The swear words that went through Alec’s head all focused on Kaliq Zaman. What was with parents who felt they needed to force their child to do everything they wanted? Bastards. They didn’t deserve to have James as a son.
“What else?” he asked a few minutes later once he got James up onto the sofa and into his arms again.
“It was always that way at home,” James murmured. “My cousins and everything else were more important than me. I know part of that was the fact Mom had me out of wedlock and I was the family bastard.”
“No,” Alec said sharply but James shook his head.
“I was. A couple hundred years ago I would have been turned into a servant because of that. And while they were nice enough to my face, I heard their words when they couldn’t see me. ‘Selfish little bastard. Diedre could have gone so far if he hadn’t been born.’ ‘Can’t expect nothing from James. He’s just a bastard child.’ ‘Perhaps the Lord will help James. He can’t help being what he is, but if he ha-ha-hadn’t been born, things would have been easier on my sister.” He burst into tears again and Alec pulled him onto his lap and held him tight.
Murderous thoughts whooshed through Alec’s head for those horrible people. He settled with an image of each of them strung from the pulley in the dungeon having their skin peeled off by the end of his whip. “They were wrong,” he said, his own voice husky. “They were wrong, James. You’re the most amazing man. Who the fuck cares that your parents weren’t married? I’ll tell you right now, James, that those people were not being very Christian. From the Bible I’ve read, Christ hung out with the sinners and the bastards of the world. He would not have condoned that kind of shit.” He held him tighter. “I know it’s going to be difficult for you, but fuck those people. They don’t know you. They didn’t want to know you. Quite honestly, they don’t deserve to have known you.”
They sat there for a long stretch of time in quiet until a yip from upstairs made James sit up. “Zippo.”
Alec chuckled. “He probably wonders what’s going on down here. Why don’t you go upstairs and get into bed? I know it’s early, but I’m going to let him out and bring some dinner up. We can eat and the three of us can cuddle on the bed. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good.” James offered a tired smile. “Really good.”
Once he got James into bed, Alec took Zippo outside and pulled out a can of soup. He’d always found that hot soup could help in ways other foods couldn’t growing up. When the soup was heated up and two steaming bowls of it were on a tray along with lemonade, water, and Zippo’s food dish, he looked around for the little dog. He was nowhere to be found. Worried, he checked the back door. But it was shut and locked. “Zippo,” he called, but there was no responsive yip.
“He’s up here,” James called out.
Chuckling as it seemed Zippo hadn’t been willing to wait to be carried, Alec picked up the tray and turned off the lights before heading up the stairs. Zippo was curled up next to James with his head on James’s chest. “Seems he can climb stairs.”
“I knew he could small ones but didn’t realize he could do a full staircase. I shouldn’t have worried,” James said. “Zippo can do anything he puts his mind to.”
“And so can you,” Alec said as he handed over the bowl of soup. “Like owner, like pup?”
James laughed softly. “Is that what you are? My owner?”
Amused, Alec got comfortable and pulled James close. “I’m your lover, boyfriend, and Dom. If you want to consider me your owner as well? I’m good with that.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alec’s words were still ringing in James’s ears as he entered his office on Wednesday morning. It felt rather surreal to know his entire life had shifted in less than twenty-four hours. He knew he had a long ways to go, but that spanking had loosened some things up, stuff he hadn’t realized he’d been holding onto. He felt… lighter. And strange.
The heat from the spanking had dimmed by morning but he could still feel the ache in his muscles if he turned just the right way. Why that made him grin like an idiot, he wasn’t sure, but it did. Zippo trotted over to his bed while James turned on the computer. He had a few hours to make up for and while Alec had put his foot down that he would not be working overtime hours to make up for yesterday, James planned to work hard to finish that work.
The morning drifted along, though it felt different. Alice came to check on him as did Craig. Even Neil, who he had only met once before, checked in to see if he was okay. They cared about him. Which felt odd and remarkably freeing. As though he’d found what he’d always been looking for. And wasn’t that an amazing event.
