by Neve Wilder
Jesus, did I respond to that. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to, but my body appeared to be operating independently of rational thought processes. The back of my neck heated as a dizzying bolt of arousal rushed through me. Jokingly, I braced my hands against the wall in front of me and pushed my ass out dramatically, glancing over my shoulder in challenge as I grinned back at him.
My grin swiftly morphed to a yelp of surprise as a sting seared across the back of my thighs. Even muffled by my pants, the skin beneath went hot with the impact. “The hell?” I gasped.
Dane shrugged with a shameless smirk. “Small but mighty. You asked for it.”
“Give me that.” I snatched the cane from his hands and gestured with it that he should turn around and let me return the favor.
He did so with a humored glimmer in his eyes before he laced his hands behind his head, a movement that pulled his shirt tight across his shoulders, accented his trim waist, and made me swallow hard. Had he always had such a phenomenal ass?
“I hope you appreciate the fact that I’m doing this. It’s rare, believe me.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, but I took advantage of his position to stare at that tight round ass before I let fly with the cane. However, it seemed to thump dully against him and didn’t even make the ominous whooshing sound through the air I’d heard when he smacked me with it.
Dane didn’t flinch.
I scowled at the cane and then at Dane’s smug expression as he turned back around. “Is there a secret to it? That barely even registered, right?”
Dane took the instrument from my hand. “It’s in the wrist. And also in the practice and the intent.” He glanced at my face, I guess to see if I was interested. I was definitely listening. “Different materials cause different sensations. Stings, thuds. Sometimes it’s about the sound, too. The anticipation you feel when you hear it cutting through the air and know what’s coming. Watching anticipation melt into submission is a thrill of its own. But it’s a vicious instrument any way you slice it.”
“Have you been caned before?” Something about his expression suggested he had some serious experience, possibly on both ends.
“I have. But I usually prefer to be the one wielding it.”
Oh god, the way he met my eyes then, a sinful twinkle dancing in his that I couldn’t look away from. Terms and phrases ran through my head. BDSM, impact play, Dom… “Are you a…sadist?” Maybe that was a bold thing to ask. I had no idea what proper protocol in that world was.
“Just a man, these days. I was heavily into the lifestyle for a while. Not so much now. I dabble when it suits me.”
I had about a million questions teeming in the back of my mind, many of which I wasn’t sure were polite to ask a man I’d not seen in almost a decade, in spite of how open he’d been so far. “When did you get into it?”
“College.” With one last nimble twirl, Dane replaced the cane on the wall hook.
I’d been buying dildos for a prank, and he’d likely been actually using them. Probably on someone else. And dildos weren’t even that kinky. Fuck, I wondered what else Dane was into. Heat coiled in my groin, and my dick throbbed at the possibilities. I was grateful that Ace returned just then carrying a cardboard box filled with a bunch of clear plastic bags with dark tissue paper inside, each tied off with ribbon that had a gift tag attached.
“Shay already paid for everything, so you’re good to go. Tucked the itemized receipt into the bottom for her.” Ace indicated it with a flick of his index finger.
“Great, thank you so much.” God, I sounded prim. I felt prim.
Dane reached for the box at the same time I did with a murmured “Let me,” so I did.
“Need anything else tonight, or are you all set?” Ace’s brows arched gradually as he looked me over. It kind of felt like that gaze was burrowing under my skin, seeing right through to the filthy parts of me—the ones that wanted to be shameless and brazen but had always been held in check. I thought of that silicone sleeve with the mouth and the nubby insides. That tiny bunched hole and how good it’d probably feel around my cock. Better than my hand, at least. Maybe I could find it online.
I shook my head. “All set.”
The cabbie gave the box a curious glance as Dane slid it into the middle seat and followed it inside. “Bachelorette party? Or maybe bachelor party?”
“Neither. Just a kinky sister-in-law who is apparently way too comfortable with her wedding party,” I replied, missing the press of Dane’s knee to mine now that the box was between us.
As we stopped in front of his apartment building a few minutes later, he extended his phone toward me. “Put your number in and I’ll text you back so you’ll have mine. Just in case you need anything while you’re here. Shay said your parents’ house is filled to the brim with family.”
“Yeah, I got the boot. But that’s probably a good thing. Grandma Merkle alone…” The woman was a handful.
“She caught me at the bar earlier.” Dane gave me a knowing grin. “She has strong opinions about footwear.”
“She has strong opinions about everything.” I chuckled as I punched my number into his phone, handed it back, then silenced mine as he sent me a text with his.
Dane opened the door but lingered inside the cab, gaze roaming over me. “Don’t eat the hotel breakfast—go right across the street to Chester’s. It’s not free, but it’s ten times better.”
There was absolutely nothing provocative about the suggestion, but the way my pulse responded to the directness in his tone and the way he was staring at me, he might as well have said he was about to take me up to his place and strip me down.
“Okay. Thanks,” I managed and damn near asked if he wanted to join me. Instead, when he started to slide toward the open door, I blurted out, “Why didn’t you leave with Chase? I saw you dancing together. He seemed into it.”
