by Livia Grant
“Button!” Alicia whined, smacking the cube with her little hand, and Jaxson’s wicked grin returned.
“Yes, Mommy, you should push the button for Alicia instead of pushing my buttons,” Jaxson said. “Unless you want a very serious… discussion after their bedtime.”
Chase grinned as he watched indecision flit over Emma’s expression. The blush in her cheeks was darker, but there was definitely a mischievous glint in her beautiful violet eyes that told Chase she was feeling exactly like he was.
Needy.
Hungry for more of their husband and dom.
And willing to get into more than a bit of trouble to guarantee it.
One of the things Chase loved about Emma was how he could sometimes communicate with her without even speaking. They were on the same wavelength so often that it was as easy as breathing to plot a response to Jaxson together, and it worked a little too well.
Throughout dinner, he and Emma continued to bring up Roulette in roundabout ways that only Jaxson would understand, completely going over their nanny, Kelsey’s, head — and the twins were too young to get any of it.
But Jaxson did.
By the time Emma and Kelsey took the twins for bath time, Jaxson had that hard edge to his jaw that had first made Chase want to drag his tongue across it. Back when it had just been the two of them, constantly paired together on photoshoots until the persistent closeness had made him brave enough to go for it.
He still looked back on those times fondly, but there had always been something missing with them. Someone. Emma. She brought them together, cemented them with a deeper connection, a stronger love, and he’d never felt as close to Jaxson as he did now with her to unite them. With their family, and the life they’d built together, despite all of the challenges they’d faced.
Leaning back in his chair, Chase watched his husband pacing past the kitchen, still on the phone about something. Probably about Jafari needing their car before dawn — though he hadn’t pressed Jaxson for details on that situation.
Chase let the chair drop back to the floor and turned back to his phone, scrolling through the litany of emails from the various DMs at both clubs, their judges, and several of their friends. It seemed like everyone wanted to influence the decision for best scene at each club, and he knew exactly why the staff was petitioning so hard.
They all wanted the time off and, more importantly, the bragging rights.
Especially since Spencer had mentioned it at almost every meeting for the past year.
Rubbing at his temple, Chase skimmed random emails about various scenes at both clubs, but before he realized it, he had a growing hard-on behind his fuzz-covered pants.
“What did I tell you?” Jaxson chided, plucking the phone out of Chase’s hands and setting it face down on the other side of the table.
“I thought since you were on the phone—”
“No.” Shaking his head, Jaxson grabbed a handful of Chase’s hair in one hand and caught his jaw with the other, craning his head back until all he could see was his husband’s intense gaze. “I asked what I told you, sub.”
“Ignore my phone,” Chase whispered, rocking a full hard-on now as Jaxson leaned closer, filling the air between them with a hint of cologne and the smell of his warm skin.
“That’s right.” Jaxson tightened his fist, sending skittering sparks over Chase’s scalp. “And if you think I haven’t been keeping track of all the little inside jokes you and Emma have been making all night… well, as soon as the twins are in bed, I’m going to make sure both of you know exactly how wrong you are.”
“Yes, sir,” Chase panted, moaning softly when Jaxson teased him with the lightest kiss against his lower lip.
Jaxson moved slowly, brushing his cheek on the way to his ear, where his voice became a low, submission-inducing growl. “Bad boys and girls don’t get what they want. You remember that, right?”
He tried to nod, but quickly realized that Jaxson’s hold on him made that pretty impossible, so he struggled to clear his throat enough to form words. “Yes, sir, I do. We just—”
“You want my attention. My dominance. My control. Don’t you, sub?” he asked, nipping Chase’s earlobe sharply enough to pull a gasp from him. A low hum buzzed against his ear before Jaxson continued. “I assume Emma feels the same way?”
“Yes, sir.” Swallowing, Chase tried to adjust the erection in his pants, but touching himself only made it worse. “Last night was…”
“Amazing, I agree,” Jaxson purred against his ear. “But last night both of you behaved so well, and today you’re baiting me. Pressing all my buttons. Defying me.”
