A Strong Hand (5 page)
Authors: Catt Ford
"No!"
Well. That came out stronger than he'd intended. Nick averted his gaze and realized Ashley was laughing at him too.
When Damian ordered him to turn around, he did so gratefully. He glanced back over his shoulder to see both sets of eyes glued to his arse, but at least turned this way, they couldn't tell how turned on he was when he obeyed Damian's orders.
Ashley was hard-pressed to keep his hand off himself. The way the pants cupped the two perfect globes, hugging the taut flesh and creeping into the valley between them, made 40
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him very sure that he needed to visit one of his favorite clubs and soon. Preferably this afternoon.
"Stick your butt out, Nicholas," Damian said.
Ashley glanced sidelong at his crotch. Damian always looked tightly packed, but surely, surely, he was a little bigger than usual? He would have to be superhuman to resist a lovely boy like Nick. He was a born sub if Ashley had ever seen one, and his hands itched to have the training of him.
But he was an honorable man, and he really liked Damian.
He'd invited him to his favorite club and tried to set him up with some cute boys, but Damian had always smilingly refused. Ashley suspected that he had now met his match.
The boy had spirit, but he needed a responsible person to look after him, and he seemed to have attached to Damian for some reason. It might take time, but he was sure that Damian would eventually succumb to the boy's charms.
"Uh, I have to get going, Ian," Ashley said, shifting impatiently.
"Wait. Let me download these shots, and you can take a look. This was all for you to decide whether you wanted to use him," Damian insisted. "It'll only take a moment."
Oh, I'd have a use for him,
Ashley thought, but he followed Damian to the computer.
"Come on over, Nicholas. See what you look like."
Nick approached the other two men, curious to see how he looked on film in these clothes.
"Fuck," Damian said, low and husky, when he saw the images enlarged on his screen. "Nicholas, you're a natural."
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Natural sub,
Ashley thought, but he said, "Good job, Nicholas. I think we can use you; that is, if you agree?"
Nick wrapped his arms around himself, feeling a little exposed to be standing so close to the other two men without his shirt. He was uneasily aware of Ashley's eyes, which seemed to be drawn to his nipples as if they were targets. He looked up through his lashes at Damian for approval.
Damian was nodding and smiling. "I'd very much like to photograph you, if you're willing."
"Okay," Nick said, his eyes sparkling, although Damian did not understand why.
"Well!" Ashley clapped his hands together, startling the other two, who were lost in their examination of each other.
"I'll be off then. Later, Ian, see you tomorrow. Thank you, Nicholas. You'll be an asset, I'm sure." He bustled to the door, heading gratefully to his club, which was located not too far away. He needed a little relief.
Nick stood with his arms wrapped around himself, wondering if he should go and change.
"Well, go take those off," Damian said, pointedly looking at the bulge distending the front of the pants. "We don't want you stretching them so they're too baggy for the shoot."
Nick blushed hotly and ran for the bathroom, unaware that Damian was pressing a hand over his own crotch at the sight of those perfect buttocks flexing under the thin leather.
When he was safe in his own baggy clothing again, Nick came out and hung the leather trousers on the rack Damian had provided.
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Hearing some noise in the darkroom, Nick went to the door, looking in questioningly. "Anything else today?"
Damian whirled around guiltily, hiding something behind him. "Oh! No, I don't think so. You can go, Nicholas."
"Okay, then. See you tomorrow?"
Damian smiled, enjoying the answering hopeful smile on the boy's face.
"Tomorrow. Don't be late."
"Yes, sir!"
Damian looked after the slim figure, startled. Maybe Ashley was right.
Both he and Nick slept very little that night.
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Nick went through agonies of jealousy the next day, although he didn't recognize it enough to call it by name.
Damian and Ashley were ensconced on stools in the studio, leaving it to Nick to check the names off the list as the models turned up. They were almost all good-looking enough to be considered beautiful, Nick thought sadly, wondering how a regular guy like him could hold a candle to some of these men. Almost all were taller than he, most had awesomely muscular bodies, and their faces were uniformly handsome.
Gloomily he crossed his eyes, trying to get a glimpse of his nose. He couldn't remember exactly what it had looked like before he broke it, but even if it had been perfect, he was still nothing compared to the professionals.
He got to watch as Ashley poked through the boxes of his products, selecting various items for the men to model for test shots. All of the models seemed to feel supremely comfortable walking around completely naked, and they were not embarrassed in the least by the collection of manacles, leg irons, cock cages, and masks that they wore for their various shots; most of it made Nick blush, although he couldn't turn away from the sight.
And yet, he wondered if Damian would like to see him in any of those items. He'd heard about this kinky stuff, of course; with the Internet being what it was anyone could see things that would shock their mothers, but he'd never given 44
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any thought to ever being in the same room with any of these items, let alone wearing them. The leather trousers he had worn yesterday were tame compared to most of the
"clothing" he saw today.
Ashley and Damian teased and joked with the various boys, who all appeared quite at ease. Only two had stalked out indignantly when they'd seen the kinky gear, refusing to audition for the job. Nick had to wonder why they'd even shown up; the agencies had been informed just what type of project this was.
He slipped surreptitiously into the bathroom twice, unable to keep his hands off himself; once when Ashley had laughingly smacked a willing blond model's arse red with a leather paddle, and the other time when Damian had helped a young man into a leather harness, complete with a cock cage and ball spreader. The blond had appeared to enjoy his paddling, but it was the mere sight of Damian's hands on the model and imagining them against his own skin, strapping him into that harness, that made Nick cling to the towel bar, gritting his teeth to remain silent when he came.
