The Mistress and the Mouse: Honeymoon Blues

by JJ Giles

  Wounded. Dying. Broken. Battered, as he lay in a haze of near unconsciousness, knowing he was being raped.

  Jerry’s thrashing was impossible to understand. He’d been asleep only a few minutes and now he was thrashing in the bed. Morgan turned on the light to see his face shriveled with pain.

  “Jerry!” she hollered. “Jerry, wake up!”

  “Oh, God.” Jerry launched out of the bed and swung at some invisible intruder. It didn’t seem he was even awake.

  “Jerry!” she screamed. She ran to him and dodged a fist to shake him awake while Brian raced to her rescue.

  “Dad!” Cherry yelled.

  Down the hallway, Alex heard the commotion and ran to it. He arrived to see Jerry’s face contorted in agony, his fist flailing at his children, his eyes open but dull. He was still asleep and suffering a flashback.

  “Get away from him!” Alex hollered.

  Unable to do otherwise as their father hissed and began to sob, they retreated. Alex stepped to the fore and said softly, “Jerry, it's Alex, love.”

  Instantly, Jerry quieted. Jerry’s head rolled on his neck as if his eyes searched for the sound.

  “Right here, precious,” he said softly.

  “Alex,” Jerry mumbled.

  “Come back to bed with me.” Gently, he took Jerry’s hand.

  Jerry no sooner felt that tender touch than he seemed to relax. Still asleep, he was led back to the bed and crawled into it.

  Alex waved the rest of the family away.

  “Alex,” Brian protested.

  Adamantly, Alex shook his head. “Go.” He slipped off his robe and lay down behind Jerry.

  In the hallway, Brian panted uncontrollably and Cherry whispered hoarsely, “What the hell was that?”

  Morgan drew in a deep breath. “That, boys and girls, is post-traumatic stress.”

  Nervously, Brian glanced at Cherry. “Considering what he’s been through the last few days, I suppose he deserves to lose his mind.”

  Sadly, Cherry shook her head.

  But there was more to it, Morgan was certain of it. She had seen several times now how easily Jerry responded to Alex’s affection. Much more to it, she was certain. Rather than voice her suspicions she led them both to the master suite and put them in bed.

  * * * *

  The pain was in his memory, yet it shuddered through him like lightning and departed, leaving every wound inflicted that day with a torturous throbbing. A cold sweat clung to his skin. He reached out into the bed, knowing his children should be with him, and found it empty.

  “Jerry.” The sound came from behind him, that deep voice always so soothing and comforting. “You’re alright now. No one can hurt you ever again.”

  “Alex,” he gasped. “What happened?”

  “A nightmare, love, that’s all. I’m going to stay with you now.” He wrapped an arm tightly around Jerry’s waist.

  “I’m losing my fucking mind!”

  “No, precious. This has just been another hard day and you need to rest.”

  “Alex!”

  “Shhh.” Sweetly, he gathered Jerry tighter, the flat of his hand swirling in delicate circles on Jerry’s chest. “I’ll be with you. Just breathe.”

  Jerry drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The kids must think I’ve lost my mind.” He believed he was losing it.

  “Let it go, love.”

  “Please stay with me.”

  Alex merely slid his arm under Jerry’s head and held tighter. “Just listen to the night.”

  Chirping crickets. The splash of water in the fountain. The howl of a coyote in the distance and Jerry relaxed a little. Beyond the door, the garden was awash in moonlight, but just the crickets were enough. Reluctantly, he closed his eyes.

  Chapter Four

  The August sun was boiling as Brian stood over the nozzle of the sprinkler system in Dan Gregory’s yard to let it wash over his face and take the sweat away. He was still washing as Dan came down the hill. But with Brian’s employees still working, the only offer of affection was a handshake.

  Without will, Dan peered up the few inches into Brian. “Getting married, huh?”

  “Yes, I am. I hope you and Caroline can come.”

  The pain in Dan’s expression was evident in the deep creases. “Of course we will. If you’ll let me tell you how desperately in love with you I am.”

