AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"We're going home. I'm fine."
He shook his head even before he saw Tyler's mouth open to issue the same no-go message. "Not going to order me around on that one. Unless your head is hard as mine, a head injury's nothing to fuck around with. You're going, even if I have to carry you through the doors."
"Oh, really? Think you can get away with that, do you?" She looked down her nose at him, a warning he'd pay for his high-handedness later. But her eyes were warm, her mouth still soft.
He reached over her, belted her into the seat as Tyler closed the passenger door, a sign he was assured the situation was well in hand. Which also bolstered Marius in ways he hadn't expected. But he kept his main focus on his Mistress. "If you go without a struggle, I'll give you a massage after the shower. I give a pretty good one."
"Really?" Her brow lifted. "That's a talent you've kept hidden."
He shrugged and slid his hand under the dark, slim ropes of her hair to fondle her neck, a move that soothed when she did it to him. "Most Mistresses only seemed to want my cock."
"Well, it's a very fine cock, but that's not why you kept the talent hidden. You wanted to keep it about sex, didn't you?"
She never let him bullshit her. Even now, she saw through any attempt to do so like she was a human X-ray machine. He bit back a smile. "Yeah. But I'd like to take it a lot farther than that with you, Regina." This time he purposefully used her name, putting them on equal footing. "Be like you said. The sub you can use and enjoy the way we both like...and the man you can depend on. I'll probably still fuck up a lot, but I want to at least say it, so you know I really want to try."
"Okay." There was a bated pause and she took a shaky breath, one that had him gripping her hand in concern. But she shook her head at him and sent him a watery smile. "Then we're going to start on that right now. I need you to get me through the whole Urgent Care thing and then get me home. Help me get rid of these clothes, and the stink of all of them, and wash me with your strong, warm hands... So when I go to sleep tonight, my head won't take me back there, to that..."
Tears were spilling down her face, scaring him, enraging him, and making him love her even more. He had his arms around her, his lips on her face, taking the tears away as he kissed the tracks, her lips, all so lightly.
"I will. I promise. You don't have to think or do anything but rely on me to get you home. To get us both home."
She might not realize it, but she'd just given him the greatest gift possible. Not just permission to help, to make it better--but the right to do so, to be that man for her.
"I'll take you home," he said. "And I'll take care of you. Promise."
Chapter Eighteen
A Few Months Later
Marius leaned against the wall of The Zone's public play room, studying the scenes currently in progress. Some interesting needle play was happening at station three. All the Dominant players on the floor were veterans, though Mistress Zee had a relatively new male sub still figuring out his own head. She was showing the right amount of patience with him, taking it slow and staying alert to any cues that he might not be safe wording when he needed to do so.
Marius shifted his attention to the smaller playroom behind him where a punishment was reaching critical mass on the versatile oak frame housed there. Red marks were multiplying on the bountiful pale ass of the woman bound to it. She was moaning with a mixture of obvious pleasure and reaction to the pain, so she was enjoying the scene, but he'd keep an eye on it because breaking skin was only permitted if approved in advance, and Sir Todd didn't have that clearance.
Marius didn't anticipate having any problems with him. Todd was a good guy and an intense Master. He just sometimes got caught up in Dom space and had to have a gentle reminder of the rules to bring him down to earth.
"I'd say about ten more strikes with that thing before one of us has to step in," Alex said, stepping next to him. He kept his voice low to avoid disruption of the sessions.
"Yeah. You here to relieve me?"
"Yep. Your shift's up, buddy. Your Mistress said to get your ass to her as soon as you were done. She has plans for it."
Despite the instant leap of blood, heart and cock, Marius sighed with dramatic effect. "Work, work, work. She's a slave driver."
"And you're her one and only favorite slave to drive." Alex paused, looking toward Todd's scene. The casual tease took Marius by surprise. Since Marius had come back to work at The Zone a few weeks ago, Alex had been reserved but cordial. Rumor was he was visiting Siren. Not in the dating sense, but as if the man kept checking in on her out of guilt for her state of mind. Marius carried the lion's share of that, and wished he could visit her, but Regina and Tyler had made it clear she wasn't ready for that. At least right now. He sincerely hoped Alex's visits were helping, though.
He'd pushed up from the wall, ready to take his leave, when the other man spoke.
"Thanks for saving my job, man. Tyler gave you a second chance for the right reasons. I didn't see that, but since they reinstated you, I've seen the difference." He cleared his throat. "Siren let me read the apology you wrote her. I also heard about the tea party you threw for the Dommes. And the afterparty."
Marius remembered that afterparty vividly himself, so he was glad Alex didn't expand on it. Though he wished he could ask how Siren had reacted to the apology, his Mistress had forbidden him follow-up of any kind. But Alex did throw him a bone.
"All good steps, man," the DM said. "My thanks is way overdue, but I mean it. It's good to be working with you again."
It felt damn good to hear it said straight out, but Alex wasn't done. "I'm sorry I let my feelings for her interfere with my judgment. I should have verified with Regina when she told me Regina knew about the plan. I should have called someone to take over monitoring you when I saw the situation in the other room was going to take longer to resolve. I fucked up on every level. Even with your input, I'm surprised Tyler didn't fire my ass. Not so sure I wouldn't have fired me if I was in his shoes."
Marius shook his head. "You were trying to help out a Mistress you cared about, who needed to get her confidence back. You didn't realize how far she was going to take it that night. So you deserved the second chance far more than I ever did. If we're talking degrees of asshole."
Alex digested the comment. "Just so you always remember who's the bigger asshole of the two of us," he advised.
