by Cara Dee
“Go ahead. We’ll join you in a bit,” Reese replied. “Give me your bag too. You can jump right in.”
Oh, thank fuck. I handed over my bag and smacked a kiss to his lips. “You rock, Daddy-o.”
It was possible I’d told them I had changed into my new Speedo swimwear right after I woke up at Aunt Mel’s this morning.
I took off in a run, hoping Tate was up. I’d done myself a favor and talked to both him and Kit online, and it felt good to have made loose plans to meet up in the city soon. Kit would be here with his Daddies later, and I assumed they’d stay the night since they had their own cabin.
Ivy would be here this afternoon as well.
Someone was in the water. I heard splashing.
As I reached the corner of the house, I pulled my tee over my head and then came to a screeching halt.
Those are new.
Past the pool, down on the big lawn, were two fighting cages. The black bars gleamed in the sun. They were too far away for me to see clearly, but there was something used as flooring. Perhaps foam mats of some sort.
That was gonna get interesting. Reese told me on the way down here that we’d start training together after the weekend.
“Shay! Are you just gonna stand there?”
I dragged my gaze off the cages and spotted Tate in the pool, along with three inflatable pool chairs. Then I jumped up on the deck and jogged across it before hopping down and aiming straight for the sunbed in the corner I’d missed a bizarre amount.
“Hey. You feelin’ better today?” I stripped down to my swimwear and dropped my clothes on the lounger.
“No, pretty much the same,” he chuckled. “Horny and depressed.”
I snorted and walked over to the stairs. He’d complained yesterday about missing Kingsley so much that it felt like he was “going to die.” Especially since there’d been a party here last night. Tate had tried to join in, but he couldn’t bring himself to approach any Doms.
Jesus, the water was perfect. From the third step, I dove in and washed away the city noise.
I fucking loved spending time with my brothers, but for the first time in two years, it felt okay to be selfish. It felt okay to take some time for myself.
When I resurfaced, I pushed back my hair and saw River and Reese trailing toward their cabin. And I was struck with this forceful sense of gratitude and “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” Those two amazing men had chosen me.
“Hey, Tenley Tops!” I swam over to the other side of the pool as they slowed down and looked over at me. “C’mere, I wanna whisper something.”
River tilted his head at me.
Reese lifted a brow. “If you splash water on me, I’ll throw you into one of the shower rooms when the watersport lovers arrive later, and I’ll volunteer your face for target practice.”
I choked on a breath and widened my eyes.
Tate started guffawing.
“I’m trying to be sweet, fucker!” I exclaimed. “Now you ruined it.”
He smirked and left my bag on the porch in front of the cabin, then walked over to me. “A Daddy can’t be too careful.” He squatted down where I was gripping the edge, and it bugged me how just a single look could disarm me. It wasn’t even heat or sadistic pleasure. It was plain humor and warmth swimming in his moss-green eyes, and it was fucking stunning.
I bit my lip and pushed myself up to rest my forearms on the edge. “I just wanted to say you make me happy, okay? That’s all.”
He smiled widely and touched my cheek. “That’s mutual, baby boy. I guess no one gets to piss on your face tonight.”
I spluttered a laugh and shook my head. “Thanks, I guess. In fact, let’s make that a limit.”
He dipped down for a quick kiss before standing up. “Soft or hard limit?”
“Hard!”
He laughed on his way back to the cabin.
Freaking Sadists.
“I think I should spend the rest of the summer right here.” Here, being the neon pink inflatable pool chair. It had a cupholder! I took a sip of my Coke and pulled up my knee a bit. I wanted to get some sun along my inner thighs too. Plus, it didn’t escape my attention that people tended to look when I parted my legs.
Maybe there was an exhibitionist in me.
I inhaled the very essence of summer with each breath. Freshly cut grass, chlorine, sunscreen, and the barbecue smell from the hot dogs and burgers Daddy was currently preparing on the grill.
