Ricochet (11 page)

usually let anyone see this side of him.

"Yes. Not being punished myself - that wasn't

a problem - but watching and listening to it

happening to others, especially subs; that was a

kind of torture for me."

"You've spent a lot of time in Justice Halls,

haven't you?" Matt said quietly, looking at him.

Rick shrugged. "Some," he muttered.

"So why do you get yourself into so much

trouble?" Matt asked. "I mean, first there was

today at work, then this evening."

"I don't do it on purpose." Rick took another

sip of his wine. "I don't pay enough attention to

details, I guess."

"I don't think that's it," Matt said, giving him a

thoughtful look.

"Don't psychoanalyze me, Lake! I'm not the

one who counts things compulsively." Rick dug his

foot into Matt's thigh to make it clear he was

teasing.

"True." Matt glanced across the room. "You

really have the most giant TV screen I've ever

seen, Rick."

"Yeah, well, I earn all this money now, so I

wanted to spend it on things that remind me of that

fact whenever I look at them." Rick grinned.

"Can we watch something?"

"Sure." Rick grabbed the remote and turned

on the TV. "I recorded tonight's episode of
Collar

Crime
earlier. Want to watch us for a laugh?"

Matt grimaced. "I hate watching myself. I

always think I make really crappy acting choices,

while you and Daniel are always so good. I keep

wondering when Petra is going to notice and fire

me."

"Idiot!" Rick nudged Matt with his toe again.

"C'mon - it'll be fun. Isn't this the episode where

the chief's dark secret is revealed?"

"Yup! Although we do already know what

that is."

"Yeah, but we haven't seen it all nicely edited

together with meaningful music. C'mon - let's laugh

at ourselves!"

Rick grabbed hold of Matt's arm and pulled

him down on the sofa next to him. Matt kicked off

his shoes and put his feet up, settling down beside

him. It felt cozy, and Rick thought how nice it was

to have company that he wasn't trying to sweet-talk

into bed for a change.

The opening credits came up, accompanied

by the high speed, catchy theme song that summed

up the show in a nutshell.

There was a moody, authoritative shot of

Daniel, followed immediately by three faster shots

of him: jumping over a car's hood, gun in hand;

looking angsty as he caressed a vintage collar

nestling in a box, unused; and finally a rare shot of

him smiling directly to camera, in which he looked

devastatingly handsome.

Matt whistled. "Wow - you can see why he

was named the sexiest sub in the world five years

running when he was in the
Insubordination

movies!"

Then it was Rick's turn - the first shot was of

him looking at himself in a mirror while he

buckled on his collar before work - which had

been the very last scene from the original pilot.

That was followed by a montage of him chasing a

suspect; lying handcuffed and bare-chested in bed

with a sexy smile on his face; and kneeling down

in front of Chief Christie, looking contrite.

"Ooh - sexy!" Matt whistled at the bedroom

shot. "How many sex scenes have you done on the

show so far?"

"Tons. I'm the eye candy in case you hadn't

noticed!"

"Hah! I thought we'd all been specially

selected to appeal to a broad range of possible

tastes, Mr. Up Yourself," Matt commented

acerbically.

"Yeah - but I bring the sex, obviously." Rick

poked him in the thigh, and Matt rolled his eyes.

"Oh, look what we've got here; poor little butter-

wouldn't-melt Agent Ben Harris!"

Matt's first shot showed him fingering his

throat in a disappointed way, clearly upset by the

lack of a collar. His montage was him nervously

dropping his gun; then gazing up a well shaft

covered in grime; and finally, looking cool

wearing a tuxedo to a party.

"Which episode was that? The tux?" Rick

frowned.

"The one where I'm undercover, pretending to

be a rich dom at a party," Matt replied, taking

another sip of his wine. He'd already gone through

one glass and was on his second.

"Oh yeah! I remember that one! It was your

first undercover assignment; you totally fucked up,

and Alex had to step in to save the day."

"That's the one." Matt grinned at him over the

rim of his wine glass. "I had a lot of fun with that

one."

"Ooh, kinky! Did playing a dom turn you on?"

Rick purred seductively in Matt's ear.

"Not really. Does playing a sub in every

single episode turn you on? Matt threw back at

him.

Rick roared with laughter. "That would be

telling!"

"The show's about to begin so shush!" Matt

ordered as the massive
Collar Crime
logo came

up onscreen.

It was relaxing watching the episode with

Matt. They both zoned out and enjoyed it, laughing

at some of the bizarre twists the plot took.

"Ooh look - here comes Karl - time for that

big showdown with the chief!" Matt said, pointing

as Karl slunk onto the screen, in character as Jason

Jarvis, looking slimy and sinister. "Now, he's a

good actor," Matt observed. "I mean, he's a really

nice guy in real life, but he's pure evil onscreen."

"Aw, you have the hots for Karl Morgan."

Rick poked Matt in the ribs.

"I do not!" Matt giggled, waving a hand to

shove Rick away and spilling some of his wine on

his own shirt in the process. "Oh shit…" Matt

wiped at the big stain ineffectually, and his entire

body tensed up.

"Leave it. It doesn't matter," Rick said.

"But there's some on your carpet! I'm so

sorry!" He turned a stricken face towards Rick.

"I'll pay for it to be cleaned. Oh hell…" He rubbed

at the carpet frantically. "Do you want me to

leave?" he asked miserably.

