Taken in Hand (9 page)

were washboard slim. He must be even younger than Adam

first thought. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-six,” he answered between bites.

“You look younger.”

Chad shrugged the comment off. When he finished his

second helping and sat back in his chair, still glaring, Adam

leaned forward, putting one elbow on the table. “Feeling

better?”

Chad nodded curtly. “Now talk.”

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“What would you like to talk about first? The way you

totally ignored everything I told you about being quiet and

respectful in front of my friends?”

“You told me to go away.”

Adam saw what looked like hurt in Chad’s eyes,

though Chad quickly hid it by looking down and pushing his

plate away. “I had to be firm with you, or the people sitting at

my table would never have believed you were training to be

my sub. They know I don’t like brats and would never allow

my sub to speak up like that.”

“Okay, I see that, I guess. Sorry, but I was defending

you or trying to.”

“I don’t need defending, and I take care of my sub, not

the other way around. I had to send you away to end things

quickly and avoid either of us being goaded into an

argument that would have made our actual relationship all

too obvious.”

“Then why didn’t you—”

Adam held up a hand again. “That was an experienced

Dom you were talking to, and you could have gotten in way

over your head if I’d felt the need to punish you to satisfy

him. I know, I know, you trust me not to hurt you, and I

wouldn’t, at least not physically, but I have no idea about

your emotional state or what might be going on up here.” He

tapped his temple. “Until I know exactly how you’re going to

react to everything I do to you, I can’t risk your safety by

being trapped into a situation that could have gotten out of

hand. Until you have some real training, you need to keep

your mouth shut and let me handle things.”

Chad was quiet, staring down at the table top. “Okay.

Now tell me how I got this sore ass if you didn’t give it to

me.”

Adam permitted himself the slightest smile. “I did give

it to you.”

Chad’s head popped up, and his mouth fell open.

Adam sighed. “You went into the bathroom after you left the

table and got yourself involved somehow with two Doms.”

“Two…?” Chad’s pupils nearly exploded.

Adam touched his hand to reassure him. “They didn’t

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touch you…at least not the way you’re obviously thinking.

They did cuff your hands behind you and force some kind of

date rape drug down your throat somehow. I think it was

dissolved in a drink they gave you. Anyway, by the time I

found you, you were stripped naked, face down, and gagged

on a bed in a private room.”

Chad’s face drained of any color it might have

regained. “Oh, shit.”

“Oh, shit, indeed. They were about to have their way

with you, I’m afraid. I did the only thing I could to stop them

and not involve the management. If the dungeon masters

had come in, they would have called the cops, and then

everyone would have known exactly in what condition they

found you—including your co-workers.”

“Oh hell no!”

“Yes, that’s how I thought you might feel.”

“So…if you didn’t call for help—who are the dungeon

masters anyway?”

“They’re identified by the black hoods they wear.”

The one Chad noticed didn’t look big enough to be a

bouncer, but he was too distracted to want to comment.

“Since you didn’t call them, how did you get us out of there?

Did you…?”

“No, I didn’t. I gave them a show without going that

far. With the drug working on you, I was able to make you

masturbate while they watched.”

Chad covered his face with both hands and groaned.

Even the tips of his ears turned bright pink. Adam gave him

a few moments to absorb the information before he pulled

Chad’s hands down.

“Look,” Adam said, tipping his chin up with one finger.

“At least it was your own hand, right?” He thought it best not

emphasize how all three of them watched, or mention that

the other two men in the room jerked themselves off to it.

That was too much detail in Chad’s currently fragile state.

“Okay,” Chad said. “I hate the idea of it, but you’re

right. At least it was my own hand and not…” He shuddered.

“Right. Thanks, Adam, that was quick thinking.”

“You’re welcome,” Adam said, the corners of his mouth

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twisting up a little.

“But that still doesn’t explain…uh…”

“Your sore ass? That would be from the spanking I

gave you.”

Chad sputtered a few times, and his face went to an

alarming shade of red. “W-What did you say?”

“Chad, I had to give them some kind show to watch

besides you jerking yourself off. I didn’t want to use their

flogger or the whip they had out ready to use on you.”

“Oh, my God.”

Adam continued, “I put you over my lap and gave you

a spanking. You asked for it, actually, and came again in the

process.”

Chad jumped up from the table so fast, the chair fell to

the floor behind him. He gave Adam an unreadable look and

stormed from the room. Adam heard the guest room door

slam and shook his head. He wondered if Chad was aware of

how big an erection he had when he took off out of the room.

* * * *

Images from the night before began flooding back in

Chad’s head while Adam talked. His face burned with

embarrassment with each disjointed one. Chad coped by

hiding—and he admitted to himself he was hiding—in the

guest room after he showered and dressed in his own

clothes. He’d never been more humiliated in his life. His only

consolation was that it could have been worse. Someone

other than the arrogant Adam Morrison could have

witnessed his disgrace. Knowing he was foolish to be furious

with Adam over what he’d caused himself didn’t help. He’d

failed the role he’d taken on, gotten himself drugged, and

nearly raped all because he had to open his big mouth and

assert his macho pride instead of playing the role he’d sworn

he’d play. He’d fucked up. Along with that were those flashes

of disturbing memories that had him nursing a hard-on

along with his sore ass.

