by Flynn Eire
But I wasn’t laughing when I found all the accounts of what they’d seen the two do to Rune. My god, what my poor Rune had let them do to him. By the time lunch rolled around, I was even more determined to show him how good being gentle could be. I glanced at the clock and practically bolted from my office, not wanting to miss a second.
“Get naked,” I ordered the instant I reached my room, finding him standing outside of it with a sandwich and pop in his hand. “You can eat at your desk later.” I quickly unlocked the door, took his food and drink, set it down, and kicked the door closed after yanking him inside. Rune simply stood there with his jaw hanging open. “Rune, get naked.”
“Oh, yes, Reynell. Sorry.” He quickly yanked his shirt over his head, trying to toe off his sneakers at the same time. I couldn’t help but smile at how he hopped up and down while he grabbed his socks and worked on his belt next. He was so goddamn adorable and sexy and dorky all in one.
How has no one snatched him up yet? When he was done, he stood gloriously naked in front of me, the perfect specimen of the male form. I sat on the edge of my bed and swallowed loudly as I pulled off my shirt. “Come here, my sexy Rune. I’m dying to touch you.” He moved closer and I yanked him onto my lap, turning him around so his back was against my chest. “Yes, this is where I want you.”
“Okay,” he breathed, turning his head so he could glance at me. “Whatever you want, Reynell.”
“Good answer. Very good,” I praised as I moved my hand over his thigh and between his legs. “I think you deserve to be rewarded for such a perfect answer.”
“Rewarded?” he gasped as I cupped his sac.
“Yes, good subs get rewards from their Masters.”
“Oh, right, like food.”
I hid my flinch by kissing his neck, not saying anything. What did someone say to that? It took me a few moments but then I decided to work around it. “I reward with touch and attention.” He moaned as I kept kissing him and I tried to think of something else he could answer well. “Did you think of me while you were working, Rune?”
“Yes, way too often,” he murmured.
“Good, very good,” I purred as I grabbed his hard cock.
“Oh, god, yes, squeeze it, Master. Hurt me. Yank it. Dig your nails into me—”
“Stop, stop,” I begged, dropping his dick as I buried my face in his neck.
We were quiet a few minutes before Rune cleared his throat. “I was bad, you’ll have to punish me now.”
Slowly I raised my head and saw him smirking… Which pissed me off. I moved my leg and he fell to the floor hard enough that he yelped as his ass hit the wood and I jumped to my feet.
“You said you would try this for me, Rune. You liked the kissing. Did you say all that stuff just so I would freak out and you could get punished?”
He rubbed his ass and stared up at me, frowning. “No, I really wanted that but then I was trying to lighten the mood when you were clearly upset. I got excited and forgot we were trying gentle. I’m sorry. I like pain.”
“How do you know that’s what you like if it’s all you’ve had?” I grumbled, throwing my hands up in the air.
“That’s a stupid question,” he snickered, rolling his eyes at me. “I like strawberries. I won’t like them any less just because I try blueberries or cherries. I just might like them both.”
Well when he put it like that… “It’s not the same when it comes to sexual stuff, Rune.” I sighed and squatted down in front of him. I wasn’t the most patient person so I was going to have to dig down deep with him. I thought about it a moment and snapped my fingers. “It’s more preference. Say you learned how to drive an automatic, well, you can’t say you prefer or like it best because that’s all you’ve ever driven. You need to learn how to drive both to know.”
“True. Or cars versus trucks.”
“Exactly.”
“So you’re saying I’ve only driven automatic.”
I nodded even though I wanted to say, actually, you’ve only ever driven an extreme tank if that’s what you wanted out of a simple hand job, but that’s just splitting hairs at this point so we’ll go with your answer.
“Let’s try stick shift then,” he chuckled as he held out his hand to me. I grabbed it and yanked him onto his feet, wrapping an arm around him. I kissed him softly as my other hand moved to his refilling cock. I stroked him gently, taking time exploring his mouth… Frustrated after a few minutes when he didn’t even get fully hard.
