Liam exhaled, visibly shaking off his misgivings. He smiled at Jay, warm approval in his voice. “On time. Good. How are you both?”
Telling Liam that Austin was close to a meltdown, and
he
wanted to try something way beyond anything Liam had ever shown an interest in, didn’t seem like the correct answer somehow. Jay settled for smiling back. “We’re fine, Sir. How are you?”
“Busy week, but I left my desk clear tonight, and I’m looking forward to the weekend.” Liam arched his eyebrows, a hint of amusement showing. “Is that enough small talk for now?”
“Sir—” Austin rejoined them, his gaze fixed on Liam’s face. He opened his mouth to speak but froze, sheer panic sweeping across his face, his throat working as if whatever he’d planned to say was stuck there, choking him.
Every protective impulse Jay had made him want to shield Austin from Liam’s scorn or pity, but even as he stepped forward, reaching out, Liam snapped his fingers. “On your knees, Austin. Hands behind your back, head down, please.”
With a sigh of pure relief, Austin sank to the floor.
“Good boy,” Liam said and stroked Austin’s head with the same casual affection he would’ve shown a pet, playing with his hair, fondling his face. He met Jay’s gaze, a warning and a reassurance in his eyes:
Back off. I can handle this.
“Austin, you’re forbidden to speak for the rest of the night, unless I ask you a direct question or you need to safe word. I don’t need your voice. I might need your mouth.” Liam’s fingers trailed across Austin’s lips, a light caress, followed by the thrust of two fingers deep inside Austin’s mouth. Jay’s cock woke, arousal flooding him as he watched Liam fuck Austin’s mouth, crowding all four fingers and a thumb inside, until Austin’s lips were drawn taut, his breath ragged. “Oh, you’re trying to suck them and lick them. Such an eager boy. Yes. I’m definitely going to use your mouth later. If you’re very good for me tonight, Austin, if you serve me as perfectly as I know you can, I’ll let you be the one to make me come.” He pulled his fingers out, wet with saliva, and turned to wipe them across Jay’s face, a contemptuous swipe that had Jay quivering with the need to fall to his knees.
God he loved it when Liam treated him like this, dealing out small humiliations, every one driving Jay’s arousal to new heights.
“Jay, into the den.
Slowly
. I want to watch you.”
He could feel Liam’s eyes on him as he walked. Going at a quarter his usual speed felt like crawling, and his hands itched to take off his clothes. He didn’t have any reason to think Liam wouldn’t let him come tonight, not that it mattered. If Liam got him wound up enough, the release at the end was almost unnecessary.
“Good,” Liam said from the doorway when Jay was in the middle of the room, then let him stand there for so long Jay thought he might go crazy. “All right. Take off your clothes.”
While Jay undressed, Liam went to the cupboard and unlocked it. Just hearing the slide of the key, metal on metal, made Jay shiver. Liam came back with a small red strap in his hand and made an impatient gesture.
“Come here.”
Jay went eagerly, biting his lip when he realized the thing Liam was holding was some kind of cock ring. He needed a ring if he was going to have any chance of being good, of obeying the rule about not coming until he’d been given permission. Visions of the fire play videos he’d seen that morning were still dancing at the edges of his mind, teasing him, and he knew his control wouldn’t be what it normally was.
Liam put the strap on him, slipping it down along Jay’s shaft to the base and then tightening it right to the point of pain. That meant it couldn’t stay on for long, but fuck, that was good.
“Now move that chair into the center of the room, and kneel in front of it,” Liam said calmly and turned away to go back to the cupboard.
The chair was wooden and uncomfortable to sit on; they usually used it to put their clothes on, or as an impromptu table. Now, kneeling in front of it and then moving as Liam directed so that his elbows rested on the seat and his hands wrapped around two of the spindles, Jay liked it more than he ever had before.
“Austin’s getting some things I’ll need,” Liam said, his tone conversational. “He’s going to help me tonight. I think he’ll enjoy it. Well, hurting you, not so much, perhaps, but obeying me? Yes.”
Austin had tried to spank Jay once, when they’d been between Doms and hungry for a taste of submission. It’d ended with Jay torn between frustration and laughter. He hoped Liam didn’t set Austin up to fail so that Austin would earn a punishment. Austin was too fragile for mind games.
