Ricochet (25 page)

"I have a lot of fun along the way." Rick

grinned, and Matt rolled his eyes and then began to

laugh. "What?" Rick nudged him with his toe.

"It just hit me that I have your handprints on

my ass!" Matt doubled over laughing at the

absurdity of that, and Rick joined in, and for a

moment Matt felt as if the OCD, and the crippling

anxiety, and the pressure he put on himself to be

perfect all the time had slipped away, leaving him

happy and relaxed.

Then he remembered that they were only

playing this. They'd been acting. That's what they

did after all, wasn't it? Act?

Rick wasn't due on set until later that

morning, but Matt had a scene with Karl first thing,

and Rick found he wanted to walk him over to the

set and watch the scene. Matt bore his handprints

on his ass, even if only the two of them knew that,

and that made Rick feel protective towards the

young sub.

He put his hand on Matt's shoulder as they

walked over to the make-up trailer, needing to be

in physical contact with him. Rick could still feel

his dominant energy surging through his body, but

he didn't feel the need to put on a show for

everyone today. He was just quietly content.

They were filming the final scenes for the

latest episode, and the set was dressed as a

restaurant. Rick parked himself in the corner and

watched as Karl, in character as Jason Jarvis

leaned over Matt's Ben Harris, like a shark

scenting blood.

It was interesting watching this relationship

play out. Matt brought such a sweet innocence to

Ben, and Karl positively oozed evil as Jarvis, his

lips pulled into a smirk that made him look

completely unlike Karl. Matt acted Ben falling

more and more under Jarvis's spell beautifully, and

Rick found himself caught up in the storyline.

"
Why don't you come to my playroom and

see how good we could be together?
" Karl purred

seductively.

"
I don't know…
" Matt looked torn between

his desire to experience his sexuality and his fear

of what he might learn about himself.

"
Hey…
" Karl ran the back of his hand down

Matt's cheek. "
Only if you'd like to, sweetheart - I

just want you so much. You must know I'm falling

in love with you, Ben.
"

"
Love?
" Matt looked confused and flattered at

the same time. "
You're in love with me?
"

"
I have to confess that I am.
" Karl brought

just the right degree of seductive machination to

the role. "
And I long to show you what that love

means to me - why don't you come to my

playroom and find out?
"

"
I could have a safeword?
" Matt asked, with

sweet naivety.

"
Of course; I insist. I always play safely.
"

Karl glanced at the camera in a way that made it

clear he was lying. "
We'd be good together, Ben.

Chief Christie only hands out apprenticeship

collars to his team, not the real thing. He isn't

interested in you beyond how well you do your

job. He can't give you what you need, but I can.
"

Karl moved his hand down to circle Matt's

wrist, overtly testing the innocent young sub's

response. It was a common way for a dom to test

their dynamic with a sub they were interested in,

and Rick found himself holding his breath,

wondering what Ben's response would be. Matt

looked both troubled and excited at the same time,

teetering on the brink of sexual awakening, and it

was mesmerizing.

"
What do you say, Ben? Will you be mine?
"

Karl asked, and the camera zoomed in for a close-

up on Matt's face, leaving the viewer uncertain as

to his reply.

The director called "cut", and Rick

immediately roared, "Don't do it, Ben! He's evil!"

and everyone laughed, breaking up the intense

mood of the scene.

Matt drew his wrist away from Karl's grasp

and rubbed it absently. Rick knew what Matt was

like after acting intense scenes - his eyes had a

tendency to glaze over, and he sometimes got lost

in what his character was experiencing and forgot

himself. Rick knew the warning signs, but Karl

wasn't familiar with them yet.

"So, what do you think Ben's answer will

be?" Karl asked Matt. "Next stop Jason's

playroom, d'you think? I wonder if they've built

that set yet? That should be fun!" He winked, and

Matt jerked away from him suddenly, knocking

over the drinks on the table and spilling them.

"Shit! For fuck's sake! Matt, why are you are

such a clumsy fucking idiot?" Matt ranted at

himself, flaring up like a lit match.

Rick walked over quickly, laid a hand on

Matt's shoulder and squeezed, and Matt took a

deep breath and leaned into him.

"Looks like the show is getting really

interesting," Rick said conversationally, stroking

his thumb soothingly over Matt's shoulder while

one of the crew mopped up the spilled drinks.

"Jarvis is right though - Christie would never take

a kid like Ben to bed. He might collar the subs he

works with to keep them safe and under his

protection, but even if he one day collars Ben, he'll

never sleep with him."

"Poor Ben," Matt said. "It's a great plot line

to act, but I feel sad for him. Jason Jarvis is the

first dom he's ever got close to but he's only using

him."

"The writers mentioned something to me

about a big sex scene," Karl said, glancing at Matt.

"Do you think that's next up or will there be some

plot twists and turns first?"

"I dunno." Matt's shoulders tensed up instantly

beneath Rick's hand.

"How big is 'big', I wonder?" Karl mused.

"And how naked will we be in it? Should I be

working out, d'you think?" He squeezed one of his

own biceps speculatively.

