Striped

by Barnette, Abigail

  Mitchell considered. “Five. Not too heavy-handed.”

  Jason tested the flogger out on his own arm first, partially because he liked the feeling of the small tails biting at his skin, partially because he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t over do it and spoil the experience for Sean. And another, darker part of him really liked the way Sean jumped at the sound. The next time he heard that sound, it would be when Jason slapped the tails of the flogger against those taut buttocks, raising angry red welts on that tattooed skin. Mitchell stepped in to remove the restraints and refasten them around Sean’s wrists with his hands in front of his body, so they wouldn’t interfere with the whip.

  “Interesting tattoos,” Jason said aloud, swinging the flogger a little before letting it slap against Sean’s ass with a satisfying snap. “Tell me about them.”

  Sean hissed, the muscles in his ass jumping as he waited for the next blow. “Nothing to tell. They match my stripes when I’m shifted. I like having the reminder.”

  “You don’t think that maybe that’s part of your problem?” Jason whipped him again with the flogger, Sean’s skin turning red even as Jason watched. “Having that constant reminder that you’re…above everyone else?”

  “I’m not above everyone else.” There was a hint of pain his voice, the manifestation of the physical sensation he was experiencing. Jason knew it well. The cold sweat of endurance, trying to climb past the physical pain but craving it, because the moments between blows seemed oddly empty.

  “You’re right, you’re not,” Mitchell said, adjusting the straps of the swing. “How many more, Jason?”

  “Three.” At the sound of Sean’s indrawn breath, Jason let another fall. “Two.”

  Sean’s feet shifted on the carpet, his bare toes digging in.

  “How are you doing, Sean?” Mitchell asked cooly, half-seated on the back of the couch.

  Jason let the fourth fall before Sean could answer. When he did, it was through clenched teeth. “I’m doing fine. Wondering when we move on to something a little hotter.”

  “That’s for me to decide,” Mitchell reminded him. “And, to a lesser extent, Jason.”

  “And I think you’re just a tad impatient,” Jason admonished before delivering the final blow.

  “I’ve been hard since about fifteen minutes after you left my place the other day,” Sean protested. “Of course I’m impatient.”

  Mitchell laughed. “I hope you don’t have a plane to catch. We didn’t invite you over here for a quickie.”

  Jason tossed the flogger aside, though he kind of wished Mitchell would have used it on him. He briefly entertained the notion of doing something willful, to force Mitchell’s hand, but that wasn’t the point of tonight. Tonight wasn’t about his submission, but Sean’s.

  “You took that well,” Mitchell continued. He stripped off his briefs, revealing his long, thick cock. Jason wished he could have seen Sean’s face when he got a look at it. Sean was well-endowed, and knew it, judging from the way he’d proudly revealed himself to Jason, and Jason had been suitably impressed. But Mitchell was in an entirely different league. Major league, like a fucking baseball bat, if Jason allowed himself some exaggeration.

  “Holy shit,” Sean whispered.

  Mitchell stepped close to Sean, and Jason took a breath. This was a part of the plan he and Mitchell had discussed privately, well in advance of making the offer. They’d seriously discussed the possibility that one or both of them would become jealous seeing their lover with another man. Jason had been completely honest; he wasn’t entirely sure how he would react. Seeing Mitchell reach out and grip Sean’s cock, Jason couldn’t say that he didn’t feel a little jealous, but he couldn’t say that he wasn’t crazy turned on, either. Mitchell slowly stroked Sean, just twice, and Sean whimpered.

  “Do you like my cock?” Mitchell asked, taking Sean’s hand in his and guiding it to his penis.

  “Oh…yes,” Sean whispered.

  Mitchell locked eyes with Jason over Sean’s shoulder, holding his gaze as Sean stroked him. “I believe in a system of punishment and reward. You took your punishment without complaint. So now you get a reward. Jason, what should it be?”

  “Whose reward is this supposed to be again?” Jason joked. “Sean, do you want to suck Mitchell’s cock?”

  The question was a formality. Sean’s mouth would be watering for it at this point. He nodded, swallowing as he tried and failed to find his voice.

