Don't... 04 Backlash (41 page)

Jack frowned
over at him and Trace nearly froze. Greg had been brought to the
manor an hour ago and Trace wouldn’t have pinned him as Jack’s dad.
If anything, he had the look he’d associated to Gray’s:
standoffish, taking time to absorb where he was, who he was with,
yet quick to shake a man’s hand and offer a smile with it once he
judged you were safe. Jack seemed at ease in anything he put on:
coveralls, jeans, naked... Greg looked bred into a suit. He didn’t
have Jack’s look, his finery, and he guessed that came from Jack’s
mother, but his eyes... they were Jack. They had also been
searching solely for Jack before Ed had whisked him away to find
Gray. Afterwards, they’d both looked like they’d fought from their
corners, with words their only defence and attack when it came to
triggering Martin. Tired. Both had looked so weighed down with a
tiredness that had followed them for years. And to ease the mood,
Trace had asked about the tights that Jack wore. Only Greg hadn’t
got a clue what he was talking about.

“Well, I bet
it’s what your father would say, Jack,” he tried to recover quickly
as Gray flicked a look over. “We could always give him a call to
find out?”

“What? No!”

Even Jan looked
back over to Jack, a smile creeping to his face. “It... I mean...
they... they just stop my jeans rubbing the scar on my hip,” Jack
said softly and Gabe looked up hearing it. Trace caught the
honesty, so too did Gabe, and he patted Jack’s stomach.

“Look after
that package,” Gabe said just as softly. Jack rattled it against
his ear, but from the sound of it, whatever was inside had thorough
packaging, keeping it quiet. “You can have the bubble wrap to pop
once it’s opened, okay?”

“Aw, presents.
For me?” Jack slipped the package in the front pocket of his
loose-fitting jeans, now looking and sounding more himself. Time
out with Jan had done him good, but then Trace knew that away from
the drugs, Martin, and every other complication, they were always
good for each other.

“For Ben, a
friend,” said Gabe, shaking his head at Jack before moving to the
Merc. “I need to mail it.”

“In the dark?
Hate to mention this, mate, but the Post Office shuts at five.”

“You’ll
understand when we make it to where Gray’s taking us.” Gabe let
Dare get in the back, then climbed in the front. Trace joined him
in the passenger side.

“You know we
have people who could post that for you.” Jack came and crouched
down by him.

“I have
legs.”

“Aye, short
ones, that can barely reach the adult section at the photography
shop without a leg-up from Goliath in the back. How the fuck do you
get a ceiling hoist working on him?”

Dare leaned
forward. “Skill.”

“Steroids,”
added Jack.

Gabe winked at
him. “You know I’ve got your car here?”

“To winch Dare
up? Now we’re talking kink. You thought of using a 4x4
instead?”

Trace saw
Gabe shake his head, then shut the door. “Always the mechanic.” He
put his foot on the gas and chewed up some gravel. Trace only just
about heard Jack’s cry of “
Tyres
,”
before he let the handbrake go.

Jack was left
arms wide open and helpless.

“Aw, look, no
hoist even needed,” said Trace over to Gabe. “Impressive.”

Gabe just
grinned.

“Okay.” Gabe
shifted next to Trace and nudged his arm, drawing some attention
from the line of Masters and Master subs over by the conference
table. “Now I’m officially impressed.”

It was getting
late, closer to the time where Regent Manor would usually be
shutting down for the night and getting ready to switch on night
time surveillance with the Doms and subs training in the field.
Looking at ease with being back around MC property crew, Jack had
taken some time out to show Gabe and Dare around, introducing them
to Mike and his surveillance crew and IT lounge. Trace saw mostly
new faces, some old, and the latter he spent some time catching up
with. It was good to see Gabe take in the scope of the
government-funded organisation. Back home, Diadem had a couple of
dungeons with the rare stream feed through to the internet. Here,
no feeds went beyond the security teams who kept a close monitor on
homes and various business spots when psych-play training would
incorporate the work environment too. Trace could see MI5s
influence in the surveillance department, even down to the planted
listening tech... Gray would be in his element overseeing the
schematics to these setups, and Trace wondered how many secrets
he’d picked up on those long observation nights. Gray wasn’t the
sort to switch off easily.

Gabe’s gaze had
started to dull with the hard look at surveillance, but after
seeing lecture rooms for more formal tutoring, how the trainees had
plenty of ways to relax with gyms, games’ halls, even tennis and
basketball courts, not to mention sleeping quarters for those Doms
in between training, or for ex-servicemen given rooms off the
streets...

“Impressive,”
said Gabe, now they found themselves in the Masters’ main
conference hall.

“Yeah.” Dare
was shifting a look around the hall. “Can I go for
overwhelming?”

Gabe slipped
his hand into Dare’s, and Trace shifted in front of Dare, just
slightly, It gave Gabe the privacy to comfort, and Dare the added
security of knowing there were two Doms close by. He’d shown a lot
of balls with Jan, but this was different. This was out of his
comfort zones.

Jolting
slightly as he came into the hall, Jack barely had time to
cry
don’t do
social
before Leif,
Brennan’s sub, was on him. There was no hesitation, no personal
space between him and Jack, and Jack returned Leif’s rough kiss,
rolling with it after a second and taking Leif down to the floor
and vampire biting all over his throat, leaving Leif crying abuse.
Jan had come in, too, and now stood looking down on them, arms
folded; it forced Jack to scramble to his feet, straighten his
clothes, his hair, then pull Leif up with a—

“Friend, not
foe,” mumble.

“You greet all
your MC friends like that?” said Jan, and he let out a groan as
Jack looked towards the main conference table and how each Master
sub, bar Leif, stood in a quiet line just away from the
Masters.

