Shot in the Dark

by HJ Raine

  "Good, soldier. You're doing great," Clark crooned, easing out from under Ellis. When the rig swung just the smallest bit, Ellis' body tried to catch him, and he strained against the wrist cuffs. It wrung a grunt from Ellis, before he growled at himself and tried to relax.

  "That's it. You got it." Clark's touch never left Ellis' skin as Clark moved between Ellis' legs. "One more thing and we're done with the hook-up." Clark clasped Ellis' bare foot and rubbed a thumb into the arch, and it felt so good, Ellis took a deep breath and tight muscles loosened.

  "You're going to bend your knees so I can secure the thigh cuff to the rings at your waist. That way you won't have to worry about your legs. Slow and steady for me." Clark nudged Ellis' foot, guiding the knee toward Ellis' chest.

  Ellis moved obligingly, getting used to how his body twisted and swung with every motion. It was exactly like what he'd asked for in the bar, and better, as imagination just couldn't compete with reality without gravity. He got the first leg bent, and Clark clipped the cuff to the ring at Ellis' waist faster than Ellis could follow. The other leg went just as easily, and Ellis grinned when he flexed against the bindings. "Like a frog laid out on a lily pad," he muttered.

  "Soon to be one well laid frog." Clark rubbed the backs of Ellis' thighs and kissed Ellis' heel. Clark steadied the rig until it was completely still and rose to return to the winch. "Going up," he warned and hit the button. Ellis swung minutely, spun just enough to make Ellis want more, but Clark stopped the winch and was back to steady Ellis. "That's more like it," Clark said, circling. He was groin-high with Ellis' head and ass, and his cock was a thick, heavy line beneath the skin-tight pants.

  Clark bent to Ellis' lips, but he kept the kiss quick. "You are fucking phenomenal, soldier. Wanna have some fun?" Clark didn't give Ellis a chance to answer. He smiled like the devil with a new batch of virgin souls, and he shoved Ellis into a wide, swinging arc.

  "Oh, my fucking God," Ellis cried out as the world whirled around him, and every muscle in his body popped joints trying to move anything, but he just couldn't. He was utterly helpless. Something snapped in his head at the bottom of a fathoms-deep well of self-recrimination that had always told Ellis he couldn't be like this. Ellis, grinning, told it to fuck off and let himself fall. It was like falling out of an airplane and letting the wind roar and take him.

  "Oh yeah," Ellis whisper-groaned, cock at full attention. "Perfect. Sarge... this is oh my God perfect."

  The swing stopped abruptly, and Clark stood at Ellis' ass holding a flared metal plug dripping with lube. "Yeah, you are." Clark's gaze slipped away from Ellis' eyes and stared directly down. Ellis groaned and twisted what little he could. A thumb pressed and circled Ellis' exposed asshole; Ellis flexed against the touch, and Clark sighed through his nose. "Going to get your ass ready for me, soldier. 'Cause the only things that could make it more perfect..." Clark hummed, but to Ellis' surprise, instead of setting the end of the plug to Ellis, he crouched. "Are tasting, filling, and fucking it." Hot breath blew against Ellis' skin followed by the warm, wet, slick brush of Clark's tongue.

  "Nnngh... God!" Grateful that he couldn't thrash and kick Clark in the face, Ellis writhed against his bindings with abandon.

  "Oh yeah," Clark said, and proceeded to take a goddamned eternity rimming Ellis. Lick, probe, flick, and dart, and not once did Clark pay a bit of attention to Ellis' straining cock, which was oozing pre-come onto his belly. Clark answered Ellis' curses and cries with grunts of approval, and when Clark set the metal plug to Ellis' hyper-sensitized entrance, he began pushing it inside with his own lingering groan. "Shit, yeah, soldier, that's what I like to see. Go on, take it, ah, yeah... Just like that."

  Ellis couldn't seem to help the baby bird cries that spilled with every panting breath. His body struggled to accept the smooth glacier that slid into his guts and stretched him wide. "Aw... shit, Sarge... G... g... g-gonna... split me in..." The flare of the plug passed through Ellis' ring, and he sobbed for breath when he eased and the weight of the thing hung heavy within him. "D-damn... nnngh... oh sweet Jesus."

  Clark was speaking, but God help him if Ellis could understand anything but the soothing rumble. He did feel Clark's dry, warm hands on his skin, however. Clark petted and caressed in slow sweeps, but it wasn't until Clark's fist in Ellis' hair turned his head to meet Clark's mouth for a kiss that Ellis realized where Clark actually was. "You're going to spoil me," Clark said with another gentler kiss that Ellis returned, trembling. "So damned good, soldier. You with me?"