“And here he is.”
The British accent had him look up from his work and he smiled. “Hi, Mark.”
“James, word is that you had a helluva hard time last night. Thought you could use a coffee.” Mark plunked a large Penny University coffee down in front of him.
“Crap. Does everyone know?” A little heat tinged his cheeks that everyone on the island might know his father had disowned him.
“We don’t know much except something shitty happened.” Mark flashed him a grin. “Welcome to a tight community, my friend. Especially one made up of Doms. We can’t help but want to make sure you’re all right, even if we don’t know what went on.” He cocked a brow. “Everything okay?”
“Everything is… wonderful.” It was strange. He should be feeling horrible, but he didn’t. James felt light.
“Good boy.” Mark smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “If you need anything, let me know. Here.” He handed James his cell. “Type in your number and I’ll send you a text. Then you can contact me if Alec is away and you need a shoulder to lean on. Albeit, you’ve got several, don’t ya?”
He did. James typed in his number, slightly overwhelmed by the fact he had people to turn to if things went wrong. When the fuck did that happen?
Once Mark left, he managed to get quite a bit done, though as he was doing the auto-payments, something caught his eye and he stopped before clicking the pay button. Why did that look familiar? He tagged it and put it to the side and paid the rest of the bills before pulling it up again. James was sure he’d recently paid that bill.
It took the morning to sift through all the payments that he’d put through over the last few weeks, but he finally found two exactly like the one that bothered him. All three were from the contractor in charge of the Faire project, which Kendrick had insisted should be paid immediately. Something in James’s gut told him not to do it.
He minimized that bill and continued on with his work. It was difficult to do because that bill kept nagging at him. Kendrick had told him to pay all those bills instantly. So he should just mark it and pay it. But it was for almost $20,000. James glanced at the clock. Kendrick and Becca should be back soon. He’d ask him then.
The work in front of him had him so engrossed that he never noticed when lunch came and went until Ryan walked in. “Hey,” James said, startled.
Ryan held up a to-go container from the cafeteria. “Thought I’d bring you something as Slate hadn’t seen you today. How are you doing? Word on the street is you had something shitty happen yesterday. You okay?”
He might not have the all-dominant aura yet, but Ryan definitely had the instincts. James smiled. “Thanks. I’ve been trying to get caught up in the things I didn’t get done yesterday and lost track of time. I’m good. Alec helped.”
With a flash of a smile, Ryan nodded and took a seat in the one other chair in the room. “Have you seen the Faire lately?”
“On Sunday.”
“Man, you should go over and take a look today. All the buildings are in. All of them. It looks amazing. Dad says now the work switches back to Chandler to make sure everything gets hooked up. But all the Hard Hat signs are down. It’s awesome.” Ryan nodded toward the food. “Better eat.”
Amused, James opened up the container and munched on a fry. As usual, with food around, Zippo came up t
o see what he could eat.
Ryan chatted while he ate and when he was done, James realized he felt a little better. When Ryan stood up to go, the outer door opened and Kendrick’s voice floated through the building. “I’ll remember that,” he said and Becca laughed.
He walked up to James’s office and looked in. “How are things?” A small frown crossed his face. “You okay?”
“Good.” Then James remembered. “Kendrick? There’s an auto-pay I want to talk to you about before I pay it.”
“All right.” Kendrick turned toward Ryan and smiled. “Ready for your spanking booth?”
“Yep. Dad and I spent hours looking over those catalogs you gave us. Found the two paddles I want.”
“Perfect. Give the numbers to James and he’ll get those ordered.” Kendrick tapped the doorway. “James, give me fifteen minutes to get settled and bring in that bill.”
Ryan left and Becca came in to scratch Zippo and tell him about their night. “One of my old Doms was having a party and he invited us. I probably had way too much fun showing off Kendrick.”
