To Say I Love You (10 page)

“Our lives are so complicated,” I grouched on the phone as I packed up the truck.

“Oh, take that stick out of your ass, Jesse,” Will said. I could hear the teasing in his voice. “What else would you be doing this weekend?”

“Missing you.”

“Exactly. We can have hotel sex, and someone else will make the bed and cook us breakfast.”

“Are you taking me to breakfast?”

“If you’re a good boy, I will,” he said, laughing. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

“I know. Me too.”

“Hurry up.”

“I’ll be there in a couple of hours, depending on the traffic.”

“Okay. Drive safe.”

He’d fallen into the habit of telling me to drive safe a few years ago, after the car accident that nearly ended our relationship. It wasn’t just a mindless thing; he meant it.

We’d put our applications in online to join the club, and I’d left my phone number asking the organizer to get back to me so we could have a conversation. The man who called me back, Aiden, was a sub too and had talked me through what membership meant, what the perks were, and how often they held events.

Will and I had been active in the Seattle kink community for a while, and the Atlanta club seemed to be run in a similar way to the places we went to back home. I liked the idea that it was a calm, controlled environment designed for men only. The gay club we visited from time to time was more rough and dirty. That had its place, of course, and I was definitely a fan of rough and dirty in context.

I liked being able to talk to another sub, especially one who had been an active participant in the club nights since their inception. He’d been fairly open about being involved in demonstrations, too, public displays, and even a group session. Getting involved in a new community was slightly intimidating, though, despite his reassurances.

Traffic was, as I’d expected, completely horrible, and it took closer to three hours than two to get into the city. Will had already arranged for me to park the truck in the hotel’s parking lot, so I didn’t have to worry about finding somewhere in the city to leave it for the weekend. Pulling into my assigned space and turning off the engine was a sigh of relief in itself.

I already knew what room we were staying in, so I just hopped on the elevator with my bags and went up to the eighth floor. My heart was almost going double time when I reached the door.

I’d barely knocked when it was flung open.

“Hey,” I said, trying not to sound too tired.

“Hi.”

Then he dragged me into the room by a fistful of T-shirt and attached his lips to mine.

I let the bags fall from my hands as Will kissed me and pushed the door closed behind us. I heard it click about the same time I tugged at the hem of his shirt and insinuated my hands up to the smooth skin of his lower back.

Even when he cupped my face, I wanted to give back as good as I got and took a few steps forward, pinning him to the wall as our tongues got in on the action, and we let the kiss grow deeper and more intimate.

Will broke away first and peppered kisses over my jaw, down my neck to the collar of my shirt. He growled in frustration at the barrier, then pulled at the T-shirt until it was off and thrown carelessly over his shoulder.

“Are we really doing this now?” I asked on a breathless laugh.

He chuckled softly and pressed his forehead to my shoulder. “Shit.”

After grabbing my hand, he pulled me farther into the room and down on to the nice, soft couch that overlooked the balcony. It didn’t take much rearranging for us to be sprawled practically on top of one another—this was our default way of chilling out together.

It was nice to catch up for a while. Will put the TV on low in the background on a news channel while I told him what my dad and I had been up to, about Jennifer, who had just aced one of her exams, of Baby, who was no longer chewing anyone’s shoes.

He stroked my back through my shirt and occasionally interrupted me with slow, sweet kisses that sent shivers down my spine. It was unlikely I’d ever get used to being apart from him for any length of time; we’d been spoiled up to this point in our relationship, that we got to be together more than we were apart.

The club opened its doors at eight, so around seven, Will asked me to kneel and start getting into the right headspace. Being in a place that was unfamiliar made it difficult to get into that meditative mindset, and I forced myself to take deep breaths, concentrating on all the little things that made up the whole.

The carpet was on the thin side; I could feel the hard floorboards under my knees. My shoulders were a little sore from all the lifting and painting I’d been doing. The room smelled… not bad, a little like Will’s aftershave. He was moving around behind me, packing, I guessed, and I wondered what he had in store for me.

It had been months since we’d played seriously in a dungeon-like setting, so he’d had plenty of time to come up with something interesting. I shivered at the thought.

He left me like that for a while, and with every exhalation, I got a little more prepared for the evening ahead. When he finally asked me “Are you ready?”, I was and rolled smoothly to my feet.

Will twisted the braided collar around my wrist until it bit into my
skin.

“Good,” he said. “Me too. The taxi’s outside.”

W
E
WERE
met at the door to the club by a guy wearing a very sharp suit. When he smiled, a gold tooth glinted in place of an incisor.

“Hey, guys,” he said. “I’m Jason.”

He seemed nice and took us through the registration process to join the main club. We could be part of the gay-men-only night with that membership too, meaning we didn’t have to register twice to enjoy the full range of events at the club.

There were a couple forms to fill in asking us for basic things like important medical details. Then more stuff to read with the house rules, and another confidentiality agreement.

“Sorry to ask,” Jason said as we handed the forms back, “but you two have got me curious as hell. Is one of you the top?”

I laughed, and Will wrinkled his nose. “Yeah. I’m Jesse’s Dom.”

“I was leaning that way!” Jason exclaimed. “Sorry if that was rude. Obviously it’s different when you’re out of character, so to speak, but I really couldn’t figure you out.”

“We’ve been together for a long time,” I offered. “So we’re quite comfortable in each other’s presence. He’ll get super toppy later, I’m sure.”

I got a whack on the ass for that, and it was worth it.

