A Strong Hand (20 page)

"Ah, ah. Hands off, pet," Damian crooned. He pulled the boy closer and outlined his cock by drawing a finger around the bulge. "This belongs to me. You only touch this when I say you may."

"Please, sir, please," Nick pleaded.

"You are so very pretty when you beg, pet," Damian observed, watching Nick's hand stray toward his crotch again.

He turned off the remote and Nick sighed in relief. "I see you need your backside warmed up again to remind you to keep your hands off."

He pulled the wooden chair away from the wall. "Bend over, hands on the seat, ass out."

Nick obeyed and flinched as Damian's hand met his arse sharply, giving him four swats.

"Now remember, you are not to come without my express permission, pet," Damian said. "Stand up."

Nick stood up shakily, eyeing Damian suspiciously. "You're not going to set that thing off out there, are you?"

187

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

Damian hadn't actually planned on it, but that was none of Nick's business. "Feeling nice and full, pet?"

Nick gasped as Damian's hand went into his pocket and the beads started their evil dance inside him. "Yes sir, thank you, sir."

"Very pretty manners, pet. Well, I have product to shoot.

And don't worry. This remote has quite a range. I don't actually have to see you in order for you to feel the effects, so perhaps you'd better be on your best behavior, pet. Carry on."

Damian left the room and Nick leaned weakly against the desk. Then his lips curved in a satisfied smile. Uncle Ashley must have been true to his word; his Top was playing with him again. He pulled downward on his balls, hoping to calm himself to the point where he could walk straight again.

* * * *

While Damian and Nick were getting reacquainted, Derek had approached Ashley with tragic eyes, but said nothing, merely handing him the box he'd been sent to bring.

Ashley knew something was wrong right away and he meant to establish at once whether Derek could accept being in a D/s relationship.

"Well, boy?"

Derek shook his head, but answered, "Nick was kneeling to you."

"And?"

Derek struggled with his own feelings of jealousy. "I didn't like it."

188

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

"Because he was in your place?" Ashley asked quietly. "Is that what you want, Derek? To be on your knees to me?"

"I—I don't know," Derek confessed.

Ashley said, "Look here, in every relationship, power flows back and forth between the partners, but usually one person takes the lead. In the lifestyle, the roles are just more clearly defined. In some ways, it's easier to get what you want.

There's a vocabulary, a ritual to the exchange of power. I don't know that I can give it up, but I haven't the right to order you to try all this out. I think you would enjoy it, but I won't force you."

"Why? What makes you think I'd like ... being spanked?"

Derek spat in disgust.

Ashley sighed. "Derek, do you find it easy being gay?"

"Well, it depends. Around you and Damian and Nick, it's not difficult at all. But out there," he waved his hand, "the hatred, the lack of understanding, the prejudice—"

"Exactly," Ashley agreed. "That's what you're doing to me.

You're judging without experience, deciding based on no evidence at all, that I'm a sadist. Believe me, I don't like hurting people against their will. That's not what I do."

"You mean, people enjoy being hit with a whip?" Derek asked in disbelief.

Ashley laughed. "It depends on how your nerve endings are wired. The line between pain and pleasure is a narrow one. Remember that day I swatted you?"

Derek nodded.

"You had a reaction, you can't deny that. I saw it and you saw me see it. You were disgusted by yourself, not me,"

189

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

Ashley explained gently. "So you ran. You made me the demon."

Derek sighed. "Perhaps I did. Would you be patient with me? Go slow 'til I can figure this out?"

"Of course," Ashley said, his eyes warm. He pulled Derek closer for a hug. "Thank you for being willing to try."

* * * *

The afternoon was torture for Nick. Every time Damian's hand hovered near his pocket, the boy tensed, anticipating that perhaps the photographer was going for the remote. The wicked gleam in the older man's eyes kept him jittering nervously around the studio.

For a short time he decided to hide out in the makeup room, but the sudden tremor against his prostate made him leap to his feet and rush to the studio, staring at Damian with imploring eyes. Without turning to look at him, Damian's hand went to his pocket and Nick drooped with relief when the beads went still.

