Born to Please [Pleasure Vessels 1] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (2 page)

His father’s jaw tensed. “That’s why I came, boy. To give you the birthday present I’ve been preparing for you for years.” His father handed over a dark-blue folder embossed with the Facility’s emblem of two crossed swords in front of a blazing sun.

Alec frowned. “What’s this?” He opened the file and was stunned by the headshot inside. Emerald-green eyes pierced the viewer with the intensity of their gaze, and dark-chocolate hair framed the loveliest face Alec had ever seen.

“This is your present,” his father said. “When you were five years old, I had a diagnostic done on you that I then used to engineer the perfect mate for you. I was pretty surprised when I found out that you’d grow up to be a homosexual, but such things can’t be helped once they’re solidified in young children. His name is Payne, and you can pick him up at the Facility in town tomorrow.”

“Dad!” Alec exclaimed, his eyes bulging. “You manipulated a Vessel to suit me when I was five?” That was unheard of. Usually they ran tests and paired the buyer with an existing Vessel. This level of manipulation would only be dared by his dad.

His father snorted at his dramatic reaction. “Of course. I wanted to give you a present that would suit you for years to come. This way he isn’t grossly younger than you, just five years, and he won’t be seeking you out for money and divorcing you to get alimony. You’re welcome.”

“But, Father, I don’t want—”

“I have to get going,” his father interrupted. “There is another meeting I have to attend before I can go home. Have a good birthday.” He turned without allowing Alec to finish and walked back through the brightly decorated living room, through the barrage of guests, most of whom Alec didn’t even know, and out the front door. The man certainly knew how to make an exit.

He drained his champagne glass and set it on the tray of a passing waiter. Well, it was the most interesting gift anyone had ever given him at any rate. He drummed his fingers against his slack-covered thigh and wondered what it would be like to have a Vessel, to be responsible for another being. Dating the old-fashioned way was apparently not in his future. He sighed. He didn’t know if he liked this.

* * * *

“Suck me.” Trainer R’s harsh, masculine voice broke through Payne’s nightmare. His eyes slid open in disorientation. It was the middle of the night according to the digital readout over his head.
Three a.m
. It was against normal protocol for a Trainer to come to the Vessel’s quarters at any time, even stranger for one to come in the middle of the night.

Payne rubbed his eyes in confusion. “Trainer R, sir?” he asked, his voice gravelly from sleep.

“I said get out of bed and suck me.” The Trainer grabbed his arm and all but hauled him out of bed. Payne cried out in pain as thick fingers bruised his arm and he fell heavily to his knees. He winced, his apprehension growing. What was going on?

Desiree’s voice interrupted from the top bunk. “Excuse me, sir.”

Payne couldn’t see her, but he willed her silent. This was his regular Trainer, and he didn’t tolerate questioning.

“You will remain silent for the duration, Vessel Desiree,” the Trainer snapped. “This is the last test in your training, Payne. You must be prepared to give your Master pleasure at any hour he deems appropriate, even if that means in the middle of the night.”

Payne frowned. This sort of sporadic training wasn’t supposed to take place until the week before placement, and it was never supposed to be sexual. Fear began to infiltrate his body. Even if he called foul, he would be punished for bucking his training, and he knew it. There was no good solution here.

“Sir?”

The Trainer growled. “I didn’t give you permission to speak, boy.”

“Sir,” Desiree interrupted again.
I don’t want you punished, sissy
. He swallowed.
Please hush
.
If he’s going to hurt me, no one will even care
. “This goes against normal protocol. If a Vessel is to be trained in the sexual arts prior to their placement with their owner, then the act must be witnessed in a full Facility lab with the proper witnesses. Shall I call the Director and arrange for Payne’s transportation?”

Dead silence met her challenge. Payne started to sweat, praying it worked. The Trainer sighed like she’d pointed out a very inconvenient truth. He cleared his throat. “Be ready at 8:00 a.m. Your Master will be here to pick you up at eight thirty.”

