Deviations: Submission (4 page)

"Ah!" Noah hissed and arched into Tobias' hand reflexively.

"Yes. Yes, sir, very steady, consistent ... very good," he 28

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

panted and lowered his hips to the pillows again. He shifted, as if lying on his back wasn't comfortable.

"Good. Roll over, back the way you were." Tobias stood easily and retrieved the flogger while Noah did as he was told.

He found himself eager to hear more sounds, to see Noah shift; ruefully, he took a moment to adjust his own erection before returning to replace the ball in Noah's feet.

Again without warning he resumed his strokes, beginning in a sensitive area and moving to Noah's ass, open and high for him.

"Ah!" Noah flinched and groaned at the first stroke as the flogger hit already reddened skin and he lifted his head, a beautiful wince on his face rewarding Tobias' efforts. The blows to his as yet untouched ass were less stinging at first and Noah was able to relax a bit, dropping his head back to his arms.

Still, with his legs open it couldn't be avoided, and even if it could, Tobias wasn't inclined to. As the biting tails of the flogger stung the soft skin of Noah's balls he shifted forward, recoiling slightly. "Uh, fuck," Noah cursed at the sting, his voice tight now, and his body seeming to buzz with tension.

Carefully, Tobias moved back up Noah's ass and then down again, making the strokes lighter. He had no wish to injure the man, but he wanted to hear him beg, to hear him ask for something-anything. He wanted a word, an orgasm, a reaction to make Noah break for him, to give him something.

He wanted a gift.

Noah was rocking a bit now; perhaps he'd found some friction in the pillows beneath him, or perhaps the sting of the 29

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

flogger was making it difficult for him to keep still. Either way it was a sign that he was letting go, that sensation was becoming more important to him than composure. He moaned, and gripped the pillows by his head with his fingers.

"Uh ... sir ... sir, permission to-please, sir, permission to touch myself?" Noah's request was earnest.

"Denied." Tobias kept the flogger steady in its rhythm, but far lighter in its touch, caressing Noah's balls. Then he went back to the regular strength on Noah's back for a few moments before resuming the subtle torture between Noah's legs.

Noah's composure slipped completely at the denial. He groaned and whimpered, but Tobias knew that without permission he wouldn't touch himself. Instead Noah arched his hips lower, definitely seeking friction this time, and panted harshly. Noah moaned for him again. "So hard, sir." Noah grunted under the slap of the flogger, and whimpered pitifully when Tobias teased him with it, folding quickly under Tobias'

skillful hand. "Sir, sir, please remove the ring? Sir? Will you please? Oh, God I need it now, please, sir?"

Tobias smiled. "I just put it on, boy. You seem to have trouble making up your mind."

"Oh, please!" Noah begged, almost shouting, the strain in his voice making Tobias tingle. "Mercy, sir, please, please, please..." Noah sounded on the verge of weeping.

Quickly Tobias bent, unsnapping the ring. It threw his rhythm off, but the gift had been given and Noah deserved a reward. "You're mine," he whispered. "Right now, you belong 30

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

to me." Standing, he trailed the tails of the flogger over Noah's ass, waiting.

Noah made a strangled sound, his body jerked and shook as he came instantly, spraying the pillows as he jerked his hips into them. Along with the physical release came a litany of gratitude. "Sir! Oh, yes, yes, yours ... thank you ... thank you, sir," Noah panted, riding out his climax.

And, as if that wasn't a lovely enough thing to behold, as Noah started to come back to himself, as the grip of his arousal lessened and he relaxed, his toes curled innocently, and the ball he'd so stubbornly held steady to this point rolled from its cradle and rang cheerfully, mockingly, as it hit the floor.

Noah froze at first, then bent to one side to watch the ball roll away from him. A moment later he seemed to collapse inwardly, disappointment registering in his shoulders as he punched the pillows under him with one angry fist and dropped his head heavily onto his arms again. "Fuck!" he spat bitterly, brokenly, and Tobias watched in surprise as he began to sob softly.

Tobias dropped the flogger and knelt beside Noah, one hand stroking his hair as he figured out how best to maneuver the man's body without hurting his tender back.