  Brian stepped back a bit but he smiled. He’d known it a while ago, and yet he kept returning to this place for his own satisfaction...physical and emotional. “When did you figure out that you’re gay?”

  “Oh, God.” Slowly, his gaze returned to Brian. “I was seven.”

  “At one of those infamous Abernathy picnics?”

  Sadly, Dan nodded.

  “But you were born of a family full of jocks. Jocks don’t like queers, although half of them are queer.”

  “That’s the company line. Besides the fact I always thought you had to be a fag to be queer.”

  “Nope. I mean...if you wanna be fag, that’s up to you. All of my dad’s brothers are married, but they all keep boys on the side. My dad’s twin brother is actually the sperm donor for this little bundle of joy, but he’s really my mom. A screamin’ queen. You just are who you are, and I’ve grown very fond of you.”

  Dan looked away wanting more than anything to haul Brian to the bedroom. He was terribly saddened that Brian was getting married after all.

  “Have you spoken to your wife?”

  Sadly, Dan nodded. “We lay in bed and cried for a long time. And still, she loves me. Said she doesn’t care how many lovers I take. Fucking incredible woman.”

  Brian smiled broadly. “She likes to cook, you like to eat and you both get turned-on by beautiful men. You have a lot in common.”

  “Oh, sweet Jesus. That’s not the way marriage is supposed to be.”

  “You take a lover, she takes a lover.” Brian shrugged. “You share, maybe. I know you care for her.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Then somehow it will work out. Sometimes she’s your mommy, sometimes she’s your submissive. And if someday you do part, I know you two have enough love and respect for each other that it will be peaceable and amicable. She’s a good woman.”

  “Yes, she is. She doesn’t deserve this.”

  Easily, Brian drew Dan into his embrace. A soft sob broke out and then died, Dan remembering that Brian’s workers were still on the scene.

  “It’s alright.” Tenderly, Brian ran his fingers through Dan’s hair. “They want paid tomorrow night.”

  Dan laughed a little and backed away. Yet his expression was dismal.

  “You are ridden with guilt,” Brian assessed.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “So...you need to understand how the other half of us live. Be at the Abernathy Tower lobby at seven o’clock tomorrow night for an eye-opening experience.”

  “What happens at the Abernathy Tower?”

  “Uncle Bryant bought out half of the twenty-first floor and turned it into what I’m assured is a most ingratiating dungeon. The first thing you do is get naked. The second is you belly up to the bar for a drink. My sister calls it primal scream night.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Just come and watch if you don’t want to get involved. My uncles and cousins bring their lovers and submissives to get spanked or whatever. I’ve got a cousin addicted to the train track, I understand. Men only. A private club. Nobody talks about what goes on there. The more the merrier.”

  “That sounds kinda cool.”

  “All guys, no fags, although Bennie is a little effeminate.” Brian flashed a grin. “It’s the original Billionaire Boy’s Club. Every other Friday night after a hard work week. And then we spend Saturdays with our wives.”

  “Takes care of all that pent-up hostility in a most congenial way?”

  Brian shrugged. “However you want to think of it. So I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

  “Absolutely. I appreciate
it.”

  “I’ll tell the Grand Dragon to expect you.”

  Chapter Five

  “You’re sure you don’t mind if I go out with the guys tonight?” Brian asked.

  Morgan hesitated, staring into him, feeling a flush of excitement to think of what went on there. “I wanna watch,” she pleaded.

  “I’m sorry, honey. It’s just men.” He was extremely sorry knowing how much it would turn her on and she would waste that energy on Cherry.

  Quietly, she huffed. “Alex is taking Cherry and me to his club tonight. It’s a gay men’s club, isn’t it?”

  Easily, Brian nodded. “Most of them are transvestites. There’s always a few women there. Moms, sisters, daughters-in-law. Do you think you can handle the Abernathy family for real?”

  “It’s really kind of exciting.” She peered past him to see Jerry come through the bedroom door.

