The Picture of Submission

by Diane Leyne

  When he finally sank inside her, it was like being in heaven. He felt her heat as she grasped him in her wet pussy, and he knew she was as aroused as he was when the tremors started before he was fully seated. By the time he’d taken two strokes, she was in full orgasm, milking his cock hard, and he started pounding into her, unable to go slow this first time.

  He removed his used condom and disposed of it before unfastening Maggie’s restraints. He carried her to the large bed and helped her onto it before handing her a bottle of water to sip. When she’d had enough, he rolled her onto her back, donned another condom, and sank back into her.

  They made love, and that was what it was, not fucking, three more times before they’d both fallen into an exhausted slumber. Chris woke up a few hours later with a full bladder and the realization that he hadn’t brought down nearly enough condoms. Smiling, he attached one of the custom restraints to her ankle. She’d be able to move around a bit, but she wouldn’t be able to unfasten it without the key, which he had.

  He eased out of Maggie’s arms and quietly made his way out to the living room and through to the storage closet, pausing on the way at the downstairs washroom.

  Yes, here they were. He knew that he’d stocked up and with more than enough. He’d just been too dazed to think to bring the whole supply with him back to stock up the playroom.

  Just as he was heading back to Maggie, he heard the phone ring. It was his cell that he’d left on the kitchen table, and he recognized the ring tone. It was Hunter who was back in Chicago.

  Chapter Eight

  Chris ran out the door and then back again. He needed pants. He needed his passport. He needed a fucking boat.

  The bedroom he’d been using was on the bottom level, and he ducked inside and grabbed some clothes. Before he’d finished dressing, he heard the sound of a boat. Grabbing his wallet and papers he headed outside. It was, as he’d hoped, JJ, and his brothers were with him. Running down to the dock, he leaped on board before the boat had come to a full stop, and then they were off, heading toward St. Maarten and the airport.

  It wasn’t until they were up in the air, headed toward Chicago, that he remembered he’d restrained Maggie to the bed. Hell, he’d run off without a word to her. He looked over at his brothers and saw the worry and fear on their faces. He wouldn’t add this to what they were feeling. Instead, he decided to send a text but couldn’t find his phone, so when they landed to change planes, he borrowed Dalton’s phone to text JJ. He would take care of Maggie. He just hoped she’d forgive him for running off like he did.

  When they landed in Chicago, finally, they headed straight for the hospital. Hunter had called to tell them that their father had had a heart attack. Chris and his brothers had been met by their mother in the waiting room. She looked tired, but not distraught, and for the first time, he had hope.

  “It’s so good to see you all. But don’t worry. Your father will be fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “The doctors said it wasn’t a real heart attack, just a cardiac event. They still need to run some tests, but he’s going to be fine.”

  Chris sat down so abruptly he almost missed the chair and sat back, closing his eyes. Thank god.

  “But how did you three get here so fast? When Hunter told me you were all down on that island of yours, I told him not to bother you until we knew more.”

  “And Hunter knew we’d string him up by the balls if he didn’t.”

  “Christopher Meadows Hayes. You are not too old for me to wash your mouth out with soap, young man.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And where’s this young lady of yours? Did you haul her up here with?”

  “No, ma’am. We left her behind.”

  “And she was okay with that? I’m not sure I like the sound of her if she didn’t want to be by your sides when you thought your father was dying.”

  “Um, we didn’t actually tell her what was happening. In fact, when Hunter called, I didn’t even say good-bye.”

  Chris could feel his mother’s eyes boring into him.

  “There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I left her tied to the bed. I didn’t remember until I was already on the plane. I texted JJ right away when we landed, but she was probably alone and hating me for several hours before he freed her.”

  “Do you love her?”

  “Yes, ma’am, with all my heart.”

  “And you two, Dalton and Carter. What are your feelings for this young lady?”

  “We love her, too, Mom.” Carter looked at his mother and then wilted under the heat of her glare.

  “Yet you never stopped to think about her either?”

  “No, ma’am.” Dalton hung his head.

  “Then I suggest you head practice your groveling because you are probably going to have to do a lot of it to get her to forgive you. Most women don’t take kindly at being left and to being tied up and left. Well, you have a lot of apologizing to do.”

  “You are absolutely right, ma’am.”

  * * * *

  Maggie almost laughed as the four blond heads swiveled in her direction, staring at her, three with identical expressions in their piercing blue eyes and the fourth smiling warmly.

  “You must be Maggie. It’s nice to finally meet you. You look just as lovely as you sounded on the phone.” Louisa Hayes smiled at her warmly and held out her arms. Maggie moved to hug her as if it were the most natural thing in the world while the men sat with their mouths hanging open.

  “I think I’ll go get some coffee while you four talk.” Louisa turned and walked quickly away from Maggie and her sons.

  “How did you get here so fast? We just arrived.”

  “How did you know where to come?”

  “Do you hate me for leaving you tied to the bed?”

