by Zoey Marcel
“Wait. I would never betray you. It’s not like that. I can’t…” He shook his head as his Dominant approached and set the drill aside after turning it off. “I want you to know, but I can’t bear the thought of you knowing. It was a long time ago.”
His Dom knelt and picked up the other weight.
Greyson’s eyes stung at the exposure, at the thought of giving the man everything and then losing him. “I need you safe.”
“Tell me right now.”
A strong sense of defenselessness came over him. It was both a shroud suffocating him as much as it was a blanket being ripped off of him to expose his nakedness.
He kept his head bowed and a gasp rushed from him when Master attached the weight to the right side of the ball stretcher. The violent pull on his scrotum created a painful stretch that sent the humorous image of taffy being made out of his head. His entire focus honed in on his balls. Only the ache in his chest rivaled the agony below.
“One, three, zero—”
“One, nine, nine, zero,” Master finished for him.
Greyson’s head flew up and he felt relieved when the weights were removed from his nut-sac. “You knew the whole time?”
“I did. January thirtieth, 1990, the day we first touched. You’re far more sentimental than you let on.”
“You bastard, why did you—”
“I wanted to know if you would open up to me enough to give me your password. Now that you have, it gives me hope for our future together.”
Greyson wanted to pummel his ass, but after the steel ring was removed from his scrotum, the troublemaker massaged his sac, bringing him relief.
The other man got a pillow off the couch. “Lift up.”
Greyson obeyed, feeling numb with shock.
Master kicked the rice aside and plopped the pillow onto the floor. Greyson knelt on it, knees rejoicing at the soothing cushion.
Master knelt in front of him again and hooked a finger under his jaw to direct his attention where he wanted it. “I figured out your password, but I did not read the e-mails this time. I want to hear the truth from you. Who is Saul to you?”
Greyson lowered his eyes when Master let go of him. “Years ago after you and I had several encounters together and started sharing women, I got confused about who I was and what I wanted. I pulled away from you. I met Saul online shortly after my thirtieth birthday. We just talked about coming to accept who you are. Somehow it turned into talking about fantasies. He seemed excited about my autassassinophilia. I never intended to meet with him like he wanted. It was just talk and trying to come to grips with who I was so I could find the courage to be with you. I quit chatting with him because I felt bad for it. He wasn’t you.”
Master didn’t touch him or react. He just listened.
“After my mother died I was so depressed. I was desperate to feel alive again. I started doing stupid shit to get an adrenaline rush, anything to chase away the despair.” Greyson swallowed the lump in his throat. It was painful, so painful. “I would meet women online and rendezvous with them somewhere. It was when you and I were going through one of our ‘just friends’ phases. It was a rush to meet a stranger, knowing they could end up being someone else and try to kill me. I didn’t want to die or anything. It was just the thrill of knowing my life could be in danger by playing with fire.”
Master didn’t rebuke him or appear scandalized. He knew Greyson better than anyone and for some reason never judged him. It was refreshing to be accepted completely, like a cool drink of water when he was dying of thirst.
Greyson’s eyes prickled with pain. “The third and last time I did that…I got burned.”
“What happened?”
“I was supposed to meet some woman at a hotel. She never showed. There was a man waiting in the lobby with me. He said he’d been stood up, too. He asked if I wanted to go for drinks and complain about women. We went to a bar for a while and talked. He answered his cell phone and got a call from his ex-girlfriend, he said. She wanted to get back together, but the condition was he had to let her have a threesome like she’d been hounding him for. He agreed and asked me if I wanted to join them. I went home with him.”
“Saul?”
Greyson nodded, hurting all over. “I didn’t know that was his name. He said his name was Danny so I wouldn’t remember that I’d met him a year prior when you and I vacationed in Los Angeles. I didn’t know it at first, but he set the whole thing up. He pretended to be a woman online to get me to meet with him, faked getting a call from his supposed ex so I’d go home with him. There was no woman. When we got there it was just the two of us. He hit me over the head. When I came to I was chained to his bed. He had a gun.”
