by A. C. Katt
“You can have a small piece.” Gary told him. “You’re not bouncing off any walls today.” Danny cut himself a piece of cake, got his pillow and sat down next to Gary’s feet.
“So you’re thinking of putting a toe in the water? You’ve been coming to the club with us every Friday night for four months now. It’s about time you decided to play.” Gary sipped his coffee.
“Up until now, I had nothing to offer a sub with the exception of a good arm with a flogger. My financial situation has changed. By the way,” Caden reached into his pocket and drew out a check from his wallet. “Here is a check for what I owed you for the down payment on the car and the car payments up until last month. With my salary, I can more than afford to pay for the Honda. I’m thinking of moving to my own place as soon as I get enough saved for the furnishings and closing costs. I can get a VA loan with no money down.”
“If you are planning on getting a sub, I’d wait and see what he has to say about housing. I got lucky, Danny loved this house on sight, but if you pick one out alone, you may not get the right kind of kitchen or garden. We may be the Doms, but since it’s the subs that do most of the cooking, cleaning and gardening, it behooves you to let them have their say. Besides, the longer you stay at the cottage, the more money you’ll be able to save toward furnishings.” Gary took a bite of cake.
“What do you think, Squirt?” Caden asked his brother. Danny looked at Gary for permission to speak.
Gary said, “Go ahead…”
“I think Sir’s right. Most subs will live with what their Master gives them but occasionally it’s nice to have your opinion considered. Gary is good to me that way. The whole yard business was my idea. Sir, can I get some iced tea out of the fridge?”
Gary motioned for Danny to go ahead.
Caden wasn’t so sure about Danny and the other subs getting their hooks into Masato. They tended to plot and Caden already knew he was slated to be their next victim. Caden gave Gary a long look.
“Why don’t you take your cake and iced tea into the great room and watch the new television. If it needs adjustments, you can make them. You’re much better with electronics than I am.” Gary told Danny. Danny sighed and left the room.
“You know, of course, they’re plotting. The lot of them have decided you and Masato would make a good match and now they’re trying to figure out how to make it happen. Danny, Greg and Jamie aren’t so bad, but Brian and Jim are formidable.”
Gary put another forkful of cake into his mouth and shouted into the great room. “Is this a new recipe? It’s moister than it is usually.”
Danny turned down the television. “I used sour cream instead of milk. I think it turned out better.”
“I agree,” Caden said.
“Do you need anything, Sir?” It was clear to Caden that Danny wanted to come back into the kitchen so he could hear what was going on. As much as he loved his brother, he wanted to keep his business private for a little longer.
“No, baby, you watch television. We’re fine in here,” Gary told him, winking at Caden. Watching Danny from the corner of his eye, Caden saw his brother go into full pout.
Caden knew Gary saw what he was watching when Gary laughed out loud.
“Now that you’re making money, I think that I should put you in touch with the investment planner Sam found me. He’s very good and charges a reasonable flat fee. You have to start planning for the future,” Gary said reasonably.
“You’re right, especially since I’m thinking of taking a sub. I want to be able to take care of both of us as time goes on.” Gary got up and retrieved the notepad from the side of the refrigerator.
“Here, I’ll jot down his name and number. He works out of Princeton. Sam told me that Milo and Liam use him as does Jake Cohen and Cisco. Bear handles all of Reed’s investments as well as his own, but his money is all in real estate and I wanted a more diversified portfolio. Blake Carlton put me into some hard money lending. It pays about twelve percent which is a great return in these economic times.” Caden took the paper and put it in his wallet.
Gary picked up the check. “Are you sure you don’t want to hold onto this money for a bit longer? I know you’re good for it and it’s not like you’re going anywhere.”
“No, I’m fine now. Once I accepted the job at Indiscreet, my membership is free. Reed issued me a refund check and I cashed it yesterday. Even with the military discount, the membership fee is quite a chunk of change. Aside from what I gave to you, I put the rest in the bank.”