"Shh," he said calmly. "Shhh. I'm going to move you, Noah.

Listen to my voice, boy." Carefully, talking softly the entire time he pulled Noah onto his lap.

Cradling the distraught man, Tobias kept talking, stroking his hair softly. "Noah, come back, sweetheart. You were beautiful, boy." He waited for the man to calm, his touch and 31

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

voice soothing and constant. It occurred to him that the last time he'd used that particular tone he'd been dealing with a sow who'd had a run in with a fox. The comparison didn't really seem apt.

As Noah's sobbing subsided, he became heavier in Tobias'

lap. "I'm sorry, sir," he apologized and cleared his throat.

"Shit," he swore again and took a deep breath, exhaling it heavily. He seemed to be Noah again, though his voice was still unsteady, even a bit timid. "If it pleases you, sir, may I have a sip of your water?"

"Certainly. Stay here." Tobias leaned over, depositing Noah back on the pillows. "Lie or sit however you wish," he said as he fetched two of the bottles, opening them on the way back.

He sat down beside the pillows and looked at Noah, trying to catch his eye. "Are you all right?" he asked, passing him a bottle.

Noah kept his eyes down, and chose to kneel, even though it wasn't asked of him. Refuge in the familiar, Tobias suspected. Noah took the bottle gratefully. "Thank you, sir, yes, sir, I'm fine. You are very skilled. I'm sorry." He took a sip of the water and sighed.

Tobias drank from his own bottle, trying to decide how to handle this. He had a lot of experience with tears, with catharsis, with anger from subs when they broke, but nothing like the disappointment Noah was showing. He'd fought a battle with himself and lost, and no matter what he said, Tobias wasn't ready to believe that Noah was entirely fine.

32

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

"Apology accepted," he said, using the same soothing tone. "And thank you. It was a pleasure to watch you. Your submission was beautiful. Your failure to hold the ball, however, seems to bother you much more than it does me.

Tell me why."

Noah tilted his head to the side and bit his lip, looking thoughtful. "I'm not sure, sir. It started out a stubborn need to prove something to you, I suppose, but then as I gave over I stopped remembering why I shouldn't drop it and just had this awful feeling that whatever I did, I had to hang into it, anything but let myself drop it. So when I heard it drop, and even now, sitting here, it felt like, it feels like failure, like I let you down, like I let myself down. I don't know. It's not about the safeword itself, it's about finding limits."

Tobias thought about that for a moment and leaned back, shifting so his legs were out straight in front of him, his ankles crossed. His trousers weren't even creased, he noticed, and Noah was red, sore and come splattered. "Limits are important," he said slowly. "You know that. You set them when you play, you live by them in your work. What you are doing, sweetheart, is trying to find yours, to test yourself to get beyond them without knowing where they are. How long has it been since you've had a steady Dom?"

"Close to eighteen months, sir," Noah told him. "But he was too-he was hesitant, uneasy with really pushing me. I haven't been truly challenged since before him. More like two years? This was good, sir, it felt good. It felt ... honest.

Clarifying. It's just serving to strengthen my conviction that this is the right path for me. Finally, something." He 33

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

swallowed back more water and sighed. "I used to know myself so well, but..." Noah shrugged. "You're right, I'm not sure I know where my limits are anymore."

With a shrug of his own Tobias said, "That's because they've changed. They change all the time, Noah, and if you've gone years without a true exploration of them, of course they've changed. You've grown, you've learned, you're a new person. It takes time and care and honesty with yourself to find them again. Tonight ... it may have felt good, but it was nothing really, not what it could be. All that happened tonight is that I made you be still, made you listen to your body. I made you come is all. I know none of your boundaries, I only know what I like. Lucky for you, it worked this once."

Noah carefully placed the cap back on his bottle of water and handed it back to Tobias. "Forgive me for interrupting our session, sir." His eyes were still fixed on an invisible spot on the floor.

Tobias reached out and touched his hair again, then stroked his cheek softly. "There's nothing to forgive, boy. This is a session, probably the important part. It's my job to meet your needs as much as it is yours to meet mine, no?"

Noah pressed his cheek into Tobias' fingers with a sigh, letting his eyes slide closed. "I'm grateful for your comfort, sir. Please, tell me, what can I do to meet your needs now?