Diego caressed his cheek and Greyson’s eyes closed in anguish.
“I’m glad you were the first. I wanted you to be the only one.” Greyson’s voice broke and his eyes burned. “Being overpowered and cut didn’t hurt half as bad as when he told me he was gonna kill me.” He raised his eyes to Diego’s. “When I realized I would never see you again…”
Diego ran his hand up Greyson’s nape and laced his fingers in Greyson’s hair. His dark gaze was sympathetic with underlying anger.
Greyson bowed his head and stared back into the past at the memory that tortured him. “I cried. I had to beg for my life. He said he’d spare it if I gave him a good reason I had for living. He knew about you from the e-mails I’d sent him years before. He forced me to finally admit aloud that I loved you. When Saul was done with me he dumped me off on the side of the road. He said he might just drive away and let me move on with my life, or someday he might walk back into my life to hurt me again and kill me. He said he hadn’t decided.”
“That’s why you held back with me,” Diego murmured.
“Yeah. He threatened to kill you if I ever acted on my feelings for you. I thought if we kept it secret he would never know. I figured he was bluffing, but I had no way of knowing. He said he’d find me and kill me if I ever moved away.” Greyson shook his head. “I had to walk for miles, but I was still in Haakon County. All that time I was so close to McKenna Downs.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone?”
“I blamed myself for what happened.”
“You are not to blame.”
“Of course I am. I’m the idiot who went home with a stranger. Before that close calls used to excite me. He scared me straight. I’ve been terrified of death ever since. I thought if I could keep risking my life, maybe someday I wouldn’t be afraid to die and lose you anymore.”
Diego pressed his forehead to Greyson’s as he unlocked his wrists from behind him and then proceeded to rub the feeling back into them.
“It was the worst feeling being so close to you and afraid to be with you. That’s why I got engaged to Tasha so soon after I met her. I was hoping that commitment to a woman would erase my feelings for you and the nightmare Saul put me through.” He gulped down his sorrow and met his best friend’s caring gaze. “When I quit getting hard for her I didn’t know if he screwed me up or if you did. After she died, sharing those two women with you helped. It was the perfect way to have you without hurting us both.”
“And when she died you blamed Emmett for the accident and for forcing you to face your feelings for me and your fears.”
Greyson nodded with closed eyes. “It was a shitty thing to put on my brother’s shoulders. I knew it wasn’t his fault that she died. I just resented him for taking away my choice. Sharing those women with you and giving myself to you and letting you control my fear fixation helped me more than you know.”
Diego pulled him to his feet and then led him over to the couch. “I’m glad to have helped. Lie down.”
Greyson lay on his back, still wearing the collar as he gazed up at his Master. His eyes spilled over, but the droplets didn’t put the dent in his masculinity that he’d felt long ago.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Shh.” Master sat between his splayed legs and f
ondled his hairy thighs.
“I’m sorry for what I put you through. I’ve always loved you.” His eyes hurt when Master brushed away his tears. “I wanted so bad to show you, but I was afraid.”
“I know. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. You will always be safe with me.”
“Just let me kill him so we can be free.”
“No.” Master’s voice came out hard like steel. He squirted lubricant onto his fingers and then worked the jelly into Greyson’s anus. “You will not put yourself in danger.” His features tensed with a lethal darkness. “Justice will be served, but not by your hand. No one is taking you away from me.”
The masculine fingers thrusting in his asshole felt invasive and uncomfortable, but he welcomed the sense of openness as he was stretched for his Master’s cock. Somehow unloading his baggage was a relief as the silence was. The intimate knowledge in Master’s eyes and the possessive way he touched Greyson made him feel deeply connected to his best friend.
Master bent forward and kissed the tip of Greyson’s penis. The mushroomed head bobbed at the delicate touch.
