Going Deep (4 page)

Chapter Three

“Thanks,” Jason
said as the waiter placed their drinks on the table and left. He wasn’t sure he
could stomach alcohol, so he’d asked for a diet soda. Todd ordered a beer, and
Brooke sipped something that looked more like a smoothie than an alcoholic
beverage. Clearly, they didn’t suffer from the same bout of nerves he did.

“Jason,” Brooke
said, “you were wonderful tonight.”

“Yeah, thanks,
man.” Todd slid an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tight. “I don’t
let her play with other men very often because she likes it a little too much
for my taste, but occasionally I get off watching her.”

“I should be
thanking you. Both of you.” He tilted his glass in their direction. “I wouldn’t
mind doing it again sometime.”

“We’ll see.” Todd
took a long pull on his beer then set the bottle on the table. “So, tell me
what you thought of the place. How did it feel?”

“I’d be lying if
I said I didn’t want to go back. I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel
like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I never knew people… Well… I
always knew I was missing something. I just didn’t know what it was until
tonight.”

“Yeah, I know
exactly what you mean. I’m not trying to pry, but you were very good for a
beginner. Are you sure you haven’t done anything like this before?”

He glanced
around the bar. Even though it appeared no one was within hearing range, he
folded his forearms on the tabletop, leaned in close, and lowered his voice. “Jeff
and I have been known to share, but no, I’ve never been what you could call a
Dom.”

“Who’s Jeff?”
Brooke asked.

“His twin
brother.”

Brooke smiled.
“Oooohh, twins,” she cooed, her lascivious intent written all over her face.

Todd rolled his
eyes. “His happily married, twin brother,” he clarified.

Jason couldn’t
help but laugh at her crestfallen face. “Oh well, it was just a thought.”

“There was a
time we might have taken you up on the offer,” he said, “but my brother is
happily married, and his wife would kill him, and me, too, if I got him
involved in something like that.”

“But you think
this lifestyle is something you want to explore?” She wrapped her pouty lips
around her straw. She sucked the fruity concoction causing her cheeks to
hollow.
Damn. What a tease.
Todd had his hands full with this one.

“Yes,” he said
without hesitation, tearing his gaze away from the blatant seduction. “I know
tonight was just a taste, but it felt right. More right than anything I’ve ever
done.”

“Well then,”
Todd said. “We need to find you a sub.”

He bolted
upright in his seat. His heart rate skyrocketed. “How do you go about something
like that?”

“We could take
him to the munch next week,” Brooke said.

Todd narrowed
his eyes in thought. “Yeah, that might work.”

“What’s a munch?”

“It’s kind of a
private bar event for people in the lifestyle. A bunch of people meet at a
place like this, neutral ground where they can size each other up, see if there’s
someone they’d like to play with.”

“Oh…no. No.” He
shook his head. “No munches. No public meet-ups. There must be another way.” He
glanced at his tablemates. “How did you two meet?”

“A friend
introduced us at the Dungeon. We hit it off right away.” He smiled at Brooke,
taking her hand in his. “The first time I laid eyes on her, she had me by the
balls. We’d just gotten through the introductions, and she told me she’d done something
naughty and thought she needed to be punished. I asked her what she’d done, and
she said she made herself come while watching me from the other side of the
room.”

Brooke blushed. “I
was there with friends. It was my first time at that Dungeon. The moment I saw
Todd, I knew I was his. It took some doing to find someone who knew someone who
knew him, but I managed the introduction, and well…the rest is history.”

“I punished the
little minx for stealing that first orgasm from me. Every one since then has
been mine,” he said, pride evident in his voice.

Jason’s heart
sank to his toes. “Well, I’m glad lightning struck for you two, but I doubt it
happens that way for most people.”

“No, it doesn’t.”
She laid her hand on Jason’s and squeezed. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t
someone out there for you.”

“Thanks,” he
said, pulling his hand free. Her gentle touch and the conviction in her voice
was almost more than he could bear. Todd really was a lucky bastard. “If you
ever get tired of this lug….”

“Whoa there!
Back this train up.”