  “Get on your knees,” Jason ordered, pushing Sean’s shoulders down. He pressed his cock to Sean’s back, breathing hard from the incredible, but far too brief, friction. His eyes closed, and he threaded his fingers through Sean’s dark curls. After a moment to compose himself, he continued, “Take it in your hand.”

  Sean reached up and encircled Mitchell’s cock, pumping up and down slowly.

  “May I touch myself, Mitchell?” Jason asked, aching to hear a yes from his lover. He’d manipulated the game somewhat, asking him when some sexy young guy was jacking him off. Mitchell groaned a yes and let his head fall back, eyes fluttering closed. His gaze locked on Sean’s hand working Mitchell’s cock, Jason stroked himself in the same rhythm. It wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge, but there was a sense of power in flirting with disaster. He wetted his lips.

  “Can I suck it?” Sean almost whispered, leaning close to the wide tip of Mitchell’s dick. He opened his mouth, tongue snaking out around his lips, the underside skimming Mitchell’s cock head with an “unintentional” brush.

  Jason cleared his head. There was a lot of power involved in a blow job. If Sean thought he could trick them into believing he’d submitted, while privately feeling as though he had the upper hand, it defeated the purpose of the exercise. “Yes. But Mitchell will tell you exactly what to do. If you don’t follow his instructions, you’ll be punished again, and you might not get fucked.”

  Sean’s spine stiffened. So, there was an element of the helpless there. Jason decided to exploit it. He went to the basket and retrieved a bottle of lube. He held it up, so Sean could not see it, and Mitchell silently nodded. He looked down at Sean and took his own cock in his hand. “Open your mouth.”

  Obediently, Sean’s jaw dropped, and Mitchell guided himself in. “Touch yourself,” Mitchell told Jason. “But don’t come. Sean is going to make both of us come tonight, aren’t you, Sean?”

  Chapter Seven

  It was damned hard remaining in his dominant space while Sean’s tongue circled his cock. But he had to regain control. He put his hand on Sean’s head and halted him. “I didn’t say you were going to make me come now.”

  Sean’s tongue stilled.

  “That’s better. Just let me fuck your mouth,” Mitchell instructed. He was careful, not wanting to choke Sean or make it unpleasant for him. That wasn’t the point. The point was to give Sean so much pleasure, he would do anything for a little bit more. To drag out the arousal, to heighten every sense, to awaken every nerve and strain it to the breaking point so that Sean would learn to control his rebellious impulses to earn his release. While Mitchell slid his cock past Sean’s lips, he nodded to Jason, who had squeezed lube onto his fingers. Mitchell watched over Sean’s shoulder as Jason brought his hand slowly to Sean’s ass. His gaze flicking to Sean’s face, Mitchell savored the look of surprise there as Jason brushed his knuckles over the tight hole. Slowly, Jason eased his fingers in, working to open Sean while Mitchell enjoyed the moans that vibrated around his cock.

  The problem with enjoying it was trying to keep himself from coming. Making a submissive wait heightened his experience, but it meant denying himself, as well. It had been just as hard when he’d first started these games with Jason. So many times he’d wanted to just fuck, hard and fast, and now was no different.

  There was no point in delaying it any longer. He pulled out of Sean’s mouth and nodded toward the swing. “Jason, help him out.”

  Jason wiped the lube from his hand on a small hand towel from the basket, then o
rdered, “Get up.”

  Sean rose, legs visibly trembling. His cock stood straight up, and Mitchell knew that if he touched it, it would be as hard as a rock. Jason uncuffed Sean’s hands and helped him slide into position in the straps of the swing. When he was settled into the two long, padded loops, Jason slipped the ankle straps around Sean’s ankles and tightened the straps, hiking Sean’s legs into the air. Sean leaned back, gripping the loop that supported his back.

  “Lie back, it’ll hold,” Jason told him.

  He leaned back, and Jason positioned himself at Sean’s head, stroking himself as he gave Sean an up-close-and-personal view.

  Mitchell went to the basket and retrieved a condom, then sheathed himself with it and stood at Jason’s feet, gripping his already lifted ankles and pushing them higher. “Are you ready?”