James laughed. “I can imagine. I’d want to show Alec off.”
She grinned. “Next time, I’ll ask Master Rob if we can bring someone. I think you and Alec would have fun. It would probably be a bit of a shock to you at first, but his parties are always fun and kinky.” After a moment, she leaned in. “You have that look of a sub who’s been through hell and came out the other side better than ever. Are you okay?”
With a groan, he shook his head. “I can’t hide anything here.”
A wry smile crossed her face. “Get used to it. We’ve all been through it, James. It’s one of the best things about living in a kink community. And one of the worst,” she added with a roll of her eyes.
He snorted a laugh and Kendrick said from down the hall, “Did my little sub just roll her eyes?”
Becca’s eyes practically bugged out and James wasn’t sure whether to laugh or hide when Kendrick appeared at the doorway, a smirk on his face. “Thought so. Rebecca, go home and get the capsaicin cream. Return with it immediately.” She pouted and left the room. Kendrick grinned wickedly at James. “Just think of all the things you get to try. Ready to go over that bill?”
Not wanting to ask why Kendrick wanted Becca to get Capsaicin cream, he nodded. “Sure. Shall I come to your office?”
“Do you have it up on your computer?”
Kendrick pulled up a chair and James showed him the bill. “I’m not sure why this one struck me wrong, but it did. I looked back over the last couple weeks and we’ve had two others for the exact same amount, all with the reason code E-E-four-one. It seemed odd.”
“You’re right. The first two had to do with our last payments for the buildings. This last one should have been less than half of that. Can you bring up the contractor’s spreadsheet?”
It took a half hour but by the time they were done, Kendrick’s frown was intense. He clapped James on the shoulder. “Send those screen shots to my computer. I’m going to have a little meeting with the contractor. This brings us to sixteen thousand over his bid. I want him to prove to me as to why it suddenly went sky high. Good work, James.”
Relieved and pleased, James quickly sent all the screen shots over. Kendrick went to his office and a few minutes later, Becca came back in, a small container in her hand. She grimaced as she went by. “This is evil,” she whispered, holding up the jar. “Evil, I tell you.”
“Rebecca.” Kendrick’s voice rippled through the air. “Now.”
She blanched and went quickly toward Kendrick’s office.
James wasn’t quite sure why Becca was in trouble, but he’d seen the two enough and had experienced a punishment of his own, so he knew whatever Kendrick was about to do wouldn’t harm her. He knew of capsaicin cream, but couldn’t fathom why it would be used in this context.
Fifteen minutes later, she walked past his door. He couldn’t help but notice she was slightly tense. When she returned in thirty minutes with a cup of coffee for him and moving very gingerly, he had to ask. “What did he do?”
“Ever had capsaicin cream rubbed on your ass?” she whispered. He shook his head. “It feels like a very long, very well-done spanking. Ouch.” Without another word she left and went down to Kendrick’s office, his coffee in hand.
James tried to imagine that and grimaced. Poor Becca. Of course, now he was wondering just what that would feel like. He squirmed and felt the slight ache from the previous night’s spanking—and grinned.
He could hardly wait until Alec gave him an erotic spanking. It was going to be amazing. Not to mention all the other wonderful things he wanted to try.
But first, he needed to decide on a label for Alec. He knew what he wanted to call him, but didn’t know if he could say it. Would Alec approve?
Chapter Twenty-Six
With a groan, Alec stretched his neck a little. The last three weeks had been bedlam. His and James’s date was put off due to foul weather the first week, and because of issues relating to the Faire the last two. Tonight, Alec wasn’t waiting any longer. He was taking his boyfriend on a date. Bottom line.
Not that there hadn’t been a lot of fun over those weeks. James had a wonderful way of looking on the positive side of things… especially when that included testing out one of his kinks. So far, they’d found he loved bondage, though it had to be bondage with sexual contact. Bondage for esthetic reasons made him bored. They’d discovered he disliked abrasion play, but adversely loved CBT. That surprised both of them. He was now training his sub to not orgasm unless commanded as one clip along his ball sac and James would go off like a rocket.