I sat back on the bed and pulled him onto my lap again, switching hands and massaging his sac as I jacked him off. I kissed up his neck and told him how beautiful he was, how much I loved looking at him. That got him hard all the way, but not even one drop of precum.
And I did that for about ten minutes.
“Rune, I can’t wait to feel your lips around my cock,” I moaned, smiling when his dick twitched in my hand. Now we were getting somewhere. He really was all about pleasing his partner. “That’s our next step. Once I please you, you’re going to please me, and I’m so excited for that, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he hissed, thrusting up into my hand as his arm moved around my neck. “I want to taste you, Reynell.”
“I know, my perfect Rune. You are so giving like that. I know how much you want to suck my cock. But I want this for you first. Will you come for me? I want to feel you come, smell you on me.”
“I’m trying,” he whimpered, and I felt his muscles tense.
“I know you are,” I cooed, kissing his shoulder and running my tongue up his neck. “You’re doing so good. You like this, right? It feels good like kissing?”
“Yeah, I guess. I just need more.”
“We’ll get there. The pressure will build and you’ll blow. You’ll see.”
But he never did. Fifty minutes after he met me at my room, we both had to get back to work and Rune never came. He hung his head in shame and pulled away from me.
“Hey, none of that,” I rasped as I cupped his cheek. “It was your first time. It’s not easy trying something new. All I need to know is that you liked it. I loved touching you, teasing you all this time. It will make the next time so much better.”
“We’re doing this again?” he whispered in horror, his eyes going wide. “But it didn’t work, Reynell.”
“It will. Eventually it will. You’ll see. We’re retraining you.” I bit the bullet and moved both my hands to his face. “You’re not a dog anymore, Rune. You’re my man, and I’m going to treat you like one, okay? I need you to trust me and be patient with my process.”
He nodded and pulled away, looking so dejected and heartbroken. I let him go, not sure what else to say to try and ease his pain.
“This has to work,” I whispered after he left the room. Otherwise I didn’t know how to help him.
4
But it didn’t work. For two days, every time I managed some alone time with Rune, we’d try and he couldn’t finish. He’d get hard, a few times he’d even get close, but it took too long and he’d get upset and… It never happened.
And then he started avoiding me. Working all hours, finding any excuse to not be able to spend time with me. It broke my heart and I blamed myself. Maybe I should have given in and let him give me oral first? He was more familiar with that. But it seemed so selfish when I wanted this to be about him. After letting him have two days of space and diving into my own work, finally clearing Matteo, Nate, and Lance of any chance of being traitors of any kind, I couldn’t take Rune’s distance anymore.
I found him in the practically deserted command center at two in the morning and stormed up to his station. “You’re avoiding me.”
“I’m working, Helios,” he whispered, hunching over and focusing harder on his screen.
“And it couldn’t wait until tomorrow? This is so important it’s keeping you from my bed? From your own bed even, because I might come looking for you there?” I demanded, pushing back his chair and forcing him to face me.
“Please don’t yell,” he choked out, crumbling into himself. I froze and instantly felt like a first-class asshole.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Rune.” I knelt in front of him and hugged him tightly. “I’m not mad at you. I’m not yelling at you. I’m yelling because I’m upset I failed you. This is my fault. You are wonderful and special. I should be able to please you, and I’m doing something wrong. This is on me.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m broken.” He shook against me, and I realized it wasn’t just him being upset but lack of sleep because he’d tried to avoid me for so long.
“Come on. We’ll talk in the morning. You need to rest.” I urged him to his feet when he nodded. He only pulled away for a moment and quickly saved what he was working on. I almost gasped when he gazed back at me. Rune looked so fragile. He hadn’t when I’d met him.
How much worse had I made things by opening his old wounds? But they needed to be healed properly. At some point in time, all wounds had to be or they would continue to get infected and swell. It was just the way life and people were.