“Just kidding,”
Jason said. His wink earned a giggle from Brooke.

“Don’t make me
regret tonight.” Todd finished his beer and signaled the waiter for another. “Spend
some time in the social area. Lots of unattached people come to the Dungeon
looking for a hookup. You’ll find somebody.”

Jason shrugged. “Fat
lot of good it would do me. I don’t know anything about being a Dom. Even if I
found a sub, I wouldn’t know what to do with her. Besides, until I get this
figured out, I’d rather not show my face to a lot of people if you know what I
mean. Jeff has a wife now. If someone mistook me for him….”

“I hear you,”
Todd said. “I hadn’t thought about that.” He looked at Brooke. “We need to find
him someone and keep it private.”

“I know someone
I think he might hit it off with. We just need to figure out a way for them to
meet and keep Jason’s identity a secret,” she said.

“Even if we
could pull this off, I still don’t know what I’d do with her.”

“You’ll learn.
The protocol is pretty simple, and from what I saw tonight, you’ll pick it up
quickly. We’ll see if we can figure out a way for you to meet this friend of
hers. If it works out, I’ll teach you all you need to know,” Todd said. He
turned to Brooke “Are we talking about who I think we’re talking about?”

She nodded.

Todd turned
back. “Don’t sweat it, rookie. Everything’s going to work out fine. Give us a
few days to set things up. We’ll think of something so you two can meet. If you
both want to give it a go, we’ll make sure you get off on the right foot.”

* * *

Jason tossed his
keys on the table by the door. He was exhausted but exhilarated at the same
time—like after winning a big game. He toed off his shoes and made his way to
the kitchen. For the first time in his life, he was alone—truly alone—and it
was something he didn’t think he’d ever get used to. Up until a few weeks ago,
he’d never lived on his own. He and Jeff had been inseparable until his brother
had married Megan, and where once they’d been a threesome, he had become an
uneasy third wheel. So he’d moved out of the home they had built when they
first signed with the Texas Mustangs. He’d bought his current house with the
intention of sharing it with a Stacey. Now, its large floor plan and empty
rooms echoed his failure with every footstep.

Water bottle in
hand, he sank into his favorite chair and listened to the deafening silence.
Scenes from the Dungeon and his conversation with Todd and Brooke afterwards
played over in his mind. His cock stirred. Damn. If anyone had told him a year,
even a month ago he would be turned on by what he’d seen and done at the
Dungeon, he would have called him a liar. What did it say about him that he
wanted to do it all again?

His dark desires
had scared Stacey, and she didn’t know a fraction of the things running through
his brain, driving him crazy with need. Her words and the fear behind them
haunted him to the point he’d thought he was some kind of monster. But if he
was such a monster, why was that damned book such a hit? The hero had done
things to the female character he had never dreamed of doing to a woman, and it
had turned Stacey on. She just didn’t want
him
doing anything close to
that to
her
. Go figure.

But there were
other people like him out there, and thanks to Todd, he knew where to find
them. He owed Todd, big time. Not just for taking him to the Dungeon, but for allowing
him to unleash his desires on someone who found them exciting, who actually
welcomed them. Brooke had been wonderful. Todd was a lucky man.

He couldn’t help
but wonder about the woman they had in mind for him. The idea of being with someone
whose desires and needs mirrored his own, well, if that wasn’t enough to get
his adrenaline running, nothing was.

* * *

Sweat trickled
down his spine as he completed his batter’s box ritual. He was zero for three
today. Fuck, even the crowd was booing him these days. He needed to get his
shit together and start hitting. He dug the toe of his left shoe into the dirt
and hitched up his pant legs, balancing his weight on his bent knees. He swung
the bat to his shoulder in a casual motion that in no way mirrored the anxiety
in his gut. The previous year, he led the league in homeruns, and now he couldn’t
get a fuckin’ base hit to save himself. Much more of this, and he’d lose his
clean-up spot in the batting order.

The first pitch sailed
in, low and outside. He checked his swing in time. Ball one. He swung at the
next pitch, fouling into the net behind home plate. Strike one. The third pitch
caught the edge of the plate. He swung, connecting for a line drive foul into
the left field stands.

