Paid to Take Control

by Romilly King

  “You ready?” Tay’s question made Painter jump and he licked dry lips, dragging his eyes away from the stage.

  “It’s different in this environment,” said Tay, “It’s all more intense in clubs and at home, different to the training rooms,”

  “Yeah,” Painter agreed, “Any last-minute instructions?” he asked as he and Tay got to their feet and started to make their way through the crowd to the back of the club.

  “Say nothing, do nothing, watch and learn,” Tay said shortly.

  The private room they entered had maybe ten people in it, arranged around the edges, talking quietly in couples or standing and waiting with serious expressions.

  In the center of the room, a well-built man was restrained in wooden stocks, bent over with his head and hands clamped in place and his feet cuffed to a spreader bar. Painter could see his not unsubstantial cock and balls hanging below his well-muscled ass.

  He was sweating, his skin shining under the central light in the room and he hung his head, his hair covering his face.

  His hair was thick and tousled, like Brio’s, and the dark brother inside Painter’s head growled happily.

  With a hand on his elbow, Tay guided him to the side of the room, level with the restrained man’s waist, “We’re going to move around during the scene,” he said quietly in Painter’s ear, “I want you to get a good view from all angles,”

  Painter nodded.

  When the Dom entered the room Painter was surprised, he was older and significantly lighter than his sub, middle-aged with silver hair, he held a long cane in one leather-gloved hand and was wearing dark jeans and boots, his chest was bare. Painter hoped he looked that good when he was this guy’s age.

  The Dom ignored the other people in the room and went straight to his restrained sub. He crouched in front of the man, looking up at him, speaking to him quietly and brushing his hair out of his eyes.

  Painter could feel the tension and excitement in the room swell and he fought his desire to sink into the feeling that was being generated.

  When the sub shivered and nodded his head Painter realized he was holding his breath and let it out slowly and rotated his shoulders to ease the tension in them.

  The Dom moved around behind his sub, his hand trailing along the man’s flank. He positioned himself behind and to the side of the man, opposite Tay, and Painter.

  “Twenty strikes for rule-breaking,” he said and his voice was even, dispassionate almost, “Agreed?”

  “Yes, Sir,” the sub’s voice was quiet, desperate and Painter shivered at the need in it.

  “Colour?”

  “Green Sir,”

  The silver-haired man placed the cane against the sub’s ass, measuring the distance, then he drew his arm back and his wrist flexed and the first strike landed with a hum and a crack.

  The sub screamed and jerked in his bonds and Painter was hard as rock instantly, so hard, and his heart was hammering and the energy in the room spiked with collective arousal.

  Painter heard Tay next to him draw in a breath that was almost a groan.

  Afterward, Painter couldn’t have told anyone how long it lasted. Tay carefully and quietly moved him around the room and Painter followed in a daze, taking in minute detail and soaking in the sinister joy of it all.

  He saw how perfectly the dom laid down parallel lines on his sub’s lower ass and thighs. He admired the red rising swell of them and let out a hum of admiration when the Dom paused and pressed his fingers into the welts and the sub cried out at the change in sensation.

  The sub’s growing screams were heady music to his ears and his cock was so hard he didn’t dare touch himself to adjust it where it pressed against the inside of his jeans.

  When the screams stopped and the Dom went to his knees again in front of his sub and praised and comforted the sobbing, crying man Painter let out a sigh of profound joy, “Beautiful,” he breathed because he couldn’t help himself.

  With a hand on his back, Tay encouraged him from the room and out of the club. On the sidewalk, Painter leaned back against the wall outside the club and drew in deep breaths of the cool night air. He felt distant, fuzzy, horny as hell, and disgusted with himself. He had just watched a man he didn’t know being intimately punished and his cock was still hard and pulsing in his jeans.

  Tay leaned against the wall beside him, “Times like this I wish I still smoked,” Tay said.

  Painter knew what he meant.