Still, that guilt ate at me as we walked to my room.
“Can we not try again tonight, please, Reynell? I don’t think I can break my old Master’s training,” he muttered before yawning. “Maybe there’s no way to undo so many years of teaching. It’s no longer about preference. I’m just hardwired now to except pain. Like a computer, it’s my power source to run for sex or whatever.”
I nodded that I was listening but didn’t agree as I opened the door. “Rune, who was your old Master? You’ve never brought him up before.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he blurted, pulling away but not before I felt him start to shake uncontrollably.
Oh shit! How had I missed this? I turned him to face me and cupped his cheek, turning on my gift. “Rune, who was your old Master?”
His answer came out a little slurred because of my influence and his exhaustion, but the words echoed in my head. “My father, but he had me call his friends Sir, too, when they played with his dog.” I let go of him and stumbled back, crashing into the lamp on my nightstand and barely registering when the shards of glass cut up my arm.
“My god,” I choked out. “Your father? He did this to you? He conditioned you to think you were a dog?” I had assumed it was someone when he was younger, maybe a first boyfriend or he’d tried getting into D/s before he’d transitioned. Something that could be traumatic if it went bad, but nothing, never had I ever thought it could be something like that.
“Why did I just tell you that?” Rune sobbed as he sank to his knees. “No, no one can know that again! I can’t go through people knowing what happened to me again. No!” Then his eyes darted around the room wildly. He tripped over his feet as he tried to get up.
“Rune, what are you doing?” I asked, but he didn’t seem to hear me. “Rune? Rune!” I hurried over to him as he rooted through my closet. “What are you looking for?”
“My bag. I have to find my escape bag,” he muttered hysterically. “People will know now what happened to me. It will get bad again. I have to run. I always run.”
“Rune, stop. We’re in my room. We’re not in your room!” I shouted, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. He struggled against me, not hearing me anymore. Tears burned at my eyes as I did the only thing I could think of. I shoved my shoulder into his stomach and took off towards the infirmary.
“No! I have to run!” he bellowed, kicking and pounding on my back.
“No, Rune, I’m going to get you help,” I swore. “I won’t tell, okay? I won’t tell anyone, I promise. You don’t have to run.” He kneed me hard in the chest as I tried to get by one of the doors to the stairs, and we started to fall. At the last second, I caught the handle, groaning when I heard my shoulder pop out, trying to keep Rune from going flying. I set him on the ground as best as I could and boxed him in.
“Have to run. They can’t all find out.”
“Rune, I won’t tell!” I shouted in his face before I kissed him. He calmed down then but didn’t kiss me back. I slowly pulled away, watching him carefully. Tears spilled out of his eyes. “I won’t tell, Rune. Just let me help you. Please. I just want to help you.”
“Let me go. I have to run,” he whimpered.
“No, you said you were mine now,” I argued, cupping his cheek with my good hand—my other arm was pretty much useless until I reset my shoulder. “You promised you were mine. I won’t tell everyone. You don’t have to run but you have to let me help you.”
“Why aren’t you running from me or being mean like the others that found out?” he whispered, staring into my eyes.
“Because you’re mine now. What happened to you doesn’t change the way I feel about you, besides I’m amazed you’re as strong of a man as you are. I’m not running, and I’m sure as hell not going to be mean to you now. I would fucking claw anyone up who was mean to you over something like this.”
His eyes went wide at my words but then he nodded. “Okay. I trust you. You can help.” He was still shaking so badly my teeth were chattering just from touching him.
“Thank you,” I sighed, leaning my forehead down to his.
But the next problem was I couldn’t carry him to the infirmary any longer.
“What the fuck have you done to Rune?” Alexander snarled from behind me.
Rune started shaking even more, and I stroked my man’s cheek as I shot Alexander an evil look. “Not now. I need help getting him to the infirmary but I threw out my shoulder. Can you get me help or not?”
