He walked into the living room and tossed Jake’s ball to Frisco. “Can you take Mister Jake outside and play fetch with him a little? He’s been inside most of the day and I’m sure needs to burn some energy off. Maybe it’ll make him stop growling at you, too.”
Frisco stared at Cam a few seconds before hesitantly nodding. He walked to the bedroom door to show Jake the ball, and the dog gave a happy sound as he ran past Frisco towards the rear of the house.
Isaac laughed as the two went out the back door. “He knows you’re sending him out so you have a chance to talk to me alone, but he went anyway.”
“Cassie told me the two of you shared someone? Like, in bed, shared?” Cam put his hands in his pockets, unsure of what else to do with them.
“We did.”
“What happened? How did it end?”
“Sit down and stop fidgeting. I’m not going to bite.”
When Cam was sitting in the chair across from him, Isaac said, “A bunch of things went wrong. Frisco was bi, and she and I both knew he went to a club in Atlanta and beat on men occasionally. He also wouldn’t tell his mom or family what our arrangement was. I told my parents, and they didn’t completely understand but they accepted it.” He shrugged. “She was accepted at a doctoral program at Stanford, so it all became a moot point. There’s no way to know what would have happened if she’d stayed in town.”
“So, she went to his family functions, but you were left out?” Cam asked.
“No, she refused to leave me out, so Frisco went to family functions by himself.”
“Were you a Dom at this point?”
“I was, and she was submissive. I played rough with her mostly when Frisco wasn’t around, and when it was the three of us we gave her more sensation play than pain.”
“You know that won’t work with Cass.”
“Yes, I do. I have no idea what the future holds, dear boy. I’m prepared to ride the wave and see. Are you?”
Cam looked at the floor and allowed himself to consider the possibility a few seconds. He felt the pain of loss again. He missed Frisco’s touch, his orders, his cock, his whip and belt and flogger and…
He shut the feelings down as best he could and looked to Isaac. “I don’t know.”
“If there’s anything you need, you come to me, okay? Whether you need a hug or a flogging, or just someone to listen, come to me and we’ll figure it out.”
“I will, Sir. Thank you.”
Frisco and Jake came back in, and Jake brought the ball to Cam, who laughed as he accepted it from the dog’s large mouth. He dropped the ball in his lap and scratched below Jake’s ears, and laughed again at Jake’s goofy grin.
Jake gave him a huge slobbery kiss and Cam made a face and pointed to the bedroom. “Put your ball away and then go check on Cassie.”
He watched as the dog grabbed the ball from his lap, ran to the basket beside the kitchen, dropped the ball in, and then bounded into the bedroom.
“Smart dog.” Isaac said.
“You have no idea,” Cam responded. “He isn’t just smart, he’s logical. He figures things out. He’s smarter than a lot of people I know.”
“Did the two of you finish whatever conversation you needed to have without me around?” Frisco asked.
Isaac smiled and said, “Yes, I believe we did, but if you’d like to leave again I’m sure we can find something else to talk about.”
Frisco laughed and rolled his eyes. “You can be such an asshole when you want to be.”
“And you aren’t?” Isaac asked. “Remember the time you told my date I’d had the crabs, and was pretty sure I’d gotten rid of them?”
The two regaled Cam with stories of their childhood, and the three of them laughed and cut up with each other as if there were no tensions.
Cam’s phone let him know he had an incoming text, and he checked it to see a message from Cassie.
“Isaac, Cass wants you in the bedroom, please?”
Isaac looked at him in question and Cam held his phone up so he could see the request to send him in to see her.
“Why didn’t she text me?”
Cam shrugged. “She was hurting and took a pain pill. She may be a little foggy.”
Isaac walked out of the room and Cam reached to the side to get his Renaissance textbook, opened it to the correct chapter, and set about studying.
He lost himself in the text and images, and he jumped a little when Frisco spoke.
“When we get Cassie squared away so she can be alone, after Clemente is caught and she’s feeling better, do you think we could go out? Like, out to eat, and maybe catch a movie?”