"What? Don't be an idiot. It's fine. Shit like

that doesn't freak me out. Just relax." Rick pulled

him back onto the sofa. Matt was still tense so

Rick stroked the side of this thigh; usually Matt

shoved people away when they got too far into his

personal space, but this time he seemed not to

notice, and he gradually started to relax.

"Anyway, what would it matter if you did

have the hots for Karl?" Rick said, trying to

resume their conversation and further defuse Matt's

tension. "He's a nice guy. You could do worse."

"True, but I think he has the hots for Daniel,

so it wouldn't be any use if I did."

"Really? He likes Daniel?" Rick blew out a

surprised whistle. "Poor Karl. That's never gonna

happen. I bet most subs would fall over themselves

to be with Karl because he's a good looking dom,

but not Daniel. He's the one sub in the world that

Karl can't have."

"Yeah. Poor Karl. He's a nice guy, and so is

Daniel. I think they'd be good together."

"Talking of good together - this scene

between the chief and Jason Jarvis totally rocks!"

Rick said, as the scene playing out on TV reached

a dramatic climax. "Aw! Poor Chief Christie!

Jason once stole the only sub he ever truly loved,

and it hurt him so badly that he's never allowed

himself to fall in love again. He's kept the collar

he was going to give her all this time because he

never got over her." Rick made a theatrical

sobbing sound.

"And now Jason Jarvis is back, intent on

hurting the chief again," Matt said. "Cue sinister

music!"

"How's he going to do that?" Rick asked. "I

don't remember this bit. I sometimes zone out in the

scenes I'm not in during the table read."

"Just watch." Matt winked.

They watched in silence as the final scene

showed Matt as Ben Harris walking into a bar. In

an act of rebellion against his strict Lenkan

upbringing, he'd gone looking for a dom to take his

virginity.

"Oh shit," Rick breathed, as Jason Jarvis

entered the bar, sat down beside innocent, naive

Ben, and turned to him with an evil smile.

"Jason is going to try and steal the chief's

agents from him, one by one, starting with poor

Ben." Matt grinned up at him.

"Oh no! So, next week are we going to see

you and Karl writhing around naked in his

playroom?" Rick teased. He was surprised when

Matt's shoulders tensed again. "Hey - is there a

problem?"

"No. Well, not really…" Matt glanced at him.

"Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have drunk so much

wine; I'll say something I regret."

"What is it, Matt?" Rick sat up. "Matt?" he

said softly, ignoring how much his ass was hurting

right now. "C'mon - you're my best friend - you can

tell me."

"Your best friend? Really?" Matt said

skeptically. "You're the great Richard O'Shea, the

hottest thing in town right now. Everyone wants to

be your friend."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who came

around tonight and brought me pizza," Rick pointed

out. "I don't see anyone else at the door. You're

also the only one who didn't show up to my public

humiliation at work earlier."

"Public humiliation…? But, you invited

everyone, Rick! You played the whole thing up!"

"I had to. People would have heard about it

and come along anyway if I hadn't; this way, I got

to make it look like it didn't matter."

"But it did matter," Matt said quietly. "Yes?"

"Yes." Rick shrugged. "So tell me, Matt -

what's bugging you about the plot line between

Jason Jarvis and your character?"

Matt looked down at the floor. "The writers

are building up to a big sex scene. We won't be

filming it for a few weeks - first Jason is going to

woo Ben and make him fall in love with him. Then

he's going to invite him over for a session in his

playroom."

"What's the problem with that? You've filmed

sex scenes before."

"No, I haven't. I've filmed love scenes before,

and they were pretty tame compared to how this

will be," Matt said miserably. "In this scene, my

character loses his virginity and totally gives it up

to the dom who is seducing him."

"I still don't see the problem."

"The problem is that I don't know how that

feels! I've never given it up to any dom - not

really." He looked so desperately embarrassed that

Rick felt sorry for him.

"So that's your dark secret, Matty? C'mon! As

dark secrets go, it's hardly that bad." Rick pushed

his wine glass away, deciding he wouldn't drink

any more in case he confessed to a few dark

secrets of his own. He was pretty sure that his

would beat Matt's, hands down.

"But in this sex scene, Ben has to fall under

Jason's spell, submit completely, and really fly. He

has to go into his sub-space and stay there for

hours," Matt said gloomily.

"And you don't think you can act that?" Rick

asked.

"I don't know! I've never been in sub-space in

my life, Rick. I don't have a clue how to act it."

"Well, I'm not a sub but I still act that every

day. You don't have to have lived something to act

it, Matt," Rick told him reasonably. "If they wrote

you murdering someone you wouldn't have to go

out on a killing spree to know what it's like. You

have empathy and imagination - that's part of what

acting is."

"I know that. It's just… I know the audience

will be able to see it's not authentic. I won't be

able to go with it because I can't in my real life,

either. I get tense and anxious and that'll show in

my performance. I'm also worried about screwing

up during the filming. It's going to be pretty

explicit, and I'm worried I might freak out if Karl

has to tie me up, or gag me, or something."

"Wow, this is really getting to you." Rick put

a hand on Matt's shoulder and squeezed,

reassuringly. "Look, Matt, how about I have a

word with Karl, and we go into a rehearsal room,

just the three of us, and get you nice and relaxed