  “Oh fuck,” Sean groaned, his head dropping back. It was enough of an answer for Mitchell. He stepped forward and pulled Sean toward him, the swing rocking gently. Sean’s ass was already well-lubed from Jason’s careful attention, so Mitchell applied some to the condom and pressed forward, against the firm resistance of Sean’s ass.

  At his head, Jason brought his cock to Sean’s mouth, and Sean moaned, body tensing in the swing as Mitchell worked his wide tip inside.

  “Relax,” Mitchell urged him, pushing deeper. Sean bucked, sinking more of Mitchell inside, quickly. Sean made a strangled noise around Jason’s cock, and reached down with one hand to grasp his own, measuring the length of it in soothing strokes. Mitchell wanted to go deeper, to bury his whole cock in the hot, tight grip of Sean’s ass, but going slow was a bit of discipline for himself. He shivered, squeezed almost too tight by the hard, muscled ring, and took his time filling Sean, watching as Jason braced himself by gripping the straps of the swing as Sean sucked him. Jason’s eyes were closed. He breathed hard, clearly trying to maintain his control, as well.

  In him to the very base, Mitchell reached down and knocked Sean’s hand aside, pumping him with hard, fast strokes. He slid his cock out just a fraction, then back, and again, increasing the length of his thrust each time. Soon, Sean rocked in the swing, helpless to control the movement as he sucked and licked at Jason’s cock and Mitchell pounding in and out of his ass.

  Jason came first, pulling out of Sean’s mouth to finish himself off in two frenzied strokes. He stepped away to clean up, looking almost afraid to miss something. Mitchell ground against Sean,, savoring the ripples all around him as Sean’s body tried to decide whether to force him out or pull him deeper. Beneath Mitchell’s hand, Sean’s cock twitched slightly, and Mitchell knew that Sean had come to the very brink of orgasm. Jason returned and gripped Sean’s arms, preventing him from finishing the job himself when Mitchell ceased to touch him.

  “Do you want to come?” Mitchell asked, a drop of sweat sliding down the back of his neck. He wanted to come, he knew that for sure. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but wouldn’t let himself stop. He kept up the pace, listening to Sean’s frustrated moans and gasps. Around those distressed cries, somewhere, Sean managed to get out, “Yes! Please!”

  “Please what?” Those were the words they both needed, Mitchell to hear them and Sean to say them. And no matter how incredible it felt to be fucking Sean, fucking him so hard their bodies made a smacking sound as they collided, Mitchell could hold out until Sean begged him.

  Luckily, he didn’t need to control himself for long. Between loud, wordless exclamations that corresponded with each deep, hard thrust of Mitchell’s cock, Sean howled, “Please make me come!”

  Jason released his arms and reached over him, taking hold of Sean’s cock. Mitchell hadn’t noticed the condom Jason had retrieved, and his eyes widened as Jason rolled it down Sean’s shaft. Jason dropped to one knee beside the swing and leaned over, taking Sean’s sheathed member into his mouth, head bobbing while Sean curled up, practically out of the straps, shouting and bucking.

  Watching his lover suck another man was too much. Mitchell knew what Sean felt as he came with Jason’s tongue swirling around him, Jason’s lips sliding over him. “Oh fuck,” Mitchell swore, slamming into Sean furiously, his orgasm ripping through him like a bolt of lightning. He drove deep, shooting jet after jet into the condom, cock spasming.

  Perspiration dripping from his hair, he slumped against the straps, gasping for breath. Sean still moaned, legs trembling in the straps..

  It was Jason who spoke first. “So…twenty minute break, and then we do it again?”

  Chapter Eight

  Hours later, when they were exhausted, Sean excused himself to get some air before he started the drive home. The door in the rec room opened onto a huge white-washed deck that leaned over the steep embankment. The backyard was non-existent, Mitchell had explained, in order to keep their house as far from the road as possible. Through the trees, Sean could see the flicker of dark water, the lake he lived across.

  Above the silvery-black of the leaves, the sky was light gray. They’d spent the entire night alternately talking and fucking, playing the game all the while. Mitchell was a natural dominant, but he wasn’t pushy. He hadn’t directed the conversation, hadn’t been overbearing. And Jason, he’d seemed perfectly at ease changing gears when Mitchell would steer them back into sex. It had taken some time to get used to the rhythm of the evening, but he’d finally realized that it was designed to keep him off his balance. If he wasn’t sure of himself, he would follow Mitchell’s lead.