Gary got up and put the check inside his checkbook to deposit later.
“What do you think of Masato?” Caden asked Gary sipping on his now lukewarm coffee.
“Out of the four subs, I think I know three of them fairly well. You know the story. I offered Greg a contract, bid on Jamie but was in love with your brother.” Gary shook his head. “I know it makes no sense now, but at the time I didn’t think I’d ever get out from under my crooked agent. Thank God he’s in prison where he belongs. Masato though, he was always an enigma. He never showed any interest in me although I got the feeling that there was more to him than meets the eye. It’s like he’s hiding behind a façade.”
“I swear that the only person who got his attention was Bull but that was because of the demos they did together. I think Bull is the one person who knows the most about him but only because he had to talk to Bull to make arrangements for the classes and demonstrations Bull gave before Jamie. I got the feeling Masato did those because he was bored. I assume he had to talk to Bull during aftercare. I’d ask him. I get the feeling that Masato is waiting for someone special and so far no one has made the grade. ”
Caden considered that bit of information. “I’ll be seeing Bull on Monday when I start at work. I’ll ask him about Masato then.” Caden finished his cake.
“Have you considered seeing Greg? Danny definitely has a case of PTSD from what your father did to him. He still has nightmares. Greg prescribed a mild sleeping pill until Danny can get a better handle on it. You grew up in the same repressive environment and on top of that did three deployments in two different war zones.”
“I’m still not sure I want to do that.” Caden shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
“Don’t let foolish machismo hold you back. Right after I left baseball, I went to see someone to get my head on straight. Between my shoulder injury and Marty Garber, I had plenty to unload. It was the only place I could let it all hang out because I knew it was confidential.” Gary got up and put the plates in the sink. He turned back to Caden. “The sessions helped me put all of it into perspective. I was able to stop seeing him and join the club just around the time I met Danny. And you have to admit that Greg has been able to encourage and assist Danny to become less critical of himself. I know most of Danny’s contentment comes from being a good sub and lover, but his ability to find that place inside that allows him to see past his perceived faults comes from Greg.”
“I’ll think about it,” Caden said, closing down the subject.
Gary sat back down. “Danny starts his second semester of school at the end of the month. I have to go to Florida for a golf outing that last weekend. I plan on taking Danny with me. Do you think you could stay here and watch Leo and Widget for us while we’re gone?”
Widget, who sat in the great room next to Danny and Leo, came into the kitchen as soon as he heard his name. Gary bent down to pet him. “What a good boy.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of them for you. Speaking of dogs how is the training going with Pesto? I haven’t heard anything from Bear or from Brian.”
“That’s a subject best left alone with Bear. That animal is driving him to drink. He seems incapable of understanding the most basic of commands. At least Brian got him to the point where he isn’t leaving presents in Bear’s Lobb shoes, although he does occasionally use one for a chew toy.” Caden cracked up laughing.
“Bear is sending him to doggie obedience classes without Brian. He thinks that B
rian is too easy on the Pest and that makes him harder to train. Danny has been very good with Widget, but then again, Widget has a brain… but don’t tell Brian I said that. Having the unholy quintet angry at you is not something you want to experience. Bear and Reed live in fear of Brian and Jim’s pouts. For that matter, although they don’t say it out loud, Bull and Cisco will go to any length to make sure that their boys aren’t angry at them.” Gary shook his head. “Cisco keeps asking, who’s the sub? I’m finally beginning to understand what he means. You’ll know what we’re talking about when it’s your turn.”
“If all of you were straight, I’d call you pussy-whipped, when you’re gay is it dick-whipped?” Caden laughed at his own joke.
“You laugh… you’ve never seen your brother really pissed off. When I’m wrong I get a sulk that is truly terrible to behold. He cries. I apologize pretty quickly. I know that Bear goes to see Reed at the club until Brian gets over his mad and Reed calls Bear to meet him at his office when Jim is on the warpath. Once when Reed was being especially dense, he wound up with one of Jim’s carrot cakes over his head.”