Even the music was better today. I’d sweet-talked Daddy into using a playlist I’d sent to him, replacing grinding old rock with upbeat RnB remixes about summer.
“It’s pretty great,” Tate murmured drowsily from his own pool chair. “The view helps.”
Legit. A handful of people had arrived in the last hour or two, and everyone had set up camp in the loungers around the pool. Including Kit with his two Doms. Colt was a hot motherfucker, cut from the same cloth as River and Reese. Older, rugged, solid frame, charismatic.
I flicked a glance over at River and got stuck there. He was in the pool too but had opted to use the stairs as his lounger, and he was leaning back on his elbows and looking generally indecent. Eyes closed, chin dropped, chest hair glistening, lower body submerged, hair pushed back, and sun-kissed scruff that looked a little lighter than normal.
I needed a taste.
Holding up my Coke, I carefully slipped off the lounger and into the water. “Owner, I’m coming for you.”
He cracked one eye open and smiled. “Should I brace myself?”
“Always.” I grinned and closed the distance, setting my soda on the edge before I crawled on top of him.
He raised his chin, a silent request. “Are you here to tell me we can finally change this god-awful music?”
I shook my head and kissed him. “Nuh-uh. This is great music. Music you can actually dance to.”
He hummed, teasing the tip of his tongue against mine, then eased away and tilted his head at me. “Are you a good dancer?”
Before I could respond, Reese hollered that the first round of hot dogs and burgers was ready, and I was struck with a pang of guilt. I’d offered to help out earlier, to which they had said no, and it didn’t feel awesome.
“I can hold my own, I think,” I replied distractedly. “I’m gonna go ask Daddy if there’s anything else I can do. Do you want me to get you some food, Sir?”
“We’ll go together.” River straightened on the step and cupped my cheeks. “You’re not gonna do anything except sit down at have lunch with us. We’ve given you the day off for a reason. Tonight Reese won’t go easy on you.”
Why so serious?
I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. “I can’t wait.”
I could see why numerous Doms enjoyed letting their subs have fun in the sun during the day now. It lulled us in and threw a big, fuzzy blanket of comfort and security over us. Then, bam, darkness fell. My RnB was gone. The pool party had ended. Industrial metal and goth music blared out of the speakers in the main house, and the black-painted club area became the lion’s den in which aforementioned Doms walked around with happy grins because all the subs suddenly looked nervous.
I did my best to hide those nerves as I stood next to the table on the demo stage where Reese and his “friend from Boston” had set up shop. I counted approximately thirty floggers, whips, straps, and canes.
A large St. Andrew’s Cross had been wheeled over to share the ramp with the table too, and I had a feeling I knew who would get attached to that cross soon.
River was…here somewhere.
According to a sign at the entrance of the club, seventy-five people were allowed to be in this room at the same time, and I guesstimated about half of that were present tonight. So far, all the kink equipment along the walls remained untouched. So I guess they were all going to watch Daddy beat me. Great.
Reese let out a laugh at something his buddy said. The music was too loud for me to hear it, but I was sure it was sadistic and crue
l and mean and awful.
How long was I supposed to stand here? Wearing nothing but a pair of black briefs, no less. Granted, there were other subs who were in various states of undress, though they didn’t have spotlights aimed at them. I did.
I bet the Boston dude was a Sadist too. He looked the part, particularly when he smoothed his fingers down his somewhat untamed goatee. He’d grin at something, and his eyes would light up and crinkle at the corners, and he’d ease his thumb and forefinger down the dark hair that circled his mouth.
Well-worn leather pants, top button undone, nothing on top, except one tattoo that covered a shoulder and slithered down toward his chest and arm. Chains and tentacles mingled with the strands of a heavy-looking flogger that rose up from a patch of greenery with leaves, vines, and a single magnolia flower.
My mom had loved magnolia trees.
Oh, fuck no. I smashed my lips together as Reese picked up one of the floggers and drew the strands through his fist. It was the third time he’d picked up that particular tool, and I could see those strands were made of something unpleasant. My bet? Coconut. In which case, I was screwed. Coconut fibers were the reincarnation of the devil.