When we went out in Seattle, we often got dressed at home and just threw on a T-shirt or jacket to wear from the car to the club. Since we didn’t know this area well, I’d been wary of walking through the streets wearing leather pants—tight leather pants—and we’d packed a bag with Will’s kit plus our clothes for the night to get changed here.

It was like a gym locker room, and looking around, I thought the club had maybe been something like a health club in a previous life. There was a sauna and Jacuzzi room next to the locker rooms, which would have made sense.

Squeezing into leather pants took time, even if they were good quality, well-made leather pants. Black was too ostentatious, according to Will, so we both had brown leather, his a slightly darker shade than mine.

“Collar now or later?” he asked, holding out the sheepskin-lined, tan leather collar he’d bought for me a long time ago.

“Now, please.”

I wanted to walk out there and have everyone know I was a collared sub and owned. In a new environment, it was better to err on the side of caution and I preferred it this way. It meant I was less likely to be approached by another Dom.

Will smiled and beckoned me forward so he could attach the collar around my neck. It was a familiar weight now, and a welcome one. I had matching cuffs too, and those were fixed around my wrists before we left the changing rooms, Master wearing heavy boots, me barefoot.

There was a small bar area where people were congregating, although we knew in advance the club didn’t sell alcohol. That was fine, it kept people safe, and Master ordered two bottles of water.

The party had been officially going for nearly an hour, and I guessed there were between twenty and forty guys here, depending on how many were already hidden away in rooms. The club was nice. Really nice. There were a few public play areas: stocks set up in a corner, and another lovely, long display cabinet that could take about five subs, all shackled up in a row.

A shorter guy approached us as I was still looking around; he had a nice scruff of beard, thick muscles in his arms, and was wearing a leather chest harness.

“Jesse?” he asked with a smile.

I nodded.

“So you must be Will,” he said, addressing my Dom. “I’m Aiden. I spoke with Jesse earlier in the week.”

“Nice to meet you,” Master said, taking Aiden’s hand and shaking it firmly. “You’re part of the organizing team here?”

Aiden nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been Jason’s sub for a while now, so he gets me helping out as one of the house boys.” He said it with a broad grin. “Can I show you around?”

“That would be great. Thanks.”

Master kept hold of his water bottle and let his other hand rest lightly on my lower back, guiding me around the building. I wanted to smile; if the collar and cuffs weren’t enough, he always had a way of showing who was in charge.

The club was huge. Bigger than it looked from the pictures on the website, better equipped than the club we went to regularly in Seattle. I was more than a little surprised. The Seattle scene was fairly well-known around the country. True, this was the only BDSM club in Atlanta, but they were more than making up for the fact that they had no competition.

The medical room intrigued me. It was a type of play we’d never explored before, and I wondered how much that sort of thing would do for me. I made a mental note to mention it to Master when we got home.

I saw the change in Master’s eyes when we were shown a room with a huge, four-poster bed taking up most of the space. The bed was a sturdy-looking wooden frame with eyebolts at various levels, useful places for tying a sub to.

“Is this room reserved tonight?” he asked Aiden.

“Not at all. We don’t really reserve rooms officially, except if someone has a demonstration planned.”

“I don’t have the kit to do a demo, but I’m more than happy for anyone to watch the session,” he said, gently squeezing my ass through the leather pants. “We play in public quite a lot back in Seattle.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aiden said. “Feel free to make yourselves at home here. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with.”

“I will. Thank you.”

“What do you think, Jesse?” he asked when Aiden had moved away to meet and greet other people. “Do you want to get started now or wait until later?”

“I’m happy to start whenever you are, Sir,” I said.

“Mm. Okay. Go fetch my bag, please.”

I nodded, guessing he was going to get familiar with the room’s layout and what gear the club kept there while I was gone. It was only a short trip back to the locker room to collect his bag, and I tried to keep my head down as I moved through the halls, being the perfect sub for him. In the room I’d noticed several things hanging on the wall that looked like they could deliver a hell of a thwack, not that I thought he would use them on me tonight, not even for punishment. Master wasn’t the sort to play with new toys in a session like this. He’d stick to the core kit we kept for this very purpose. Every item in the bag was well-used, and he knew exactly how to swing them to get the desired response from me.

Master had been busy while I was gone, moving the cover on the bed so it was folded back, exposing the red sheets beneath. I wasn’t keen on the color, but it was better than black silk or something equally garish. They looked nice quality, not cheap, and I was definitely turning into a snob.

All the pillows had been piled up at the head end of the bed and the space behind it cleared so there was more room to move around. I placed the bag on the bed and quietly knelt.

“Door open?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.”

It was a few more minutes before he told me to stand, then positioned me at the end of the bed, facing into the room.

Tying me up took time, even with the relatively simple system he used and long lengths of red rope. It was nice to feel the stretch in my muscles as I was presented spread-eagled, my arms tied up first, then my pants stripped off and my ankles tied to the posts.

I was practically thrumming with excitement.

Master rummaged in the bag for a moment, then stood in front of me with a blindfold and a bit gag. This gag was made of a round black piece of wood about the same width as my thumb, with silver hoops on either side—horsy and kinky and great.

“Pick,” he said.

“The gag, please,” I said without hesitation. I appreciated the offer—sometimes, when we were playing in public, having the option to block the world out was nice. I was a kinky bastard, though, and being gagged was far more fun.

He was grinning as he carefully buckled the gag in place, then tested it at the corners of my mouth to check it wasn’t too tight. Once satisfied, he double-checked the bonds at my wrists and ankles and roughly pulled my hips back.