Room at the Edge

by Jane Davitt

  “You told me not to,” Jay whispered. “So I won’t come no matter what you do. I’ll obey you.”

  “You think you’re stronger than me. Unbreakable.” Liam edged his voice with ice. “You’re not. You’re mine to break, Jay. When you do is up to me, not you. You call it obedience? It feels like arrogance. A challenge.”

  “It’s not. It’s not.” Jay strained against his bonds, trying not to break free but to get closer. “I’m trying so hard for you, and you’re not…you’re not being fair.”

  “My game. My rules. I don’t need to be fair, and you don’t need to fight me, Jay.” Liam held up his hand. “I’m going to touch you soon. You’re going to come. Disobey me. You’re going to earn a punishment, and you’re going to know you failed.” He pulled out of Jay and went to all fours, crouched over him, his face inches away from Jay’s. “And you’re going to accept that you can’t win with me. I have the power over you. I control you.” He paused and added deliberately, “I love you.”

  “Sir… Love you too. So much.” Jay’s face was twisted with an anguish that was all emotion. “I can’t…I can’t give in the way you want me to. Submit. Not every time. Not right away. But I want to. I swear I do.”

  “Your mistake is thinking you ever had a choice,” Liam told him.

  He entered Jay again, a slow, deliberate push, and reached out, knowing what would happen as soon as his hand closed around Jay’s cock and worked it with a few, a very few, strokes. Knowing that with that first hot spurt from Jay’s cock, the tears would follow from the eyes staring up at him with so much hope and despair.

  Jay’s lips parted, as if he was going to say something, but then he pressed them together and swallowed. They parted again when Liam’s hand touched him. Liam’s fingers had barely closed around Jay’s cock when Jay came, jerking and rippling in Liam’s grasp, hot fluid slicking Liam’s fingers and Jay’s stomach. At the same time Jay’s arse tightened in delicious waves around Liam’s prick in a way that would have brought him to release as well if he hadn’t come so recently.

  Through it all, Jay stared at Liam mutely. Even when he’d finished coming and relaxed, his gaze never left Liam’s face. Tears were leaking from his eyes, and his breath hitched in his chest, but he was otherwise silent.

  “Is there really any question who’s in charge, Jay?” Liam asked him.

  Jay swallowed. “No, Sir.”

  Liam rocked his hips back and then forward again without pause. “Try to be more convincing,” he suggested.

  “You.” Jay shivered. His cock was spent but only half-limp; Liam wondered if it would soften entirely. “You’re in charge, Sir. Of everything that happens.”

  “Always,” Liam told him and meant it. He continued to fuck Jay for a while, letting Jay process what had happened, then eased out of the welcoming tightness. His stomach was wet, and though he didn’t mind Jay getting messy, he disliked it for himself.

  “I’m going to untie you while I clean up. You’re forbidden to leave the bed. I want you kneeling, waiting for me, and I want you to think of a suitable punishment for coming without permission.” Liam patted Jay’s face. “Better make it more than adequate, or I’ll substitute an idea of my own.”

  There was something delightfully twisted about making Jay punish himself, Liam reflected as he sponged off in the en suite. He was curious about what Jay would think qualified as suitable for an offense that he’d been forced to make. Would Jay offer up one last flicker of rebellion and make the punishment trivial enough that Liam would be forced into doing it himself? Or take the hint and suggest something they’d both get a kick out of?

  Jay seemed composed when Liam walked back into the bedroom, though his body still bore the marks of the whipping and Liam’s teeth. His hair was tangled, damp with sweat and matted with Liam’s cum in places. Liam’s breath hissed through his teeth, his cock hardening at the sight of him.

  “Well?” he said, more harshly than he’d intended. “What should I do to you?”

  “Would…” Jay hesitated. “Would you spank me, Sir? Please. With… I thought, maybe you could brush my hair? Because I must look… And then you could spank me with the brush? If you’d like that.” His head was still bowed, his posture beyond reproach. If Liam hadn’t known better, he would have thought Jay had been taking lessons from Austin.

  Liam gave himself a moment to consider the suggestion. Of course he’d enjoy spanking Jay with a hairbrush—but as he thought about it, he realized he’d also enjoy brushing out Jay’s hair and making him presentable again.