As if sensing I was watching, Reese glanced over at me with a little smirk.
The song playing was winding down, so I took the opportunity to give him a piece of my mind. “You’re eyeing that thing too hard, man.”
That made him grin. Fucker. Then he turned to his friend again, saying something I couldn’t hear, before he faced the crowd and whistled sharply.
The music died down, and nerves tightened my stomach.
“Evening, everyone!” Reese positioned himself at the center of the ramp and cracked his knuckles while he appeared to be looking for someone. Maybe River. “Good turnout—as always when there’s an opportunity to terrorize our subbies.” Chuckles all around from the dominant types. “Y’all know Walker. We miss him, he should move back down here, and until he does, we’ll have to make do with the fantastic toys he makes. Which—” he gestured toward me “—I will demonstrate on my mouthy boy tonight.”
Mouthy? I wasn’t fucking mouthy!
“That reminds me,” he went on. “I haven’t formally introduced the little fighter who’s turned my brother and me into cavemen lately.” Well, when he said shit like that, it was kind of hard to look pissy. He turned his hand, palm up, and I put my hand in his and joined him at his side. “Some of you know Shay from the munches back in town. Hopefully he’ll be a permanent fixture from now on.”
I gulped down the heaviness his words caused and managed a smile, but what I really wanted was to take him aside and ask if he meant all that.
“Congratulations!” someone hollered from the crowd.
Reese grinned and pressed a kiss to my temple, then addressed the others again. “It feels good to have your own personal punching bag, doesn’t it?”
I snorted and hid my amusement behind my hand, and…no one else hid their laughter.
“All right, enough chitchat,” Reese said. “I’m gonna get my boy attached to the cross, and Walker’s gonna tell y’all about the tools I’ll be using for warm-up.”
In other words, I was going to enjoy myself before the suffering began, sort of like this whole day had gone so far. Enjoyment first, torture later. Wonderful. I wasn’t dreading this one bit.
When Reese turned me toward the X-cross, I spotted River standing next to it, holding up a pair of headphones.
I furrowed my brow.
“You didn’t think I’d let Reese have all the fun, did you?” River pointed to the spot on the floor directly in front of the cross, and I walked over there. They both liked playfulness and bratting, I’d learned, but not during scenes. For this, they wanted obedience.
Together they restrained me to the cross using the multiple straps attached to the leather-covered contraption. Around my wrists, around my ankles, around my calves, and one strap around my midsection. I wasn’t going anywhere. I wouldn’t even be able to writhe when the pain rained down on me.
River walked behind the cross so he could look me in the eye, and he produced a blindfold from his jeans. “There’s a time and a place for the kind of degradation you undoubtedly wanted when your only goal was to be punished. You’ll receive that kind from me too—with the difference that we won’t let you forget who will be there to pick up the pieces afterward.”
I didn’t know how he could command every fiber of my being so easily, including my focus, but everything else just fell away. When he spoke, I listened.
“You’ll get a taste of another type of degradation tonight.” He slipped the blindfold over my head but left it at my forehead for now. “I’ll be in your head the whole time.” He snatched up the headphones from the floor next. He’d left them there earlier, I presumed. “See the chair out there?”
I followed his nod toward the tinted patio doors and saw he’d placed one of the lawn chairs right outside. Another pair of headphones hung over the armrest, along with a pack of Marlboros and a lighter. If he was going to “be in my head,” I assumed there was a microphone function on his headphones. A glass of whiskey sat on the floorboards.
“That’s where I’ll be,” he told me.
I shuddered and felt Reese come up behind me, pressing his chest to my back, and he attached something near my hand. A buzzer of some sort with an adhesive back to it. It had a digital display, not that I’d see it when the blindfold was lowered, and a big button at the center.
“You won’t be able to hear much with those headphones on,” he murmured in my ear. “If giving your safeword verbally doesn’t feel like it’s enough, you can press this button, and it’ll send vibrations to a device in my pocket. Understand?”