Liam appeared in front of Jay, a blindfold dangling from his hand. “You need focus, Jay. To concentrate on what I’m giving you. To accept it in the right spirit, shall we say. Your little rebellions are starting to irritate me. So futile. So ungrateful. I think it’s time you learned who’s in charge here. I’ll give you a clue. It’s me.”
Jay’s fingers were damp with sweat and starting to cramp from his grip on the spindles. He let Liam’s words wash over him, relishing the cool authority in every syllable, the bored drawl turning him on, just as Liam had known it would. He wanted to submit because when he did, it felt so satisfying, but he couldn’t bring himself to give in immediately the way Austin did. He clung stubbornly to the belief that he needed to be conquered each and every time to make his submission count.
He shivered when Liam put the blindfold on him. He liked how not being able to see let him focus on other things, like the sound of Austin coming into the room and kneeling down—close by but without touching him. Liam visited the cupboard again, then returned to Jay. “Don’t move,” Liam said, which was a warning that he was about to be touched.
The next thing Jay knew, his wrists were being tied and secured to each other around the back of the chair. It was rope this time, not the silk scarves Liam usually favored. Rope was better; it dug in more, had a tendency to cause raw spots. This rope wouldn’t, not really, because Liam knew what he was doing and because it was good-quality rope, but Jay could imagine it would. Liam had mentioned that at some point in the future they would take vacation time together and
really
play, put marks and bruises on Jay’s skin that would last longer than overnight.
Austin was quiet as Liam tied Jay’s ankles together. It left him in an awkward position—it brought his knees closer together than was practical for balance, which meant Liam was doing it on purpose. Liam didn’t make mistakes when they were in a scene. Liam knew exactly what he was doing. He’d lead Jay forward until they reached a point where Jay had no choice but to submit.
“I know how much you like this,” Liam said. “But I suspect you need a reminder that it’s not about what you like. It’s about what
I
want. I like to see you like this. Helpless. Austin?”
“Sir?”
“How do you think Jay looks like this?”
Austin’s response was prompt, which was good. It meant he was getting into the scene, into the head space he needed to be in. “Helpless, Sir. Beautiful.”
Liam’s hand made sudden, sharp contact with Jay’s ass. It was shocking not just because it was hard and hurt, but because there’d been no warning. “You’re right. He does look beautiful.”
There was a soft sound against silence. Liam was kissing Austin, Jay realized, rewarding him for his answer, maybe, or for kneeling there looking deliciously obedient. Kissing Austin because in that moment, that was what Liam wanted to do, and so he was doing it.
Jay closed his eyes, deepening the darkness, and tried to picture it. Would Liam’s hands be on Austin’s body or face? Austin wouldn’t be touching Liam; he knew that. Liam liked them kneeling with their hands behind them, nothing obscuring his view. Was Liam’s tongue sliding against Austin’s, coaxing a moan from him, or was it a series of shallow, teasing kisses to leave Austin’s lips sensitized, tingling?
If Jay had been the one being kissed during a scene, Liam would have used his teeth, nipping at Jay’s lower lip until it stung, opening Jay’s mouth by pulling sharply on a handful of hair if Jay tried to resist. He’d fuck Jay’s mouth with his tongue, steal Jay’s breath, make Jay dizzy with lust and love…
Jay bit down on his lip, trying to fool himself that it was Liam’s teeth abrading the tender skin. He didn’t feel ignored, but he did wish he could see them. Liam had once made him sit cross-legged at the head of their bed and tied his wrists to the headboard. Then he’d told Austin to lie on his stomach, his head in Jay’s lap, and spanked, then fucked Austin, who’d been forbidden to give Jay’s quiveringly erect cock as much as a lick.
To distract himself—because, no surprise, he couldn’t come until Liam had—Jay had watched Liam’s face, surreptitiously at first. Then, growing bolder, he’d stared openly.
Liam had grinned at him, inviting Jay to share his enjoyment, and Jay, for all that he was in agony with every warm exhaled breath from Austin, every accidental brush of Austin’s mouth, had smiled back.
Watching Liam come had felt like being given a gift. Getting to—finally—slide his cock into Austin’s waiting mouth had been another.