It was even worse when the female models arrived in the afternoon, as they were a complete shock to Nick. He hadn't even known that Damian intended to shoot women as well. If he'd known enough to give it any thought, Nick might have assumed that most men fantasized about women in the submissive role, but the two girls selected to play dommes terrified him. Once in costume they seemed to take entirely too much pleasure in snapping their whips around as if they had some experience behind them.
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It was all very confusing. Nick would have thought that the sight of shapely women in kinky, revealing costumes might have turned him on, but his most fervent hope was that he not be paired with any of them for his shots.
When the models had all gone for the day, Damian and Ashley sat down to analyze the test shots with Nick hovering in the background, trying to compare them to his tame photos from yesterday. Despairingly, he decided that now that the pros had shown their stuff, Damian would most likely forget about using him.
Ashley and Damian sorted through the shots quickly, discarding some, putting some in the maybe pile, and others into the final.
"Do you like this boy?" Ashley asked, contemplating the blond he'd paddled. "He would look well in the black stuff, I think."
"Yeah, he'll do," Damian said, contemplating a muscular black man with dark hair on his chest. "You don't mind a bit of fur, do you? It would make a nice contrast to Nicholas."
Nick jumped at his name. Maybe Damian still meant to use him after all.
"Yes, and this blond as well. Then we can mix and match, dark with light, or two darks and two lights," Ashley said.
"Yeah, that works for me. What about this guy as a backup?"
"Red hair?" Ashley said dubiously. "Always makes me think of Carrot Top. Not hot at all."
"But he'd be a contrast. And Crispin likes gingers," Damian teased gently.
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"That's true, and we have to keep Crispin happy, don't we?"
"No," Damian said. "
I
don't. You do."
"Touché." Ashley laughed.
"And these two girls in the domme outfits worked out rather well, I thought."
"That dark one reminds me a bit of Bettie Paige," Ashley commented.
Nick made a note to himself to Google Bettie Paige when he got home, hoping it might shed some light.
"She's got the bangs right, but she doesn't have that innocent joyousness that Bettie Paige had," Damian said regretfully.
"Pity, really. I'd love to have seen what you could have done with the original."
"Yeah, but I was born too late. Bettie recently passed away. She'll be missed." Damian shuffled through the Polaroids. "What about this blonde woman with the faux tits?
She looked right at home as a submissive."
Ashley gave the Polaroid a brief glance. "You know I've no interest in the female of the species. Do we really need to include ladies in the catalog?"
"Their money is just as good as a man's," Damian said.
"You're cutting off half your potential buyers if you leave them out."
"Very well. Choose the ones you like, and I'm sure you'll be right. They all look the same to me." Ashley got up and stretched, and then realized Nick was still hovering behind them and clapped him on the shoulder. "I shall be hoping to 47
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persuade you to model more than just those leather pants, my lad. You're more beautiful than all the rest of these boys put together and most of the girls. Between you posing and Damian doing the photography, this catalog is certain to go down in history."
"Th—thanks, I think," Nick stuttered, bewildered at this turn of events.
"You're still at uni, correct? I expect you're the poor student type; otherwise you wouldn't be working for this maniac," Ashley said, smiling at his friend. "I shall expect to pay just what I pay the others, provided you put out your best effort." He named an hourly sum that made Nick gape at the munificence of it. That was almost enough for him to quit his job and focus on his studies. Only he didn't want to quit his job now.
Nick nodded weakly, and Ashley clapped him encouragingly on the shoulder before leaving. "Excellent.
We'll see you tomorrow then."
"So are you going to let me see you in any of these wicked costumes?" Damian asked with a grin.
"Well, some of them are a bit ... a bit..." Nick floundered, at a loss for words.
"Extreme?"
Nick nodded.
Damian smiled. "You'll get used to it. The human animal is the most adaptable one on Earth. What shocks you today will be commonplace tomorrow. You'll see." He nodded encouragingly.
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"I wouldn't want my mum to see me in any of these," Nick blurted.
"Somehow I doubt she's on Ashley's mailing list. And if she is, she probably won't mention it. But if it's any comfort I could show you the shots I took the other day. You'll see; no one will see enough of your face to recognize you," Damian said matter-of-factly, hoping it would calm the young man.
"The allure of the unknown is always more powerful than dull reality."
"I would like to see them," Nick said boldly. "I didn't think you'd show them to me."
"You need to learn to ask for what you want," Damian scolded gently. "How will anyone know how to please you if you don't make your needs known?"
Nick didn't know what to say to that, but luckily Damian had placed his hand on his back, guiding him into the darkroom.
"Have a seat," Damian said, turning down the lights. "I haven't shown these to Ashley, in case you're wondering."
Nick blinked as his image flashed up onto the large plasma screen. Damian must have scanned in all the images. He nearly jumped up and ran when he was confronted with his own naked body. It was one of the early shots; he was naked and only his hands were bound to the bar.
He gulped quietly. He had no idea he could look like that, every curve and dip of his muscles taut under his skin, glowing like burnished gold under the artful lighting. His face was turned far enough away to be concealed in shadow, yet 49
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enough light played over it to reveal the shape of his cheekbone and the defined line of his jaw.
Damian started the slide show, watching Nicholas's reactions carefully as the photographs became progressively more graphic. Damian had been holding the cable release while he locked Nicholas's ankles into the spreaders, accidentally pressing the button while he worked. He heard an audible gasp when Nicholas saw the shot; the photographer, biceps bulging the short sleeves of his black T-shirt, bending to spread Nicholas's legs.
Nervously Nick flicked a glance at Damian, flushing when he saw the older man looking straight at him. He returned his gaze to the screen, thankful for the darkness.
"Fuuuuck," Nick let out on a slow breath when the last shot came up. The expression on his face, showing shock, submission, and hope, combined with the reddened print of a hand on his arse, made his cock hard in seconds. His arse started to throb again with the memory of it.