The Flesh Cartel (4 page)

“Good. It pleases me, you know. You have a very beautiful body, Douglas. Firm and strong, but still slim enough to edge just this side of feminine.” For a moment, distaste—outright
offense
—flashed plain as day on Douglas’s face, but the boy schooled himself quickly, and Nikolai chose to let the fleeting bad manners go. For now. “Which ties in with part of today’s gift. Go fetch the bag on the table.” Douglas stood, a bit on the graceless side, and Nikolai grabbed his wrist and held him back. “Careful, Douglas. Your master’s eyes are upon you; don’t bound up like a newborn giraffe. Elegance, Douglas, in everything you do. Grace. Subdued power. Sit and try again.”

Better this time. The boy was no dancer, lacked the hyperaware control over his body that his brother possessed, but at least he was meticulous this time, spine straight, head up, motions smooth and unwasted. He paced over to the table with the same self-conscious deliberateness. Picked up the bag by the handles without even trying to glance inside, though surely he was burning to. Nikolai could see it on his face, guileless as the boy was—curiosity, fear, apprehension. When he reached the bed, he held the bag out for Nikolai. Nikolai didn’t take it.

“Is that how I’ve taught you to present things to your master?”

A brief flare of panic, quickly stifled; it’d been long enough since Nikolai had hurt him that he’d begun to trust it wouldn’t happen again so easily. “N-no, sir,” he said, eyes dropping to the carpet, knees following a moment after. “I’m sorry, sir, I forgot . . .” He ducked his chin, raised his arms, held the bag out in both hands like presenting a knight his sword.

“That’s all right, Douglas.” An uncommon kindness, true—normally he
would’ve
punished the boy—but not during this crucial, trust-building time. He took the bag and drew out the wrapped gift box with its big red ribbon. He set it in Douglas’s outstretched hands.

“Wow, it’s actually a present,” Douglas said, mouth falling open into a sweet little O. “Thank you, sir.”

Nikolai smiled. “Go on, open it.”

Douglas tore into the wrapping like a child, although his characteristic neatness didn’t allow him to scatter the paper. Instead, he carefully balled it up and stuffed it back into the shopping bag before pulling the lid off the gift box.

He looked up, clearly confused, yet cautiously hopeful, as if he understood what the gift might mean. “Sneakers, sir?” He reached into the box, cautious as if a snake might be hidden under the shoes, coiled and waiting to strike. Still expecting punishment, the poor thing, but this little show of generosity should help set him to rights.

“And more,” Nikolai said, gesturing for Douglas to keep exploring his gifts, feeling strangely vulnerable at the idea that the boy might not like them. He had never seen Douglas dressed in anything beyond a collar, so he had no idea about the boy’s tastes. He’d simply gone to a high-end shop for young men and asked the saleswoman to pick out everything he needed. Cradled now in Douglas’s hands were shiny black leather sneakers with clean, bright white soles and a small alligator embroidery. Still in the box, a pair of slim-cut gray-blue jeans, and under those, a bright blue cashmere sweater, the color chosen to bring out Douglas’s eyes and the fabric so soft to the touch that Nikolai would have a hard time keeping his hands off the boy.

“Clothes, sir.” Douglas’s voice was soft, shaky,
touched
, and Nikolai felt both gratified and relieved at the boy’s obvious pleasure. Douglas couldn’t look him in the eye. He was just . . . staring at the box and the treasures within. What was going through his mind now? Did he think Nikolai was giving him his freedom? He couldn’t possibly be so naïve. Not after Nikolai had instructed him in the nuances of his service just a minute earlier.

Oh well, he’d understand that for himself soon enough. “Yes. There’s just one more thing.” Nikolai reached back into the shopping bag and pulled out a smaller box, just as beautifully wrapped as the first one.

Dougie tore away the paper. Pulled off the lid. Recoiled from it as if the snake he’d been afraid of before had finally struck. “I . . .” He put the box down on the floor, a little too quickly to be polite. And then, to cover up his ingratitude, said, “I think maybe the store mixed up your box, sir.”

Nikolai crossed his arms and leaned back slightly. “What makes you say that, Douglas?”

Douglas didn’t miss the disapproval in Nikolai’s voice and body language. “I—sir . . .”

“Don’t you think I double-checked my purchases?”

“But sir . . .”

“Consequences, Douglas. You’re starting to make me cross, now.”