Payne sat back, stunned at the announcement. He was being picked up tomorrow? He was leaving the Facility?

“Get some sleep, Vessel. You have a big day ahead of you.” The Trainer gave him an indiscernible look and sighed again. He looked as if he were about to speak again, but instead he shook his head and left the room. Payne knew he dodged a bullet with the Trainer’s easy surrender to Desiree’s bluff. But it wasn’t his near miss with the Trainer that had unnerved him. It was what the Trainer had revealed.

The rest of the bunk was silent, and he knew that the others wouldn’t say a word. They’d been trained not to comment. Payne tucked himself back into bed. He lay awake, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He was surprised at the panic that raced through his bloodstream at the thought of his long-awaited Master. Tomorrow he would no longer be a statistic on the company’s chart. Tomorrow he’d no longer be just Vessel number 8189, Pleasure Unit P102. Tomorrow he’d be just Payne. Tomorrow he’d become someone’s lover.

* * * *

“When do I get to see the Vessel?” Alec asked as he was given the grand tour of the Boston-based Compound. Apparently they rolled out the red carpet when the son of the senior CEO came calling. It was as opulent as every other Facility Alec had been to. Marble floors, high ceilings, and expensive lobby furniture was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the wealth of the place.

The chipper redheaded man gave him an easy smile as he talked in his very distracting, flighty manner. “We’ll get to the Vessel transfer room in another five minutes. It will be there that you get to give the specimen a last physical examination before we do the personality alignment, the final fitting as it were.”

“Good. Can’t wait,” Alec said a little impatiently. He’d dressed in a black Gucci suit that emphasized his build and gave him a sharp sexiness, or so he’d been told by his assistant. He’d also spent far too long preening in the mirror of his hotel room arranging his hair into perfection. He’d hoped that it would make an impression on the Vessel, because it’d taken him forever to get ready. He’d resolved to make the best of this situation. Besides, it would be nice not to have to cater to a lover who would make unreasonable demands on his time and resources. His last boyfriend had been a testament to how incompatible his life was with a romance.

“Hey, Jimmy!” another worker called out in greeting from behind yet another reception desk. “The Vessel is set up and ready for his examination. They’re ready for you in room four.”

The redhead, who was apparently named Jimmy, turned his attention to Alec with a smile. “They’re ready for us, Mr. Kane.” Alec nodded, and his heart sped up in anticipation.
About damn time
.

* * * *

The redheaded Trainer that had taught him his first etiquette lessons spoke in calm, measured tones as Payne bowed his head. “Payne, please step forward onto the lighted square so that your Master may examine you.”

His eyes were trained on the floor, the training protocol demanding he keep his eyes lowered unless given express permission to raise them. He wanted to look though. It was almost impossible to deny the impulse. Curiosity over his new Master was eating him alive.

A light turned on at the center of a slightly raised platform which Payne stepped up on. He fell into a casual pose as he’d been taught. He knew that the lighting showcased his naked body to its finest. Oil had been slicked over his tight muscles, and he’d been forbidden to eat anything in the last twelve hours so that the muscles of his abdomen stood out in ropey perfection. Desiree had even been instructed to wash and style his hair for this first meeting, and Payne was surprised to find himself utterly terrified. What if his Master was like his last Trainer? What if he desired to see his blood and pain more than his pleasure? He resented how this person whom he’d never met had this much control over him already.

“Can you give us a moment?” The voice of his Master went straight to his cock as if some sort of signal had been given to his body at those softly uttered words. Payne blushed as his body stirred without provocation. He’d been engineered to be this man’s lover. If there was a formula for fated mates, the Facility had figured it out and tapped into it.

“Of course,” the Trainer said. “When you’re ready, press the red call button on the wall, and I’ll be back with you.”