“You seemed into him. I wasn’t.” Dane didn’t miss a beat or seem to think my question was weird or rude, which it was. “And if I’m honest, I’m exhausted from the day or I’d invite you up for a drink. Catch up.” He quirked a smile as he reached inside the box between us and pawed through the tags until he found what he was looking for. His bag looked like all the others, except that tucked under the ribbon binding was an additional thin black nylon bag. He waved it at me. “I’ll go ahead and take mine. Save Shay a delivery.” He exited the car only to duck his head inside again. “A watermelon was only the first of many fruits sacrificed in my quest to get off. Just so you know.”
I snorted in disbelief, then laughed. “Gives a whole new meaning to playing with your food, huh?”
“Food can be great fun.” He winked at me and slammed the door shut.
I met the cabbie’s boggled gaze in the rearview mirror sternly. “Do you really want to know?”
“I think I’d better just say no.”
“Good call.”
Cole: You sent me to pick up sex toys for your wedding party!
Aaron: That’s what family is for. They do your dirty work.
Cole: Punny.
Cole: And I didn’t even get one!
I’d checked the box three times, but there was no tag with my name, no cellophane bag of mystery sex toys. Not even a damn gift card. I was surprisingly disappointed.
Aaron: I wasn’t about to pick out sex toys for my brother.
Shay: I would have!
Shay: But Aaron said no. Pout.
Aaron: You’re looking in all the bags, aren’t you?
Cole: Of course.
Aaron: Don’t use anything. Go buy your own.
Cole: I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.
Fine, I had considered it. Absolutely. But I wouldn’t do it. I’d just think about it and then find some porn to jack off to—with my hand—like a normal person.
I’d carefully tied the bags back up after looking, too, but there was a healthy representation of kinky items in there, including a sleeve that resembled the one I
’d been admiring, though instead of a mouth, it had a fleshy, realistic pussy on one end, with the asshole on the other. It’d been assigned to Andrew, one of the groomsmen my brother had become fast friends with in college. I suspected I’d have trouble looking him in the eye tomorrow.
Cole: This seems like kind of a personal gift.
Shay: Let’s just say we know these people really well and they’ll appreciate it.
Cole: …
I knew, vaguely, that Aaron and Shay were into kink, but I didn’t know particulars. I wasn’t even sure exactly how I knew, aside from context clues that I’d only picked up on because of my own unmentioned fascination with kink.
Cole: Dane went into the store with me. That was awkward.
It hadn’t been as awkward as I’d anticipated, though. In fact, thinking about how he’d whipped that cane against me got me hotter than any porn I’d watched over the last month.
Shay: Trust me, he was well within his comfort zone.
Cole: I gathered. Should I even ask for the details?
Shay: Probably not.
Aaron: Who do you think taught me how to smack Shay’s ass proper?
Shay: Ha! Now we’re talking, baby.
Cole: Oh my god, what is happening?
Cole: This chat better not devolve into sexting between you two. Are you serious? No. Don’t answer. This is incestuous.
Shay: Nah. There’s a difference. It was nonsexual play. Between Dane and me at least. You know we’ve been friends for years.
Cole: This is derailing.
Cole: There’s a difference?
Shay: My sweet summer child.
Cole: My comfort level has exited the chat.
Aaron: So follow it out, dude. Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.
Shay: Love you baby bro.
Cole: Hold on, hold on. Dane spanked you, Shay? Wait. Aaron. Has he spanked you, too?
Aaron: Ask him yourself.
Aaron followed that message with an emoji of a grinning devil. My mind struggled to connect the dots, and I felt heat crawling all over the back of my neck and cheeks thinking about Dane spanking other people. Well, anyone other than my brother—because that was also not my kink.
Shay: Videos exist.
Aaron: Shhhhh
Shay: They’re still up on Pornhub. Totally fair game.
Shay: This is so much fun.
Aaron: She’s lying.
Cole: Are you two together right now?
Shay: Yes. Aaron is now standing beside me giving me a death stare as I type. It’s getting me a little hot, actually.
Aaron: We’re talking about my baby brother here.
Cole: Y’all are so weird.
Shay: Search for dirtydom. All I’m saying.
Aaron: Goddammit woman
Cole: And I’m saying goodnight now. Go have kinky sex or whatever the fuck it is you two do when not scandalizing the innocent.
Cole: And leaving them out of sex toy gifts.
Cole: No wait, I take that last part back. Probably a good call.
In dire need of more alcohol, I cracked a little bottle of Jack from the hotel’s mini fridge and pawed through another bag. Then I thumbed open my messages again to send a text I never in my wildest dreams imagined I’d send to another human being.
There were things I needed to know.
4
Dane
Cole: Have you spanked my brother?
I considered Cole’s text as I unbuttoned my shirt and then chuckled, remembering his flustered expression after I’d whipped that cane against his ass in Ace’s Wild. He hadn’t thought I’d do it. He’d been so very wrong.
Dane: Hello again to you, too.
I hesitated a moment, wondering if I should string him along and have a little fun—though certainly not the kind I really wanted to have with him. In the end, I decided on blunt honesty.
Dane: And no.
Cole: Had to ask because otherwise…nvm. I think I’ve had too much to drink.
He sent me a photo next.