  “You okay?” Tay asked,

  “Yeah, that was fucking intense, way more than I expected,”

  “Sometimes it’s like that, the energy was really high in there,”

  “It was crazy,” the darkness in his head was receding and Painter was aware of the beginning of a headache pressing at his temples, “I can’t see myself doing that,”

  “Try not to lie to yourself, Painter,” Tay said, “It’s not helpful at this stage,”

  Tay sounded disappointed in him.

  Painter ran a hand through his hair, “Yeah that was a total lie wasn’t it,”

  Tay shrugged, “You’re doing well, Paint, but it’s late in the day for you to be only now acknowledging this side of yourself, it’s bound to be tough – no pun intended,”

  Painter managed to grin at that.

  “Let’s go and get coffee,” said Tay, “And we’ll talk about rules you can consider setting up with your boy, it’s time, a contract like this without rules is just chaos at best and abuse at worst,”

  Painter nodded.

  “And tomorrow we’ll go over the safety aspects of what you saw tonight, once it’s had a chance to sink in.”

  Painter nodded again and they moved off together towards the brighter lit streets of the city center, “By the way,” said Painter as they stepped onto a road lined with colorful, crowded sidewalk cafes, so at odds from the club they had been in, “What did the sub do to deserve the punishment?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” said Tay, “He broke a rule they made together,”

  Chapter Seven

  Brio and the proof of the pudding

  Brio was surprised to find Painter in the kitchen when he sloped in from work feeling disgustingly corporate and adult after a day of boring meetings and decision making about stuff he didn’t care about. Give him a 36-hour session in the lab over eight hours of licensing and franchise agreements with lawyers any day.

  “Hey,” Painter looked up from the chopping board where he was slicing vegetables, “Hardly ever see you in a suit,”

  “I avoid them like ebola,”

  Painter grinned, “You do look good in them though,”

  Brio was horrified to feel the blush that crept up his cheeks.

  “Don’t get used to it, I’m going to change and take a shower,”

  “Sit a minute,” Painter said, “I need to talk to you,”

  “I wondered why you were here so early,” said Brio taking a seat at the island unit suspiciously, “Are you feeding me to make up for bad news?”

  “No!” Painter grinned at him, “I like feeding you, and I also like eating what you feed me, it’s nice and it beats us both eating alone at opposite ends of town,”

  “’ K,” Brio snagged a slice of avocado from the chopping board, it looked like they were having tacos and it wasn’t even Tuesday.

  Painter returned to his chopping, “I’d like to talk about adding some extra rules to our dynamic, I think it’s time,”

  Brio’s mood skyrocketed. Painter wanted to stay longer; he wanted to give Brio rules. He thought he was worth rules.

  Brio nodded urgently, not daring to speak in case he squeaked, which he would then have to deny. He pulled himself together, “I think that’s a very good idea,” he said with what he felt was commendable insouciance.

  Painter grinned at him, Brio couldn’t get much past him already, “Do you want to get a notebook, write this down, or we could get Cashel online, have him go through it with us?”

  “No need,” said Brio
breezily stealing more avocado, “Eidetic memory, I won’t forget what you say, I’ll get my brain to record it,”

  “Right,” Painter said, “Genius, of course,”

  “Never forget it,” Brio gave him finger guns and then wanted to kill himself,

  “You are such a dick,” Painter laughed, “But seriously, I’m happy to get Cash online,”

  Brio considered, “To be honest,” he said, “This is you and me, it’s not the contract, it’s not the small print – and I have seen a lot of small print today – could we do it, just us, without it being written up in triplicate somewhere,”

  “I get you,” Painter paused, “And I agree with you, let’s make this just us,”

  Painter appeared to gather his thoughts, “I think it’s stupid for us to have rules about bedtime and clothing and kneeling and stuff like that, I think you and I need to be fluid so I think the rules should revolve around attitude more than anything,”

  “I like that idea,” Brio said, and he did, past doms and Ash had tried to regulate him via schedules and reporting and tasks and that didn’t feel right, it felt like cramming him into a shape that didn’t fit, this felt like making a space for him, a Brio shaped space.