The puppy play was dead center in their kink. Some of it bled over into their regular relationship. James loved being a pet. Cuddling and being cuddled by Alec and having him pet James hair made his sub one happy puppy.
But tonight, Alec was going to treat James to a real date. Both of their test results came back clear and he had those in his hands. Tonight, his pup was going to suck him off. About fucking time.
One of the things that helped had been Craig taking Keb on as a temporary sub. Keb was able to serve under a strict Dom and Craig had someone to concentrate on who enjoyed pain to a certain extent.
He watched the two of them. Craig had Keb helping to set up the display spaces in one of the stores and from what he could see, Keb looked calmer. And that’s what he’d wanted.
“Hello, Sir.”
Alec glanced over his shoulder and smiled at Becca who was trotting in his direction. “Well, good morning, Becca. How’s your ass?” he asked with a huge grin. The night before, the township had a play party at On Your Knees and her ass had been a flaming red by the time Kendrick was done. That bastard was wicked with a cane and Becca had been blissed out and in subspace by the time he finished.
She laughed. “Still hot. He woke me up with a good hard fuck and then told me to get more sleep, so I just got out of bed. Thought I’d get James a coffee. How are things going with Keb?”
They discussed Keb and a few other members of the community. Before she left to get coffee, he asked “Hey, Becca. What are you and Kendrick doing tonight?”
“He’s on his way to Seattle right now. He’s attending that conference back east to market the Faire. So I’m not doing much of anything. Why?”
“Don’t suppose you’d like to dog sit? I’m taking James to the peninsula for a date and while we could take Zippo, I’d rather it just be the two of us.”
Her eyes lit up. “I’d love to. I’ve been trying to convince Kendrick we need a puppy. Maybe if you could tell him how well I took care of Zippo, he’d be more agreeable.”
He snorted. “Good luck with that.”
“A sub could hope,” she called back over her shoulder as she walked toward Penny University. “When do you want me to pick up Zippo?”
“How about at lunch?”
Perfect. Now he’d just have to roust James away from his desk.
H
e held James’s hand firmly as he helped him onto the boat. His pup was being brave, or trying to appear so, but he could tell James was already a little green. He associated boat rides with getting sick, something Alec planned to break him of. The toy he’d created for just that purpose was ready for action.
The expression on his sub’s face when he’d had him strip so he could press the small vibrator into his ass and slide the sheath over his cock had been amusing. Especially when he’d slipped the remote into his pocket.
“Strap yourself in,” he said and made sure James was fully seated. Once James affixed his seatbelt, Alec reversed the boat and pressed the small remote. Instantly James jerked, his eyes wide. That small button would have turned on vibrations in his ass and around his cock. Yes, pup. Concentrate on that.
Once he got the boat pointed toward Sequim, he kept half his attention on James. It didn’t take long before James’s mind was not on the water. The green was gone from his skin and his eyes were half lidded.
“Don’t come,” he ordered and James looked at him as if he was crazy. Alec grinned. “Come now and you’ll lose all the fun later. But speaking of fun. Whip that dick out and stroke yourself. I’ll turn the vibrations off. But if you stop playing, they go back on.”
James frantically undid his jeans, though he glanced around.
“Nobody’s watching. And if they are? It’s a free show.” Pink tinged James’s cheeks, making Alec’s grin widen. “All you need to worry about is giving me a show, pup. Pop that dick out.”
James obeyed and Alec hit the button to turn the vibrations off. By how hard his dick was, James was very close to coming. “Nice and slow, pup. Just enough to keep that cock interested.”
“As if it wouldn’t be,” James said on a gasp. “I think it’s got an Alec fetish. You come into view and it stands to attention.”
Making His Stand Page 15