“Mine,” he whispered. He pressed his lips gently to Greyson’s ball sac. “Mine.”
Greyson’s pulse raced and his eyes stung like crazy. He wouldn’t cry. Those few tears had been a fluke, but no more. His titillating sense of subjugation skyrocketed when the man pushed Greyson’s legs against his abs and then Master kissed each of Greyson’s ass cheeks.
“Mine.”
Not crying.
Master pecked his anus lightly. “Mine. I don’t mind if you cry in front of me.”
Greyson swallowed. “Why would I cry?”
“Because you need to.” Master hovered over Greyson’s body and breathed a kiss onto his chest. “All mine.”
Greyson’s eyes closed and his heart swelled with adoration. To think he almost missed out on this moment with him, everything.
Master kissed the place where Saul had stabbed him months back. “Mine.”
Greyson’s eyes blurred with tears, one of which managed to escape from him.
“Mine.”
Master’s lips touched the tattoo on his other thigh—the one that covered the scar of ownership Saul had cut onto him. It was over. Greyson broke down and just let the tears fall freely, silently. Master lifted his head and saw him crying soundlessly. He didn’t act disgusted or like he viewed him as less of a man. He climbed up Greyson’s body and lay down on top of him, sheltering him with his strength and warming him with his body heat.
“Let it all out,” Master murmured to him.
Like surrendering to Diego, the tears Greyson shed seemed to wash away the paralyzing anvil that had been crushing him. When it passed, Master handed him a tissue to dry his face with. He took the watch off the table and then fastened it around Greyson’s wrist again.
“You will wear this at all times with the exception of when you are sleeping, showering, or working in extreme heat. It will remind you that you belong to me.”
Greyson nodded, swallowing at the man’s arched brow. “Yes, Master. How is this supposed to work? I can’t be Melanie’s Dom and your slave.”
“Why not?”
“Those are two different extremes. She’ll never view me as dominant if she sees me on my knees taking orders from you.”
“Yes, she will. What we have doesn’t change what you have with her. When we are doing a scene with her, we will dominate her together. When you and I are alone, I will master you.”
“What about outside the bedroom? You work for me.”
Diego smirked and gave him a condescending pat on the cheek that made him smile. “Sure I do. We will make it work. I would never disrespect you in front of your brothers or Melanie. If you need your independence outside of sex, I will give it to you.”
“Then you’re not really my Master, just my Dom.”
“Excuse me?” Diego grabbed him by the balls, thrilling him. “I am every inch your Master. Just because I back off when you need me to does not mean you are not my slave. It means I put your needs above my own. You can have your illusion of being equal to me on the ranch, but make no mistake about it, esclavo, when I demand your obedience outside of bed you will give it to me or be punished. We will find a balance that works for us in all areas of life.”
“What about Melanie?”
“The same with her. At times you are even more dominant during a scene than I am, but in day-to-day life you behave more as a husband with her than a Dom, though I’ve seen exceptions between the two of you. It will be the same with you and me as it is with you and her. You give her orders and spoil her. She has her freedom, but when you command her she submits to you even outside of sex.”
“That’s what I want, but it’s somewhere between a Master/slave and a Dom/sub relationship. She calls you Master, but you’re more dominant outside the bedroom than I am. What the hell is she supposed to call me?”
“Whatever you want.”
“It sounds great, but it’s unorthodox. It’s BDSM, but it’s not—”
“If you say ‘the one true way of BDSM,’ I will smack you,” Diego warned with a playful scowl. “There is no one true way. As long as both parties consent and enjoy themselves, what does it matter if it’s a total power exchange, bedroom bondage, or something in between the two?”
“It doesn’t, but—”
“But nothing.” Diego ran his fingers through Greyson’s hair in long, soothing strokes. “So hung up on labels and keeping everything in familiar little boxes. Why can’t you simply be?”
