by VictoriaSue
Adam clasped Joe’s hand and rose. As Adam’s eyes clouded and he dropped his gaze, Joe knew he was hurting this incredibly giving boy by not saying anything. Joe cupped his hand under Adam’s chin to raise those beautiful eyes to his; he knew he had no hope of answering Adam’s questions. He had no idea of the answers himself.
He wasn’t gay. He never had been. He’d fancied women all his life. Yes, there had been so much missing in all his relationships. Hell, his ex-wife could rant a long list. But this, this was something different. Something incredibly special. Something almost...pure. He felt like he could just reach out and touch it.
Joe raked his gaze over Adam. The boy’s shallow breaths were pushing at his chest. His small but clear abs dipped to a tiny waist. He had a smattering of dark hair, clearly trimmed, that tempted Joe’s gaze lower. His fingers itched to reach out and touch it. A throbbing, bruised-looking head proudly dripped pre-cum. Adam’s cock jerked with the visible tremors from his body. Joe felt the hammer in his groin and unbelievably, his own dick bounced back.
“Lie down on the bed.” The order surprised Joe as much as it appeared to for Adam. The flare of hope in Adam’s gaze nearly changed his mind. Joe remembered when he’d carried Adam to the truck. He weighed nothing. They had all that shit to sort out and here he was getting deeper into something Joe wasn’t sure he was going to be able to pull back from.
“Sir?” Adam scrambled for the bed and lay there on his back. He swallowed and lifted two arms up to Joe, the invitation and its implication very clear.
For now, at least, there was only one answer Joe could give.
“Boy.”
Chapter 3
What the fuck was he doing?
At least if they’d been at the club, Joe would have had equipment, props, something, anything to put distance between him and Adam. There were other Doms that scened with both female and male subs. Following through on a scene didn’t mean they actually had to have sex. He’d often stayed completely dressed. Joe getting off was all about the sub getting off only when Joe said he could.
Joe narrowed his eyes. Or not. A scene didn’t always involve the sub getting off either.
He sat on the edge of the bed and ignored both of Adam’s outstretched arms. A flicker of doubt registered in those green eyes. His arms lowered, and his gaze followed them.
“S-Sir?”
Good, thought Joe. Adam had knocked him for six, about time he was thrown a curve ball. “Silence, boy.” Joe stretched out alongside Adam. Purposely keeping at least eight inches between them. He lowered his head to Adam’s and whispered. “Close your eyes.” Adam, immediately obedient, quickened something inside Joe’s gut.
“You will be silent and you will remain still. You are not allowed to touch yourself anywhere on your body. You just have to lie there and listen to me.”
Adam went to open his mouth, then closed it with a snap and nodded his head.
“I want you to imagine we have just walked into Pure. You are dressed in black leather shorts and are kneeling to present yourself to me. You can hear the sounds of the dungeon all around you. Someone is on the cross. You can hear them, but you’re not allowed to turn your head to see. Low guttural cries after each crack on sweat-slicked skin—you can almost breathe it in. Moans and pants coming from the corner. The dull thud from a paddle and the wet echo of a hand smacking a red, inflamed ass. Your breath quickens just a little. What will Sir chose? Will it be a cane or shall I just use my hand?” Adam’s hips jumped as Joe rested the flat of his hand gently on the boy’s abdomen.
Joe’s own heart quickened at the delicious rippling of Adam’s flesh. “You’ve just been commanded to strip. That’s it, keep your eyes closed. All your attention is on me. You hadn’t realized how warm it is in the club. You can feel a drop of sweat trickle down your chest.” He trailed his finger from Adam’s throat slowly all the way to his waist. He saw Adam try to swallow hard, felt his chest rise a little quicker.
“Now my hands are on your waist. You can feel two fingers pressing to undo the button. The sudden relief as the zip lowers and your cock springs free. Hits the air. Bounces as your balls draw up, desperate for my touch. There’s a damp smear on your stomach from the leaking tip. The cooler skin underneath tightens and pulls. You’re desperate for Sir to touch it. So close, my hand is so close.”
Joe gazed intently at Adam’s face. He screwed his closed eyes fractionally, and those luscious pink lips parted. He knew Adam needed to let go of a tiny moan, but had managed to swallow it back in.
