“What-? What just-”
He quickly held one hand up, though he kissed the top of my forehead. It was only then that I saw the phone still in his hand. Both of my hands went over my mouth. Quinn laughed at my horrified expression.
“Say that again, more slowly-” Smoke drifted around him as he exhaled and walked through it, around the coffee table. “I stopped watching the Rochester building. Tony dropped out. You're telling me that Intel- IntelliMed...something. Fuck! The startup med. supplies company got it?”
He sat down on a single sofa chair, but tension had him get up and slowly pace around again. When he listened, his eyes fogged over with concentration. His brow furrowed, but then he smiled. It was predatory, vicious.
“The company that I predicted would win, Global-- yes, them. They were the anonymous bid that saved my... a lot. … Tony made it easy, I know. He advertised his moves, but they played dirty.” He ran a hand through his hair, angry again. “… No, I would have been prepared for it. I know how those games are won.”
When he glanced at the fridge, I got up to get him a drink. He followed me over and looked surprised when I handed him a bottle of soda. However I looked at him made his eyes go bright green with amusement, then maliciously so as he listened to his person on the phone.
“So they've definitely won? They waited for Tony to go all in, and then they stole it? … For less than they would have offered. Unbelievable.” He laughed and slumped down next to me on the couch, his elbows propped up on his knees. I was surprised when he pressed the button for speakerphone.
“- and that's how it goes, man. They had more to spend, but not that much more. You got lucky, you son of a bitch. You got time to get your shit together.”
Quinn, sometimes, had a New York accent. I heard it when he was angry, and when he was being very Dominant. Greg, however, was a New Yorker.
“Roy and Tony might see why I suggest they wait. Rushing leads to disaster.”
“So, where are you takin' them now? Still Manhattan?”
“Of course, Manhattan. I'm going to start with a year, but... we'll see how they do. They've got guys running damage control because it was all so public. There's not going to be anymore interference, or property searching by Tony.”
“There isn't anything up worth lookin' at. Unless someone goes bankrupt within his price range... even then, man, it's not worth it. You know the hassle that brings?”
“I don't. That's why I call you. When is this happening?”
“They just bid. If there's another bid, anonymous or not-- who cares? All I know is, they spiked it, so Tony and anyone in that income bracket has to drop out. It's not Tony's game anymore.”
“Thanks for saving my weekend again, Greg.”
“Thank you for the help, y'know? You could've called in that loan to smooth-”
“No problem,” Quinn interjected. “That was personal, not business.”
“Another couple months-”
“Rent out three apartments, a house-? You'll be Midas. Who knows what's going to happen. I might be calling you for a loan soon.”
“Quinn? The fruit arrangement-?” I heard a woman's voice and smiled at the grateful sound she made. “That was great of you.”
“It's the least I can do. I've kept him busy the past few days.”
“Be well, and get some sleep. No more twenty-hour work days, huh? I'm saying good night from Greg--”
“Yeah, Quinn?” he was back. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem. I'll catch up with you later.”
“Call me sometime this week. Let me know how things go down.”
“Sure thing. Thanks again, man.”
Quinn hung up and sighed, long and loud. “He saved more than just my weekend.”
“Sounds like... So that was Greg.”
“And his wife, Laura. They're both real estate agents in Manhattan.”
“So... what happened, Sir?”
“Well, I'm not moving to Manhattan. The company's not moving yet. I've got half a year, at least, to decide what I'm going to do about New York. When they start moving to Manhattan, let them go. The business I run will definitely be able to stand on it's own by then.”
“It was that dangerous for you?”
“I would have been fine. I'd have to work a lot harder than I will, but... I'm not going to be making this decision again. I'll help them move, I'll make sure they're set, and Tony can do whatever he wants.”
“What happened after the first meeting you had with them? About the Rochester property. Everything wasn't fine after?”
“Tony called another meeting, the next day. He pulled information about property, for the same price in Manhattan. I got another, 'We'll see what happens and decide from there,' so I've spent my time getting ready to let them go. It's a good thing I didn't burn bridges. I saved myself two years of running around like a lunatic, my friendship with Roy, potentially.”
“That's incredible, amazing news, Sir.”
“Yeah,” Quinn said. “It's been a crazy few weeks.”
Few weeks? “Things really happen that fast-?” I asked, feeling dazed. “I mean, what happens to the new clients you got? Can you keep them now that you're working for Garrett-Barton Software again?”
“Anthony and Roy will follow the plan I set for them. I downgraded so a lot of my business is done on the phone, or by video conferencing. My main restraint was time. I can do both, and still keep my focus on small businesses.”
“Where does that leave you, though?”
“I'm actually better than I was before all this started. The problem was, with all the time they were going to need from me, I'd have lost most, if not all of my clients, anyway. That's why Tony was pushing.”
“What an asshole.”
“That's business, baby. Leverage.”
“You can forgive him?”
“No. I won't ever trust him, either, but I can work around him.”
“So now that you're focusing on your other clients, your business will be self-sufficient in less than six months.”
“Yes, that's what I'm hoping for. Then it's only a few years until I can save some more, build the business, and sell it for retirement.”