  “Yes, it is,” Jerry announced. “So if you can quit pawing at him, I’ll take my son out this evening. Tuesday the reporters are coming in for the interview. Thursday is the bachelor party. Friday is the rehearsal dinner. And Saturday, you’re getting married before we leave for a month.”

  A heavy breath escaped her as she fell onto the bed. “This is so exciting.”

  Jerry moved to the bed and picked her up into his arms. “It’s not that it’s always so exciting. It’s just new to you.”

  “So, umm...do you take all of your submissives?” she asked.

  Jerry leered at her seeing that this question could have her turned on and him turned off for years. He grabbed Morgan’s shoulders and held to her body forcing her attention. “We don’t talk about it,” he said firmly.

  “Yeah, but...” She glanced at Brian. “I wanna know.”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s none of your business and we don’t talk about what goes on between the men.”

  “Then we don’t talk about what goes on between the women, either.”

  “We don’t care what goes on between the women.”

  Her mouth agape, she stared. “But I wanna know.”

  To reduce her to lunacy, Jerry pulled her close and drove his tongue into her mouth. Yet he held out his arm for Brian to join them. She felt Brian’s hot breath on her cheek as he passionately kissed his Master.

  “See ya’ later, baby,” Brian offered. “Have fun.”

  She fell on the bed aghast and watched them walk away together. Can’t be, she told herself. A father and a son. But maybe it could. They’re both doing me. Just then Cherry walked in.

  “You ready, baby?”

  “Is your dad screwing your brother?”

  “Who gives a shit? We’re rid of ‘em for awhile.” Happily, she grabbed Morgan’s hand to drag her away.

  * * * *

  Jerry fell into the passenger seat of Brian’s Diablo, reduced to laughter. “I guess we know how to keep the woman interested now.”

  “I always wondered what it would take to make her beg. Now I think I know,” Brian said laughing. “By the way...Dan’s meeting us there tonight.”

  Jerry’s reaction was plain. But Brian didn’t notice the defensiveness Jerry felt. “Does Morgan know you intend on retaining your lover?”

  Brian studied the line down the center of the road as if he’d never seen it before. “How can you live with somebody for ten years and not know them, Dad?”

  “So she’s accepting this?”

  “I think she is. As long as she’s not left out of it and I don’t have a problem with that.”

  * * * *

  Dan was in the lobby of the Tower, pacing nervously and wringing his hands. At this juncture, he would be happy to have any kind of relationship with Brian. For a half an hour he’d watched men dressed in business suits walk through to the elevator. One of them he recognized as Bryant Abernathy, current CEO and Brian’s uncle. All of them got off on the twenty-first floor.

  He stood before a Grecian urn encased in glass trying desperately to study the details. He barely breathed until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  Quickly, he spun around to see Brian and Jerry smiling at him.

  ”Why are you so nervous?” Brian laughed.

  “Ohh...I don’t know,” Dan whispered.

  “This is just for the fun of it,” Jerry reminded.

  Dan nodded and reached out for Jerry’s hand. “It was really nice of Morgan to offer to take care of Caroline tonight. Too bad she’d rather see her mommy.”

  “There’s lots of time,” Brian reminded. “And something tells me that Caroline and my sister are going to hit it off.”

  Jerry smiled with the implication. If they could get Cherry hooked up with Caroline, and maybe find a little something here tonight for Dan, everybody would have a backup other than Morgan.

  Inside the elevator, Jerry retrieved an electronic key card and handed it to Brian. He turned to Dan. “You have to be with an Abernathy to get in. You certainly don’t have to be an Abernathy to enjoy yourself. I think you’ll be surprised to see state and federal senators, some very high profile business men and uhh...even school board members here tonight.”

  “So people who work for pizza joints can just blend into the woodwork?”

  “If that’s the way you’d like it.”

  The doors opened on the twenty-first floor and the gold numbers on the door blinded Dan a moment. Yet he followed as Brian slid his new card into the slot and the electronic mechanism opened the door. Graciously, Brian held the door for Grand Dragon. He winked seductively as Dan passed through.