In an effort to take his mind off the events of the night

before, he called into the office for a report on the preacher

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and his brother. Phillips told him Jason Rubin had such a

clean record he probably squeaked when he walked. The

man had never even gotten a parking ticket. His brother,

Jeremy, however, looked better and better as a suspect. He’d

managed not to end up in jail, but he did have an assault

charge against him two years ago that he’d skated on when

the victim refused to press charges. It made him a prime

candidate for the murders.

“Jeremy Rubin showed up here again around three

months ago, only a month before the murders started. He

comes and goes, traveling around, taking whatever job he

can find,” Philips said. “It doesn’t look like he’s held any job

more than six months ever.”

“None at the University or club?”

“Nope, but just like you said, he fits the profile the

department shrink drew up for us, and he does hate gays.

We may have verified that. Some people at his brother’s

church say he’s made derogatory remarks, but we can’t tie

him directly to any of the victims. The church tie is too

indirect. No real BDSM link. The focus of this killer is not on

all gays in general, but on a specific segment of that

population. BDSM includes women too, of course, but no

women have been victims. The only definite links we have so

far are men into BDSM connected to the University.”

“Who have a lover,” Chad added.

“Yeah, that too.”

“This Jeremy worked off and on at the church. That

ties him close enough to two of the victims for me. Start

digging. There’s got to be some connection between him and

the other victims. I don’t suppose there are any open

warrants on him here so we could pick him up?”

“No and the chief doesn’t want to alert him to our

interest yet, not until we can get more to hang him with.”

“Has he ordered any surveillance on him?”

“Not yet. He says the DA would have a fit with no more

than we’ve got, no real probable cause.”

“Shit. He won’t give you the go ahead for anything,

phone records, financial statements, nothing?”

“Too circumstantial. A judge won’t clear us for any of

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that until we can come up with more.”

“These killings have all the earmarks of a hate crime.

The story I got is the guy hates his father because he

deserted his family to live as an openly gay man. Even the

timing with his father’s death ties in as a trigger that set him

off. What the hell more do they want before they untie our

hands?” Chad demanded, his voice rising in anger.

“Evidence. The guy looks good for it with his record

even though it’s all minor crap and what Morrison told you

about him, but none of it’s concrete. We need to flesh it out

some more before we move.” He cleared his throat and

asked, “How did your first day as a pet go?”

“I failed my paper training,” he retorted bitterly,

flushing with embarrassment and damned glad he was on

the phone, not face to face for Philips to see it. “And they’re

called submissives, dumbass. But no, I didn’t do so hot.

Adam had to send me away from him in disgrace to cover my

screw up.”

Philips chuckled. “Hang in there. If this lead pans out,

you could be out of there soon. I hear the professor can be a

real prick.”

“Not really. He’s been nice enough so far. He did cover

my ass last night.”
In more ways than one
. The reminder had

a strange effect on Chad. His damn prick renewed interest,

and he squirmed with embarrassment, but the idea gave him

a weird feeling of excitement at the same time. “Keep me in

the loop. I’ll call in if I get anything more. One thing you can

do—research his father. Proving he was gay
and
a Dom

could strengthen the motive link, if we could prove Jeremy

harbored anger and resentment over it. Another thing,

search the ViCAP for similar crimes. That might tell us where

he’s been going.”

“Already got the computers running on that one. One

thing you need to know, the captain is considering calling

the FBI in if we don’t get some results soon from your

undercover gig. There’s no damn doubt we’ve got a serial

killer on our hands. Even though the chief’s been stalling

them, he’d rather lose control of the case than have any

more deaths. If you can think of a way to draw more

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attention, I suggest you do it.”

He disconnected with that gem, setting Chad’s mind in

motion. He walked out, found Adam in the living room and

announced, “You need to take me to school.”

“Excuse me?” he asked, looking up from the papers in

his lap he was working on.

“Your classes. Our relationship needs more exposure.

We’ve been seen together at the church and the club. The

only other link, and the only one to both the attacks, is the

University.”

“I cannot think of a single valid reason to take you to

work with me.”

“I could show up for lunch.”

“No.”

“Why the fuck not? Didn’t any of your boyfriends ever

join you for lunch?”

“None of my subs, no. I understand you’re upset about

last night, but it only proved what I’ve been telling you, you

are not trained enough for any long exposure in pretending

to be my sub.” He put down his pen and rubbed his

forehead. “Not at the University, but maybe I could take you

to one of my sessions with students at the church. It would

be a more relaxed atmosphere than the club.”

“Yeah, I could do that,” Chad said eagerly.

“You need to train first. I don’t want you embarrassing

me again. Other friends of mine, who are also Doms, help me

with the sessions, and we usually come back here afterwards

for a drink. You’d have to serve us, and I may as well warn