Room at the Edge

by Jane Davitt

  He slipped inside Jay, an inch, two, filling him up again with excruciating slowness. Jay was whining, past speech, his head hanging down, drooping like a thirsty flower. Panting, keening, Jay was lost in a maze of arousal, needing to be shown the way out.

  “Or I might just fuck you like this, so slowly you can’t ever quite come until you’re raw and you don’t know if you want to beg for more or beg me to stop.”

  The words were gasped out, mumbled, but Liam was listening to every sound Jay made. “Don’t…don’t stop.”

  “Tell me you trust me,” Liam demanded.

  “T-trust you.” Impossible to doubt Jay in that moment. He was open, defenses down, broken apart and waiting to be made whole again.

  “You’d better never let me doubt it again.”

  He pulled out completely and gripped his slippery cock in his hand, rubbing the head across the reddened hole. Austin was biting his lip again, his hands clenched in his lap, but he didn’t speak.

  Liam’s fingers slid inside easily, three of them, widening the channel so that his cock could crowd in with them, an awkward fit, but they were both so close to coming that it didn’t matter.

  Jay threw his head back, an inarticulate cry tearing at his throat, the scream Liam had been waiting to hear.

  He barely knew where his orgasm ended and Jay’s began; he wasn’t sure which pulses came from his own cock and which were an echo of Jay’s inside his stretched, sore arse. The sounds escaping Jay were closer to sobs than anything else, and Liam had little control over what his hips were doing as waves of release washed through him and into Jay.

  Jay was crying for real by the time Liam’s cock softened and slipped from him. Austin stroked Jay’s hair gently, murmuring reassurances that seemed to help. When Liam’s eyes met Austin’s, he saw with a sense of relief that Austin wasn’t upset or worried.

  “Shh, good. You’re okay,” Austin said. “Let it out. There’s no hurry.”

  “None at all,” Liam agreed. His legs felt distinctly unsteady as he stood and just as quickly sank onto the couch beside Austin. He wanted to pull Jay up to join them, but it was too soon—Jay needed this emotional release the same way he’d needed the physical one, and rushing him wouldn’t serve any purpose. “Should he have some water?” he asked Austin.

  “I’ll get it.” Austin left and came back with a glass, then curled himself onto the floor next to Jay. “Here, drink some of this.”

  Jay sniffled, wiped his cheeks, and nodded. “Thanks,” he said hoarsely and sipped.

  “I wasn’t supposed to be giving you orders,” Liam said ruefully after a while. He looked down at them both. “And I didn’t intend it to get that intense, though I’d be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed it. Are you okay?”

  “I feel great,” Jay told him, his voice still hoarse. He shifted position and winced. “Uh, towel? Now? Or the carpet’s going to need steam cleaning.”

  Austin was on his feet as soon as Liam nodded to him, hurrying out of the room again, Jay’s glass in his hand.

  “The carpet’s not important, so don’t worry about it,” Liam said. “It had a pitcher of eggnog spilled on it when I had some people over last Christmas, and it survived that.” He shifted over and stroked Jay’s head, needing to touch him but unsure the hug he wanted to give Jay would be wanted. “You look better. More settled.”

  Jay smiled at him hazily. “Fucked raw, you mean, Sir. Thank you.” He rested his head against Liam’s knee, kissing it respectfully. “Love the way you take control. Feels right.”

  “You’re still getting spanked,” Liam told him.

  Jay’s eyes widened, his head jerking up. “Well, yeah!” He cleared his throat. “I mean, yes, Sir, if it pleases you.”

  “Oh, that sounded very convincing. You’re incorrigible, you know that?” Liam knew he sounded indulgent, not reproving. Relaxed and sated, it was difficult to remember he had a long list of problems to deal with, Jay’s attitude being one of the most important items.

  Right then he wanted to focus on the things that felt right.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Austin opened his eyes and saw Jay sleeping next to him, face creased with sheet marks. He rolled onto his back and blinked up at Liam’s perfect white ceiling. There was a faint smell of coffee wafting up from downstairs that made Austin consider hauling himself out of bed, but he was so comfortable he thought he’d give himself another five minutes. It was Saturday, and Liam would probably be watching the news or reading the paper, considering a trip to the coffee shop down the street that sold fresh blueberry and cranberry muffins. He’d made it clear that the brunch he’d cooked the Sunday before was a special treat and not something they should expect from him every weekend.