Whenever his cock started to relax a bit, Damian would hit the button, sometimes only for a few seconds, and Nick would spring to attention again. And as the day wore on, he became more aware of the feeling of fullness. He decided that perhaps, in self-defense, he might want to study up a bit on the items in Ashley's catalog.

He was very grateful to Ashley for setting things right, although the private part of him squirmed at some of the other man's comments. The thought that Ashley knew precisely what was going on between him and Damian made 190

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

Nick blush. The facts that he had allowed Damian to fuck him and spank him weren't exactly ones that he wanted to be common knowledge; he still wasn't entirely sure about the whole gay thing, gnawing it over in his mind. He only knew that when Damian told him to bend over, all the confusion in his head went away and he was happy to obey.

He was very relieved to be sent for takeaway for lunch; at least he'd be out of the range of that deadly remote.

* * * *

It had amused Damian to flick the button of the remote at random intervals during the afternoon, whenever he decided that Nick was getting a bit too comfortable. He'd almost forgotten just how enjoyable it was to toy with his pet.

At the same time, he was aware of currents passing between Ashley and Derek even while he composed his shots.

Damian had to force himself to shoot with his usual care, he was so impatient to reestablish his ownership of Nick.

Ashley lingered at the end of the day, beautifully unconscious except for a wicked glint in his eye, knowing full well that both men wanted him far away. At last he could no longer ignore the pleading look in Derek's eyes and took himself off chuckling, pleased that he had managed to annoy at least three people in one masterful stroke.

He popped his head back in, startling both of them, to whisper in a sepulchral tone to Damian, "The AW 2001, don't forget."

"Beat it, Ashley!" Damian ordered with a grin.

"Yes, sir!" Ashley said and shut the door smartly.

191

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

"He calls you sir, sir?" Nick inquired in surprise.

"Just his little joke," Damian said. "And now," he advanced on Nick purposefully, "I have something I'd like to show you, but you'll have to pay for the privilege. Strip."

Nick's eyes immediately glazed over and his cock twitched.

"Yes, sir." He still couldn't believe how that single word from Damian had the power to make him hard and eager to obey any command. He pulled his clothing off and dropped to his knees, clasping his hands behind his back.

Damian circled the trembling young man, pausing behind him to push his knees apart with his foot. The string tail of the beads still inside Nick was visible between his legs and Damian licked his lips. He would have to exercise his self-control to make it through the scene he had planned for the younger man.

"On your feet and follow me," he ordered.

Nick rose to his feet, eyes downcast, eagerly following the photographer into the back of the studio. Damian pulled some tall stand-reflectors out of the way, revealing a black leather harness of some kind, suspended from sturdy hooks in the beams by steel chains.

Nick eyed it nervously, but so far he had enjoyed the fearful anticipation that Damian knew so well how to build, leading him inevitably to pleasures he had never dreamed of.

"That is a sling, pet," Damian said. He pushed the shaped leather platform with a finger, setting it swaying. Padded leather cuffs were attached to each chain, swinging with the motion of the apparatus.

192

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

Nick couldn't take his eyes off it; he wondered how it would feel, to be spread apart and bound into the sling, helpless and available for whatever Damian desired to do to him. A delicate shiver passed through his body even while he wondered how one got into it.

He jumped when he felt Damian's strong hands at his waist, and then he was being lifted and almost tossed into the sling like a ragdoll. Damian grinned as Nick grabbed at the chains to steady himself.

"Slide down toward me, pet."

Damian's hands closed around each ankle, yanking Nick forward until his arse was hanging over the edge of the black leather. It felt cool and slick on his skin, causing him to shiver slightly.

Damian held Nick's gaze and ordered, "Watch me as I bind you into the restraints."

Nick nodded silently, watching as one of his legs was lifted and strapped into the cuff on the nearest chain. The cuff was quite long, reaching halfway up his calf, the black leather supple against his skin. Damian gave his thigh a little pat after his ankle was buckled in.

