Caged Sanctuary (25 page)

Kade gasped, staring blankly at Deacon as what he said slowly sank in. Live with Deacon? What about his house? His heart wanted immediately to say yes, but his head was more cautious. “Live together?”

A tight nod was all he received in response.

“I appreciate the offer, Sir. You have no idea how much, but what would that mean for us? Long, long-term? I don’t want to give up my house and independence to later be asked to leave when you tire of things with me.” The last words came out in a whisper, one he wasn’t certain Deacon could even hear.

Shoulders drooping, Deacon sighed. “Thought we were past all that talk,” he grumbled. “Kade, I love you. I want you to live with me, be my boy and lover all the time. The other thing I wanted to discuss is….” he trailed off. He knelt in front of Kade.

The position was all wrong. Kade was to kneel—or get as close as he could to kneeling—not Deacon. Dom’s didn’t kneel in front of their subs! “What are you doing?”

Ignoring Kade’s question, Deacon continued. “I want you to be my contracted submissive, Kade. I want to put my collar on you. Make us permanent.”

“You what!” Kade choked, suddenly unable to catch his breath.
Contract? He wants me to be his live-in contracted sub? But….
“What about when you tire of me? No,” he bit out when Deacon opened his mouth to speak. “I, I lo—I care about you, too, but I know full well I’m not your first sub, and Sam’s made the point more than once that you don’t go to the clubs and pick out boys for the night, preferring actual relationships—which I’m thankful for—but what about when you want to get rid of me like your past boys?”

Deacon’s usually sensual lips pressed together, thinning into nothing more than a slash across his face as his eyes tightened and a low rumble sounded in his chest. “Are you planning to cheat on me?” he barked. “Lie and betray my trust? Shoot up in my home?”

Kade shook his head, unable to make a sound.

“Then I don’t see why I would ever want to ‘get rid of you.’ I didn’t get bored with my previous lovers, Kade. I simply will not tolerate certain things, the biggest being betrayal. Hell, I didn’t even dump the one I mentioned with a drug problem. I paid for his private rehab after we parted, and it wasn’t the addiction but the lying and cheating that came with it that made me leave.”

“I, um, huh?”

“Are you planning to do any of those things?” Deacon’s voice softened as he added, “I love you, Kade, and I want to collar you as mine in front of our friends.”

A shudder tore through Kade at the open, honest, and loving look on Deacon’s face. As he thought about what Deacon had said, he came back to the betrayal of past lovers being the reason, not that Deacon had gotten bored. “I would never betray you, Sir! And I… I love you too,” he cried as he shoved forward, wrapping his arms around Deacon. “I want to be your boy and wear your collar, Sir. Thank you.”

The muscles beneath Kade’s fingers relaxed as Deacon cradled Kade in his embrace. “Thank you, boy.”

They sat like that for a while, Kade in Deacon’s lap as they held each other, exchanging soft kisses and words of love. After a while, the kisses turned more urgent, the words to sounds of need. Eventually, Deacon carried Kade up to his room, stripped them both, and once the cage was removed, they spent the rest of the night worshiping each other’s bodies. And no matter what they did, or how much Kade touched and was touched in return, all he could focus on was that he was Deacon’s and Deacon was his.

Deacon woke him up more than once during the night, each time taking Kade with love and passion he’d never thought to have. When morning finally came, he lay in Deacon’s arms, sore in the best of ways, watching his love breathe slowly as the light crept across the room. At one point, Deacon had brought up Kade’s chair, not wishing him to be completely dependent on Deacon, a fact Kade was now very appreciative of. Carefully rolling and sitting up, he moved to his chair and headed to the bathroom to tend to his morning needs. He had to leave soon—it was still a workday after all. When he returned to the bedroom, he found Deacon sitting up in bed, watching him, a small smile on his lips.

“Morning, love.”

Kade thrilled at hearing Deacon call him “love.” “Good Morning, Sir. Did you sleep well?”

“I did.” Deacon stood up and walked to where Kade was, leaning in to hold him before placing a gentle kiss to his lips. “But we both have to get ready for work. I want you to come over like usual tonight, but I also wish to show you the house plans and discuss the contract.”

“I’d like that, to see the designs you have.” Kade nibbled his lip, trying to think how to ask his next question. “Will it be more… accessible for me? Not that I don’t love having you carry me,” he hurried to add. “But I would honestly like to be able to go wherever I want without having to worry about stairs.”

“Of course. I do like having a multistory home, but as you will see, it also has an elevator in it. In fact, quite a few of the more wealthy homes in the area have such things,” Deacon explained and winked. “Oh, before I forget, I already spoke to Sam, and he and Jake will hold our contract. I also want you to think about where you want to have your collaring. I thought at their club would be good, but I also know it holds some less than wonderful memories for you. We can discuss it all tonight, though.”

“Oh, okay.” At the club? Maybe…. For now, he focused on getting dressed and ready to go to work. He had a few things still at Deacon’s from other weekends he had stayed over, thankfully, so at least he didn’t have to run home prior to the long drive.

They left together, each going to his own car and office, but the simple event stuck with Kade all the way to the office. He wanted that to be his normal. To wake up with Deacon every morning, to fall asleep with him at night, and to just spend time near him. Even on the weekends he’d spent at Deacon’s the last few months, they hadn’t spent every moment together. Sometimes Deacon would work in his office on some design or another, or Kade might read or go out to pick something up without Deacon. It was the knowing Deacon was around if he wanted to spend time with him, he could.

Once at the office, he lasted until lunchtime before he couldn’t take Katie’s questions about why he was smiling so much. Giving up, he invited her to join him for lunch. There was a great little Thai place around the corner, so that’s where he found himself, being stared at as he attempted to order his meal.