“Wow.”
“That's the plan, anyway. You know how the saying goes, right?”
“Having a plan is better than not having one at all?”
“Yeah,” he grinned wryly. “That's it. I'll start Monday, not work through 'til Monday. I've got new clients that I have to start untangling early this week. I'll have a lot of organizing to do. I, uh, pretty much just cold-called my way down a few lists.”
“Of potential clients?”
“Yes.”
He didn't look happy about it, at all. “How did that go?”
“Not too badly. I don't like doing business that way, though.”
“No more work talk, for now?”
“You're very perceptive,” he said finally. “Want to distract me?”
“May I ask you a question about what happened yesterday?”
“Of course. When yesterday?”
“In the living room... Was that just edge-play, when you wanted to see how I'd react to being smacked?”
“Yes. When you made that angry sound, it felt so satisfying. What was going through your head? You glared at me.” He looked amused.
“I'm not sure. I braced for pain, but I wasn't thinking anything. Nothing I can remember, anyway.”
“Of all the things I anticipated you doing... that wasn't one of them.”
“I showed anger to you, Sir. I'm sorry.”
“You feel bad for-- Go kneel in my office, baby.”
* * *
It seemed like only a few minutes had passed, yet the moans in my head were high-pitched and frenzied. All of the worry I had harbored was washed away through taking actual pain. My knees ached, dully itching and burning as I knelt on the carpet. There were leather restraints around my wrists. A new light fixture on his ceiling
hid the small steel plate with a large metal ring. Ropes connected the restraints around my wrists to the O-ring. I could kneel higher or lower, but my arms stayed above my head.
Quinn swung the flogger back and forth, each swing careful and measured. It wouldn't stop! I breathed easier when the ends swished over the lower part of my sides. A new wave of submission took me under. The pain became pleasure again. He used a lighter flogger and spread tingling warmth all throughout the back of my body. For a few long moments, all I could feel were the different levels to his strength and self-control. Underneath his dominance, I sensed the same dark, deep hunger that rose inside me every time the flogger's ends hit. I knelt higher and spread my legs wider. Shivers rolled across my shoulders when the harder flogger struck my skin. I breathed out and moaned when he hit the inside of my thigh. Quinn hesitated for a second and then let the tails slap against my other thigh. They doubled back, then danced over the outside of my legs.
The panic rose, but I fought it. I struggled to focus through the intense pain of a harder flogger. It felt different from the normal worry that I'd have to safeword. He hit the back of my left thigh three times, then the outside of my right thigh three more times. There were no shields that could fall, no walls that could crumble. When emotions rushed through me, I threw my head back to keep from crying out. I suddenly felt very alone, starved for his endless reserve of control, the dominance that kept me from breaking apart. The heat radiating from my skin didn't reach down far enough inside me to banish the cold that was slowly taking over. I didn't want to go back to that...
“Do you want more?”
“Yes!” I replied quickly. “Yes please.”
“What was that?”
I brought my head down between my shoulders, showing submission. What was happening to me? By the time I tried to let Quinn know there was something wrong, it was too late. “I missed you so much. It was-- I'm still your submissive? I really didn't think you would-”
“Claire?” He cupped my left cheek and had me look at him. I showed him what I felt through the way I kissed him back. “I'm cutting your wrists down. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Sir,” I replied automatically. “You're cutting my wrists down.”
But he held them above my head. Once he knew I wasn't going to let my arms fall, he let go and flipped his knife shut.
“What's the matter?” he asked gently, kneeling down next to me. “What happened?”
I moved without thinking about it. His voice was warm, calming... He stopped me from moving when I tried to pull back. I'd lost so much control-! So much that I was sprawled over his lap, holding onto him like I was drowning-? I sat up so he could actually hug me back.
“...Are you going to cry?”
“No. I rarely cry, Sir.”
He kissed me slowly, bringing warmth back until I burned with it. “Of course. What a silly question.”
That made me laugh. “I missed you a lot. It's weak, I know. I was really worried that you'd release me as your submissive, and-”
“Did you say 'weak?'”
“Did I? I don't usually fall apart so completely. I'm sorry about that, Sir.”
“You don't need to be-” He had me look at him and breathed out slowly. It was the first time I ever saw him confused about what to do. “That's not something need to apologize for.”
“I'm really quite fine now, Sir.”
Quinn looked at me for a moment and chuckled, though he tried not to. He reached up onto the table for a glass of water that he held out for me. My lips closed around the straw and I drank until the cold from the water stayed on my tongue.
“Talk to me. Say something.”
“Thank you for remembering the water, Sir.”
“You sound better. Drink a little more.”
“Thank you. May I have more pain, Sir?”
“You want more--” he hesitated.
“Yes please. If it pleases you to.”
“... Yes, baby. I'll give you more pain if you want it.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Know what you're asking for.” The edge of dominance crept back into his tone. “Because you asked, it doesn't stop until I want it to.”
I smiled at him. Quinn knelt behind me, his hands wet from the glass when he touched my back. The chill drove what was left of the stinging heat under my skin. My body wanted pleasure and more pain, intense levels of both until I floated and throbbed with energy.