Greyson gazed up into the man’s loving eyes. “Sounds good. Thanks for the collar. I’ll wear it during a scene, but not outside of one.”
“I know. That’s why I got you the watch as well so you could embrace discretion and still remember that I own you completely.”
He smiled. “It’s a nice watch.”
“I have good taste.”
“Yeah, you do.”
Diego planted tender kisses all over his face. “I think you should know that I intend to fuck your tight ass as punishment for being so hot.”
Greyson grinned. “I regret nothing.”
Diego smiled down at him. “Neither do I.”
They shared a brief kiss before Greyson was holding his legs up again while Diego slowly stuck his dick up Greyson’s ass. The steady invasion pinched his sphincter and made his anal tissues burn. The deep, penetrating heat exhilarated him, though. He relaxed his muscles in submission as Diego quietly worked his stiff cock into Greyson’s body.
Both men let out wild gasps once Diego was seated to the hilt inside of him.
He bent forward and whispered against Greyson’s lips. “Mine.”
His heart felt whole inside like the shattered pieces had been fused back together. He opened his mouth for Diego’s tongue and humped it slowly with his. The decadent mingling of their tongues was alternated with moments of silent, knowing stares as Diego made love to him.
His ass screamed in protest from the pain that quickly became unsettling pleasure. The hurt-so-good sensations burned deep inside him. It was such a turn-on to see the hot man hovering over him with his weight channeled in his strong arms. He ran his hands along the riveting planes of muscle on Diego’s chest and abs.
They’d had great times together before, but he couldn’t remember feeling this feverish during a sexual encounter with him. He’d always gotten hot and bothered from it, but something about the way he’d just let Diego into his soul and submitted to him freed him from the darkness. The light touching every part of him now scorched him with a white heat that gave him chills.
The dull burn and screaming stretch in his anal ring only heightened his arousal. The collar locked around his neck that could only be freed by his Master and the watch around his wrist with the telling inscription on the back made him feel truly owned and somehow free at the same time.
The kisses drew him in and made him tremble from the hot sparks they evoked. Electricity
flowed like a current through his body, heating and shocking him. His dick was rock hard with a throb so intense it ached. His testicles drew up and the tingles of ecstasy enveloped his lower body. Fire burned in his thigh muscles as he braced his legs against his growing need.
The inflamed look on Diego’s face and all his male grunts and heady sounds made Greyson moan and pant. Diego gently pulled his balls away from his body just before he started to come. A savage gasp tore from Greyson at the overwhelming rush of sensations that exploded in his testicles. The climax was similar with a slightly different feeling. He felt a freeing sense of release as relentless contractions assaulted his erection and forced his semen up his shaft. He exploded in Diego’s grip and onto his own belly and chest.
His quaking ass squeezed the resistance from Diego and had him crying out in orgasm, too. Greyson choked on a pained outcry at the fierce jabs into his rectum. His loud response became a feeble moan when he felt Diego’s cock expand against his inner walls just before the man expelled his scalding cum deep into Greyson’s ass.
He couldn’t stop shaking or panting, couldn’t keep himself from aching with feeling when he looked at Diego. They lay in each other’s arms while they waited for their breathing to return to normal.
“It hurts so bad,” Greyson whispered. “When I’m with you and Melanie I feel too much.”
Diego lifted his head and smiled down at him, touching a hand to Greyson’s cheek. “I feel the same way. You sure play hard to get, making me wait twenty-four years to hear you say that.”
“I was a fool,” Greyson said sadly.
“It was worth the wait.”
They kissed over and over again. He didn’t know how long they lay there on the couch holding each other, but in that moment he felt so complete he would have died a happy man.
Chapter Ten
Greyson walked into the room they had set up for a home gym. It truly was epic. Emmett was throwing punches at the big black punching bag that hung from the ceiling. The ceilings hung lower in this room. Not bump your head and swear like a sailor low, just not vaulted like in the living room.