Now Jay wondered if Austin was fully clothed or naked. He hadn’t been undressed the last time Jay had seen him, but that didn’t mean anything. Was Austin’s cock visible? It had to be standing up hard and eager for attention either way. Jay wished he could touch it, but he was distracted by the feel of something thin and hard being traced along his spine from his shoulders down toward his ass. Had to be the riding crop. He loved the crop, and Liam didn’t use it on him nearly enough as far as he was concerned. The possibility of being hit with it tonight made him part his lips in a silent moan that ended up not being as silent as he’d intended.
“My little pain slut,” Liam said fondly. He trailed the tip of the crop between Jay’s ass cheeks and teased it over his hole. “You know what this is, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir.” Jay tried to turn his face toward Liam, but with his hands and ankles bound he couldn’t move very much.
“I know usually when I strike you with it, I decide on a count ahead of time.”
He did. On previous occasions it had been as many as ten blows.
“But this time I think I’d like to see how far you can take it before you ask me to stop. Twenty? What do you think?”
Jay gasped and arched his back, begging with his ass thrust out. “Please, Sir.”
“Austin? Did you have something to say?”
Jay hadn’t heard anything, so Liam must have seen something on Austin’s face or maybe in the way he was kneeling. Some kind of protest, probably.
“No, Sir,” Austin whispered.
“Good.”
Liam drew the crop over the back of Jay’s left thigh, down to the hollow behind his knee, a slow journey that made Jay struggle to stay still. He wanted to feel the crop strike him, no warm-up spanking, just that stark slash of pain.
“Tell me, Austin, how many do you think he’ll take before he begs me to stop? How many before he really means it and uses his safe word?”
“I don’t know, Sir.”
“You mean you don’t want to think about it.”
“No, I just—”
There was the sound of leather striking skin, and Austin cried out. “You’re forbidden to talk unless I ask you a question,” Liam reminded Austin. The sound was repeated, this time followed by a choked-out groan. “And that was for not answering me. Try again, Austin. How many will he take?”
Jay’s wrists hurt, and it took him a moment to realize why. He was tugging at his bonds, trying to break free and go to Austin. That crop was vicious. Liam had used it on both of them a few months ago, and Austin had screamed out his safe word without hesitation after half a dozen strokes, none of which had been delivered at full strength.
And under his blazing concern ran a dark swell of envy that Austin’s skin bore two red marks and his was bare.
“Twenty-four,” Austin said. The tone was okay. He sounded okay. He had to be okay.
Twenty-four, on the other hand, didn’t seem like nearly enough to Jay. He waited, quivering with need.
“Really?” Liam was amused; Jay could tell. “All right. However many Jay goes over twenty-four, you get as well.”
The room was silent as both Jay and Austin absorbed this. Austin didn’t say anything—he was smart; he’d learned his lesson—and neither did Jay, even though he wanted to. He was straining at the ropes around his wrists again, and more important than that, he was angry. Now twenty-four had to be enough, because there was no way he was chancing Austin getting hit with the crop on his behalf. No way.
“I’m going to be kind and give you the opportunity to modify your guess,” Liam said. “With a penalty, of course. Let’s say…ten strikes? I suspect you’re wishing you’d suggested a higher number originally. Are you?”
“Yes, Sir,” Austin said. Jay wished he could see Austin’s face so that they could at least communicate through their expressions.
“Jay, do you have anything to contribute?” Liam asked.
“Austin, don’t change it,” Jay said instantly. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Don’t do something you don’t want, okay? I don’t mind. Twenty-four is good. It’s great. I don’t need more than that.”
It was a lie, a huge lie, and he was pretty sure Austin knew it, but right then he meant it as much as he’d ever meant anything. Ten strokes wouldn’t be too much for Austin if Liam was careful, but Austin had issues with how much pain Jay needed. Watching Jay go to his limit when Austin was this emotionally churned up would leave Austin a wreck.
For the first time Jay wondered if he could someday have a solo session with Liam, and what it would be like. It felt disloyal to want that and he tried to thrust the thought away, but it clung as persistently as a scrap of plastic wrap. They’d done it once, but that’d been before they’d redefined their relationship, and there had been limits in place.
The prospect of Liam with Jay’s safe word the only limit to his desires was as tempting and dangerous as slipping on the Ring had been for Frodo and Bilbo.
“Well, Austin? How many strokes can he take?”
“He can take forty, Sir,” Austin whispered.