AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Nine
Everyday,Caseygetsbetter, and Nathan’s birthday party gets closer.
He waits until the night before like a fucking coward before having the conversation that needs to happen with Carter. In his defense, Carter has been acting strange since Casey showed up. Quiet. Moody. One minute leaning into Nathan and silently begging for touch, the next flinching away and turning cold. The night of Casey's first full day in Benny's room, Carter asked him if he'd hold him while they fell asleep. The night of Casey's second full day, he barked at Nathan to give him more space when there was already a good foot between them on the mattress.
But acting strangely or not, the conversation needs to happen. There’s no more time to wait.
Carter is lounging in the bed when Nathan comes into the bedroom, reading a book Nathan had snuck him from the library. He was allowed to stay in here for the day since Nathan had so much to get done for the party tomorrow. From the way he jolts upright, tossing the book aside like he didn’t beg Nathan for it just yesterday, Nathan has a feeling the boy has gone stir crazy.
“How is everything?” he asks the minute Nathan has the door closed and locked.
By everything, he means Casey. Healwaysmeans Casey. “His fever finally broke. Benny was able to give him a proper bath and got him to eat a whole bowl of oatmeal and drink some juice. Sounds like he was perfectly coherent for all of it, though still pretty timid. Benny has a lot more prep to do for the party tomorrow - he’s meeting with the guys for security now - so I’m actually going to check in on Casey in a minute.”
“Really?” Carter sits up straighter. “Can I come?”
“Not yet. Benny wants to be there when he finds out the truth. But after the party tomorrow, alright? Promise.”
“Okay. Two more days. I can do that.”
“Good.” Nathan rubs at the back of his neck, fighting the urge to put this conversation off while he goes to see Casey. He doesn’t need to be checked up on for at least another hour, though, and it’d probably be good to leave Carter to his thoughts after they talk about things anyway. Give the boy time to decompress. “Listen, we should talk about this party.”
Carter smirks. “Yeah. I was wondering when that’d come up. Any chance I can just skip it?”
“Funny.” Nathan sits on the edge of the mattress, making sure to maintain a good distance between him and Carter. The boy is in a playful mood at the moment, but that can easily change. “You’ll be the star of the show. Perhaps even more so than the Kensington party.”
“Oh…”
“You need to be groomed. I have a crew coming in the morning to do it.”
Carter bristles, clearly not happy about that. “You got me ready last time.”
“I wasn’t as busy last time. And you also need a haircut, something I’m not capable of doing.” Nathan fights the urge to reach for Carter, using his words to comfort him instead. “They won’t hurt you, I promise.”
“I’m assuming this isn’t something up for negotiation?”
“Unfortunately not.”
“Then fine. Your people can prep me like a prized fucking pig for the slaughter. Whatever.”There goes the playfulness. Nathan figured it wouldn’t last long. “What else isn’t negotiable?”
“Well, obviously you’re going to need to play the slave. You’ll need to be on your best behavior. I will most likely let people touch you. Nothing sexual, just admiring. They might speak to you. You’ll be expected to answer politely and without any personality.” Carter snorts, but he doesn’t argue. His hands are squeezing the bedding so hard his knuckles are white. “There’s also a pretty fucked up tradition among slave owners when it comes to birthday parties. I’ll be expected to give you the same number of spankings as the age I’m turning. Publicly, of course.”
“And how many is that?”
“Nathan Roarke is turning 32 tomorrow.”
“32,” Carter whispers, his eyes falling closed. “That’s… a lot.”
“It is. But how I go about it is negotiable. I can make you feel good at the same time, like when I had to punish you in my office. Not as openly, of course, since we will have an audience, but I could at least have a toy inside of you that keeps you aroused. I can also use more than one technique. Switching it up will be exciting for the audience, but it will also give your body a break. A new sensation every once in a while will provide a sort of reprieve, versus 32 repetitive pieces of pain, if that makes sense?”
Carter keeps his eyes closed. His voice trembles when he says, “Yeah. Makes sense.”
“I thought I would maybe spank you for a few. Then flog you - that way I can spread it out across your back and legs as well, so the pain isn’t so centralized.”
“O-okay.” He swallows hard before slowly opening his eyes. He starts to look in Nathan’s direction before jerking his chin to the side last minute, averting his gaze. “Will you fuck me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay…”