  “Up,” Liam said sharply from the doorway, and Austin sat upright in surprise. “Both of you. You have two minutes to be downstairs and kneeling next to my chair.”

  He disappeared again, and Austin jabbed Jay in the ribs with two fingers, arousal and anticipation sizzling through him like a double espresso. Liam going full-on Dom was the perfect start to the day. “Get up!”

  “Hm? What?” Jay was still mostly asleep, barely cracking his eyes open.

  Austin scrambled out of bed and yanked the covers off Jay. Jay whined in protest and reached blindly for them; Austin slapped his bare ass instead, and Jay bolted up, glaring.

  “What was that for?”

  “Liam wants us downstairs. Now. Don’t think; just start moving.”

  “Fuck.”

  As a summary went, it was succinct and accurate.

  Jay knuckled sleep out of his eyes as he crawled to the edge of the bed. “Did he say if he wanted us dressed?”

  “He said ‘two minutes to be kneeling by my chair,’ so I’m guessing not.”

  “I need to pee.” Jay stood and glanced down at his cock, which backed up his statement emphatically, then sighed. “Careful what you wish for.”

  Austin was in exactly the same state as Jay—sleepy, confused, and needing to pee—but he was tingling with excitement. He headed for the door, Jay close behind him, and they took the stairs quickly, entering the kitchen running.

  Liam was sitting at the head of the kitchen table, a mug of coffee in front of him, his expression forbidding. He glanced pointedly at his watch. Austin caught his breath, decided speaking wasn’t a good idea right then, and went to his knees as instructed, Jay following suit.

  “You came down those stairs making an unacceptable amount of noise and burst in here out of breath. I gave you plenty of time to do as you were told, so I can only assume you wasted it. Bend over the table.”

  His heart thudding, Austin got to his feet, trying to make it a smooth transition, the way Liam liked. He leaned over the table, bracing himself on his forearms, and waited. Jay was beside him, but Austin kept his gaze on the grain of the wood.

  “I’m not going to trick you so that you earn punishments,” Liam said. Austin heard a drawer open, then close. “I don’t need to play those games. If I want to do something to you, I will. But if I tell you to do something and you fail, you will be disciplined because that tells me you didn’t give me your best efforts. Anything less than your best is disrespectful.”

  Was he supposed to acknowledge that or not? Austin couldn’t decide, and Liam didn’t give him time to make up his mind. He heard the familiar sound of the air being cut and felt the flat, hard smack of a wooden spoon against his ass.

  That particular drawer in Liam’s kitchen held an assortment of objects that all belonged in a kitchen but were never used to cook with. Wooden spoons, spatulas, clips to hold bags shut, pastry wheels… Liam added to it all the time.

  This spoon was large and heavy, but it didn’t really do more than leave a smart. Liam stood behind them, dividing his attentions, but not in any pattern that Austin could decipher. He held still for three smacks, then heard Jay get two; got another at the top of his thigh, then heard Jay’s breathing quicken as the spoon came down on his ass s
ix times.

  Not knowing when it was his turn added another layer to the punishment. He wanted Liam’s attention, craved more of the uncompromising smacks, but Jay’s stifled moans were hot as hell too, and he knew how much Jay had missed this.

  The spoon clattered to the table, and Austin sighed as Liam ran his hand over Austin’s ass, caressing the spanked-hot skin as if assessing its heat. He couldn’t help pushing up to meet that cool hand, but it earned him a hard pinch. “Stay still, Austin.”

  He shaped, Yes, Sir, with his lips, allowing no sound to escape, and let Liam fondle him, offering up his obedience even when Liam’s fingers slipped between his thighs to tease at his hole and balls.

  Austin inhaled sharply as Liam slid a finger inside him, as much because Liam’s finger was slick as because he hadn’t been expecting it. Liam was careful about using lube, even when Jay might have preferred he didn’t—he didn’t want to injure them. Pain and damage weren’t the same thing, and Austin was overthinking this. It was only Saturday morning, they had the whole day ahead of them, and Liam was in charge. Any sense of lingering tension melted away. Austin let his forehead sink down onto the tabletop and relaxed.