  “I think the first rule should be about respect,” Painter said, “I want you to be respectful, to other’s and yourself and that includes no putting yourself and others down and no kink-shaming Brio, you do that to yourself a lot and it’s not good for your soul.”

  Brio nodded, he understood, he knew he did it, he would stop.

  “And I know you are brighter than me – “

  “I’m brighter than everyone –“

  “yeah and that got you five extra your spanks added to tonight for attitude – but it’s going to be a rule that you don’t manipulate people and I don’t want you to use your intellect to hurt people,”

  Brio looked at Painter seriously, “Got it,” he said, “with great power comes great responsibility,”

  “And that’s another five for being a piss-taking little shit, for a bright guy you don’t learn very quickly.”

  “I’m just so excited we are doing this,”

  “I know,” Painter was indulgent, “And that’s why you are getting spanks added not being frog marched to the playroom this minute. But I need you to understand these are serious rules Brio, I’ve thought about them, considered them, and manipulation, intellectually, sexually, emotionally, it’s a big no as far as I am concerned. “

  “I understand,” Brio said, “And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it seem I wasn’t taking them seriously.”

  “I think we’re getting on okay,” Painter said, “I think we’re making progress, but I would like to make it a rule that if you need something you ask me, if you can, rather than manipulate me into it or bottle it up.

  “I’m learning your tells, I think, but I’m really new and I’m really inexperienced so making it a rule that you verbalize your needs, that’s going to help us, a lot.”

  “You haven’t missed anything so far,” Brio said quietly, “and sometimes stuff is hard to say.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m pretty sure there’s stuff I am never going to be able to ask for, but you have to try, if you’re brave enough to ask for it chances are you’re going to get it as a reward – Not guaranteed,” Painter added when Brio lit up with glee.

  Brio helped Painter clear up the mess from the vegetables and they kept talking whilst Painter fried the chicken for the tacos. Brio liked this, the informal setting, the discussion, it felt so much more unforced than previous discussions he had had with Doms.

  “When I have to take a night off like I did the other night, for training, I need you to call Ash or Richard if there is an issue,” Painter said, “I doubt there would be a problem because if I thought you were feeling antsy I would change my plans but I’d rather put the protocol in place now so you know what to do.”

  “I like the way you say protocol,” Brio knew he was getting goofy with the way he was looking at Painter, “it’s sexy,”

  “Yeah, protocol is cool,” said Painter, “I’ve been learning it and I find I like the idea of every day running you through positions. That feels good in my head.”

  “We could add it?”

  “Let’s wait and see. Let’s not add too much at once, because there is one more important thing I would like to talk about,” Painter paused and appeared to gather himself, “I think I’m comfortable progressing sexually.”

  Brio’s heart stood still, finally!

  “I can’t say when exactly, but I know I was real comfortable making you come, it was lovely, and so if things get more intimate between us in the future I don’t want to stop and renegotiate, so can we put it out there now that sex is on the table,”

  “Oh hell yeah,” Brio can’t keep the grin off his face.

  Painter laughed, “Not necessarily today or this week, I don’t want to put time limits on it or deadlines, but I’m saying, in my head, I’m cool, so we can proceed organically,”

  “Orgasmically,” Brio said,

  “You know you’re not that funny right?”

  “People think I’m adorable,” said Brio with a commendably straight face.

  They sat at the island unit to each their tacos, Brio was hungrier than he thought and he moaned around a mouthful of soft taco, spicy meat, and creamy guacamole, “God these are amazing,” he said and Painter grinned happily.

  “So we’re clear – no trashing yourself or other people, be respectful, no manipulating, ask for what you want if you can and Ash and Richard are your safety contacts if I’m not here,”

  Brio nodded, “What about punishments?”