“Well, all
except Kerry, there.” Mistress Carr’s sub, a slim, South-African
lady with rich, deep eyes, glanced up. “She’s got these sharp
little pointy things that bite back.” Kerry smirked down as Jack
grabbed Jan around the throat and pulled him in for a hug, the hard
and ... friendlier vampire bites not stopping until a cough was
given. Any reservations about Jack being here were blown away
seeing just how much he’d relaxed coming through the doors.

“Business,”
said Brennan, and Jack peered around Jan.

“You know I
resigned, right? So did Gray. So technically no fuck orders me
around but—”

“Business,”
said Gray, now behind Jack, making him and Jan startle. Jack
mumbled something under his breath, then tugged Jan off to the
sidelines, with Leif whispering in his ear. No doubt he was filling
Jack in on everything that had happened since he’d resigned.

But before they
reached the sidelines, Gray sighed and went over to them, pulling
Jack by the cuff of his sleeve, onto the floor.

“That means
you, Jack.”

“Huh? This mean
you’re back?”

“For tonight.
Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Gray then went and pulled Jan
over by Jack. “You too, abstract.”

“Huh? What?”
said Jan. “What did I do?”

Dressed in
jeans and T-shirt, Jack stood in front of the conference table,
shifting from foot to foot. Jan looked just as nervous, glancing at
Gray, who stood next to him.

“What have I
done??” he whispered heatedly to Gray. “Is this about the fraud,
the drugs? Because the last time I was here, I whipped Jack, and
you—”

“Easy,”
whispered Gray. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Nothing at all.”

Trace kept his
silence off the main wooden floor, instead taking a non-member’s
place off to the left of the main conference table, opposite side
of the Master’s sub. Even a Dom as non-member could get a serious
reaction if he stood close to the Master’s subs. He’d stood there
himself once, with Nicholai calling the shots and Gray standing far
too close, as a trainee Master Dom, and not giving a shit. One
thing Trace did find strange was how the other Masters who were
present looked a little startled at whatever short notice Gray had
given them.

Gabe and Dare
had been given permission to stand as non-members too, and
occasionally Trace would get a shove off Dare as the big man’s
nerves got the better of him, and he’d shift, coughing quietly.

Looking
conscious of Jan’s worry, Jack seemed to remember where he was, and
he removed his trainers and socks, inching them into position by
him before easing down to his knees. He didn’t have to; he’d
resigned his position from the MC, as Trace had done, but that sign
was there; that quiet fall into respect, even if it was mostly for
Gray, because of Gray being his Master. An ease down of his
shoulders and gentle breathing spoke of how hurt and rape had been
given a little context; how what had happened with Vince wasn’t
BDSM, it wasn’t Jack’s lifestyle. Watching Jack for a moment, the
same came to Jan’s eyes. He seemed paler by comparison, more edgy,
and Jack’s glance up at him was done to offer a soft smile,
a
whatever the fuck
it is, we’re here together
.

Gray’s was
different, on the rare occasion giving away hurt when Jack and Jan
weren’t watching. He didn’t look completely at ease, being here no
doubt bringing back all the reasons to stay... all the reasons to
go. Brennan’s quiet called out the former. His silence saw the
hurt, and he kept his attention to Gray.

“You have the
full attention and backing of your peers, Master Raoul.” The formal
title wasn’t a mistake. “All you need now is one long-overdue
sub.”

Gray gave a
nod, a thank you, then— “Jan,” he said softly.

Jan
frowned over at him. Again it was there on his lips, that
What the hell have I
done?
Gray looked
his way and smiled, just enough to have the tension in Jan fading.
“I’d like to ask your permission to Claim Jack. And I’d like to
Claim him with permission from one lover to another.”

Jan shuffled
slightly. “Claim?”

“A Claiming is
slightly different to a collaring, carrying more permanent markings
for both sides.”

That drew
Jack’s attention more than Brennan’s cough. Jan seemed to struggle
to say something too.

“I know your
head is racing two paces faster than your heart.” Gray came a
little closer. “If you tell me you’re not ready to discuss this
now, I’ll understand and postpone. I—”

“Yes,” Jan said
softly. He was looking down at Jack, then focused back on Gray. “Oh
God, fucking yes. Please.”

Gray offered a
small smile, then brushed a gentle finger against his own lip. He’d
done that since Trace had known him, saying his mind was purely on
his lovers, either wanting to kiss, fuck, or discipline, but
offering a silence, an anticipation all of its own that had Jack
controlling his breathing. Trace wished Gray could take a step
outside of himself and just look at how he affected someone. The
Dom was there, that natural control, yes, but also that innate
ability to want to look after those he pulled close. He kept an eye
on Jan, no doubt to make sure his paleness and withdrawal weren’t
blurring his reality. But Gray had done something he’d never done
before: he’d asked someone’s permission to Claim his own sub. He’d
asked his lover. And by asking Jan, it let everyone here know it
was a partnership here when it came to Jack, and that Gray wanted
Jan respected as his lover.

“No games,
Jack, just us,” Gray said quietly, now looking down, “and a simple
request now. Mine.”

Kneeling there,
Jack frowned and Gray stroked at Jack’s jaw seeing it.

“I’d like to do
it right this time, too.”

Jack eased back
onto his heels, his stance relaxing. He was no trainee, no Dom who
had passed training, but a Master’s sub at heart, and he recognised
why he was here. He glanced up at Jan, his quiet asking that Jan
was okay with this. His way of making sure everyone else recognize
that Jan was his lover too, and that both Gray and Jan had a say in
his life.

“
Sir,” he
said back to Gray as Jan smiled down. Gray took a slim case off
Brennan as Brennan came closer.
Click
was heard. Then Gray took something out and handed the case
back to Brennan.