“My hands trail your hips as your shorts are lowered. You can feel the brush of your skin from my fingertips, feel the scrape of my nails.” Adam pressed his lips together, and his hips edged toward Joe. “No moving. My fingers are at your ankles now, and you step out of your shorts. You want to open your eyes so desperately, but you can’t. Every sense on you is heightened.
“Sir leads you to the cross. You’re aching for the release. Your mind is always so busy. You crave the stillness you can find in the dungeon. Want me to make you fly. Make you soar.”
Low needy breaths were forced out of Adam’s lips. They trembled as Joe’s hand cupped his hip and ghosted his other hand over his stomach. Adam’s cock bounced harshly, searching for Joe’s hand. Adam’s face grew anxious.
“Now, boy, this is important. You have to stay completely still. Just hold on to the bar on top. I don’t need to tie your hands.” Adam was clearly lost in Joe’s voice. He nodded at the instruction, lips parted on an imagined plea. Hands fisted in the sheet, hanging on.
“Ten strikes, and you will count them, boy.” Joe dropped his voice lower and removed both his hands from Adam’s skin.
“One.”
Adam gave an involuntary jerk, licked his lips. “One, sir.”
“Two.”
Adam gasped. “T-two.”
“You can feel the stroke of the leather, your skin heats with the burning of the lash. You’re not sure yet. That hurt and you’re straining for it to get better.”
“Three. Smell your fear. Your heart’s beating so fast, you think everyone can hear it. It’s drumming in your ears.”
“Th—”
“Four.” Joe snapped the word out, and Adam jumped. A low whimper came from the back of Adam’s throat.
“So close. It’s taking you so high, so far.”
“Five. Six.” Joe didn’t give Adam time to respond. Adam flailed like he’d been hit, harsh pants expelled from his lips. Head thrashing, hips thrusting.
Joe whispered, “Nearly there. It’s not pain anymore. Deep, deep pleasure. Every stroke is a kiss. Every touch of leather a caress. Floating. Each strike brings you higher. Seven.”
Joe gazed down. He had to physically stop his hand from wanting to touch Adam’s bursting tip. Pre-cum oozed down the length as it strained so hard, longing for friction.
“Eight. Flying. Not in the club now. Not in your body. Bliss pulls you up, and ecstasy wraps around you.
“Nine. So much pressure. Balls-deep need for release. Pumping through you. Aches pinning you down. Tremors dancing through your body.” Joe’s lungs heaved in time with Adam. He was as wrapped up as his boy. He stretched his hand out, waiting.
“Desperate for Sir’s touch. Need it more than anything in your whole life. Your whole body throbs. Urgent. Faster. Stronger.”
Joe wrapped his hand around Adam’s straining cock. A harsh cry echoed around the room. He couldn’t say from which one of them it had come as the sound echoed in him also. His hand gripped and moved once, twice.
“Ten.”
Adam shrieked and erupted. Hot ropes of creamy white cum sprayed Joe’s hand, spurting up to Adam’s chest. After heaving another lungful of oxygen, Adam opened his eyes.
Beautiful. He was so goddamn beautiful. Joe shook his head as he headed to the bathroom for a cloth. Adam’s glazed eyes followed him as he came back. He said nothing as Joe quickly cleaned and dried him. Adam�
�s eyes cleared and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Joe smiled and cupped Adam’s face. All of Adam’s body relaxed and fell against Joe’s hand.
Without thinking, without questioning, Joe dropped a kiss on Adam’s forehead. He pulled back quickly, stunned. He didn’t know who he had most surprised at that, because Adam’s eyes had suddenly grown twice as big.
Words. Words would be really good about now. “Breakfast?”
Joe nearly groaned. He was a goddamn former police detective, about to start a new job—a respected Dom for fuck’s sake—and he couldn’t manage anything more intelligent than breakfast?
He sat up. Adam caught him by his arm. “Sir?”
Joe carefully placed Adam’s hand back on the bed and looked him straight in the eye. “It’s Joe here Adam, just Joe.” Adam bit his lip, making Joe feel like he was like kicking a puppy. “We—”
“I’m not Lee and you’re not Callum.” Adam nodded and stood up. “I know. Mind if I take a shower before I go?”