Would you like my body? My hands on you? My mouth? It would be my honor to please you."

Tobias' long forgotten erection renewed itself almost immediately, the speed of his hardening almost 34

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

embarrassing. "You're sure you feel better?" he asked, not willing to satisfy himself with a less than willing partner.

"Yes, sir," Noah said. "Really, I am. Please ... let me pleasure you?"

Tobias' cock throbbed, encouraging him, pushing him. He let go of Noah's face slowly, tracing his lower lip with one finger. "Suck me," he whispered. "Slow and long. Please me, and you earn a kiss."

Noah scooted closer and reached for Tobias' trousers. He popped the button at his waist easily and, taking his time, he lowered the zipper. Gently, he slid fingers into Tobias' briefs and released his straining cock and heavy, silky balls. Noah hummed approval to him and ran his fingers gently over the shaft.

Tobias caught his smile and watched as Noah shifted to lie on his stomach, so that Tobias was able to examine his's his pink cheeks and the red stripes on Noah's back-his own handiwork-while Noah lowered a wet tongue and hot breath to his neglected erection.

He seemed in no hurry as he ran his tongue in circles around the head and then lower to bathe his balls. Gently he took each one into his mouth and sucked on it, pressing it to the roof of his mouth before releasing it to cater to the other.

It was slow, exquisite torture until Noah's attentions went back to his cock, licking up its length, gripping the base tightly in his fingers, taking the head into his mouth.

Tobias watched, entranced with the sight of his erection slowly sliding between Noah's lips, for as long as he could hold a breath. It wasn't intentional; the air in his lungs simply 35

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

refused to leave until forced out in a long stream that roused him slightly. He lifted one hand to Noah's hair and petted him, encouraged him until the next breath was forced out.

"Good boy," he said, surprised at how tight his voice was.

"God, such a good boy." He let himself fall back on the pillows, his eyes closing as all his senses centered on his groin.

Encouraged, Noah opened his mouth wider and took Tobias in, moving slowly up and down, increasing and then easing off on the suction in turns. He made soft, wet sounds and hummed, which proved to Tobias his willingness and pleasure at being able to serve. Over and over he swallowed Tobias down, keeping a slow and rhythmic pace, but just as Tobias felt himself tense Noah pulled up, licked his lips, and asked in an innocent tone, "Do I please you, sir? Does it feel good? Shall I continue?"

"Whelp," Tobias growled before he could stop himself. He glared down at his boy, fighting off a smile and frustration in equal measures. "Suck me," he ordered again.

"Yes, sir," Noah responded and dutifully swallowed him down again, all the way into his throat as he gave Tobias'

balls a squeeze.

Reflexively, Tobias thrust, both of his hands flying to Noah's head, keeping him there. He wanted, he needed ...

God, how he wanted. "Can you take it?" he asked, forcing himself not to growl this time.

Noah braced a hand on Tobias' hip for leverage and then nodded as best he could manage around Tobias' thick erection.

36

Deviations: Submission

by Jodi Payne, Chris Owen

It was all Tobias required. Noah may have misplaced his limits, but surely he knew if he could handle this. With a low groan he began to thrust, keeping Noah's head still. Deep and hard, faster as his breath betrayed him again, Tobias took what he needed, pushing into the clinging wet heat of Noah's mouth and throat.

"Oh, yes," he gasped out when he felt Noah's tongue dance on him. "Take it. Suck my cock, boy." Faster, deeper, harder, his hips lifting off the floor, he moved. Claimed Noah's mouth, bruised his lips and dove into his heat until he felt his orgasm unfurl, start to travel through him.

"Soon. God, yes, take it, take it—" Heat surged through him and he pulled Noah away with one hand, his cock wet and slick as it slapped onto his belly. "Stay," he growled, one hand grabbing his shaft as he started to come, letting it fountain up over his fist to arc onto Noah's face.

Noah shut his eyes and grinned, allowing Tobias to bathe his face in his come. When he was finally empty, Noah wiped his eyes, mouth and nose clean with his fingers and spread the sticky slickness down his chest to mingle with his own.