I nodded quickly. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good boy.” He smacked my ass before taking a step back.
River stole my attention back by clearing his throat, and he held up the headphones for me. “You ready?”
“Yes, Owner,” I repeated. I was as ready as I could be for something I couldn’t predict.
“Enjoy and let us control you.” He smiled and put the headphones on me. Holy shit. They blocked out virtually all sound. They sat firmly too. I wouldn’t be able to shake them off. Next, he slid down the blindfold, and everything went dark. Welp. I startled slightly when he pressed a kiss to my lips, but I quickly returned it.
Okay, then. Not at all what I had expected. Pitch black and silence. Would Reese give me a warning of any kind before he struck me?
Fuck, I hoped he wouldn’t surprise me by using the coconut flogger first. Like some sadistic version of a “warm-up.” Using the worst thing first. No, I couldn’t see him doing that. Mainly because the fun would be over too quickly.
I’d only been beaten with something made of coconut fibers once before. The material was scratchy and irritated the skin; it felt like being scraped up by tiny little needles. And those tiny little needles could create tiny little wounds that were invisible to the eye, except, after a severe beating, when you took a step back and watched the result. While the tiny little wounds remained unseen, it looked like your skin was crying blood, but it was pink and clear because it mingled with sweat. My God, that shit hurt. And Reese was going there tonight, wasn’t he? Of course he was.
This was how the mindfucking began. They hadn’t even touched me, and I was already questioning when the first strike was going to come, what Reese was going to use, if there would be a warning, when I’d hear River’s voice…
Oh, motherfff—I gritted my teeth against the fire that spread across my back. No warning. Understood. Oh my God, no warning whatsoever. Flogger, definitely. Leather, not suede. Suede had a more muted, thuddy, softer touch. This was sharp, cold, and unforgiving. And Reese packed plenty of force behind each blow.
I gripped the leather straps my wrists were attached to, and I held on tightly.
Adrenaline coursed through me and made every nerve ending hyperaware.
Seconds l
ater, the assault ended, but there was no time to relax. Reese came forward and slowly, seductively drew the strands of the flogger up the inside of my leg. At the same time, the first notes of a goth song filled my ears. A dark, deep voice sang of a beast that was going to get me, and I recognized it. River had played this album in the cabin. The goth metal band was called Type O Negative or something with a blood type.
I sucked in a breath and suppressed a groan once the beating resumed. Without the ability to see it coming, I only knew one thing for certain. It was gonna be a long evening.
The song winded down after another round of hits, and I heard the distinctive sound of a cigarette being lit. It was followed by an exhale, and it made me shudder.
“Everyone watching right now will see you cry soon.” River’s warm whiskey voice filtered through. “They’ll see you surrender and lose your composure, and sometimes that’s nothing. Sometimes it won’t affect you at all.” He took a sip of his drink and let the silence stretch for a bit.
Sometimes it wouldn’t affect me, but other times…?
“Fuck!” I choked out. That was a cane. It had to be a cane. It felt like my upper back was on fire, like my skin had cracked. Christ, it was too early to lose my mind, but I couldn’t shake the fact that I’d barely heard my own outburst. It sounded like I was screaming inside my head.
Then River’s chuckle flitted through. “You’re so tense, little puppy. How’s that going to work when we try waterboarding? Relax.”
I screwed my eyes shut tightly behind the blindfold and couldn’t even breathe through the pain as Reese laid in on me. Over and over, he rapped the thin cane across my back and thighs. My lungs burned for air. The fire kept spreading. Sweat was already forming. Holy shit, it was almost unbearable. I hadn’t reached that point yet where pain became pleasure. It had to run deeper.
The mindfuck was well underway, though. When the beating ceased and Reese’s hands ghosted over my skin, that was the sensation that made my eyes burn with tears. I gulped in some air and let out a strangled cry when I felt his fingers trace a painful spot.