The door swished open and closed, and they were alone. Payne shifted from foot to foot as silence stretched on. It was his scent.
His scent is driving me crazy.
Maybe this was what they meant when they said they were absolutely compatible. All he could think about was plastering his body all over whoever was in the room with him and wallowing in his scent. A sharp intake of breath from the other man clued Payne in that the man appreciated his oil-slicked body and his hardened arousal.

“Look at me,” his soon-to-be Master commanded. “You haven’t looked at me once. Look at me.”

Payne raised eyes and met the man’s light-blue ones, and his world shifted. He’d never seen anything or anyone so beautiful. Payne’s arousal jerked.
Oh my. What would it be like to touch him
?

“What is your name, Vessel?” the man asked. He didn’t have a cold voice like his instructors had.

Payne swallowed. “I’m Vessel 8189, though I prefer Payne.”

The man smiled. “I like a man who asserts himself. I expected shy and submissive, but this is even better. Calm confidence has always been my weakness. It’s uncanny how well the compatibility works.”

Payne shrugged. “If you say so, my lord.”

“Then I will call you Payne. May I touch you, Payne?” he asked with a smile.

Payne was confused by his politeness. “If that is what you desire, my lord.”

“I want you to call me by my name. Call me Alec,” Alec corrected.

“As you wish…Alec.” Payne tested the name on his tongue and found it pleasing. His body jumped as Alec’s fingertips touched the planes of his stomach.

“You are gorgeous,” Alec complimented.

“Thank you, my…Alec,” Payne corrected himself. This was awkward but not uncomfortable. He could get used to this. He wasn’t allowed to call anyone by name but his fellow Vessels. Perhaps his new owner would fulfill some of Payne’s desires in addition to his own. Payne could only hope.

* * * *

Alec’s hands moved freely over his skin, tracing his muscles with barely restrained lust. Alec tried to explain his out-of-character groping. “I don’t know why I feel like I need to touch you so badly.”

“It’s our compatibility,” Payne explained, gasping as Alec traced the puckered tips of both his nipples. “We are perfectly aligned. The urge to mate is normal.”
Is that my imagination, or does he seem a little breathless
?

“Is it normal for people to, uh, be with their Vessels before they leave the Facility?” Alec asked. The more he touched Payne, the more he desired to touch and explore and—
Damn, I’m acting like an animal. He doesn’t deserve that.

“Not normally, but I’m sure they’d make an exception if you so choose,” Payne said, leaning into Alec’s touch.

“I don’t want you to think that I am just some horny guy aiming to get off.” Alec felt the need to explain, which was ridiculous because that was what the Vessel was made for after all. He mentally rolled his eyes. He wasn’t some guy Alec was aiming to pick up at a bar. This was basically a handpicked partner or something. He wouldn’t really be a partner, though, would he? He was a very expensive toy. He got confused by his own marketing. But it certainly didn’t feel that way.

Payne chuckled, but it held an edge of resentment. “I’m a Pleasure Unit. A Vessel designed specifically to fulfill your physical needs and provide you whatever you need. If you desire me, I make myself available. That is the life of a Vessel.”

The bitter edge to Payne’s voice caused Alec to look at him in curiosity. Vessels weren’t supposed to feel resentment. They had been bred with very specific traits. Being eager to please was one of them. Alec reluctantly dropped his arms and took a step back to look at his Vessel once again.

“Shall I service you, my lord Alec?” Payne asked. Alec could’ve sworn he saw a hint of mockery in his gaze.

He hesitated an instant before replying. “No. That won’t be necessary. I can wait.”

He looked at Payne’s body in admiration. He didn’t understand how the Vessel was feeling anything but joy at the prospect of belonging to a man such as himself. He wasn’t being arrogant. He just knew that a lot of Vessels were sold to far less generous and far worse-looking men. It irritated him that he was found wanting by a being who wasn’t even classified as human.

“As you wish, my lord.” Payne’s words were appropriate, but the tone was all wrong. Gone was the almost playful soon-to-be lover, and here stood this resentful being that was rubbing Alec the wrong way.