“Stop being so weird, Kade.” Katie chastised, practically vibrating in her seat once the server stepped away. “What’s got you being all Mr. Smiley? Is it Deacon?”

He took a sip of his water and nodded. “He invited me over last night for dinner, and I didn’t leave until this morning.”

Her eyes narrowed at him as she huffed. “You staying over isn’t weird or a reason for you to be all grins. You do that all the time, so what gives? What did Mr. Tall, Blond, and Sexy do different this time? Come on, gimme the deets, hon.”

Chuckling at her antics and wording, Kade gave in. “He asked me to move in with him.” She gasped but he ignored it. “Actually, he is going to have a new house built and wants it to be
our
home, not just his house,” he added, grinning wide. He still couldn’t wrap his head around everything but didn’t care. Deacon loved and wanted him just as he was. That’s all that mattered.

She gaped at him, eyes wide as she stared. “He’s building you a house?”

“Well, sort of. He said he’d been planning to build the house and had already bought the land before meeting me, but yeah, he is. He said I could help so it’s fully accessible and convenient for me and my wheels too!” Even as thrilled as he was, he left out the collaring part, unable to bring himself to explain their lifestyle to her. He couldn’t tell her they were doing a commitment or anything either; she would expect to be invited. But even that didn’t diminish his joy as they discussed houses, moving, and what to do about Kade’s house, as he owned, not rented it, over lunch before returning to work, happy, fed, and excited.

S
ATURDAY
, S
AM
and Jake came over to Deacon’s again, but this time for a very different reason, though they would still play off and on. The four men sat at the large formal dining room table as Kade fidgeted and Deacon looked on calmly.

“Thank you for coming over to witness and support,” Deacon said, looking from Sam to Jake with a small smile. “As you know, I asked Kade to move in with me and become my contracted and collared boy. He and I need to work out the formal terms first, though, and discuss the where for his collaring.”

“We’re happy to help, you know that,” Sam rumbled, Jake adding, “We’re honored you want us here for this part too.”

“Thanks.” Kade looked to Deacon before speaking again, knowing Deacon wanted him to take part in the conversation, not simply go along with what Deacon chose. “First, Deacon mentioned his desire to have the collaring at Fierce, but that’s your club so I was not sure you would want that. I like that he wants it to be public, but… would you mind us having it there?”

“I don’t see why not. We’ve had others do their collarings and such at the club. Are you going to scene publicly too?” Sam asked.

Jake took Kade’s hand and held it, squeezing it lightly for a moment.
Yeah, that was a hard question.
Kade looked at Deacon and waited.

“Afterward, yes, I would like to show off what a good and sexy boy I have. I know you have suspension gear, so what I have in mind wouldn’t be difficult. However, most of the planning for that scene will be without Kade present, as always.”

Kade nodded and smiled. He never wanted to know what was going to happen ahead of time but liked the idea of Deacon wanting to display him. “Please.”

“Good,” Sam said. “Now that that’s out of the way, what do you need to work out? You’ve been functioning as a committed Dom/sub couple already.”

“We have, but when he lives with me and is my collared boy, I will expect things that I don’t hold him to now.”

“Like?” Kade was eager to do whatever he needed.

“Like that right there,” Deacon countered. “That’s one of the things that worries me, boy. You are so hungry to please and serve, but I worry if you will use your safe words if the situation were to arise. I don’t want to think of you being hurt because you wouldn’t use them. Safe, sane, and consensual is dependent on open, honest communication.”

Kade frowned, not liking the sound of that. He had never lied, even when he would have rather done so. “I am honest with you, Sir.”

“But you’re also so submissive at times, I worry if you will protect yourself if you need. I vow that I will never intentionally harm you, but you need to promise to use your safe words.” Kade nodded, but Deacon shook his head. “No, you have to actually say it and mean it. Nods won’t work in this case.”

“Sorry,” Kade murmured, his gaze dropping. “I promise to use my safe words if I ever need them. I won’t let things go so far that I’m hurt. The bad kind of hurt,” he added, fighting the grin threatening.

“Brat.” Deacon chuckled and smiled. “I don’t want to go point by point over everything that might ever come up. That’s unrealistic and would take months, but there are a few things I insist upon. As my permanent boy, you will have to promise to obey my commands to the best of your ability. I already mentioned the honest and open communication, which includes revealing your desires without embarrassment. And yes, I know you will need time to work on those. To work on your issues of fear and shame. There is one other thing I want, and it won’t be forever, but I would like
us
to go to counseling.”

He knew they were all waiting for his reaction, but he was still trying to put it all together. Obeying and being open and sharing his wants, while hard at times, wasn’t hard to promise. He wanted to please Deacon, so he would do as desired. But therapy? “You think I’m mentally ill?”

Deacon shook his head as he stood and came around the table to Kade, sitting in a chair before setting Kade in his lap. “No, love.” He pressed his lips to Kade’s temple as they sat in together. “I think you have some issues, thanks to the attack that lost you use of your legs, which is perfectly understandable. But I also think it would be good for
us
to go together. There may be things I don’t know about your needs; things you don’t even know you need yet. But you always worry I’m going to either become bored or lose patience with your mobility differences, and I think addressing those with someone—both of us addressing those fears—would be best.”

“I can’t talk about my… concerns… that you would rather be with a sub who can kneel or stand and be bound to a cross or…. We can’t talk about that kind of thing with a shrink, Deacon. They’ll think you’re abusing me even though you aren’t!”

“Shh…. No one said a thing about abuse. We will find someone who is comfortable with our lifestyle and will work with us, okay? There are probably even some at Fierce. You know, you’re not the only professional who likes to serve, just as I am not the only one who likes to dominate.”