  “The answers are in order. Mac Whelan had just landed in Philipsburg, and he let me borrow his private plane. Chris left his phone behind, and when it rang, call display showed it was Louisa, so I answered it. She told me what happened. And finally, I can’t tell you how much I hated you when I heard the boat and realized you’d left the island. You’d abandoned me…I felt hot and cold and angry and devastated. I yelled. I cried. I cursed you, Chris. Hell, I cursed all of you. I was falling in love and letting myself be vulnerable and ended up being abandoned again.” Maggie’s voice broke.

  Chris flushed red, his expression devastated, as he reached for her, but she signaled for him to keep his distance until she finished. He subsided reluctantly. She looked over at Carter and Dalton who looked equally stricken, warning them with her eyes not to move either.

  “Maggie…”

  “I haven’t told you much about my childhood, but walking out on me and leaving me tied to the bed was just about the worst thing you could have done. I have issues, you might say.” Maggie’s voice was wry.

  “I was furious and ready to kill you until I reached your room and saw the destruction you’d left behind. That’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks that maybe there was something more going on than you just being a dick. But it doesn’t erase the fear I felt, the terror I felt, sense of abandonment. I’d let you in and then you were gone. You’d left me too.”

  “What destruction? I got dressed, grabbed my wallet and passport, and headed out when I heard JJ’s boat.”

  “Yes and your room looked like a tornado struck. Your suitcase was upended and your clothes scattered as widely as the contents of the box of condoms I’m assuming you originally went to retrieve and the tube of lube you’d obviously stepped on in your haste that was covering half your clothes.

  “And then there were the two chairs you’d knocked over and the broken vase. You might have been deliberately trying to mess with my mind, but you are not the type of person to vandalize another person’s residence. You clearly were upset about something and left in a hurry. So when your phone rang and I realized that A, you had left it behind and B, it was your mom, I answered
it.

  “Am I angry? Yes. No. A bit of both. Of course I understand now why you did it…but that doesn’t erase the fact that I felt abandoned. Hell, a part of me still feels abandoned. It was like my childhood all over again but almost worse. You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends and lovers. I was falling in love and our first night together turned from dream to my worst nightmare…”

  Maggie looked down, unable to meet their eyes and see the pity she was sure they’d show.

  “When I was a kid, my mom dumped me at Max’s house and took off. We’re not actually siblings. We’re more like distant cousins. She took me back and then she dumped me again a month later. But that month was hell. She had a new boyfriend and they both loved to party. Rather than hire a baby sitter, they just tied me to the bed and left me some snacks and a bedpan. Sometimes they were gone for days.”

  She lifted her pant leg so they could see the restraint still around her ankle and the raw red mark that had been caused by her trying to get it off.

  She looked up and saw the horror in the brothers’ faces and the abject misery in Chris’s, but, to her relief, there was no pity in their eyes.

  “Oh my god, Maggie. I’m so sorry. But I don’t understand. I tied you up before and you didn’t…”

  “You weren’t the only one, and I was okay each time, but I think it was waking up alone and restrained that freaked me out, and when I realized you weren’t coming back, I panicked. I don’t know, maybe I had a flashback to my childhood.” Her voice was sad, but then she looked up and grinned a little as she remembered the aftermath.

  “You should have heard what I said to your mother. It wasn’t until she calmed me down and that I started thinking rationally. You didn’t abandon me. I know that intellectually, but it is going to take me a while to move past it. I don’t know if I can ever let you restrain me again. At minimum, you, none of you, are going to be restraining me for quite a while.”

  “Do you hate me?” asked Chris, his voice low. “I’ll understand if you do.”

  “No, Chris. I don’t hate you. I realize that issues I thought I’d moved past are still there. It’s funny how some childhood experiences never seem to go away. Anyway, I know I need to see someone. Maybe Jillian’s husband can recommend a good therapist.”

  “We’ll understand if you don’t want to see us anymore.” Chris’s voice was raw with pain, but he met her eyes with resolve in his. “I am so sorry. Or if you want to see my brothers but not me, I’ll understand that too.”

  Maggie looked from brother to brother. They all looked devastated, as if they were waiting for her to break their hearts.

  “What Chris did. Maggie. He’s a great guy. I couldn’t ask for a better big brother. I know that if he knew…” Carter hesitated.

  “He would never have left you like that, if he’d known…” Dalton’s voice trailed off.

  “Yes he would have. You all would have. It was your father. And I don’t blame Chris for panicking like he did. I’d have appreciated if he’d at least given me the key or even just stopped to say a few words, but I understand. Now. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to extract my pound of flesh, because…”

  She looked up as Louise was walking towards them, carrying a try loaded with coffee cups.

  “It would have been nice if he’d untied me first,” she continued, smiling at Louisa, “But your mother convinced me that I could take my time making you pay for that. Revenge is a dish best served cold and all that.” She turned to Louisa, and the two women smiled.

  * * * *

  Chris felt chills go down his back. He was terrified at the thought of his sub and his mother conspiring. He looked at Carter and Dalton, and they looked freaked at the thought as well.

  “How did you get free? JJ?”

  “Oh, Chris. For a builder, you didn’t pay much attention to the restraint you used. While it was secure around my ankle, the other end was attached to some rather flimsy scrollwork on the bed. Once I stopped panicking and tugging, I realized that I could kick it out. You are going to have to pay Duncan for the destruction. I kicked it in rather well.”