It was the last phrase that cut Chase to the core, because he’d never meant to be outright disobedient, and he knew Emma hadn’t either. They were just being playful and, yes, pushing his buttons — but only because they wanted this. Their dom, their husband, and all of the dominance and sadism that came with him. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Oh, you’ll definitely be sorry later.” Jaxson let go of him in an instant, leaving him swaying forward, seeking out his dom’s touch even though Jaxson had stood and stepped back. “Go help Kelsey finish the twins’ baths and send Emma out here to talk to me.”
“Yes, sir.” Standing, he tried to adjust his hard-on so it wouldn’t be noticeable to their nanny and went to obey.
Bath time was almost over when he got there and sent Emma to talk to Jaxson. In another moment of wordless communication, all Emma had to do was look at him and her face seemed to reflect all the guilt he was feeling.
Chase tried to be his normal, happy self for Alicia and Drew, tickling their feet and blowing raspberries on their tummies while he and Kelsey got them dressed, but in the back of his mind he couldn’t stop turning over the words Jaxson had said.
Was he really upset? Or was this just the prelude to a punishment scene?
Had he and Emma really gone too far?
By the time the twins had their bottles and were nestled on either side of Jaxson on the couch, Chase had no doubt that Emma felt exactly like he did. It was painted all over her face, and in the way her shoulders dipped forward just a little. While Jaxson read their son and daughter a bedtime story about a sneezing dragon, Chase wrapped his arms around Emma from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered, and he felt Emma sigh. “I mean it. Even if we really did cross a line, we’ll take our punishment, and all will be forgiven. Just like always.”
“I don’t like it when he’s upset with us,” Emma whispered back, both of them being cautious since Kelsey was still buzzing around handling things before bedtime.
“Me either.” Pressing a kiss on her shoulder, Chase squeezed Emma a little tighter. “But I am curious what he has planned… aren’t you?”
“Shh, don’t say that,” she hissed, but he could feel the way she leaned back against him, her ass pushing just a little harder against his steadily returning erection.
“Come on,” Chase whispered against her ear. “Admit it. You’re thinking about him spanking you, maybe paddling your sweet ass.”
“Stoppp,” she whined softly, wiggling a bit in his hold, and he couldn’t resist nuzzling into her hair to gently bite the place where her neck met her shoulder. Her hushed sigh of pleasure was all he needed to know exactly what mindset Emma was in. “You’re going to get us in more trouble.”
“Maybe,” he admitted, grinning inside the cloak of her hair while he dragged his tongue up the column of her throat to nip her ear exactly like Jaxson had done to him earlier.
Jaxson cleared his throat and Chase stood up straight, meeting his dom’s gaze with a grin. The dark, intense stare he got in return was enough to bring his erection back to life, but that’s all he or Emma got before Jaxson continued reading something about the dragon drinking soup.
“We are so screwed,” Emma mumbled, and Chase chuckled softly.
“I know… isn’t it wonderful?”
He and E
mma had been kneeling on the floor of their bedroom waiting for Jaxson to come in for almost twenty minutes. Now his knees were starting to hurt, but he refused to break position. He’d earned whatever Jaxson decided he deserved.
Emma had just followed his lead though, and he felt more guilty about her being punished than anything else. At least he’d been able to get her to kneel on a cushion, even though she’d wordlessly argued with him because they weren’t allowed to talk to each other.
No, while Jaxson was tucking the twins into bed, he and Emma were supposed to be kneeling, naked and silent, not touching, while they thought about their actions. Unfortunately, all Chase was really managing to think about was the lush curves of his wife barely a foot to his left — and thinking about their pending punishment wasn’t doing anything to quell the hard-on he’d been sporting since story time.
Another five minutes passed before he heard the steady footfalls of Jaxson moving down the hallway. He glanced at Emma, hating the sadness and guilt he saw in her eyes, which only got worse when she looked from the door to him. She tilted her head, her brows pulling together like she was worried about him.