Douglas fell forward, kissing Nikolai’s knees and thighs in desperate apology. “I’m sorry, sir,” he babbled between kisses. “I’ll . . . I’m yours, sir, I know I’m yours, what I want doesn’t matter, so if you want me to—” A hitch in his voice, another kiss to Nikolai’s thigh. “Um, to . . . to put those on? If it would please you, sir?” He dared a glance up at Nikolai, the panic fading from his eyes at the continued lack of recrimination, but the confusion, the worry, the anxiety were all still there. “Is that right, sir? Is that what you want?”

Nikolai gifted the boy a caress, stroking his palm across Douglas’s hair and letting it rest at the nape of his neck. “It is. The clothes are a gift to show you I trust you enough to give you new freedoms. The . . . other gift is to remind you of your place, even fully dressed. And to signal to you that it’s time to resume your training in earnest. I’d be a terrible master if I didn’t help a boy of your beauty become accustomed to such things.” When Dougie grimaced, Nikolai added, “But there’s no need to rush. Let’s discuss this. Tell me, how did seeing my gift for the first time make you feel? Be honest, Douglas. You won’t be punished for honesty, not with me.”

Dougie leaned back into the hand at his neck and shut his eyes before saying, “Confused, sir.”

Nikolai rewarded Douglas’s unconscious quest for contact, affirmation, with stroking fingers, gentling up and down his nape. “And then?”

Douglas’s brow furrowed, eyes still closed. “Unhappy. I didn’t want . . . I
don’t
want to wear pink lace panties.”

More stroking across the boy’s nape.
I’m not punishing you. I’m keeping my promise.
“Even if it pleases me?”

The furrow at Douglas’s brow deepened, and even his mouth twisted down this time. Not distaste, just concern, perhaps a touch of fear. “I
want
to want to please you, sir, even if it means . . .” He opened his eyes, nodded toward the panties. “And I know you keep saying to be patient, it’ll happen, but . . .” He picked up the panties, fussed at them with thumb and forefinger. “But, honestly, when I put these on, it’ll be because . . . because . . .” He dropped his gaze to the panties, eyes following the motion of his nervous fingers.

When he said nothing more, Nikolai gave his neck a gentle squeeze, scratched lightly at his scalp—a soothing gesture he’d learned this past week that the boy loved. “Because?”

“Because I don’t want you to be mad at me, sir,” he mumbled to the panties. “I don’t want . . . consequences. But more than that, I . . .”

“Yes?”

“I like how
nice
you’ve been lately, sir. And I don’t want it to stop. I don’t want you to . . .” He squirmed.

“To leave you alone, Douglas?”

The boy nodded, blushing fiercely.

“I won’t. I gave you my word. Haven’t I shown you that much?” The boy said nothing, and Nikolai knew he was thinking of his parents, his foster parents, his brother. He cupped Douglas’s chin, lifted his head until their eyes met. “What you do or don’t do won’t change how I feel about you, Douglas. I’ll never abandon you, and I’ll never stop caring for you, even when I’m cross with you and have to punish you. Love and discipline go hand in hand.” Still the boy remained quiet, worrying the panties between his fingers like a rosary. “But I’d not care to punish you, Douglas. Will you put those on for me? Not out of fear or worry, but because pleasing me pleases you. Because pleasing your master pleases you. Or at the very least because you
want
that to be the way of things, even if you don’t feel it in your heart yet.”

Douglas nodded, and stood, and made to step into the panties. Nikolai stilled him with a hand to his shoulder. Said, “That’s very good, Douglas, you’ve pleased me,” when the boy looked up, startled. “And when we’re done with the afternoon’s lessons, when you’ve served me to satisfaction, I’d like to show
you
pleasure in turn.”

Douglas barely registered the promise of reward. “This isn’t the lesson now, sir?”

“No, Douglas. Just one part of it. But you’ve done so well so far and I have full faith that you’ll continue to do well. I don’t want you feeling so much as a moment’s discomfort when the time comes for me to give you the rewards you will no doubt earn. I want you to be
hungry
for it.
Begging
for it. Knowing I’ll give you what you ask for because you’ve been such a good boy.”

“Such a good boy . . .” Douglas echoed, as if in a trance. Nikolai couldn’t tell if he was trying to convince himself, or psych himself up, or push away the nerves, or something entirely different. He despised being uncertain, but it was hardly the boy’s fault and Nikolai would not take it out on him, not when he’d been so open and honest today.

Instead, he stood, went to the drawer where he kept the plugs, and selected a slim curving one, perhaps two fingers wide, with a flush base that would nestle comfortably in the crack of the boy’s ass.

