Dad had the love for the liberal arts inside of me, but I didn’t need to follow Dad’s dreams to be taken seriously. Maybe I would transfer to a different school. Start fresh. Maybe I would drop out altogether. I squeezed Nate’s hand, and he rubbed my palm. Nate took me seriously and had done so from day one. So serious that he had outright rejected me, like the other students. It had nothing to do with my abilities.
But I didn’t need to make those kinds of decisions about my future right now. I was only one semester into my doctorate program. If I wanted to do the program, I would do it because I loved the subject, not because I had to prove myself.
Nate leaned down, and whispered in my ear, “You want to go?”
“Yep.” I wanted to see Jessica win, but not as badly as I wanted to do the rest of our plans.
A buzzing excitement bounced between us as we headed to the Afterglow. Once we were inside the entrance lobby, he put the collar around my neck, the same synthetic band as the last time we had played there. He offered me the chained leash. I was his pet, but it was always up to me to decide to be led.
But I couldn’t help it; I loved it. It feltrightto be on his leash.
I nodded, and he strapped the leash to my collar. We walked through the lounge, making small talk (which was actually much less awkward with kinky fetishists than with graduate students). Unleashing me for a moment, Nate excused himself to talk to Zaid. Kiley nodded at me, and Lily waved me over.
“You snagged him,” Lily smirked, as if the collar around my neck somehow proved thatIhad control ofhim, and not the other way around. The thought made me smile. “The ever-impressive dominant men seem to be going quick around here.”
“More than a friendly-fuck?” Kiley asked.
“More than a friendly-fuck,” I said. She laughed.
“I hear Nate brought the spanking instruments,” Lily said.
“All of them?” Kiley asked.
“It’s time to figure out how they rank,” I said. So far, I preferred his hand, but the spiked paddle, though intense, came in a close second. The fear, the scraping against my skin, was so intense. But since I had little experience with the rest of it, it was only fair that I experiment with them now. Tonight. With him. Then I would know.
Once Nate relinked the leash, we made our way to the spanking bench in the same far corner of the dungeon, where I had first seen him. Like that first night, his sleeves were rolled up, showing off his muscular forearms. His button-up shirt, though semi-casual, was somehow elegant, refined, and laid-back. After wiping down the bench with alcohol, he set up the instruments, laying out the paddles, crops, and whips, with such precision that I swear I wanted to rip off his clothes right then. To tell him to stop being so precise, to stop teasing me, and spank me already. For him to challenge me, and for me to surrender to his power.
Because in the end, sacrifice had power. Bending to his will was an act of power in itself. And we had both sacrificed to be with each other.
He put my hands on the bench’s leather, spreading out my stance, and I felt his breath on my shoulders. I shivered, scooting my hips back into him, and he growled.
“Don’t start me now,” he said. But I wanted to. Right fucking now. I pressed my ass into him again.
I may not have known what I wanted to do about graduate school, or the future in general, but I knew one thing. Whatever I decided, the future was with Nate. And if I wanted to start right now, then I would. Because I wanted to. And I knew that’s what he wanted too.