The door opened before he could figure out how to reassure her, and both of their heads turned to look at Jaxson. He wasn’t looking at them though. Instead, he walked over to the closet and flipped on the light, undressing like it was the end of any normal day.
Emma let out a soft whine, and all Chase wanted to do was reach over and stroke her back to soothe her, but blatantly breaking a rule during a punishment was just stupid. Still, he felt the same way. Being walked around and ignored was worse than any lecture or punishment that Jaxson could have launched into when he walked in.
Finally, the light in the closet clicked off and Jaxson stepped out in a pair of soft, gray pants, and nothing else. His bare chest and stomach caught the dim light from the bedside lamp, but the angle left most of his face in shadow.
“Have you been thinking about your actions today?” he asked, and both Chase and Emma nodded. “Emma, why don’t you tell me how you were a bad girl today.”
“You told us not to discuss the Roulette event, sir, but we kept doing it. We were pushing your buttons on purpose, and I’m really sorry. I promise.” Emma sniffled, and it tugged at Chase’s heartstrings hard.
“You understand that directly disobeying me isn’t how to get what you want, don’t you, Emma?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered, her voice so quiet, and Chase had to bite down on his tongue.
Why wasn’t Jaxson talking to him about it? He’d instigated it. He’d kept it going and encouraged Emma to keep teasing their dom. If anyone should get in trouble first, it should be him.
“Sir—”
Jaxson raised a hand. “Be quiet, Chase. It’s not your turn.” Even in shadow, he could see that their dom had turned back to Emma. “What happens to naughty subs, Emma?”
“They get punished,” she whispered.
“What? I didn’t hear you.”
“They get punished, sir,” she repeated, louder this time.
“That’s right.” Snapping his fingers, he pointed at the cushion. “I didn’t give you permission to kneel on anything. Get off of it and put it in front of you.”
While Emma obeyed, Jaxson walked over to their toy cabinet. Well, it wasn’t really a cabinet, it was a large armoire tucked in the corner of their room, which their dom unlocked with a key from his pocket. Opening the doors wide, he stopped and looked back at them.
“Emma, bend forward and put your head and arms on the pillow. Chase, face forward, hands on your head. Neither of you are allowed to move, understand?”
“Yes, sir,” they both replied, almost at the same time as they moved to obey.
Interlacing his fingers behind his head, Chase faced forward, but it couldn’t eliminate his peripheral vision where Emma’s luscious ass was propped up in the air. The slope of her back had his dick twitching with the idea of being behind her, but that little fantasy short-circuited when he heard movement in the toy cabinet.
He strained his ears, trying to identify the sounds, to predict what Jaxson had planned, but he couldn’t pick anything specific out. One of the drawers opened and closed, then another, and then something slid.
“Okay, Emma… I want you to bite down on the pillow to keep yourself quiet. You don’t have to count these — you just have to take them. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” she mumbled against the cushion, and Chase felt his muscles twitching with the urge to turn and look at what implement Jaxson had selected to punish their sub.
It wasn’t until he saw something thin cross the pale skin of Emma’s backside that he turned to look on instinct, panic rising in him. “Wait, sir, this is my fault, I—”
“Face forward!” Jaxson’s command seemed to boom around him even though he somehow managed to keep the actual volume of it low. “And do not speak. You don’t have permission to move, or speak, Chase. Nod if you understand.”
A cane. A fucking cane.
This was his fault.
Chase forced himself to nod, but he refused to close his eyes. Even staring forward, he could still see that Emma was shifting nervously, her face buried in the cushion, arms wrapped around it when it should have been his hands holding hers. Eye-to-eye, comforting her like they always did for each other during punishments.
Being like this was so much worse.
“You’ve earned three for disobeying me today, Emma. If you break position, you will add a stroke. If you need a break, say ‘yellow’ and we’ll wait before we continue. Do you understand?” Jaxson ran the cane back and forth over her ass, letting her feel it, to know what was coming, and Chase couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not.