  Whether or not Jay would enjoy it as well was immaterial.

  “Stay where you are,” Liam told him and went to fetch the wooden-handled brush. It had been a while since he’d used it, and that time he’d spanked Austin with it—not nearly as forcefully as he planned to hit Jay now, of course. It took him longer than he’d have liked to find it at the back of one of the drawers, which always seemed a bit cluttered these days, but as soon as he went into the bedroom again and saw Jay kneeling, his irritation fled.

  He sat on the bed close to Jay.

  “Move nearer, with your back to me,” he said, and Jay moved, then dropped back into position, wrists crossed behind him. “No, put your hands on your thighs.”

  Slowly Liam started to brush Jay’s hair, which was more tangled than it had looked. He wanted to treat Jay gently now even if his next action with the brush would be forceful bordering on cruel. The contrast would deepen the impact of the spanking, but beyond that they needed this lull. He couldn’t see Jay’s face, but he could imagine it, eyes closed, expression peaceful. Liam drew the brush through Jay’s long, dark hair in careful passes, unknotting it and watching as it fell sleekly across Jay’s bare shoulders and back.

  Doing this was intimate, the act of a lover, but it was easy enough in the context of why he was doing it to twist it into something verging on erotic. He felt the wooden handle press into his palm as the brass handle of the whip had done earlier, saw the flat back of the brush and imagined its shape repeated in red on Jay’s already sore backside.

  When Jay’s hair was free of tangles, he continued to brush it, then wrapped a hank of hair around his free hand and tugged sharply, knowing Jay would hold position, not go with the tug to reduce the pain. Jay exhaled on a moan, murmuring, “Thank you, Sir,” his voice shaking. God, Jay like this was so exciting, appealing to Liam in ways no sub ever had, with the exception of Austin.

  Even then, enveloped in the growing closeness and understanding he was building with Jay, he missed Austin.

  But this was better done between the two of them. Austin hated seeing Jay upset, and Jay cared too much about Austin’s reactions to always let go completely.

  After one more stroke of the brush, he moved to the side and used it on Jay’s back, dragging the bristles over the sensitized skin, hard enough to score it, one hand still wrapped in the silk of Jay’s hair, holding him in place.

  Jay gasped, arching his back, his hands leaving his thighs to clutch at air.

  Again and again Liam drew the brush over Jay’s back, stopping just short of his arse. Jay was writhing in Liam’s grip, guttural sounds escaping him between pleas for Liam to hurt him, spank him, please, please, Sir—

  “Stop,” Liam said harshly because Jay needed to obey even though it meant losing out on hearing his lovely begging. “Quiet, or this ends now.”

  Jay curled forward as much as he could with Liam’s fingers entwined in his hair. It wasn’t technically disobedient, and he was silent as Liam had ordered; Liam rewarded him by shifting position onto the floor and bringing the hairbrush across the fleshy part of Jay’s arse with an audible crack. Jay shuddered. Liam pushed him facedown and struck him again, no harder but an inch or two lower.

  It wasn’t his intention for this to last long, and in any case his prick was painfully hard again and he was looking forward to fucking Jay, so he counted out another ten blows for a total of a dozen and then dropped the brush onto the
bed and picked up the dildo.

  “Don’t move,” he said and pushed the toy steadily into Jay’s arse as Jay whimpered, hole clutching at the dildo as if hungry for it. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? You just want to be fucked. It doesn’t even matter to you whether it’s silicone or flesh.”

  He slid the dildo out a few inches and then shoved it deeper. Jay sobbed.

  “You little slut,” Liam said.

  “Your slut,” Jay said, and it wasn’t defiant, not at all, but there was no apology in it, no shame.

  “Yes,” Liam said. “Mine. You’re mine.”

  “Show me,” Jay whispered. “Oh God, I need you.”

  Liam worked the dildo in and out, never letting it slip free of Jay’s hole. “You take this like it’s nothing, like you want more.”

  Jay groaned, a low, hungry sound. “It’s good, but it’s not you. Sir…you said you’d fist me—”

  “I will. Soon.” Liam hesitated, staring down at his hand holding the rigid piece of silicone. “I want Austin there when I do it,” he admitted.