  Ellis groaned and wanted to cry with joy at feeling both so helpless and so carefully held by Clark, but he forcibly swallowed and nodded instead. His hands formed fists against his back. "Y-yes, Sarge. Present, sir."

  "There's my soldier." Clark supported Ellis' head, and Clark's pupils were wide, his forehead dotted with sweat. "Brave and true. I'm going to let you swing, and I'm going to get the paddle. We're going to try ten hits with it and see how you do. They'll be on your ass and the backs of your legs. Give me a sir, yes, sir if you want that."

  Ellis gulped and nodded. "Sir, yes sir!"

  Clark's kiss was fierce. "Good man." Clark sent Ellis into another swing, and Ellis was hard-pressed to figure out if the spin or the praise made him dizzier. Clark returned at some point to slow Ellis to a stop. He stood to one side, and he held a long, rectangular paddle with holes cut out of it. Clark hooked an arm over one of Ellis' legs, holding Ellis steady. Ellis looked at Clark, and Clark watched Ellis with intimate, intent focus and ran the unforgiving, smooth surface of the paddle over Ellis' ass and thighs. Ellis arched with a moan.

  "You can do this, soldier. Ten." The paddle left Ellis' skin. "Starting now," Clark warned, and a sharp, stinging blow struck Ellis' backside.

  Ellis' thoughts scattered at the sound of the slap like beads from a broken necklace. The blow hurt. Not bad. Nothing broke. Ellis could take it. Like Daddy's belt, but without the anger. Without the fear. Without them, the sting felt good. "Yeah," Ellis breathed and filled up. Confidence. Courage. Want. "Like that, Sarge. Yeah."

  "Sweet God, what you can do, soldier." Clark hugged Ellis' leg and brought the paddle down again on one of Ellis' thighs. Clark paused just long enough for Ellis to cry green, and then more blows rained on Ellis' body. The burn and ache built where they overlapped, and the very last strike was harder and across both ass cheeks, shoving the butt plug against prostate and making Ellis see stars. His cock felt like it was going to explode from the combination of burn and internal bump and slide, and Ellis writhed long after the blow.

  "Nnha! Gah. Yes. Shit..." Ellis gasped. The buzzing of his nerves was a fine fire that cleansed him of doubt. "M-more, Sarge? Can I have...?"

  "Five," Clark granted.

  "Yes, sir!"

  The next hit was milder, and Ellis couldn't find words, but whined in protest. In answer, the following four were heavier, and each smacked a yell from Ellis. To his surprise, Ellis loved them, arching and bucking with each blow, making the heavy metal plug fuck him relentlessly. He only got harder with the pain, his heartbeat raced, and he whimpered with every pant for air when Clark stopped. "Nngh. God. Th-thank you," Ellis stammered.

  "You're welcome," Clark said kindly. He stepped back and suddenly Ellis was swinging and spinning, the room blurring by. Ellis struggled briefly and then went lax, moaning, letting it just take him further down this path his Sergeant had laid before him.

  "Sarge," Ellis whispered and held onto the word like a talisman.

  "Right here." The spin-swing stopped, and Ellis got a close-up view of Clark undoing the laces of his fly. He pulled out his cock with a hiss, and he cupped Ellis' head, thumb petting Ellis' cheek while the other hand stroked his shaft. "Want your mouth before I take your ass, soldier." Clark's voice was a rough snarl, and the smell of leather, sweat, and sex was heady in Ellis' nose. "Open up for me."

  Clark set the head of his cock to Ellis' lips, and Ellis opened as wide as possible and took the width of the salty smooth
tip into his mouth. Clark's slurred, barking curse was all the encouragement Ellis needed. Ellis swirled his tongue over the slit, and then struggled to change the angle of his neck as Clark shallowly thrust. When Ellis had it, he sighed through his nose and did his best to swallow Clark.

  "Oh... yeah..." Clark pushed deep and withdrew, both hands around Ellis' throat and both thumbs massaging the front of it when Clark drove forward again. Ellis moaned around the jaw-distending, sliding gag. "Shit..." Clark gasped, and Ellis could feel Clark trembling more and more with each long stroke.

  Finally Clark withdrew with a growl and shoved Ellis into a high swing. It seemed to go on forever, but then Clark was back, yanking Ellis to him by the ankles. "Going to fuck you, soldier." Clark's look was feral, and he grasped the end of the plug and slowly started to pull it out. Ellis yelled as it breached him, body pumping out of his control, fists in knots at his back, and when the plug slid free, he was sobbing for air and whimpering in want.