Cam looked up from his book as he ran over Frisco’s question in his mind a couple of times. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
“I’m trying to. Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know how else to start. Isaac says I need to show you I’m serious, and I have to earn your trust and respect, but I have no idea how to...” He shrugged. “Help me out here? What can I do to get you to look at me and talk to me?”
Cam put a piece of paper in his textbook to mark the place, closed it, and took his time putting it back in his backpack as he considered the best way to answer.
“I can’t just fall back into your arms, Frisco. I lost everything when you kicked me out. I lost you, my identity as a slave, my apartment, my job—”
“I didn’t fire you,” Frisco interrupted. “You could’ve kept coming to work.”
“No. There’s no way I could’ve faced you.” Cam’s eyes turned treasonous and teared up despite his best efforts to be stoic, but he stared at Frisco and let him see the pain he’d caused as Cam spoke through his tears to say, “It physically hurts to be in the same room with you.”
At least Frisco had the courtesy to look sad, but Cam didn’t buy it. Frisco had tossed him out of the house late at night without batting an eye. Cam would do well to remember Frisco had no real feelings.
“I’m sorry, Cam. I know the feeling.”
Frisco had caused this, he’d been the one to hurt them, and for him to sit there and try to pretend he was an injured party…Cam wanted to throw his Italian Renaissance Art History book at the arrogant man.
Frisco continued, saying, “Sitting across the room from you when I can’t order you to come sit beside me hurts. My heart feels as if it’s been ripped out. I don’t like this feeling.”
Another tear spilled out of Cam’s eye and it pissed him off even more. “Excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for you.” His voice was bitter, and he needed to go into the other room and just get away from the pain.
“I deserve that. Will you tell me how school’s going, and what you’re getting into with your dance? Have you tried out for anything? Is there something I can come watch you in?”
Cam answered Frisco’s questions, told him where he was working and the roles he’d tried out for. He sat a foot away from him on the sofa to show him a graphic arts project he was working on for a major grade. Frisco moved a little closer, but didn’t try to touch him, and when Cam finished showing him, he closed his laptop and moved back to the chair. Talking to Frisco hurt, but Cam needed to find a way to get over him, and maybe this would give him the closure he’d so badly wanted.
Jake walked to Cam and sat with his back to him, facing Frisco while leaning against Cam’s leg. It helped, and Cam rubbed the dog’s head in thanks.
Isaac finally came out of the bedroom and asked, “Cam, can you come in for a minute, please?”
Cam followed him in and Isaac said, “She wants ice cream so I’m going to run to the store. I don’t think she needs to be alone. She had a good cry, and she’s, well…” He put his hand on Cam’s shoulder. “She needs a friend close by, I think.”
Cam pulled his t-shirt and jeans off and crawled into bed beside Cassie in his boxer briefs. Isaac had piled pillows behind her, so he situated himself on his back in front of her, looking up into her face.
“
What did you and Isaac talk about?”
“He’s sweet.”
Laughing, Cam said. “I suppose he has his sweet moments. What did the two of you talk about?”
Cassie sighed. “I think I’m gonna need professional help before I can have sex again. I mean, I won’t know for sure until I’ve healed, but the way I feel now? I can’t imagine anyone entering me without my freaking.”
The light was dim, but Cam could see the clarity in Cass’s eyes. She seemed certain, but he saw something else.
“What if you’re on top? So you put them in you, and you control everything?”
Her smile suggested the idea might have merit, and she traced his eyebrows with a finger. “You’d lie still and let me have my way with you, wouldn’t you?” she asked with a smile.
“You better believe it. Whatever you need from me, just say the word.” Cam would find a way to get hard for her, if Cassie needed him to.
“And we both wish I was wired that way, but I’m not.”
When Isaac returned with the ice cream, Cassie didn’t feel like getting up, so she invited everyone into the bedroom, but only Cam was in bed. The two Doms brought kitchen chairs in.