  He was only mildly disappointed when Liam stopped touching him and presumably reached to touch Jay instead. Jay must have squirmed, because a sharp slap was the next thing Austin heard, followed by a few more that must have been hard enough to really hurt. Jay didn’t make a sound, and a moment later Liam said, “Don’t move,” and walked out of the room.

  This was when Austin wished he could talk to Jay, but he wanted to obey, to be what Liam wanted, more than he wanted to ask Jay what he thought would happen next. The thrill of anticipation made Austin bite his lip while he strained his ears for clues about what Liam was doing and what might come next.

  Liam came back, but Austin couldn’t guess what he might be holding until he heard the wet squirt of lube and felt Liam’s hand on the small of his back. “Relax,” Liam ordered, and Austin did his best to do so as something thick and long and hard was slowly pushed inside his ass. At one point his body clenched down on it, and Liam stopped, waiting, until he was able to relax again. God, it felt like a baseball bat. Which it wasn’t, it couldn’t be, but it was huge and unyielding, and when Liam finally stopped moving it forward and let go, Austin breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Don’t worry, Jay. I’ve got a matching one for you,” Liam said, which left Austin wondering if Jay had been watching the whole thing. The thought made him embarrassed and turned on at the same time. “Austin, would you like to see?”

  It was no wonder Austin sometimes wondered if Liam was psychic. He whispered, “Yes, Sir,” and turned his head.

  The butt plug was big, but not as big as it felt inside Austin’s ass right then. It had a curve to it, which explained the pressure on his prostate, and watching Jay’s back arch as Liam pushed it into him was more arousing than Austin would have thought possible. “Easy,” Liam said, stroking his hand over the curve of Jay’s ass as he paused. “Breathe.”

  “It’s too big,” Jay gasped.

  “It won’t be if you stop fighting it,” Liam said. “Austin managed. So can you.”

  Austin saw Jay’s face contort, then relax, as if an inner battle had been won, less on a physical level—though taking something this big was always going to be a struggle—than an emotional one. Jay had to be conquered, taken, forced. He loved it. Liam wasn’t allowing him any escape, beyond the ever-present use of a safe word, and Austin could see Jay respond to the slow, inexorable push of the plug, guided by Liam’s hand.

  “Hurts,” Jay said on an exhaled breath. “Sir…more?”

  Liam chuckled and did something that made Jay gasp. “You’ll get this as deep as it goes, Jay, but that’s my decision, not yours. Everything I do to you today will happen just the way I want it to. Every tear you shed, every scream, every drop of sweat or spunk that comes out of you is going to be controlled by me. Today I own you two. I’m going to make sure you don’t forget that in the future.”

  His choice of words made Austin shiver with delicious anticipation. Austin’s cock was half-hard, but it was his ass that had most of his attention. The plug shoved up inside him was a constant reminder of who Liam was and the power he had.

  “More,” Jay said again, and this time whatever Liam did made him cry out, hands curling into claws on the table. “God…so good. Yours.”

  “That’s right. You are.” Liam made Jay moan loudly, then turned his head to look at Austin. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of neglecting you.”

  “Don’t…feel…neglected, Sir,” Austin managed to say through dry lips. His ass was split wide, his cock achingly hard, and he’d only just woken up. This was like going to an amusement park and stepping onto the scariest ride there without waiting in line, intensity layered with disorientating speed.

  “But hungry, yes? Ready for breakfast?”

  Austin shook his head, not in denial but confusion. “I’m not— If you want me to eat, Sir…” He let his words trail off, coherence lost in his need to please Liam and his uncertainty about the best way to do that.

  “I think I’d like to finish my coffee,” Liam said. “Such an interesting view you’re providing.” He moved his chair and sat close behind them, coffee mug in hand. “Oh yes. From this angle you look so…debauched. But there’s an equally interesting article about the Italian economy in today’s paper, so you’ll have to excuse me while I read it. Don’t move.”