Leaving the other leg free for the moment, Damian circled to Nick's head, to place a pillow under his neck. Nick was grateful for the support the sling afforded his hip. He wished he knew what Damian was planning for him although he dared not ask. Once the scene had started, he knew that he had the power to stop it with a word, but he didn't want it to end prematurely by questioning his Top's intentions.

193

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

He watched as first one and then the other slim wrist was secured in similar cuffs. Nick twisted his hands slightly, but there was no way to free himself; he was well and truly bound. He felt his heart start to pound in his chest, thundering in his ears with the thrill of being helpless.

He felt Damian's hands on his free leg, raising his ankle to secure it into the final cuff. The effect made him swallow convulsively; even locked into the spreaders, he had not been so widely spread open, so exposed, so ... accessible.

Damian paused to admire his handiwork. Nick was beautiful when spread wide and restrained, his caramel skin contrasting with the dull gleam of the leather, his long limbs immobile, his eyes wide with apprehension. Damian stroked the soft skin of Nick's vulnerable inner thighs, watching the boy's hips buck in response.

Nick moaned at the sensuousness of the fingers tickling the skin in the crease of his groin but avoiding touching his balls or cock before drifting away.

"So luminescent, like polished gold," Damian gloated, finally allowing his hands to roam over the globes of the bottom exposed to him, his to punish or take, as he desired.

Knowing that Nick would permit him to do what he wanted was exhilarating and terrifying. The weight of the power resting on him almost made Damian back away, but he couldn't resist Nick's enticing helplessness.

Nick's muscles tensed slightly, expecting to feel the sting of a swat from the hard hand. Available on tables all throughout the studio were paddles, crops, whips, floggers, and many other implements of pain. Nick couldn't help but 194

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

realize how accessible he was in his position, spread-eagled and unable to move.

Damian ran his nails up the inside of one silken thigh. He pinched the soft skin and Nick quivered in response, feeling even more vulnerable. He cried out and arched up off the leather base of the sling when Damian started the beads vibrating again. His cock filled out in response, bobbing with his thrusts in search of some direct stimulation.

Damian chuckled and scraped his nails gently over Nick's balls. Nick felt the muscles in his stomach tense and his hips flexed in surprise as he felt Damian's hands fasten something around his hard shaft. He lifted his head and watched as Damian wound a flat ribbon of leather around the length of his cock, leaving only the head visible. Damian twisted the leather around Nick's balls, and the boy squirmed, feeling the stretch of the restraint on his delicate skin.

"You are not to come until I permit it, pet. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Nick said, his voice shaking with the vibration from the beads. He sighed with relief when they were turned off, only to realize that now the throbbing of his bound cock and balls was that much more insistent.

Damian used his nails to flick at the younger man's nipples, running his fingers lightly over his chest and stomach, right along the iliac furrow and down long legs to the ankle cuffs, massaging the arches of his feet.

Nick jumped when he felt the first bead pulled out of his arse, his hole clenching before allowing the bead to pass through. He moaned as the rest of the beads moved in concert inside him, brushing over his prostate.

195

A Strong Hand

by Catt Ford

"Keep squirming like that, pet, and I might have to have you before I finish taking these out," Damian observed, watching the rounded cheeks wriggle. He was thankful that he'd thought to wear a cock ring himself; otherwise this would not last long.

Mischievously, Damian reached for the remote.

Nick squeaked and groaned as the vibration took him by surprise. His hips thrust convulsively, driving his leaking erection up at the ceiling as he raised his arse off the sling, setting it swinging gently.

"None of that, pet," Damian said reprovingly. "I didn't tell you that you could come, now did I?"

"No, sir," Nick gasped. "But please, I don't think I can—"

"Of course, you can, pet. I'll help you," Damian said.

Leaving the beads vibrating, he brought his hand down on Nick's ass smartly, the sting countering the stimulation from the beads. After four swats, he turned the beads off.