“Yes, sir,” Emma replied, her voice wobbly, and guilt was like a knife between Chase’s ribs.
“Don’t tense, it’ll only hurt more,” Jaxson warned, and then the first whisper of the cane cutting through the air preceded the crisp thwack as it landed squarely across her ass. Chase jerked in sympathy, their sub’s wail following a heartbeat later, but it was swallowed almost completely by the pillow.
“That was one.” Jaxson knew even better than he did what Emma could handle, and as much as he wanted to protest, he also understood that Jaxson could have delivered the second right away, but he was waiting. Her breathing was too rapid, her body still shifting too much, and Chase clenched his jaw at how he’d fucked up because he should be there on the floor beside her, whispering words of encouragement and holding her hands.
Not kneeling beside her, unable to say a word or even look.
“Here’s two,” Jaxson warned, and the panicked whine from Emma twisted the knife in his side, shoving it deeper when the cane struck again and the whine went shrill, her feet drumming against the floor as her breath hiccupped.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Sir, please, I’ll—”
“You’ll do nothing,” Jaxson snapped. “Kneel there, face forward, and be quiet. That’s what I’ve asked of you.”
His dom wasn’t going to let him take Emma’s punishment for her, so he’d have to do what he could. Chase took a deep breath, trying to make the inhale and exhale loud enough for Emma to hear it over her whimpers, a nonverbal reminder of what he’d be telling her if he could. Breathe through the pain. Accept it, don’t fight it. Let it in, let it pass over you. We love you, we love you, we love you.
“Last one, Emma. Stay in position and take it, then it’s over.” Jaxson’s voice was a little softer, but there was no doubt he was in dom-mode. Intense, focused, and not willing to listen to excuses.
A hushed sob came from the pillow, but Chase could see her dark hair bouncing as she nodded against the fabric. This time Chase couldn’t help but tense as the cane whispered through the air, the crack of it landing low on Emma’s ass much sharper this time. Her muffled shout was harsher too, and the sound of her crying was the worst thing of all.
“Good girl,” Jaxson praised, set
ting the cane down before he crouched by her head, stroking her hair as he shushed her softly. “All done, and you did very well. Now, I need you to kneel again, sweetheart.”
He wanted to be able to comfort her too, to press her between them until she forgot the pain of the punishment, but he didn’t have permission to move.
“Beautiful, Emma… you’re so beautiful,” Jaxson whispered, kissing her tearstained cheeks before capturing her mouth.
Chase knew he shouldn’t look, but it was impossible to resist. The sight of his husband and wife colliding, and the three vibrant lines painted across her ass from the cane — it was worth additional punishment. His cock jerked, desperate for attention, and even though he’d felt guilty for contributing to Emma’s punishment, he was still affected by her sounds, her body, and the incredible sweetness that made her so damn special to them.
“Stay right here, silently, hands behind your head just like Chase,” Jax whispered, planting another soft kiss on Emma’s lips. “You can look if you want to, though.”
Their dom stood, nudging the cushion over in front of Chase with his foot, and then he stood there. Towering over him, the bulge from Jaxson’s hard-on close enough for Chase to salivate, but he knew that wouldn’t be his punishment. Jax knew just how much he liked to suck him off.
“Eyes,” Jaxson demanded, and he looked up to meet his husband’s stern gaze. “Do you understand why I made you stand by while I punished Emma?”
“No, sir,” he answered, hearing his own frustration in the tone.
His dom caught a fistful of his hair again, forcing his hands to slide down to the back of his neck as Jax craned his head backward until it ached. Jaxson leaned down enough that there was no mistaking the seriousness of his expression as he said, “I warned you, both of you, several times today that you needed to stop discussing Roulette. Instead of listening, you pushed me. Worse, you encouraged Emma, our submissive, to disobey me. You stood by and let her get herself in trouble, so I made you stand by and let her take her punishment too.”
Fuck.