Joe sighed. “Yeah, and I’m making breakfast,” he added sternly as if daring Adam to argue. Adam shut the bathroom door behind him. Joe didn’t blame him that he’d shut it a little harder than he had to.
He walked into his new kitchen that he hadn’t touched except for the coffee maker. He knew he had food in here, he’d started a weekly service that shopped for him. He pulled open another empty drawer, tried the fridge. Possibilities. Eggs, bacon. Joe grinned as he saw the chopped salad with avocado. Adam’s favorite food. The way the kid raved on about it, you’d think it was some life elixir or some shit. Well, Adam would be okay for a few days.
Joe straightened from the fridge and stilled. For a few days. He’d just realized what he’d told himself. Adam had nowhere to go. Well, no, that probably wasn’t true. He would have friends, family. He came home with Joe last night because of the convenience.
Where the hell was Joe’s frying pan? He had to have one in here somewhere?
“Can I help?”
Shit. Even though he knew he was here, the softly-spoken question had taken him so much by surprise he’d straightened up before he’d got his head out the cupboard, smacking it hard.
Immediate concern creased Adam’s face. “Joe, sit.” Adam pulled a chair out firmly and steered him to it, all the time Joe was hanging onto the top part of his head that the cupboard had just tried to take off for him. Adam pushed Joe down and prodded his scalp with gentle fingers to see if there was a lump. Or in fact if he needed brain surgery, as clearly, Adam was doing such a thorough job.
“Mmff...” Okay, so that word hadn’t really come out as Joe intended, but there was no way his vocal chords were going to fire on all cylinders while those fingers were massaging his scalp.
Joe let his head hang slightly, and Adam stood nearer. Oh God, that was good. He swore Adam was kneading his scalp at this point. If Adam had told him he was in fact a brain surgeon, Joe would have happily passed him the scalpel.
The doorbell echoed in the apartment. Adam’s fingers stopped and withdrew. Joe could have cried. He sat up properly. “I’ll go see who it is.”
It was the delivery guys. Joe let them into the apartment. “Where do you want it, boss?” they asked.
Joe looked at his new black leather sofa, complete with little sections as tables and holders for his beer bottle when the game was on. Funny, it hadn’t looked that big in the store. He gaped. He wasn’t entirely sure it was going to fit into his apartment.
Adam stepped forward. Within seconds, he’d directed the delivery men to exactly where it looked best. To be honest, there wasn’t many ways it would fit, and Joe would have just got them to dump it on the nearest wall. Adam, however, even set them to work moving Joe’s television from where he already had it, as apparently that was also in the wrong place.
The doorbell rang again. Joe looked heavenward. He hadn’t had a shower and was still in his shorts. Adam let Dobbs and Rodriguez in. The delivery men were just reconnecting the TV cables. Adam stepped into the kitchen and magically managed to find everything for coffee.
Joe shrugged. He might as well get dressed, since the cops wouldn’t say anything while the delivery men were here. He headed for the shower.
He could hear the murmur of voices from the other room, the sound of plastic as it was unwrapped. He soaped his chest, brushed his stomach and headed farther south.
A giggle, followed by a laugh. Joe smiled. At least they weren’t giving Adam any grief. All cops joked, but just because Rodriguez used words like taco queen or fag didn’t mean he was a raging homophobe. It was just how things were.
There it was again, that soft giggle. Joe’s thoughts turned to Adam and this morning, and he was soaping his erection lazily before he even realized he had one. Shit. He couldn’t pass this one off as a morning wood. He thought about how Adam had responded so wonderfully that morning. Made a Dom’s heart all warm and fuzzy really. Joe’s fingers pulled a little on his dick and a warm sensation grew in his balls. He could still hear the sounds of talking from the other room, figured he had a few minutes. It never occurred to him to think about any other body except Adam’s. The slim waist, the flare of his hips, even how he managed to bounce them as he walked. His lips. All those beautiful sounds that had come from them earlier. Pleasure bloomed in Joe’s dick and snaked around his spine. Christ, he wasn’t going to take long. He closed his eyes and leant his head back on the tiles. He saw Adam’s face as he had counted. Deeply satisfying, knowing he was sending him higher with each number.