“I got him,” Dimitri muttered as he stepped out from behind Alexander and jogged over. “Hey, Rune, what’s up, man?”
“Helios?” Rune whispered, his eyes wide as they darted between us.
“I’m right here. I’m coming with.” And I did. I didn’t leave his side all the way to the infirmary and even after the doctor, Sam, gave him a sedative. I muttered everything was going to be okay over and over again until Rune was out for the count. Then the doctor popped in my shoulder, and I calmly thanked him after asking how long Rune was going to be sedated before leaving the infirmary, ignoring Dimitri and Alexander’s questions.
Oh, and Matteo’s and a few other people because apparently we’d made such a ruckus that now they had reinforcements.
I picked up a plastic chair from the waiting room with my right hand, since my left was in a sling, and proceeded to smash it to shit for the next ten minutes until nothing was left of it and my arm burned. I dropped the leg and collapsed to my knees, gasping for air as I stared at what was left.
“You about done now?” Alexander drawled. “Want to tell us what you did to Rune this time?”
“No. It’s not your concern.”
“Fuck that,” Dimitri growled as he stormed over to me and grabbed the front of my shirt, yanking me to my feet. “We’re his friends, you son-of-a-bitch.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing even as I broke his hold of me by slamming down my good arm on his. I kept laughing as I moved away, waving my hand in front of me. It took a bit for me to calm down, but when I finally did, they were all staring at me with their mouths hanging open.
“That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time,” I gasped, trying to keep another burst of hysterical laugher at bay. “His friends. What a crock of shit!”
“Fuck you, asshole,” Matteo growled. “You barely know Rune.”
I slowly raised my head and smiled, knowing the ace up my sleeve that none of them had any clue about. I glanced at the others behind them and nodded to the door. “Leave us.”
“Do it,” Alexander agreed, probably guessing where this was going.
I waited until it was only Alexander, Dimitri, and Matteo—Nate still on his recon mission of Ben and Dean—before I opened my mouth again. “You know Rune so well? He’s your friend? Fuck all of you. Rune’s not even his real name, you idiots. He’s the main reason I’m here.”
Dimitri and Matteo shared confused glan
ces while Alexander moved closer, growling. “So you think Rune’s the main threat and what? Assumed getting him in your bed was the best way to ask your questions?”
“Honestly? No. I thought I’d get an intro through Ben and Dean, but when I saw what they were doing to him, it broke my heart,” I sneered as I got in his face. “I immediately recognized the signs of abuse or something traumatic in his past. He’s not a sub. Fuck, I’m not even in the lifestyle, and I know he’s not been trained as a real sub. He was letting those assholes abuse him because he thinks that’s what he deserves, and when I found out why tonight, he flipped out.”
“Jesus, I knew it was more than just a pain fetish,” Dimitri hissed, cussing up a storm as he turned and punched the wall. “I knew it. Fuck! Why didn’t I push him harder to talk to me? He always shut down when I tried.”
“He shut down with me too,” Matteo murmured as he went over and squeezed Dimitri’s shoulder. “Some people really are into that kind of pain, Dimitri. I looked it up. Some people like to be humiliated.”
“And his file has nothing in it of past abuse,” Alexander defended, crossing his arms over his chest. “No red flags, not a thing that led us to believe it simply was not only his proclivities.”
I lost all my anger in an instant and studied them closely. “You checked into his file? You tried to talk to him?”
“Yes!” they all shouted at me.
“Then I’m sorry,” I muttered, running my hand through my hair. “I’m truly sorry.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “His file is bullshit. I assume Rune fabricated it before he transferred here. From what I learned tonight, people found out about his past and either did something to him or didn’t react well. There is no record of Rune Freeman in the council archives or on any paper trail until he shows up here. But there is of a Sebastian Roland who falls off the planet and whose file is no longer on any server when Rune appears.”