The doctor drapes a blanket around Graham, and the urge to push her away and stay with him feels necessary. This ishissubmissive. No one should touch him but Colton.
The door opens again and Director Fein comes over to them, frowning, arms crossed, face inscrutable. “Looks like a job well done.”
It was and it wasn’t. He knows that. He strokes a hand up and down Graham’s back.
“They’re bringing in a bed. We’ll get him transported over to medical and you can be on your way,” the doctor says.
He nods.
This is it then.
His moment of helping Graham and getting to be his Dominant is done. Services rendered. Graham is hot and heavy against him. He’s totally out and the softness in his hard body, the absolute trust in his willingness to be unconscious and have Colton protect him, fills Colton with a deep peace he’s not sure he’s ever felt before.
There’s a part of him that thinks this might be it. This might be the best moment in his life, the absolute highlight. This man is meant to be his submissive.
They bring in a transport bed along with two big orderlies who are apparently going to be the ones to get Graham onto the bed. The director steps into Colton’s sight line, interrupts his glaring at the men coming closer.
“We’ll take care of him.”
“You? Or them?” Colton demands.
“All of us.”
He nods. The men reach for Graham, and Colton physically can’t bring himself to let go. “Don’t,” he growls, all threat. Graham is his. He will not turn him over, unconscious and vulnerable, to strangers. It just isn’t in him.
The orderlies pull back, look to the doctor. She kneels down next to Colton.
“He isn’t yours,” she says, like she’s reading his mind. “Put your hands on the chair, just hold there and we can do this as quick as possible. You took care of him and now it’s time to let him go.”
His throat is clogged with grief. He puts one hand and then the other on the chair, pushes his head back against the seat and breathes heavily. He might panic or snap, lash out at everyone, and then what?
“Look, just look at me,” she says, and so he does. She becomes blurry and he blinks.
Graham is lifted from his lap and Colton’s eyes slam shut. He can’t stand to see Graham touched and taken.
“They’ll get him hydrated and make sure he eats. He’s going to be fine. Your job is done. You were the best Dom.”
He needs a moment before he’s able to stand.
“So, if we need you again, can we call?” she asks.
He nods. Of course. The army has already loaned him out once, wouldn’t they be willing to do it again?
Colton gives her his cell phone number and follows someone out of the gym, through the maze of the office building, and thento the door. He steps out into the sunlight. He looks back at the building after crossing the street, not really believing what just happened. And he still doesn’t know where he is or what branch of the military he was loaned out to.
A driver is there with the SUV. He opens the door for Colton.
As the city passes, he touches his shirt, feels the places where Graham’s come is drying. Not a lot that’s more real than drying come, he thinks, and shakes his head.
He needs a fucking drink.
7
Five days later, Colton is pulled from his unit because he’s being loaned out again. Another black SUV is in the main parking lot and he’s driven back into the city but they go a completely different route and stop in front of a giant warehouse, the sort of warehouse that’s so large they need golf carts to get around.
“Where are we?”
“We do a lot of training exercises here. There’s Director Fein. He’s waiting for you. Good luck.”
