitude to his friend; without his advice, he was sure he would never again have seen the beautiful sight of Nick, naked and on his knees, vibrating with need.
“Oh, I will, pet. I will do whatever I want.” Damian pulled the straight chair to the center of the room. “Over my knees, pet.” He had to suppress a laugh when he saw how quickly Nick scrambled to his feet and flung himself over his lap.
Nick winced when the hard hand came down on his arse. He was completely healed from their session with the cane, but it was like getting back on the horse that threw you. However, Damian didn’t allow him a long time to ponder; he warmed Nick’s arse thoroughly with a series of swats, making a random circuit over the entire bottom, ensuring that he did not miss an inch of the quivering flesh.
Dreamspinner Press Year Three Greatest Hits Page 21
