Page 19 of Shrouded Desires
“That he does.” Storm agreed. “We spoke briefly. He told me when you first arrived at the club you slept in the Master bedroom closet?”
“Yeah.” Raine closed his eyes, not wanting to think too hard on what he considered the hardest part of his life. The agoraphobia had combined with his natural social anxiety. It had him completely crippled and unable to do more than the most basic of self-cares. “I struggle with open spaces, and new situations.”
“Good to know.” Storm kept his gaze locked on Raine’s. “Which is probably why you rarely leave the club.”
He nodded. “The trip to the hospital was the first in nearly three years, Sir.”
Storm studied him. “That’s a good thing? Three years inside?”
Raine struggled for a moment to find not just the words, but the right ones to explain something that most people just didn’t understand. He licked his lower lip. “You know that flutter you get in the pit of your stomach before the big game, the one that you know you have to win to make the playoffs?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, multiply that feeling times a thousand. That’s what happens when I even think of going outside the safety of the club. My palms sweat, my heart races, and I struggle to catch my breath. When Lizzie first got with Max, he had to physically remove me from a shitty little closet in the apartment that we shared because I couldn’t come out on my own.” He shrugged. It wasn’t something he was proud of but there was sometimes no reasoning with fear. Logically he knew that he was safe that others weren’t out to get him. But trying reasoning with fear. It just didn’t work.
“But now you can go to the club, scene with a stranger?” There was no malice in Storm’s tone, just a longing to understand.
“Now, I can have limited interactions with a dominant in a controlled setting,” he corrected. “Redemption is my safe place. There’s not an inch of this place that someone could harm me without witnesses.” He nodded toward the camera in the corner of the office. “Master equipped the whole club with the best security equipment on the market.”
Storm sighed. “Yeah, expensive but worth it.”
“Yeah.” Raine settled back in place, suddenly tired of digging into his past. He wanted to get this over with, so he knew what to expect, so he could get on with his new reality. “So, these rules, Sir?”
Storm chuckled. “Okay rules. I have only five, for the moment. If you need more as we go, I will add to them, understood?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Good. First, there will be a twice daily inspection of your body until I’m sure you’re not self-harming. I’m very serious about this. If you try to hide the burns from me, it won’t just be your ass that pays. Got it?”
Raine nodded, then sighed. “Got it. Master used to do the same.”
“Good. Those will start this morning. I will inspect you in the morning, then again in the evening.”
“Yes, Sir.” Why his cock stirred at those words weren’t a surprise. Inspections could be a rather intimate affair.
“Second, you will sleep in the master closet every night as Max eluded too earlier.”
“Of course.” He agreed but inside he was already missing his home under the stairs.It’s only for a short time, until Master is back at the helm. You can handle this.
“Third, you will eat breakfast and supper with me. For lunch you’re on your own.”
“If it pleases you, Sir.” He was happy that Storm realized he’d need private time as well.
Storm took a deep breath, his chest filling out. “Next, there will be daily maintenance spankings. We will forgo this morning’s because of your punishment. However, unlike this morning, you will be naked across my lap. Today is the last time there will be a barrier between your ass and my hand.”
Raine twitched at the thought of exposing his ass to the other man. It wasn’t a hard limit, but how the hell was he going to keep from sprouting a woody? He’d just have to persevere. “And the last one, Sir?”
Storm pursed his lips. “Your orgasms belong to me.”
Raine froze, his brain trying to wrap around the decree. Not even Master owned his orgasms. With their platonic relationship, sex had never factored into it. He’d rarely get off during a scene but occasionally jerked off in the shower. So, the very idea of another limiting his random bouts of release was a foreign concept. “Excuse me?”
Storm narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t stutter, boy. You want release you come to me.”
* * *
Storm watched Raine’s face. Would the boy refute his decree? If asked why he had even thought to include such a stipulation, he wouldn’t have been able to answer. All he knew is that the very idea of Raine seeking out pleasure elsewhere or by himself was abhorrent. He wanted to watch the boy come, wanted to control when he did and push Raine to heights he’d never previously experienced.
“I don’t get it, Sir. This arrangement is platonic, to make sure I remain safe. There’s no sex involved.”