  The coffee mug was set down next to Austin, and he heard a rustle of pages being turned as Liam found his place in the paper and began to read.

  Being on display and ignored was humiliating as hell. Austin flushed hotly, longing to close his legs, cover his ass, but he didn’t dare. He was conscious of Jay’s indignation and uneasily aware that he really needed to piss. Not that it would be easy with his cock as stiff as the plug buried in his ass.

  Discomforted, sleep-dazed, he tried to find some relief in the residual sting in his spanked backside, but he had too many sensations clamoring for acknowledgment to be able to concentrate on just one.

  After a long few minutes, Jay squirmed.

  “Stay still,” Liam said absently. “Or I’ll replace that plug after it’s had a coating of ginger-based lube and give you a reason to wriggle.”

  “Sir, I didn’t have time to take a leak.” Bathroom breaks weren’t something they asked for often because the sessions were generally too short to require them, but Liam had made it clear that if they needed to leave the room, permission would always be given.

  “That’s because you didn’t get up in time,” Liam said pleasantly. “If you had, I wouldn’t have had to make my own coffee, and you would’ve had ample time to take care of pissing, brushing your teeth, and showering so that you were ready to serve me. You began the day badly, didn’t you?”

  Jay didn’t answer, which was probably for the best. Austin wondered how long Liam would make them wait for the bathroom, and how he’d react if one of them wasn’t able to hold it. Not that he thought that would happen, but would Liam be mad? Would they be punished? The more Austin thought about it, the worse he needed to go, but he was determined not to squirm. He wanted Liam to be pleased with him.

  It wasn’t easy. When he tried not to think about his bladder, he found himself focusing on his ass. When he tried to forget about the plug stretching him open, his attention inevitably wandered back to how badly he needed to pee. But there was no way he was going to ask Liam for permission to break position.

  Numbers. That was what you were supposed to concentrate on when you were trying to distract yourself. Times tables. Two times two was four, four times four was sixteen, and sixteen times sixteen was some number he couldn’t calculate anymore. For fuck’s sake, that was what computers were for.

  “Austin, is there a problem?” Liam asked, and Austin squeezed his eyes shut tightly. When Liam asked a question, he expected an honest answer.

  “I n
eed to use the bathroom too, Sir.”

  “All right, go ahead. Jay, I’d like you to wait until Austin gets back. I’d be lonely if you both left me here on my own.”

  Jay gave an anguished groan but muttered a reasonably sincere, “Yes, Sir.”

  Austin tried to hurry, but hell, even walking with the plug in was an effort. Every step sent a fresh wave of sensation through him, not entirely pleasurable, but then, he was wired differently, and in some ways the burn of his stretched-taut hole was just what he needed.

  Taking a leak was challenging. He closed his eyes, chanted a mantra, took deep breaths, but it still took a while to get his body to obey the command to release. He half wished Liam had been there to whisper a terse order into his ear, but that would’ve been weird.

  He washed his hands and smiled at his reflection, seeing himself through Liam’s eyes, his hair sleep-rumpled, his face flushed with arousal. He wondered what he’d look like by the time he went to bed. More marked up, for sure.

  When he got back to the kitchen, Jay was over Liam’s knee, his face scarlet, his eyes swimming with tears. Liam’s hands were busy tormenting Jay, shrewd touches, remorseless, accurate.

  Liam knew all their weaknesses by now, had observed and remembered every flinch, every sigh they’d offered up to him. Austin had moved through resentment that in some ways Liam knew Jay’s body better than he did, to an awareness of how safe that made them both.

  Liam had never hurt them accidentally.

  “Please,” Jay said in a voice near a sob, and Liam heard the desperation as clearly as Austin did, helping him to his feet.

  “Go,” Liam said.

  Jay didn’t need more specific permission than that. He fled from the room past Austin as Liam motioned for Austin to take Jay’s place across his lap. Now that his bladder was empty, there was nothing more Austin needed than to do what Liam wanted of him, so he went gladly and lowered himself over Liam’s thighs, trying not to wince at the twinge in his ass as he changed position.

  Liam stroked a big hand down along Austin’s spine. “This is where you belong, isn’t it?”