Chapter 7

Cory could not stop the feeling of dread engulfing him, as he was taking out the items from the hidden safe in the wall, as indicated by his master. He had seen some of them before; others, he could only guess what they were for. His knowledge on inflicting pain while striving to chase elusive pleasure was marginal, at best. Xavier hadn’t seemed so bent on playing rough, except for his usual domineering and arrogant attitude that made the man feel like he was entitled to everything and everyone happening in his path.

He started first to drape the room in deep rich red. New curtains had been delivered, and he knew what they were for. He threw the black silk cover on the bed, making sure to tuck it in, and adjusted a few creases. What was Xavier planning?

Lifting the strange iron stand from its box, he mused where to place it. Eventually, he opted for a side wall. He checked the cuffs, and trembled while imagining a strong, virile body bound to the contraption, taut with apprehension while the man in charge could approach it and check all its vulnerabilities. Take a man his ability to move, and he would be nothing but a toy. Fallen in the wrong hands, even a sturdy toy could break. Cory’s fingers fluttered for a second over the cold metal.

He took the silken blindfold in his hand, feeling the smooth fabric. After a short moment, he decided to let it hang on the iron stand. Most probably Xavier intended to take the man not only the power to move his limbs, but also his ability to see what was happening to him.

Next came a collection of objects that could be mistaken as jewelry, if they hadn’t been so heavy. The crop whip didn’t look too menacing, but a short tentative slap over his open palm convinced Cory it would hurt to be hit with it. He opted out the flail whip, though.

He arranged everything on the bed and withdrew quietly. He hoped Xavier would be pleased. Apparently, his master had lately become the master of mood changes, and he did not want to get on his bad side.

Lucas’s bright green eyes looked serene as Cory took his coat and invited him in. He might not suspect what Xavier plans, the servant thought and he looked with unease at the guest.

“Lord Lucas,” he whispered softly. “Are you ... are you planning to spend the night?”

Under normal circumstances, the question would have seemed out of line. But Lucas looked straight at Cory as he spoke.

“Yes, Cory, and I hope you will be able to join us,” he smiled. “Of course, if your master allows it.”

“But,” Cory’s face turned into a worried frown. “Master...”

He had no idea what he could say. It was not his place to say anything. A large warm hand came to rest atop his head. His eyes were a bit moist, and he blinked to look at the man he was secretly lusting for. In a world full of beautiful males, when he laid in his bed at night, his thoughts still wandered to the warm green eyes, the harsh, yet handsome features of Lucas’s face, and the god like body he had seen only once before in all its naked glory. There was no measure for the attraction and adoration he felt towards the man, and it made him wonder why in the whole world, he was singling this one out. And, why, oh why, the man was singling him out in return. It felt unfair. But, seeing how the ways of world went, what didn’t?

Maybe it was all happening because Lucas was showing a genuine interest in him and that was completely new to Cory in this harsh world dressed in silk and glitter. Lucas was not like Xavier, who cared only for dominance; he was not like Antoine, who wanted his ego tickled by sleeping with a servant belonging to the most powerful lord in Drena. He was not like the rest, who seemed to have their heads empty, or better said, filled with ambitions and perverted desires. In a world where he had so few friends, Ayn and Dion being the only ones not damaged and twisted to their core, Lucas seemed different, way above anyone else.

But it was so wrong to want him. Cory knew it and he knew it well. He could feel it in the marrow of his bones, in the last thread of self-preservation and common sense telling him to stop thinking about the man. But Lucas wanted him, too, and that made his dreams even more painful. Between them stood Xavier, never satisfied, always wanting and demanding more. Cory envied his master. He had Lucas’s friendship and he didn’t care for it. The servant could not understand the rich. Xavier was nothing but a spoiled brat, forever unhappy with everything that was handed to him on a golden platter.

“Don’t worry, Cory. I’ve known Xavier for a long time. There is nothing he can do or say to make me feel or think otherwise. Tonight won’t change a thing. But it may get me the one I desire for so long.”

Cory’s eyes grew wide. Lucas’s hand descended on his cheek, caressing it with tenderness. “Xavier is a man of honor. For tonight, for everything he wants to do with me, you will be mine for an entire night in fair exchange.”

There were no words to describe Cory’s surprise. “Lord Lucas, please,” he grabbed at the man’s arm, confused and scared in the same time. “I am not worthy of...”

His words were cut short by the sound of the main door opening and closing. Xavier was home. Lucas got up with grace, throwing a last meaningful look at Cory, and he exited the room, to join his longtime friend.

“So, what are you thinking?” Xavier sneaked on Lucas from behind, while letting his friend take in the setup before his eyes.

Lucas just shrugged. “I was expecting this. As always, you fail to surprise me,” he said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“Really?” Xavier’s voice gained slithering tones, as he cupped Lucas’s cheek with one hand, forcing him to turn and look him in the eyes.

“Yes, really,” Lucas confronted him. “Everything must be a conquest with you, Xavier. Otherwise, you just grow bored. But you fail to see a simple truth.”

“What’s that?” Xavier asked, a bit taken aback by his friend’s determination.

“That force does not equal seduction. That you can approach one slowly, with kind words and soft touches, and get more than what you would by simply demanding submission.”

“Submission...” Xavier echoed Lucas’s last word. “Funny you say that. Because this is the only thing I care for.”

“So, are we going through with this or not?” Lucas asked, his head held high.

“And I thought you’d never ask,” Xavier mocked and pushed Lucas away from him. “Undress.”