  "Yes... yes... please... Sarge... please," Ellis begged like he'd never begged before.

  "Too damned sweet. Jesus," Clark murmured, and he lined up his slick, latex-covered cock to Ellis. "I'm gonna take..." Clark began to push inside, and Ellis breathed in staccato, toned cries. "Every last..." Deeper and spreading while Ellis called out. "Inch of your fine ass..." Clark bottomed out with a rasp, and Ellis clenched around him. "Christ." Grinding, Clark rocked, jarring the rig and making Ellis buck. Clark shoved Ellis away, swinging Ellis until Clark nearly withdrew, and swinging Ellis back to fill him full again at a rough, wrenching pace.

  "God... Oh God... Oh God..." Ellis thought he said more, but nothing mattered as Clark swung and fucked and started slamming them together on each return. Clark's gritty bellows filled Ellis' ears, and all Ellis wanted was more. His cock throbbed, and his insides grabbed. "Shit... please... uh-oooh, God... please!”

  "Like that, soldier?" Clark barked, hanging on to the ropes to drive himself over and over into Ellis.

  "Nnnguh... yes... yes... yes..." Ellis answered with every slap of skin.

  Clark snarled. "Like that cock fillin' your ass?"

  "Oh, shit yeah!" Heat and pressure and need built so high and hot within Ellis, he could practically taste the orgasm just beyond his reach. Clark shoved Ellis away, completely withdrew, shoved back in with a vicious yank, and Ellis wailed.

  "You wanna fuckin' come, soldier?"

  "Please Christ oh God yes sir please sir!"

  "Can't... hear... you..." Clark's hips struck hard enough to send Ellis into mini arcs with every thrust, and Ellis roared his need.

  "Yes." Clark hissed, kept pace, and wrapped his fist around Ellis' cock, violently stroking and using the pre-come to slick fiction faster. The shock of pleasure drove the air from Ellis' lungs, bowed his spine, and numbed his lips. Ellis came in complete silence, shudders wracking his form. Clark twisted and milked him for every ounce, pounding with broken grunts until Clark froze.

  "Oh... baby... nnngh..." Clark gasped, and Ellis hated the cuffs that kept him from catching his Sergeant when Clark snagged the ropes and shivered through end-game spasms. Clark hung there, sweat dripping from his chin onto Ellis' chest, until finally Clark's eyes opened. He smiled. Clark bent, and the kiss was deep but sweet. Ellis trembled, and Clark's weak moans were hoarse.

  "That... was perfect." Clark took a longer breath. "Gonna get you undone and down. Do not move unless I tell you to, solider."

  "Y-yes, Sarge," Ellis croaked, and Clark studied him for a second longer and snapped a nod.

  Clark leaned back, eased from Ellis' body, and then began to move almost too fast for Ellis to follow. Ellis' brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and his thoughts were muddled and slow. His hands were freed, and he obeyed the repeated barked command not to move. His legs were straightened, and there were no pins or needles the way Ellis expected. The rig got lowered, and no sooner had Ellis hit the pad than Clark was undoing the harness.

  "Stay still, soldier," Clark snapped, and Ellis stopped trying to help. Freed of all the bindings, Ellis panted in a heap, and Clark vanished for what seemed like a sheer second to return with a cloth that he used to clean off Ellis' chest and torso. Ellis made a soft sound of surprise but stayed obediently still. Clark tossed the towel away and whipped a big, soft, fuzzy blanket around Ellis like a cape. It felt like a cloud from Heaven. Ellis watched Clark, fascinated and dazed, but then Clark's arms were around Ellis, and Ellis' cheek was pressed against Clark's shoulder and chest.

  "There we go," Clark said with a sigh that sounded tired but content. He held Ellis closely, tucking in the blanket. "That's what I wanted."

  Ellis sighed in utter bliss against Clark's throat, and wrapped one hand around Clark's upper arm, making sure he was really there. This was unbelievable, and Ellis breathed another deep sigh, feeling entirely undone, loose and easy with Clark.

  "That's it, good job, Ellis." Clark hummed and kissed Ellis' hair. He rubbed Ellis' back through the blanket for a long time. "When you're ready, we'll get you up and over to the bed so we can lie down and get some rest." Clark briefly hugged Ellis tighter. "You say when, and don't rush it. I'm fine to stay right here with you for however long you need."

  Ellis hugged Clark back automatically and immediately tried to roll over. "Or we could do this now," Clark said with a small laugh, but he relented so Ellis could move.