  It had worked.

  He fished his cigarettes from his back pocket and lit one up, looking back at the door. In their casual moments, they’d discussed the smoking ban in public facilities in Michigan, and how long it took some residents of Gwinn Close to get used to it. It had been apparent that Mitchell didn’t approve of cigarettes.

  So what, now you’re going to quit to impress some guy? How is this not a giant brain-washing session?

  Sean didn’t look up guiltily when Jason stepped out of the house and onto the deck. He did, however, flick his half-finished cigarette down the hill, in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice.

  “Hey, only you can prevent forest fires, buddy,” Jason said with a laugh, ducking the drips from the overflowing rain gutters.

  “If I managed to burn the woods down in this weather, I deserve credit.” Sean nodded toward the house. “Where’s Mitchell?”

  Jason came to lean against the rail, shaking water from his hair, as though it would make some difference in the steadily falling rain. “Shower. Though I don’t know why he didn’t save the water and just run around out here.”

  “He’s kind of…fastidious, huh?” Sean rubbed a hand over his hair, scrunching his dark, wet curls. If Mitchell thought he was going to make Sean into a clone or something, it wouldn’t work. Maybe it had worked with Jason…

  That thought struck him as pretty dickish in immediate retrospect. Jason wasn’t a clone, or controlled by Mitchell. Their relationship seemed easy and relaxed, and most important, full of love borne of mutual respect. So, why did he feel so…

  “You’re all wound up and rebellious now, aren’t you?” Jason’s voice held a hint of amusement. “I was like that. In the moment, submission felt amazing. Afterward, I felt like I’d kicked my own ass or something.”

  Sean shrugged it off. “I’m just not the kind of guy who takes orders. I know it was all a game, but I feel like I lost or something.”

  “Did it feel like you lost when you were getting fucked?” The bluntness of his own words made Jason laugh a little. “I don’t mean to be crude, but come on. Did you have a good time?”

  “I did,” Sean admitted reluctantly.

  “Then why worry? Why worry about if Mitchell had dominance over you? Why concentrate on how it feels to be dominated, when you could concentrate on how amazing it feels to just submit? To just let go of everything and let someone else drive you around for a while?”

  It had been amazing, but all his life Sean had worried about not being controlled by another per
son. Definitely not another shifter. If he’d ever met another tiger, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to be perceived as submissive then, either.

  He knew they were feline shifters, but Sean felt more like an alpha dog. He didn’t want anyone else telling him how to live his life. His sexuality was a huge part of his identity, and to have someone else in charge of it seemed dangerously like consenting to being kidnapped.

  “The way I look at it,” Jason continued, “is like, at the end of a business trip, when I get home, the last thing I want to do is cook a meal for myself. If someone else is willing to do it for me, I’m perfectly happy to let them. But if I have to stand there and tell them exactly what to make, what ingredients to use, when to flip the burgers…even if they do everything I tell them to do, I’m still doing a lot of work. Think about it, do you like being with partners who need you to tell them what to do to get you off?”

  Sean shook his head. “To a point, yeah. I don’t mind someone asking if I like something, but I don’t want to have to tell them when to touch me and where. I’d rather they just try stuff. Learn what I like, you know?”

  “Exactly. Mitchell is the exact opposite. He enjoys that control. But he enjoys it because it brings me pleasure. It got him off tonight to tell you what to do and how to do it, because he could see, just like I did, that it got you hornier than you’ve ever been in your life.” Jason shrugged. “I don’t mean to be crude about it. It’s just that, sometimes, you have to learn to let yourself let go. And once you can do that sexually, you’ll be able to do that in other areas of your life. You’ll learn to control yourself, and you’ll respect yourself for being able to accept that control as a necessary part of your life.”

  “You should have Dr. Phil’s job, you know?” Sean laughed it off, but he saw some sense in Jason’s words.

  “I just think you should give it time, maybe another chance. Or a few more.” That sexy grin was back on Jason’s face, somehow innocently mischievous despite their frank conversation. “I may have some personal bias that slants this advice.”