“On your knees, arms behind your neck,” he said. “Your back is still red from earlier.”
He stood and picked up the lighter flogger. The ends struck and immediately stung my skin. Underhanded swings fell over the entire curve of my ass. Pain sliced through me and I fought to stay in position, torn between kneeling lower and doubling over. It continued, though I didn't know for how long. I surrendered to it, wrapping myself in the safety of his dominance. My hips jerked forward when the ends wrapped around my chest. It burned as they slid away, but it hurt so good... I knelt higher again and stared into the darkness behind my eyelids.
“Can you come, just from taking pain?”
“I don't think so, Sir.”
“Do you want more, or do you want to come?”
“Whatever pleases you, Sir.”
The flogger tails flicked over my nipples. He chuckled when I moaned. They felt swollen and sensitive, throbbing with heat as the rest of my body did. I pushed my chest forward and stayed still as he teased me with pain.
“What about now?”
“-- Sir?”
“Go lay on the couch. On your back. I'll be right back.”
“My collar--!” I stared at it when he returned. “I'm so sorry, Sir!”
“I'll punish you for that next weekend, if you don't remember to wear it.”
“Thank you, Sir!”
“If you don't remember... Why wouldn't you?”
Quinn attached the nipple clamps and had them vibrate on low. I held my breath when his cock slid inside me. He raised the nipple clamps setting to medium and fucked me harder. His thighs were strong, muscles firm as he thrust forward and back.
“May I come, Sir?” I asked, knowing it would happen soon.
“Yes.” He pulled the clamps off my nipples and pain raced down my spine. I was breathing in as it hit. The orgasm took me under, relief flooding through me sharp as pain. He slammed his hips into mine. I clenched down so hard around him I felt his cock throb. Quinn swore, his hand going to my neck as he pulled out and came on my stomach. He kept my hips pressed tightly against his, my body helping to create the friction he wanted.
“Don't get up,” he said, giving me his shirt.
I liked that the Quiet Hours had just started. Midnight to four in the morning was when I felt most alive. He took the shirt I handed him and threw it into the laundry room.
“How do you feel about staying with me for a few days during the week?”
“If it would please you to have me here, Sir.” I replied carefully.
“I don't like having you leave after harder pain sessions, even if you do heal really fast.”
“Won't you be working a lot more?”
“You've been here while I've worked. Does it bother you?”
“Of course not, Sir.” He sounded sure. I felt better, knowing he hadn't offered from any sense of obligation.
“Don't take this the wrong way, okay?” he asked, getting back into bed. “I'm not trying to offend you.”
“Yes, Sir?”
“You are, without a doubt, my favorite submissive. The best submissive I've had.”
“Thank you, Sir.” I smiled, happy that I belonged to him. “Do you have any new rules I should follow?”
“Rules for what?”
“Anything...”
“General rules? Make sure the door's locked, check the windows to make sure Sasha can't get out. Don't leave anything lit if you're not around to watch it. I can't really think of anything else.”
“Really, Sir? That's it?
”
“I choke you and throw you around.” He laughed, a low and happy sound. “I've left bruises, marks, bite-marks and you don't complain. You like them.”
“It makes me happy that you like doing those things, Sir.”
“I'm going to fill the hot tub. I've given you a lot of pain this weekend.” He looked incredibly satisfied, more when he looked down at my thighs. “I fucked you fast and hard, before. It doesn't always have to be like that.”
- Chapter 21 -
~ Counting Stars ~
“Careful the--” Quinn made me blush, looking amused and incredibly dominant, “water's hot.”
“Ow...” I said instinctively, though not very convincingly.
He laughed and pulled me back against his chest. “Your body's really already adjusted?”
“Yes, Sir.” I shivered, feeling how much warmer his hands were than the water.
Steam rose into the air, settling heavily over my exposed skin. I leaned back against him and relaxed into the soothing water sounds, and the prickling, invigorating heat. He cupped my breasts to run his thumbs over my nipples. They hardened immediately and tingled when he pinched gently.
“I don't have any doubt that you'd safeword for punishment pain. When you're taking pain for pleasure, though, like tonight, do you have trouble safewording?”
“You almost had me say it tonight.”
“Really? When was that?”
“When you wet my back and hit me with the flogger, Sir.”
“You nearly levitated. That's right. Then you laughed... It turns me on a lot when you laugh like that.”
“I'm glad that--” After he kissed me, I anchored my knees on the outside of his and floated on my back.
He pressed a button that made the water start bubbling. There were distorted sounds, the mechanical whirring of jets. I laughed when drops of water fell on my face. The way he looked at me made desire spark all over again. I knelt in front of him, the water rising to the top of my shoulders. He didn't move when I knelt higher and stroked his nipple with my tongue, sucking gently, following water droplets down to the firm muscle in his abs. He ran his hands over the flogger marks on my shoulders. I twitched violently and laughed, caught unaware. When he dragged his nails over the middle of my back, I felt electric sensations burn under my skin.
Subfrenzy (the Subfrenzied Series) Page 24