“Come here,” he called, and Douglas obeyed, remembering to watch his posture, his stride. Very pleasing, the whole of it. Nikolai smiled. Held the plug up for Douglas to see. The boy blanched but didn’t try to move away. “There now. I know you’ve come to associate these with discomfort, but that needn’t be the case. Quite the opposite in fact. Come, spread your legs and I’ll show you.”

Again Douglas obeyed without hesitation, draping his upper body over the bed and spreading his legs out wide behind him. Nikolai lubed up the little plug and teased Douglas with it, stroking up and down his crack, pressing gently at his hole, rocking and thrusting in tiny increments until at last it breached him, slipped inside an inch at a time. Douglas gasped and wiggled, just a little, breath coming a touch faster, fingers curling in the sheet. Nikolai fucked him with the plug for a moment, just long enough to make the boy’s hanging cock twitch, then seated the plug inside him fully, watching Douglas’s hole clench around the narrow neck, pulling the base in tight.

“See?” he said when he was done. “Tell me how that felt.”

“N-nice, sir,” Douglas said, voice taut, as if the admission had been ripped from his throat. “Scary at first, but then nice.”

“That’s right. The plug has no inherent meaning or value. I’m sorry I had to build a negative association in you at all, but now is the time to correct it. It’s just a tool, Douglas. A tool to teach you an important and painful lesson, and now a tool to teach you a pleasant and reassuring one. Because for now, no man but me will fuck you, and when I choose to fuck you, your hole will be hungry and ready for me.” He grabbed Douglas by the hip and pulled him upright, then back, until he was nearly off balance. Pressed his lips to the curve of the boy’s lower back. “For me and
only
me,” he whispered huskily against Douglas’s skin. “And lest you get too worked up before I’m ready for you . . .”

He stood, returned to the chest of drawers, and retrieved the little silicone cock cage he’d locked the boy in for so long before. This time upon seeing what Nikolai had in hand, Douglas actually did take a step back. But he caught himself, stammered an apology, and returned to where Nikolai had put him. “A-also ‘just a tool,’ sir?” he asked, and he looked like he was trying so hard to soothe himself that Nikolai didn’t have the heart to chastise him for speaking out of turn.

“Indeed.” He squatted down again, locked Douglas into the cage. Not as easy as he’d have liked, given the boy’s half-formed erection. “Do you remember what happened the last time you came without my permission?”

Douglas’s full-body shudder was answer enough.

“Then I’ve no doubt you’ll be grateful that I’ve thought to protect you from making such an error again.”

Understanding lit the boy’s eyes, and he nodded. Nikolai had seen enough boys by now to know it wasn’t because he thought Nikolai expected him to, but because he really was grateful. To be protected from his own weakness. To be guided so kindly to the correct behavior.

Nikolai met those big blue eyes and said, “I promise I’ll not leave you locked away if you don’t give me cause. Be a good boy for me today.”

Douglas nodded again, but there was no missing the flicker of . . .
something
in the boy’s eyes. Some darkness, some worry, some fear.

“What is it, Douglas? It’s all right, you can tell me.”

Douglas held his gaze a moment longer, then looked away with a mumbled, “Nothing, sir.” But that was all right—that was all the time Nikolai needed to figure it out. He didn’t
want
to be Nikolai’s good boy. Oh, he wanted to want it, but he didn’t
feel
it yet.

Nikolai clapped his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “Give it time, Douglas,” he said. “Give it time.” The boy nodded. “And get dressed. The day is wasting.”

Douglas nodded again. After all the fuss he’d made about the panties, he pulled them on like they were any old pair of briefs, barely giving them a look or a second thought. Nikolai gave them a look, though: a long one, lingering over the way the frills of lace made his perky ass look even rounder and more lovely. And in the front? The sight of his caged cock and taut little balls stuffed into the tight satiny crotch—gods, it took all of Nikolai’s self-control not to bend him over and fuck him right then. Rip the panties to shreds.

The jeans next, riding low on slim hips, then the sweater—ah, Nikolai had done well there; Douglas stroked and stroked at the fabric, as if surprised by how nice it felt—then the socks and shoes.

When at last Douglas straightened up, he looked stiff and vaguely miserable, like he’d forgotten how to wear clothes, or no longer felt at home in them. Nikolai had seen this reaction countless times, and it never failed to warm his heart. Such progress the boy had made in their short time together.