“You’re kidding.” Caden clearly didn’t believe Gary.
“Ask Reed yourself. He’ll tell you the story. It’s complicated, but Reed was clearly in the wrong.”
Caden looked at Gary wide-eyed. “And the others?”
“Bull says an angry Jamie is like a whirling dervish. He starts to clean and organize. He organized Bull out of four of his favorite old and comfortable T-shirts. Bull soon learned not to make him angry.”
Caden looked at Gary in astonishment.“What does Greg do?” Caden asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
“Greg goes silent, monosyllabic. It drives Cisco nuts.” Gary laughed. “But your brother is really the worst in my opinion, when he cries he makes me feel like an ogre.”
“The way you talk makes me think twice about taking on a sub.”
Gary put his chin in his palm. “It’s the most rewarding thing you could ever do. When I do a scene with Danny, the idea that he allows me to use my flogger on his body blows me away. He has the ultimate control, the safe word, he uses it, I stop. He’s never had to use his word and that makes me a happy man. The sheer trust that he gives to me is worth any sulk or pout. He knows that I’d kiss the ground he walks on, but instead, he kisses my shoe. I am blessed to have found someone so perfect for me. You wait, you’ll see. They make you look in the mirror and really see yourself, warts and all.” Gary shook his head.
“Your brother is my reason for living. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him. When Marty took him I thought I was going to lose my mind, especially when the bastard called to torment me with the fact he was hurting Danny. If that man ever sees daylight outside of a prison wall anywhere near me or mine, I’ll kill him and make a good case for self defense.” Gary clenched his fists.
“If you do, I’ll load the gun. That was my baby brother he was beating on.” Caden’s eyes narrowed. “How old is Marty?”
“Marty is about sixty-five and never took care of himself, smoked and drank and God knows what else. With a twenty-year sentence and little chance of parole, I doubt he’ll ever make it out of jail except in a pine box, and even if he does make it out of the federal prison, he has the New Jersey charges to face which would earn him another fifteen to twenty years. Besides, twenty years was the plea bargain, if he so much as breathes wrong the judge said he’d hit him with the full sentence, especially since he crossed state lines to do the deed. Like I said, a pine box.” Gary’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve been hazed, I’ve been beat up. I’ve been lied to and used but no one ever did to me what Marty did when he had Bruno grab Danny. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it.”
Caden inclined his head. “That’s about how I felt when I found out what my father did to Danny. I’m ten years older than my brother and he used to follow me around like a puppy. He never got in the way, all he wanted was to be with me. That’s the purest love I’ve ever felt, the love that came to me from Danny. I hope I can feel half as much for a sub. It would have been fine with me had you and Danny decided to disgrace my father on national television. As a matter of fact, I wished you had.” Caden stood. “I’ve got to hit the road.” He stretched.
“Are you sure we can’t convince you to stay for supper?” Gary asked, standing.
“Not tonight. I have too much to do between now and Monday to get ready for my first day at work. I need to look at the manual for the computer systems they use at the club and do the wash so I have clean clothes to wear. Reed said I don’t need to be in a suit, but I think I should be more casual Friday with a tie than jeans and a T-shirt. They have to respect me and that means I have to do something that they can see that sets me apart from them. In the army it was my stripes. Here it’s going to be the tie.” Caden got his coat, gloves and hat.
“Danny, Caden’s leaving.” Danny got up from the floor where he had been wrestling with Widget and ran into the entryway. He gave Caden a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Be careful, I just heard the weather forecast and the roads are icy and they’re calling for more snow.” Caden opened the door.
“Don’t worry, Squirt. I’ll be careful.” Caden watched them in the doorway as he drove off into the cold night.
CHAPTER FIVE
Monday
The sub club was out in full force. Even Greg arranged his schedule so he could be at Jim’s house at ten on Mondays.