Joe didn’t even make it to four.
He pushed hard breaths out of his lungs and locked his knees. Deep, satisfying pumps from his hands completed the job, and he groaned low as the intense pressure left his balls. He angled the spray to clean the wall and rinse himself off. He turned the water off and stepped out, one hand going for the towel.
Silence. Joe’s ears pricked up. He couldn’t hear any talking at all. No laughing and certainly no giggles. Suddenly urgent, he stepped into the bedroom and grabbed some sweats. He yanked a t-shirt over his body that he hadn’t dried too thoroughly and walked out of his bedroom.
Joe took it in in seconds. Adam was curled up defensively in the corner of the sofa. His head was bowed, and he’d tucked his knees up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. Rodriguez was ineffectually patting Adam’s arm from at least two feet away, like if he got nearer he would catch something. Joe hardened his jaw; the kid wasn’t contagious for fuck’s sake.
Dobbs was even farther away. He stood by the TV, hands clasped behind his back, feet shuffling with embarrassment. Rodriguez jumped up, relief written all over his face as Joe came back in. He stood for two beats, indecision keeping his feet still. Then he heard a muffled sob from Adam. It was all he needed to move.
“Hey.” Joe sat and pulled Adam onto his chest. He could feel the wetness through his t-shirt. “Rodriguez?”
The cop sighed. “Did you know Adam has been getting threatening letters?”
“What the hell? Adam?” Adam resisted bringing his face out of Joe’s chest. Joe left it there for now and looked at the detective. “No, I didn’t know.”
“We found them last night,” Rodriguez said. “Apparently he’s been getting them for a few weeks. Thought they were a prank.”
Dobbs peeled himself away from the corner. “In light of last night and the apparent escalation, we need to ask Adam about his exes, et cetera, try to find out who would want to do this.”
Rodriguez looked at Joe. “We know about the club. Adam was just telling us about the catalogue.”
Dobbs butted in. “This isn’t likely to be random. It’s probably from someone who fixated on the catalogue...”
“Or it’s probably someone from the club,” Joe finished the sentence for Dobbs. Adam was quieter, just breathing, still with his head turned into Joe. If either of the cops thought it was weird, Joe was grateful they both managed not to show it.
“We know it was pig’s blood,” said Dobbs, “but we’d like you to leave the apartment to us for a few days.”
Joe nodded. “That’s no problem—he’ll stay here.” Joe felt Adam stiffen slightly at his words, but he didn’t say anything. Joe stood and let the detectives out of the apartment. He came back and stood next to the sofa.
Adam was still curled up. Joe sat back down and wrapped him completely in his arms. He’d wanted to do this, but obviously hadn’t when the cops were there. He felt the boy’s slim body relax completely into him.
“Adam?” He cupped Adam’s chin and brought those swimming eyes back up. “Why on earth didn’t you tell me?”
Chapter 4
“I didn’t think it was anything really,” Adam sniffed. “I felt it was stupid.” He sighed and put his head back on Joe’s shoulder. “I got a lot of teasing from college after the thing went live. I just thought they were from one of them.”
Joe sat up a little more. “Teasing?”
Adam nodded. “Yeah, nothing much.” He paused for a beat. “I’ve had worse.”
Joe shook off the flare of anger. “And what did these letters say?”
“They were complimentary in a way. Said I was clearly looking for more than I was getting. One said I was unfulfilled.” Adam shrugged. “That I wasn’t being taken care of.” Adam shivered slightly. “Why would someone think taking care of me involved destroying all my things?” Joe had no answer, but Adam didn’t seem to need one. “Whoever sent them thought I was a Dom for real.” Adam wriggled slightly. “And, I’m not at all, am I, Sir?”
And there it was. The conversation that Joe really hadn’t been looking forward to. He liked the kid, was abstractly fascinated, attracted to him. But this really couldn’t go any further. “Adam, I think I gave both of us what we needed this morning, but...I need to call in at Pure. There was some discrepancies in the bar delivery yesterday, and I hadn’t finished sorting it out.”