  “Anything, kitten.”

  “Well…” She smiled up at him mischievously. “Can you remove this damned restraint. Thank goodness I flew in on a private jet. I hate to think of what they’d have thought if I tried to go through screening at the airport in Philipsburg with this around my ankle.”

  Chris started laughing. He couldn’t help himself. This woman was so damned special. She’d taken a piece of his heart each time they’d met, but now he’d lost the whole thing to her. He reached into his pocket for the key and then realized that he wasn’t wearing pants when he’d locked her in it.

  “Um, I don’t have it.”

  “What do you mean you don’t have it? Where is it?”

  “On the island. In the night table beside the bed.” He looked anxiously at Maggie, but she just threw her head back and laughed, and he laughed, too. Then he reached out a long arm and pulled her close.

  “Mom, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I know how you’ve been after me to settle down. Well, all of us are now ready to settle down, but you’re going to end up with just a single daughter-in-law.”

  “Well, now. The three of you are a handful individually. Don’t you three rush her. It’s a job to take on one man and whip him into shape. Maggie, do you think you can handle all three of my sons?”

  “I’ll do my best, ma’am, although I think they are the ones planning on using the whip.”

  “That’s all I can ask, although I’m officially ignoring the second half of your comment. Now let’s find that doctor. I think we’re overdue for an update.”

  * * * *

  It was actually three days before they were all satisfied that Duke Hayes was well enough for them to leave. By then, he was tired of all the fussing, although he was pleased to meet the new addition to the family, even if she couldn’t legally marry all the brothers.

  Maggie tried to point out that she hadn’t actually agreed to any kind of permanent arrangement, but they all ignored her protests, including Duke and Louisa, who was thrilled to finally have a daughter and was already making plans to call the Bartons to plan a commitment ceremony since an actual wedding wasn’t possible. She’d even broached the possibility of Maggie marrying Chris because he was the oldest, but Maggie had held firm. She loved the three of them equally, and their relationship had to be equal.

  She’d seen the gleam in Louisa’s eye and had a feeling that the discussion wasn’t over yet.

  She’d also called Max, who’d come down with some kind of BDSM master key and had removed the cuff. Aly had come with him, and they’d both been overjoyed at the news that Maggie had finally found someone to love.

  “Yup, and with three of them, I beat Jen and Rebecca, not that this fact in any way influenced my decision.”

  “It had better not have, or I’ll have to tan your ass, kitten,” Chris threatened until he saw the look his mother gave him and then he added, “Just kidding, of course.”

  “There is one thing that’s bothering me, though. You three are Doms and this is all moving so fast. I enjoyed my first taste of submitting, the ending notwithstanding, but what if it turns out I don’t like it? I still don’t see how someone can crave pain with their pleasure…” Her voice trailed off. “What if I can’t give you what you want?”

  “Maggie, you are what we want. I know we can figure out something that works for all of us. Like I told you, the sub sets the limits, and if hard impact play ends up being a hard limit for you, we’ll deal with it. And we can have a limit that you’ll never be alone when you are restrained. And, well, we’ll figure it out, together, if you’ll just give us a chance.”

  Maggie looked from Chris to his brothers who were nodding hard. Her heart melted. This was their lifestyle and they would give it up if that’s what she needed. But then her thoughts turned serious. Would they come to hate her if she made them quit?
Would she hate herself if she made them give up something that was so much a part of them, if she didn’t even give it a real chance?

  “Okay, guys. Here’s the deal. When I went to live with Max’s family, I’d never really eaten a vegetable before. My mom fed me fish sticks and hot dogs and French fries. Veggies were yucky. So my new mom made me a deal. I had to agree to try everything once, and try it properly, not just a quick bite and spit it out. If I gave a new food a proper try and still didn’t like it, then she wouldn’t make me try again. To this day, I won’t eat zucchini, but I did come to love carrots and broccoli and salads of all kinds.

  “And if I could give broccoli a chance and end up loving it, why not BDSM?”

  Chris burst out laughing.

  “You area comparing BDSM and being trained as a submissive to being made to eat your vegetables?”

  “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Not a one! I do, however, have some ideas of things we can do to get you to enjoy zucchini that don’t involve your mouth.” He grinned wickedly at her.

  Maggie laughed, blushed and tried to change the subject.

  “Besides, I already love your mom and dad and I don’t want to lose them from my life. You know, I’m pretty damned lucky. I started off with one crappy family and ended up with two pretty terrific families. You can’t beat that!”

  “But I can beat your ass,” whispered Chris, “once my mother leaves us alone.”

  Chapter Nine

  They’d been back on the island for almost a month when Maggie allowed Dalton and Carter to lead her back into the playroom for a very special day they’d been working toward since they returned.

  They’d been playing together regularly since they’d been back. They’d treated her like glass at first, barely spanking her and only taking turns making love to her or fucking her brains out, depending on the day. The other two would usually watch and wait for their turns. Sometimes it would be two of them while the third watched, but never all three at once.