Cole: What’s this?
Dane: I see. I’m some kind of sex toy translator now?
Cole: You seem pretty fluent in it and if the shoe fits…or whip as the case may be.
Dane: That’s a sounding rod set.
Cole: Ah. Okay. Wow. Shay and Aaron have some seriously kinky friends.
Cole: What was in that black bag attached to the ribbons on yours? None of the other bags had one.
I crossed the bedroom, retrieving the bag and unzipping it, then splaying the contents across the bed. After snapping a quick photo, I sent it to Cole.
Dane: Look familiar?
The thin nylon implements resembled the cane I’d used on him—with no small amount of satisfaction, I might add—back at the shop.
Dane: It’s a travel set.
The bubbles in the open message appeared and disappeared before reappearing again as I waited, riveted to my screen and unable to deny how invested my cock was in his response.
But I had to laugh at what finally came through.
Cole: Do you travel a lot?
Dane: Not as much as I used to.
Cole: I didn’t get a bag.
Dane: Feeling left out?
Cole: A little, yeah.
Cole: I take that back. Ignore me. I’m drunk.
Cole: I probably wouldn’t know how to use a lot of that stuff anyway.
I grinned and dropped onto the end of the bed, then peeled off my socks, nudging the canes aside. The quiet rattle of them sent a distant tingle through my balls, and I had to resist the strong urge to reply that I imagined he knew how to use a dildo. And that I’d very much like to watch him do so.
Dane: Go to bed then. Take an Advil and drink a glass of water before. Tomorrow will be long.
Cole: Aye aye captain. I don’t remember you being so bossy.
Dane: Assertive.
Dane: And I was.
But not enough. I’d chickened out the one time it had mattered most.
“There’s no way that just happened. This game is fucking buggy as hell. Let’s start over.” Cole’s eyes flashed with indignation.
He got so into these stupid video games. That I also loved playing with him because it meant we sat squished side by side on his tiny basement love seat for hours. Sometimes he sat on the floor, back against the lower cushion, and it was all I could do not to touch his hair. I wanted to sink my fingers into it, fist it, tilt his head back and seal my mouth to his.
“Dane?”
“I’m gay,” I blurted, my palms immediately springing leaks and growing as damp as my forehead. I tossed the controller aside. “I told my parents last night, so now I’m telling you.” That so wasn’t how I meant for all of that to come out. Shit.
Cole’s eyes went wide for a second, and then I could tell he was trying to school his expression. His shoulders stiffened, and he worried his lower lip like he wasn’t sure what to say. “Oh, okay. Cool. I guess that’s good to know. Yeah.” He fell silent for a couple of beats, then his brows furrowed. “Are you…gonna tell other people, too? Like, at school?”
My heart sank to my toes.
Cole: Night then.
Cole: It’s nice to see you again, too.
Cole: U said that earlier and I didn’t say it back. But it was.
I tossed my phone aside on the duvet, removed my shirt, and sprawled back on the bed, idly stroking a hand up and down my chest and letting it drift ever lower until it met the hard ridge of my cock through my pants. Pining for Cole Green, round two, appeared to be in full effect.
Flicking open my fly, I ran the pad of my thumb over the tip of my cock and sighed, bringing the wetness to my lips before letting my hand drop away. The canes rattled again as I shifted. I turned my head, studying them a moment, then lurched upright and reached for the shirt I’d just removed as an idea formed.
5
Cole
I’d been drunk last night, but not as drunk
as I’d probably seemed to Dane before signing off with him. Between our back-and-forth texts, I’d navigated right on over to Pornhub before I could overthink whether or not perving on his videos was sketchy. I’d already had one hand in my pants stroking myself while the other thumbed my good-night message to him. That part was definitely sketchy, but I couldn’t help myself, and damn if the videos hadn’t been hot.
I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to tell the guy in them was Dane if Shay hadn’t told me; the videos weren’t the best quality. Naked from the waist up and wearing a pair of tight black pants, he was prowling elegance embodied as he circled a guy kneeling on all fours atop some kind of contraption that shackled both his ankles and wrists in place. Dane was younger for sure, but I couldn’t get a sense of how much younger due to the graininess of the picture. There were maybe a dozen short scenes featuring both women and men, though the ones with women tended to be far less sexual in nature.
In the one I’d fixated on, Dane caressed the other man’s asscheeks, kneading them affectionately, then delivered a resounding open-handed smack that made the guy’s back arch sharply as he cried out.
I didn’t even make it halfway through the scene before I blew my load. So naturally that meant I needed to watch it again. I finally passed out after a second whimper-inducing orgasm left me shaky and drained.
Now, trying to tame a threatening boner, I forced my gaze away from Dane where he stood next to Shay as her best man, and homed in on my brother. He wasn’t necessarily the better option, either. The whole damn wedding ceremony was proving to be an emotional minefield; if I wasn’t about to tent my pants, I was fighting getting misty-eyed over my brother’s heartfelt vows. Shay was openly crying, and fuck me if I dared to look toward the front row where my parents were sitting, because if I witnessed my father tearing up, I’d really lose it. Some people were reflexive pukers; I was a reflexive crier.