  Ellis was on autopilot, very happy to do whatever Clark wanted him to do, especially after all that Clark had just done for him. Ellis tested limbs, made them stop shaking, and brushed a smiling kiss on Clark's lips when Clark kneaded a sore spot near Ellis' shoulder. "Take your time," Clark cautioned.

  Resolve set, Ellis nodded and got up onto his feet. He swayed, Clark caught him around the waist and under one arm, and Ellis made his legs move to the empty bed. Clark stayed with him, grumbling unhappy sounds, but Clark chuckled as Ellis fell onto the mattress and crawled over the smooth, crisp sheets, grateful that Clark had cleaned him up so carefully.

  "I do love the determined ones," Clark said, handing Ellis a pillow from the chair and brushing Ellis' hair back from his forehead.

  Ellis chuckled. "Well, you got that here, Sarge. Bulldog with a chew toy, Mama always said." A sharp pang bloomed in his gut at remembering home, remembering Mama. Clark's touch was so gentle, it reminded him of her.

  "I like bulldogs. And chew toys. Now do me a favor and just lie there until I can join you, all right?"

  "All right," Ellis said agreeably.

  "Good." Clark spread another blanket on the bed with a sharp, practiced snap. He tossed the remaining pillow next to Ellis, and went to the far wall. The lights dimmed to near-blackout, and Clark padded over to the table near the crash pad. He brought some things closer, setting them down on the nightstand, and Clark climbed into bed with a rustle of soft sheets. Ellis thought about moving to the side to give Clark more room, but after all the admonishments, he stayed still.

  Clark lay on his back and rubbed both hands over his face. "God I love being this kind of worn out." He turned his head toward Ellis. "How're you doing?"

  "Uhm... okay, I think?" Ellis wasn't quite so detached anymore, not floating. "Getting back to myself." And with the awareness Ellis sighed, thinking about where his clothing was heaped by the pad and how to get out of here before he embarrassed himself. "I'll be okay to go pretty soon."

  Clark rolled and pressed them flush so fast it shocked a gasp out of Ellis. Clark hooked a heavy leg over Ellis' hip and clasped the back of Ellis' neck, their noses almost touching. "I don't want you to go, Ellis." Clark spoke quietly but with a resolve so sturdy you could build a skyscraper on top of it.

  Wide-eyed and gaping, Ellis looked at Clark. Along with Clark's arm tightening its pressure, Ellis could feel the rise and surge of something huge and truly awful coming up through his heart and guts. It was always like this when Ellis offered his ass to someone. He wanted to get roughed up and ridden hard, but everyone who'd ever done that to him had n
ever protested when he just pulled up his pants and walked away afterward. He had to get gone before they could see him break down, before he let the voice have its way with him after the sex stopped, make him know he was no man for wanting shit like that. He'd cried in bathrooms, alcoves of alleyways, even in the darkness of an unbarred shop entrance. He'd get home, drink himself stupid, and then sleep it off for a day or two.

  That was bad, but what he could feel surging up now was worse. Far worse. He'd asked Clark for all of what had happened tonight, and Clark had done him the favor of doing everything Ellis never thought he could have.

  "Y-you can't... I'm gonna..." Ellis stammered. "You can't want me, Sarge, not..."

  Clark caught Ellis' face and chin, made Ellis keep looking. "I can, and I do, and I want what's coming, too." Clark still spoke without waver, and his eyes didn't hold pity or regret or weariness or anything of the sort. Clark searched Ellis' face, kissed him gently, and pulled Ellis closer, tucking him under Clark's chin.

  Ellis started shaking, shivering in the hidden darkness Clark gave him. "Y-you..." He clutched at Clark, and a sob broke loose when Clark's arms closed about him more tightly. "G-god," was all Ellis got out before he was run over by the freight train of his own emotions. The crying took him and tears poured down his face; he was sobbing so hard he couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but let all that grief and fear and self-hate pour through him.

  It wasn't until Ellis caught a hasty breath that he realized the low murmur was Clark speaking. "Let that go, soldier... you don't need it... good man, good man, let it out. I've got you, it's just us here, and I want you to let that go..." Over and over, while Clark stroked Ellis' hair and back and wrestled to hold Ellis through the more violent tremors, starts, and stops. Ellis cried harder because Clark understood, and Ellis could strain against Clark while fighting the agony. Setting trembling muscle against Clark's strength let Ellis howl it all out, and he ended up panting hoarsely and covered by Clark's protective embrace.