“I see you made blueberry scones today,” Greg said. He was the first to arrive. He shook the snow off his hat and scarf and hung them with his coat on the rack in the small entryway. He took off his boots and left them on the mat Jim provided. Jim got the stainless steel teapot out of the cabinet and put it on the stove to boil the water.
The doorbell rang. Brian arrived with Junior, who had picked up Danny and Jamie along the way because Gary and Bull didn’t want either Danny or Jamie driving in the snow. Greg was on the phone to Cisco when they arrived because Cisco always made Greg call when he got to Jim’s.
“One day they’re going to put locator chips in our asses instead of in our phones and be done with it,” Jamie said, removing the navy blue pea coat that Bull bought him for Christmas. His long hair was stuffed into a navy blue cashmere skull cap and he wore a scarf and gloves to match. Today’s guyliner was midnight blue.
Jim looked Jamie up and down. “It looks like they are not all fashion challenged. But I must say I’m surprised. All Bull ever wears is leathers. Did he have someone help him pick that out?”
Jamie punched Jim in the arm. “I’ll have you know that Bull has an excellent sense of style. He’s just never called upon to use it.”
“I have to say that truly astounds me. We’re talking Bull here,” Jim said with some asperity.
Brian was so bundled up you could barely see his eyes.
“We can barely tell who you are,” Jim teased his best friend.
Brian shrugged. “Papa knows I don’t like the cold and…”
“He worries,” the rest of the group chimed in.
“He actually wrapped my scarf himself after making noises about going out when it’s too cold. I pointed out to him that I’d only be exposed from the front door to the car and from the car to Jim’s door, but he wasn’t buying it. Hence the mummy look.”
Danny took off a down coat that made him look twice his size along with a knit hat that had a pom pom. “That’s a new coat,” Greg noticed.
“When it went down below zero last week, Gary decided I needed a down coat and gloves. This thing goes from my neck to my knees. I couldn’t talk him out of it and with the gloves on I can’t move my fingers.” Danny looked at himself in the hall mirror and laughed. “I’m lucky I don’t have leggings.”
“Don’t let Papa Bear see that coat, or one like it will be in my closet before you can say jackrabbit,” Brian protested. “I’m surprised you can walk in that thing.”
“Baseball players have no fashio
n sense,” Jim said. Everyone broke out in laughter.
The water boiled and Jim warmed the ceramic pot. For Christmas, Reed got Jim a new one that held twelve cups or six mugs of tea. Brian put the tea in the new teapot and Jim poured the water. Jamie got up and found the plates and with Greg’s help, set the table. Junior insisted on staying in the car, so Jim made him a thermos of hot coffee and took it out to him along with three scones.
“Junior wants plausible deniability,” Jim said when he returned. Everyone was bent over laughing. “What?” Jim asked as they laughed harder.
Soon all five of them were seated at the table with a basket of scones covered by a napkin. Jim began to pour. “I have a new blend I got from Teavana on Saturday. It’s lavender and black tea.”
“It smells lovely,” Jamie picked up his mug and sniffed.
“Don’t tell the Doms, but I got rock sugar to go with the tea.” Jim smiled at what he considered to be his charges.
“We’ll all be bouncing off the walls and the guys will know who to blame,” Danny said.
Jim guffawed. “Reed will protect me.”
“You can damn well protect yourself, Mr. Army Ranger. Even Bull respects your mad skills,” Jamie told Jim, his eyes twinkling. Jim was happy. Everyone was laughing today.
“What’s on the table this morning?” Jim asked as he blew on his tea to cool it.
“Caden and Masato,” Brian answered.
“What did Caden think of Masato after Friday night?” Greg took a bite of his scone.
“Caden’s intrigued by Masato’s mystique. Even I’m intrigued by Masato’s mystique.” Danny stirred the rock sugar stick in his tea.
“Greg, what do you think?” Jim asked. “We need advice from an expert.”
“I’m no expert but up until Friday night his body language was closed tight. When he let himself lean against Caden, I thought I saw relief and he seemed to be letting down his defenses.” Greg passed the basket of scones to Danny.