  There was a moment of silence; then Jay nodded. “Me too.”

  “So we wait for that,” Liam said, striving to keep his voice calm, controlled, “and tonight you get this and my cock. Think of it as a trial run for the night when you take Austin’s cock and mine inside you.”

  Jay froze, his body stilling, the moment stretching until Liam was worried he’d gone too far. Then Jay said slowly, forcing the words out, “Sir…if you don’t want me to come again without permission, don’t put ideas like that in my head, okay? I’m trying to be good for you, but I’m only fucking human.”

  “You’re one of the best subs I’ve ever had,” Liam said steadily. He wasn’t moving the dildo now, just holding it deep inside Jay. “And the other is Austin. So I know you can do whatever I need you to.”

  It sounded as if Jay licked his lips. Then he said, “Sir. I…love you. I’ll do anything, whatever you want. Anything.”

  “Yes,” Liam told him, feeling his lips curling into a smile. “You will.”

  He pulled the dildo most of the way out, added more lube, and pressed the dildo atop his prick so he could begin to slide both into Jay’s hole. He was absurdly slow about it, mesmerized by the sight of Jay’s arsehole stretching, stretching to admit the combination of silicone and flesh. Jay panted, shaking as he dealt with the discomfort.

  “I’d ask you to tell me if it hurts, but we both know it does.” Liam shook with the effort of being so careful, when what he really wanted was to fuck Jay hard and fast. He eased in another quarter of an inch, and Jay tensed. “No, breathe.”

  “Can’t.” Jay gasped the word out, which meant he was, but Liam understood.

  “You can. Breathe. Relax. No more until you do.” The juxtaposition of the hard, cool dildo against Liam’s cock and the warmth of Jay clenched tight around him was making Liam’s head spin. “There, good.”

  “Feels…too much…but it’s not enough.” Jay reached back, groping blindly for Liam. “Fuck me? God, I need to feel you move in me, Sir.”

  Liam grasped Jay’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly, but he released it a moment later and dealt out a reproving slap to Jay’s reddened, hot arse. “That’s my decision, not yours.”

  “Yes, Sir, it is. I know it is. I’m sorry.” Jay sounded frantic, contrite—all over the place, in fact.

  Liam smiled. Counted in his head to a randomly chosen thirteen, then gave Jay what he needed, what they both wanted, for a few deep, punishing strokes that silenced Jay’s groans as if he was holding his breath.

  It was awkward, Liam decided, working his cock and the dildo steadily into the stretched hole. He couldn’t go fast or really let loose on Jay the way he yearned to do. There was a pleasure to be gained from maintaining control, but in the quiet house, alone with Jay, he wanted to lose control for a while. Let the urges that drove him have their way with a man who would take everything Liam had to give and beg for more.

  With one more admiring glance at the lube-slick hole spread so obscenely wide, he drew the dildo out and tossed it to the side of the bed, out of the way.

  “I don’t think I want to share your hole any longer,” he said and brought his hand down on Jay’s arse again, just to feel that spanked skin against his palm. “I think I want to ride you hard. Hurt you. Break you. Use you.”

  He reached around and grabbed Jay’s balls, rolling them in his hand, tugging down hard, the carefully calculated pain a reward for taking the dildo and his cock without protest.

  Jay whined, then, voice rough and low, said, “Please, Sir.”

  “You can ask for whatever you like,” Liam told him, squeezing the base of Jay’s cock to gauge how close he was to coming. Not too close by the feel of him. “But this isn’t about what you want—it’s about what I want and what I’m going to take. You’re here for my pleasure, Jay. Don’t forget that.”

  “No, Sir,” Jay whispered, and Liam began to move.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The relief Austin felt as he pulled his car into Liam’s driveway—he’d still think of it as Liam’s house for years, probably, even though he knew technically it was his and Jay’s home too—was so palpable his shoulders dropped an inch, an invisible weight gone. Of course, the hours spent driving, most of them with April’s constant conversation in his ear, had been physically exhausting, but the stress of being away from Jay and Liam when all he wanted was to curl up with them for a few weeks and wait for real life to calm down had been worse.