  Astounded, Dan stood beyond the threshold a moment, staring. The brightly patterned carpet rolled out before him where various groups of men stood in various states of dress with drinks and cigars in hand. Down the sides of the corridor were nude males bound to various pieces of equipment posed in the most debilitating and painful states of bondage ever imagined, all positioned perfectly so that the viewer could drink down their humiliation and agony like rare wine.

  The sounds of the hushed conversations were broken by laughter but it was the sounds of torture from beyond dividers that drove Dan to wanton lust. They mingled as might a symphony, the percussion beating out a heathen rhythm while the strings slid over an unobtrusive melody.

  From one of the small groupings, Dan heard, “Jerry.” Bryant Abernathy, wearing only black leather from the waist down, advanced quickly. He placed a heavy arm around Jerry and hugged tightly. But he leered at Brian.

  “Hey!” Brian offered warmly.

  “Good to see you again, boy. We really have missed you around here.”

  “Thanks, Bryant. But I’d like you to meet someone. Dan Gregory of Mama Mia’s Pizza.”

  “No shit,” Bryant cried. Quickly, he let go of Jerry and took Dan’s hand. “I’ve been watching you guys. You’re the guy who took a dumpy little pizza joint and turned it into a nation-wide phenom in just a couple of years. I read the article in Business First about you.”

  Dan shrugged. “We’re growing.”

  “And going international,” Brian added with pride.

  “Excellent,” Bryant said warmly. “So this is our place and you’re certainly welcome. Let me show you around.”

  “Thank you,” Dan said surely.

  Just then, a crowd of men, some dressed in leather, some in street clothes and some in nothing at all swelled out of the ethereal mist. Cries of, “Brian, where the hell have you been, man?” and “Damn, it’s good to see you,” shoved Dan out of the way. Dan glanced backward to see that swell handling Brian roughly. They were family he hadn’t seen in ages, presumably.

  Bryant laid a friendly arm around Dan. As if his next statement was confidential information, Bryant said proudly, “My brother, Jerry, is the Disciplinarian around here, you know. I don’t know what you’re into but we have something for everyone around here.”

  Nervous beyond repair, Dan was led around the corner and the title Water Sports greeted him. He peered into the room, a convoluted configuration that reminded h
im of a house of mirrors. But what was reflected in those mirrors caused him to ache. Every purging bench had a male attached to it in extreme bondage and every male had his own catheter. A muffled moan echoed from Dan’s chest.

  “Yeah?” Bryant asked warmly.

  “Sure,” Dan breathed.

  “This happens to be Brian’s favorite place, too. If you need any help that guy at the end can do it. And beyond that are a few private rooms for something more personal and the Roman tubs are to the left.”

  Dan nodded, his heart thudding in his chest. He followed beyond another set of dividers where a row of medical exam tables were also filled with bound males. Quite conspicuously, Dan stared.

  Bryant smiled inside. “The boys who are collared...don’t mess with them. But everybody else is fair game.”

  “Right,” Dan whispered. “Thanks.”

  “The flagellation department, the lab—chemical and electronics—is on the other side of the reception area. There’s also a penitent’s room available if somebody needs something serious. Cages, cells, racks and of course, my brother’s version of the Iron Maiden.”

  “I’d like to see that.”

  Bryant led the way. The room was darkened, the walls covered in stone. Iron sconces burned on the walls offering an eerie light. It seemed a medieval torture chamber and Dan blinked to let his eyes adjust to the severity here.

  “I like this,” Dan said finally. His vision trained to the corner where something that looked like an Egyptian sarcophagus sat in the corner. But it was only the Maiden.

  Bryant moved toward it and the lid opened with a creak. Inside, electrodes attached to wires hung in various lengths.

  “My brother is a genius.”

  Just then, a male tightly trussed in leather bindings, shackled both at the knees and ankles were shoved into the room.

  “Dad,” was the astonished greeting.

  “C’mere, boys,” Bryant commanded. “Dan, this is my oldest son, Robert. And one of middle sons, Bennie. Boys, this is Dan Gregory.”

  “Good to meet you,” Robert said.