With short, efficient moves, Lucas removed his shirt and pants. Xavier watched him, while his hands caressed the items carefully displayed on the bed.

“You know, I had Cory arrange the room for our rendez-vous,” Xavier spoke, watching Lucas closely to gauge his reactions.

The man just sighed. “I told you. You have to do better than this to surprise me. Of course you had him do that. He is your servant. Will he join us?” he asked.

Xavier chuckled. “Trying to play games with me, Lucas? You know you are as graceful as a brick when you try your hand at manipulation. Please leave that to me. I hope you will have no problem getting it up for me, even without Cory around.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Lucas said stubbornly, as he stood completely naked, his legs slightly parted, his hands to the side, not in surrender, but ready, as if their owner was prepared for an attack.

“Not until it’s due, my friend, not until it’s due. Cory will be here, at the right moment, to face your absolute surrender to me.”

“Absolute?” Lucas’s beautiful lips twisted into a snarl. “Don’t flatter yourself, Xavier. If I haven’t fallen for you until now, it is highly unlikely some rough play will change that.”

“Fall for me? Do you think this is what I am after? I only want your body. And once you will reach your limit, and have nothing but blinding desire engulfing whatever shreds of rational thinking you may still have, you will beg. Only then, I will have what I really want. I want you to submit, I want to have you in my power, and know that I can deny you what you have denied me for years.”

“Is this about revenge?” Lucas continued to stare at Xavier, unflinching.

“Yes, I think you could call it that. You want Cory, and you will have to pay a heavy price for him. I doubt your body will want the same amount of pain and desire ever again, after tonight. Unless you come to crave it.”

“You underestimate my resolve, Xavier. Mind is superior to body. There are places you cannot touch. They will remain closed to you, regardless of what you say or do.”

“But the mind cannot live without the body,” Xavier answered back. “And the conditioning you will feel growing into the very essence of your soul, the more you pin for that young piece of ass happening to be my servant, will eventually dictate, and you will be turned, just like anyone else, into a slave to my desire.”

Lucas snorted. “I think you should have your head checked, my friend. I will let you have my body. For the rest, I don’t think there is something you can do to convince me otherwise.”

“Do you want to fight me?” Xavier approached Lucas with a small strange device in his hand.

“I think we are well passed the ‘wanting’ stage. Isn’t it happening right now?” Lucas mocked.

With precise gestures, Xavier grabbed Lucas’s flaccid cock and started pushing something cold and hard into the small hole. Lucas hissed.

“Never been teased here before?” Xavier asked with a smile, only to be rewarded right away with a proud glance from Lucas. “This is a simple, yet very efficient device. It keeps everything inside, you see. And with the cage on top of it,” he continued as he slapped the small metal cage in his hand over Lucas’s member, fitting it snuggly under the man’s balls, “I will make sure that you will not be able to act on your desire. I hope you won’t strain yourself,” he mocked. “This is a warning.”

“If you think you will be able to make me aroused so that this would feel uncomfortable, you are wrong,” Lucas replied, although the corners of his mouth were starting to set in a deep harsh line.

“We will see about that,” Xavier took Lucas’s hand and guided him slowly towards the iron stand. “Please, be my guest.”

Lucas looked completely impassive as he stood straight, letting Xavier use the cuffs to tie up his hands, then his legs, while spreading them wide.

His chest was rising and falling rhythmically. Xavier traced Lucas’s collarbone with one finger, descending on pert nipples.

“If you don’t feel anything, how come your body is standing up to attention?” Xavier teased.

“If I’m a bit cold, being undressed, it cannot be helped,” Lucas continued stubbornly.

Xavier’s hands traveled on taut abdomen muscles, feeling every edge and harsh plane on his friend’s body.

“You are so beautiful, Lucas,” he whispered. “I would hate to destroy you completely. But, after tonight, you will prove what kind of man you are. Don’t worry. If you give up, I will take care of you. You will be mine forever.”

“Such big words,” Lucas commented. “I thought you better than this. Do you realize one thing, Xavier?”

“What’s that?” Xavier almost glued himself to the naked body, stretched over the stand.

“That I will not be the only losing something tonight.”

“Is that so?”

For a short moment, green eyes clashed with grey ones, heavy with the storm lurking inside.

“I won’t be your friend anymore. At night, when you’re alone, you’ll have to think if satisfying a mere fling was worth destroying the special bond we used to have.”

For a brief moment, it looked as if Xavier was ready to think everything over.

“A mere fling? I’ve wanted you for years. It is your newly acquired obsession with my Cory that is destroying our bond,” he hissed.

“He may be your servant, but he is not yours. I won’t be yours, either, no matter what you do,” Lucas said with his head held high, while Xavier took the silken scarf left on the stand to blind his friend for what was to come.

Nothing could be heard from the perfectly insulated master bedroom, and Cory felt his heart growing smaller and smaller. Was Xavier going to hurt Lucas? Why was the beautiful man doing that for the likes of Cory?

He chose to roam to Ayn’s room, to settle his nerves a bit. He found the slave stretched on the bed, with a game pad in his hands, watching closely whatever action was happening on the small holographic screen summoned in front of his eyes.

The cage had been removed, but Ayn was kept on a leash welded to the bed, so he could move around, but not much.

“Hey, Ayn,” he greeted the man, and sat on the bed next to him.

“We’re alone, or something, Cory?” the slave immediately straightened up. “What the hell is he up to with this fucking leash?” he pulled annoyed at his collar to no avail.