“Cassie convinced me to go home,” Isaac said, “so I can get a good night’s sleep since she doesn’t have a total dark room here.”
He stood and carried the chair to the door. “I’ll be back around seven in the morning with breakfast again. Ya’ll play nice while I’m gone.” He looked at Cam and asked, “Lock the door behind me?”
Cam slept in the bed with Cass again, and Frisco slept on the sofa. Jake patrolled the house, uneasy, and Cam didn’t sleep well.
When Jake growled around three in the morning Cam thought he was grumbling at Frisco again, but sat up when he realized this wasn’t a mere snarl, but a warning growl.
Cam lifted his gun from the nightstand, knocked the safety off, and walked to Jake.
“Show me, boy. What has you upset?”
Frisco sat up on the sofa as Cam followed Jake to the back door.
Cam kept the wall behind him so anyone looking in the back door’s window wouldn’t see him or his shadow.
His cellphone signaled an incoming text and Cam nearly came out of his skin. “Frisco, I’m going to stay here and keep an eye on the back door. Can you check my phone? It’s on the sidetable in the bedroom.”
“It’s from Tyler,” Frisco said as he came back out of the bedroom, his voice soft to keep from waking Cassie. “He says he can see us and knows we’re up.” He handed the phone to Cam. “Here, he wants you to call him.”
Cam hit send and walked back to the living room as he hit the speaker button so Frisco could hear.
“Hey, Cam. We have reason to believe Clemente is in the area so we’re staked out here and at Sam’s. What woke you?”
“The German Shepherd is restless. I guess he senses ya’ll. He wants out, I’m going to let him into the backyard to use the bathroom and check the area.”
“Okay, I’m pulling my guy out of the backyard, to the other side of the fence. It might be a good idea to introduce the dog to our key people tomorrow, but let’s not do it now.”
“It’s safe to let him out?”
“Yes. Since it looks like Clemente’s crossed state lines the Feds are getting involved, but mainly because the media is keeping it high-profile. Sam wants us close by as well, so if you see anything suspicious I’d like you to call me at this number, okay?”
Cam slid into his jeans, which still had the holster attached. He slipped his gun into it, let Jake out, and sat on the top step while the dog investigated the yard.
Frisco was awake, Cass was asleep, and Cam needed to know if Frisco was serious.
Everything had changed the night Cam had kneeled before his Master and professed his love. He’d pictured the scene going different a thousand times before he’d had the nerve to actually do it. And since? It was his worst nightmare, playing over and over again.
When Jake was finally ready to come back in, the dog patrolled the house again and took up his spot where he could watch both doors and Cass. Cam gave him a treat and then walked to Frisco, who was still sitting up on the sofa in the dark.
Taking a breath to fortify his nerves, Cam told himself it was okay that Frisco was about to reject him again, because this would prove to both of them that the older man wasn’t really serious. It would keep him from being hurt again because he’d know not to listen to Frisco’s lies.
As he approached the sofa, Cam dropped to his knees — close enough Frisco could lean down to kiss him, though he knew it was never going to happen.
He took a breath and repeated what he’d told him before Frisco had kicked him out.
“I’m head over heels in love with you, Master. I want to spend the rest of my life at your feet, serving you. I tried to abide by the contract and keep my emotions out, but—”
Frisco’s hands enveloped Cam’s head and his mouth came down on Cam’s lips, spreading them an instant before his tongue invaded with a ravenous demand.
Breathless, Cam landed on his back as Frisco slid from the couch, his weight pinning Cam to the floor as his lips continued to ravage.
But Cam needed to hear it.
He turned his head to the side and broke the kiss.
“Tell me.” He meant for it to be a demand, but it was more of a gasp.
“Look at me, Cam.”
Cam turned his face back towards Frisco.
“I love you,” Frisco told him. “I want you to be mine. I want you and Cass to be mine, but things are complicated and we may have to share her with Isaac. I love you both, but the important thing at this moment is my love for you. I want you in my life. Not above my garage, but in my house.”