  It was cold enough that he wished he had a scarf as he grabbed his overnight bag from the backseat and trotted up the driveway. He was only halfway up the stairs when the front door opened.

  “Come in. It’s freezing!” Jay danced back out of the way and shut the door, then wrapped both arms around Austin and held on. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” Austin pressed his cold nose to Jay’s neck and winced. “Whoa, itchy sweater.”

  “Oh yeah, sorry.” Jay tugged the sweater off and dropped it on the floor.

  “Liam’s going to complain if you leave that there,” Austin pointed out.

  “I’ll pick it up before he comes home.” Jay took the bag from Austin’s hand and set that on the floor too. “How was it?”

  “It was April in a car for four hours,” Austin said wearily.

  “And I guess that’s all you need to say.” Jay kissed him, practically humming with satisfaction, and yeah, someone had gotten well and truly lucky recently. Jay smelled of sex, even under a fresh scent of soap, and there was a dark bruise on his neck, just where it met his shoulder, that looked like it’d been made by teeth biting down.

  Pushing aside his envy—not jealousy, but envy—Austin asked, “So where is Liam?”

  Jay stepped back, giving him room to kick off his shoes and shrug out of his coat. “He’s been gone for hours. He’s at the mall, and no, he’s not shopping for us, so don’t get your hopes up.”

  “I wasn’t!” Austin protested. “He doesn’t need to get us anything. The work on the basement cost a fortune, and we don’t need anything.”

  Jay shrugged, then winced. “Ow. Don’t let me do that again.”

  “Good pain or bad?” If Jay had been working on his diorama for hours without Austin or Liam to stop him…

  “Oh God, good. So good. I’ll tell you all about it, but not until you’ve had a hot drink or something.”

  “Coffee would be nice.”

  “Just made a fresh pot.”

  Settled down on the couch with a coffee in one hand, a cookie in the other, and Jay beside him, Austin felt the stress of the weekend recede. “So if Liam isn’t at the mall for us, why is he there? It’s going to be crazy busy, and he’ll hate it.”

  Jay snickered. “His assistant’s birthday is tomorrow, and Liam forgot about it. I said he could e-mail the guy a gift certificate, and he gave me one of those looks and said Denny would expect the personal touch, even if he was inconsiderate enough to have a birthday
this close to Christmas, and I said not too personal or we’d start to get suspicious about late nights working at the office, and was he hot, and then he slapped my ass, and I screamed because, hey, it’s fucking sore, and then he left.”

  “You are hyper,” Austin said. “No coffee for you.”

  Jay stretched his arms above his head and beamed. “Don’t need coffee. Just need Liam to get here so we can welcome you back properly.”

  “You can do that without him.” It wasn’t technically true, Austin supposed, but he set down his mug and pulled Jay closer to kiss him anyway. Jay curled around him happily and grabbed on to the hem of his shirt like a man prepared to settle down for a solid make-out session. “Missed you so much,” Austin murmured.

  “Missed you too.” Jay shifted and slid one leg half into Austin’s lap, which couldn’t have been comfortable even if he wasn’t bruised.

  That thought sent a rush of lust through Austin; he kissed Jay harder and then pushed him away a little bit. “Take off your shirt? I want to see.”

  As usual Jay was quick to shed his clothes when asked. “Look at these,” he said, brushing his fingertips over the bruises on the thin skin along his ribs admiringly.

  Austin leaned in to kiss them, then let his mouth wander to Jay’s swollen nipple. He licked it gently and smiled when Jay hissed, then arched closer. “Sore, huh?”

  “Last night I thought they were going to fall off, they hurt so much,” Jay admitted. “It was awesome. I was so hard.”

  “I can imagine.” Austin could. He liked thinking about it, though he was sorry he hadn’t been here. Imagining the things Liam must have done to Jay was arousing on a deep, primal level that was making his cock swell. He licked Jay’s nipple again, sucked on it, one hand around Jay’s slender back.

  Jay made little hungry sounds and squirmed against him. Austin felt Jay’s hand slide between them and brush his erection. “Were you lonely? Last night?”