One ball. Two
strikes.

He stepped out
of the batter’s box while the catcher threw a fresh ball to the pitcher.

The trickle of
sweat along his spine turned into a river. He missed being in control of his
life. Somehow his messed up personal life had spilled over into his
professional one, and he didn’t have a clue how to fix either. Before he
stepped back into the batter’s box, he closed his eyes and sucked in a deep
breath to center himself. A vision of Brooke on her knees, her ass red from his
attentions popped into his head. Blood rushed south.

Ah, fuck!
There wasn’t any room inside his cup for an erection, not to mention the
horrendous timing. He stepped into the batter’s box, planted his feet, and
focused his inappropriate energy on the next pitch.

The pitcher began
his wind-up. He narrowed his gaze to the patch of white barely visible between
his opponent’s fingers. The moment the ball left the pitcher’s hand, he knew in
his gut, it was a good one. He tracked the orb’s trajectory, innately judging
its velocity. Adjusting his grip, he shifted his weight to his back leg and lightning
quick, swung the bat into the path of the ball. Wood connected with leather.

Thwack
.

A sound to give
a guy a hard-on for sure. He’d hit enough to know it wouldn’t leave the park,
but it was a solid hit, nonetheless. He shifted his focus to first base and put
every ounce of power he possessed into beating the throw. His foot hit the bag,
followed a split-second later by the smack of leather against leather.

“Safe!”

He came to a
stop ten feet beyond the base and doubled over, bracing his hands on his knees.
The hometown crowd roared their approval, adding to the excitement by stomping
their feet in the Mustangs’ signature Thundering Herd rally. He took in two
deep breaths then straightened, waving an arm at the fans, thanking them for
their support. Never mind they were the same crowd who joyfully booed him minutes
ago. He smiled and returned to first base. Fans were fickle. Tomorrow’s
newspaper would celebrate the end of his hitless streak, and in the next
sentence complain it hadn’t been a homerun.

He couldn’t care
less. All that mattered was he was hitting again. One hit didn’t make a streak,
but every streak began with one.

Following the
game, Todd caught up to him in the parking lot. He checked to make sure they
were alone. “What were you thinking about when you got that hit tonight?”

His face flushed
and he was grateful for the darkness surrounding them.
Shit.
Todd would
probably kill him if he knew where his thoughts had been at that moment. “Nowhere
in particular. I was just trying to concentrate on the ball.”

“That’s a load
of crap if ever I heard one.” Todd jiggled the car keys in his hand. “I’d bet
you were thinking about Brooke. Maybe how you’d rather be smackin’ her ass
instead of the ball? I know that’s what I was thinking about when I was at bat.”

Jason dug his
own car keys out of his pocket as they walked. “Naw, man. She’s your woman,” he
lied.

“That she is.
She enjoyed playing with you.” Todd pointed his remote key entry toward his
car. A chirp sounded, and the locks disengaged. “If she’s happy, I’m happy. So,
until you find your own sub—”

“Oh no. No.” He
shook his head. “I don’t think so. I appreciate the offer, and Brooke was…is
spectacular. But I wouldn’t feel right.”

Todd opened the
car door, rested his forearm on the top. “Then I guess we’ll just have to see
what we can do about hookin’ you up with your own woman as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, about
that,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s the thing for me.”

Todd stared. “When
you hit the ball tonight, you were thinking of your handprint on Brooke’s ass,
weren’t you?”

What point was
there in denying it? He obviously could see right through him. “Yeah. But—”

“No buts. You’re
denying your true nature. Go home. Look at some of the books I gave you this
afternoon. We’re on the road for the next week. We’ll talk then.”

Jason nodded and
turned to walk to his own car parked a few spaces away. The vintage Mustang
wasn’t fancy, but it suited him better than a new car fresh off the showroom
floor. No one would ever mistake it for a tame ride.

“I’ve been
there, buddy. Where you are right now,” Todd called.

He stopped at
the sound of his friend’s voice but didn’t turn.