  Painter looked down at his nearly empty plate, “This is the bit I struggle with, this is the bit where I have to fall back on what I’ve been taught in the last few weeks and what I know of you so far,” he admitted, “I think time out is pointless for you because you could look at a blank wall for a week and come away with a workable amalgam of specific consciousness theories,” Brio raised an impressed eyebrow and Painter glared at him, “And I think chores are just silly, so we’re going to have to fall back on corporal punishment,”

  Brio swallowed and nodded.

  “I like the idea of stress positions if appropriate, but I’m less keen on things like kneeling on rice and stuff because if there is pain being felt I want to be the one physically involved in delivering it, that is some need in me” Brio couldn’t help but notice that Painter’s voice had got thicker and deeper, “So I think we go for the tried and tested impact punishments, spanking, paddles, and canes,” He glanced at Brio and his eyes were dark, the pupils blown wide and with a thrill Brio realized that this idea aroused Painter. That made it both easier and harder to want to keep to the rules.

  “Okay,” Brio whispered.

  They couldn’t seem to look away from each other, Brio was lost in the deep sea blue of Painter’s eyes, feeling pulled towards his Dom and he realized that his cock was getting hard in his suit pants. He shifted and Painter broke eye contact, cleared his throat, and started to clear the table.

  “So, is there anything you would like to add to the rules?” Painter asked.

  “Uh, yeah,” Brio was suddenly shy. He stood and moved to help Painter with the dishes, “If, uh, if we’re going to have a sexual aspect to our dynamic, would it be okay if we were monogamous?”

  Painter straightened from placing the plates in the dishwasher and turned to Brio, “I’m surprised,” he said, “but yeah, that’s no problem at all, monogamy is good, I’d like that,”

  “Thank you,” Brio breathed,

  “Come here,” Painter said, and with a sigh, Brio slid into his arms. Painter was so tall it made Brio feel small. Painter wrapped his arms around Brio and hugged him gently like he was precious. He put a finger under Brio’s chin and tipped it up so Brio was looking at him, “Thank you for asking for what you wanted,” he said, “That was so good of you,”

  “Reward,�
�� Brio didn’t even know he had spoken until Painter smiled at him and dipped towards him.

  Painter kissed with his whole body, one arm around Brio’s waist holding him up, his other hand in Brio’s hair, moving him where he wanted him, he curled down and around Brio and his lips were firm and dry and wonderful.

  Painter tasted of lime and cilantro, spice, and heat, and when his tongue pressed against Brio’s lips it was insistent, dominating, and Brio just let go and opened himself to it.

  ◆◆◆

  A summer storm was throwing itself against the ramparts of the mountains, all blue-black skies, and grey squalls. Brio lay, morose and irritated, on the sofa in his living room and watched it through the windows. He knew exactly how it felt.

  Despite their “talk” and Painter’s stated desire to get more…dirty, animalistic, ugly bumpy, sticky, growly, ya’ know, it had been two weeks and nothing had happened and Painter was yet to get intimate with him. Fuck Brio hadn’t even seen his cock yet.

  He’d felt it - hard and substantial against him when Painter cuddled him after spanking – but of the organ itself, not a sight, not a touch, not a taste, not an orifice explored by it.

  It couldn’t go on, it really couldn’t, Brio was going to explode. Jerking off wasn’t working anymore, he couldn’t even really be bothered, he just wanted Painter, properly, improperly, any erly.

  When Painter had said he was ready to go further Brio had assumed, despite Painter’s caveat, that he was going to pounce on him imminently. What a fucking anti-climax that had turned out to be.

  Brio flopped over on the sofa trying to find a more comfortable position but nothing felt right despite the overlarge, soft, squashiness of the cushions. He needed to fuck.

  Painter had been out with his instructor again last night – watching better behaved subs, Brio had thought darkly - so Richard and Ash had come for dinner after work and kept him company until bedtime. He hadn’t been able to settle after they had left and he knew he should have texted Painter but sulking seemed a better option and he had stayed up until the early hours of the morning doing pointless shit and feeling neglected.