"I need to get ready for my next scene," Matt

said abruptly. He pulled away from Rick's hand

and walked off in the direction of his trailer.

Rick watched him go, knowing he needed

some time alone, and then he turned back to Karl.

"He's nervous about the sex scene with you," he

told him bluntly.

"Really? Why? I mean, we get along great, so

he's got nothing to be worried about."

"He's never done a really explicit sex scene

before, and he's nervous about the details," Rick

said, not wanting to betray Matt's confidence. "I

told him we'd go to a rehearsal room and work on

it together, the three of us, once we get the script."

"Sure. No problem. I remember my first sex

scene - I played a sub in some bloody awful soap

when I first started out. I was tied to the bed being

fucked, and the camera was close up on my face,

and I felt like a total idiot moaning and making a

sex face with a dozen people in the room

watching."

"Yeah." Rick grinned. "I seem to get tied to a

bed and fucked in every other episode of
Collar

Crime
, so I'm used to it, but Matty isn't. Also, my

sex scenes tend to get played for laughs, but the

one between you and him will be pretty intense, I

think."

"He'll be fine," Karl said. "As long as you're

around when we film it."

"Me?" Rick raised an eyebrow.

"You have a knack for calming him down

when he blows up or gets anxious, like you did just

now with the drinks." Karl waved his hand at the

table.

"Oh, I just know Matty. He's all in his head,

and you have to ease him out of it. Anyone could

do it."

Karl gazed at him thoughtfully. "No, I don't

think they could. You and Matt have a special kind

of connection. It was obvious to me from the

moment I first walked onto the set."

Rick grinned. "Hah - was that why you sent

him over to my trailer to offer to be my spank

buddy?"

Karl shrugged enigmatically. "Well, you've

been a lot happier since that arrangement started,

so I was wondering if maybe it had led to…

something else?"

"What - like me and Matty becoming a

couple?" Rick shook his head, snorting at the idea.

"Karl, if you thought that then you're way off the

mark, buddy. I don't do relationships and even if I

did, Matty and me are too different to get along.

He's all uptight and fiery, and I'm laid-back and

disorganized. I piss him off a hundred different

ways every day and his weird neat freak thing isn't

my scene - we'd drive each other nuts!"

"Opposites attract," Karl pointed out.

Rick laughed. "Not in this case! We just have

this really cool spank buddy deal that works for

both of us. I get to spank his cute ass every day, no

strings attached, and he gets to walk on the wild

side for a little while each morning without having

to go and actually live on the wild side, which

would freak him out."

"Right." Karl nodded slowly. "So that's it?

You've decided to just be spank buddies? Nothing

more?"

"Yup. It's simpler this way. No messy

relationship shit. Matt knows about my no reruns

policy, and he doesn't think of me that way in any

case. He's a young sub having some fun, and I'm

having fun too. We both know it's nothing more

than a spank buddy deal, so it's all upfront and

easy."

"I've been meaning to ask you - what the fuck

is that no reruns policy all about?" Karl asked.

Rick shrugged. "We're both doms, right? In a

town full of the hottest subs in the world! Why dip

your toe in the same water twice? You

understand." He gave a knowing wink.

"Not really, no." Karl gazed at him blankly.

"Sure you do." Rick leaned forward and

bashed Karl's arm playfully with his fist. "Thanks

for setting up this whole thing with Matt, Karl.

He's a single sub, I'm a single dom, nobody's

getting hurt, and we're both getting a kick out of it,

so it's sweet."

He gave Karl another wink and then strode

off to flirt with the cute new extra who'd just

arrived on set for the next scene.

Matt opened his front door, placed his bag

neatly in the bag rack in his hallway, and then took

off his shoes and placed them carefully in the shoe

rack next to it. He walked into the living room and

then walked back out into the hallway again and

straightened up his shoes where one of them was a

fraction crooked. He hated it when things didn't

line up, and he knew it'd nag away at the back of

his mind all night if he left it.

He returned to the living room but he still felt

unsettled, so he went back into the hallway and

adjusted his bag, then picked up his shoes and

spent a few minutes smoothing out the laces into

neater lines. He paused for a moment, wondering if

he was done, wishing he could leave the damn

shoes alone.

He crouched down to put them back in the

rack and his ass stung sweetly at the movement,

reminding him of the morning's spanking. He was

suddenly eager to take another look at the

handprints on his ass, so he left the shoes and ran

up the stairs to his bedroom He pulled down his

sweat pants and underwear and gazed over his

shoulder at his rear.

Rick's handprints were still there, painted on

his skin. They had faded significantly since the

morning, but there were still pink outlines, one

handprint on each butt cheek.

Matt had never been marked by a dom like

this before. He'd had the occasional switch stripe

and love bite, but not handprints. They proclaimed

"mine" like nothing else ever could; Rick's hands,

literally imprinting themselves on his skin.

Matt felt a pang of disappointment. He'd

always fantasized about bearing a dom's marks

proudly on his body, but these handprints were

Rick's, not those of a hot dom staking their claim.