“And my gun? You’ll let me have a gun in your house?” May as well push for everything while he was at it.
Frisco got off Cam and pulled him up so they sat facing each other on the floor. His hand stroked the smaller man’s cheek. “Yes, though we’ll have to figure out the details. I feel safer right now knowing you have it.” He stood and offered his hand, saying, “Boy, those jeans make you look like sex on a stick.”
Cam laughed and let Frisco help him stand. It was what Cass had always told him, but he’d never heard Frisco say it before.
“Can I call you Sir again? I’m not ready to jump back into our power exchange, but I want to call you…” He shut his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ask.”
Frisco’s hand touched his chin and stroked up to his cheek. “Open your eyes, boy.”
Cam’s eyes obeyed without his thinking about it, and Frisco said, “No rules. Call me what you want. I love you and you love me, and the rest will sort itself out.”
Cam nodded and Frisco’s palm pressed Cam’s cock through his jeans.
Suddenly nauseous, Cam stepped back and shook his head. “She’s so fragile right now. I can’t take the chance on her waking up and coming out here to see us…” He shook his head again for emphasis. “The next few weeks have to be about her. I’m so worried about her, Sir. They fucked her up. Not just her body, but her mind and her emotions.”
He whispered the last part, afraid to say it out loud. Not only because she might hear, but because it was a truth he knew they’d need to face, and it terrified him. Cassie was supposed to be strong and self-confident and full of life, ready to take on her next great adventure.
Clemente had wounded more than her body. Her eyes weren’t the same, and her smile was someone else’s.
Frisco pulled him into a hug. “I know, Cam.” He sighed. “And I’ve hurt her and can’t get close enough to help her. I’m glad she has you and Isaac, but I’m not going anywhere.”
Cam gave himself a few minutes to savor Frisco’s arms around him, and then he backed away.
“I’m going back to her now. She shouldn’t sleep alone. She needs touch.”
Frisco nodded and gave Cam a short kiss on the lips. “Go take care of our gir
l.”
* * * *
Cam’s watch vibrated on his wrist to wake him at six thirty, and he laughed when he realized Jake had joined them in the bed, curled at Cass’s feet. Cam turned his cellphone alarm off before it sounded — the watch didn’t always wake him so he needed a backup, but he didn’t want to disturb Cass so he’d been trying to wake up with the watch. He stood, stretched, and motioned the large dog to take his place beside Cassie before he staggered to the shower.
He was shaving, still naked, when Cass tottered in to use the restroom. The two were comfortable enough with each other they hid nothing, so it was no surprise when she sat on the toilet without thinking about it.
He saw her face turn pained when she peed, and realized the urine must hurt her injuries. He wanted to kill the bastard all over again, but he kept shaving and let Cass pee, wipe, and stand before he spoke.
“I have classes from nine until noon today, and I’m scheduled to work from three to eleven tonight, will you be okay here with Isaac and Frisco? If I don’t have too much homework I can drop by between, but if I do I’ll be better off studying away from the house.”
“I love you, Cam, but you don’t have to feel responsible for me. I’ll be fine.”
Cam swiped the last few strokes with his razor, rinsed his face, and dried it. He turned to Cass and said, “A few things happened overnight. Let’s get you back in bed and I’ll tell you.”
He told her about Tyler and Clemente first, and watched her face show a few seconds of terror at the thought of possibly having to face her rapist again. She quickly schooled her face, but Cam’s heart broke for her.
“I can leave my gun with you today, if you want, just make sure you don’t shoot any of the good guys.”
“As much as I’d like to have it around, I don’t think my shoulder is up to firing it yet.”
Cam held her a few moments and kissed her forehead. “There’s something else.”
He told her about his plan to prove to himself and Frisco that the older man couldn’t follow through, and his surprise when Frisco professed his love back.
Safeword: Arabesque (Safewords Book 9) Page 21