Healing Hark (Doms of Chicago) (8 page)

“No.” Diachi spoke softly for the first time since Bryan had begun his little impromptu negotiation. “There’s a small matter of my submissive’s punishment. For your part in it, you’ll watch.”

Hark stiffened. “Punishment is a private matter between a master and his submissive.”

“Of course it is. Unless the infraction occurs within a club, or involves a third party.” Diachi tapped the switch against his thigh.

Gritting his teeth, Hark resisted the urge to scream. His patience hadn’t been tried like this since the time Alex had painted himself in war paint and ran around the house in a makeshift loin cloth less than ten minutes before his principal had arrived to discuss the boy’s rambunctious behavior in school. “This has nothing to do with me. I didn’t ask him to stand up for me.”

Diachi sighed. “This has everything to do with you, Hark. Not only is punishment a vital part of our relationship, you need to understand why he’s earned it.” Diachi turned back to Bryan. “Loose the robe, slave.”

“Yes, Master.”

The change in Bryan’s behavior was remarkable as he shed his robe. The man seemed to become more pliant and giving. Hark tried to ignore its immediate effect on his libido, but the naked planes of Bryan’s body only compounded the problem.

Well defined shoulders smoothed out into pectoral muscles that seemed to quiver under his gaze. The glint of steel through the raspberry hued nipples caused his mouth to dry out, before tapering down to a six pack and a long, but thin cock and hairless balls. The rhythmic thud of the switch against Diachi’s thigh only prolonged his torment. His hands curled into fists. How the hell was he supposed to watch and not partake?

“Why are you being punished, slave?” Diachi prompted, his stern demand drawing Hark’s attention.

“Because I overstepped my boundaries, Master, by dictating what I wanted done.”

“And tell Hark why you’re not allowed to do that,” Diachi ordered, the switch falling silent.

“Because at the beginning of our relationship, I couldn’t give up control, and turned to cutting myself instead when I couldn’t find the submission I wanted.”

“And?” Diachi moved closer to Bryan.

“So we came to an agreement. Instead of cutting myself, you had control of all our household decisions, and when I tried to resist or fight you, there’d be consequences. Ten strikes with the bamboo switch.”

“Correct. And during that particular negotiation, you also requested I forfeit your safeword as well during said punishment?”

“Yes, Master. For my own mental well-being.” Bryan caught Hark’s eye, his expression open. The easy acceptance of something as drastic as a removal of a submissive’s one out floored Hark. How could the man give up the one thing meant to protect him?

“That’s right.” Diachi sighed. “Yet tonight you reverted back to your old destructive habits?”

“No, Master. This wasn’t about me trying to control something that was obviously your domain. It was me wanting to keep Hark from leaving us.” Bryan’s gaze left Hark to focus on Diachi. “I panicked when I came home and realized he was leaving.”

No emotions showed on Diachi’s face. “And you didn’t trust me to keep it from happening?”

Bryan shook his head.

“Words, slave,” Diachi barked. Hark winced and wanted to interfere but restrained himself.

“No, Sir. I trust you implicitly. I didn’t want to be the reason you turned away another submissive who was in true need.” Bryan bit his lower lip. “Our relationship is wonderful and everything I could ask for. How could I leave another in the same hell hole you found me?” He searched his master’s eyes before lowering his head submissively. “If I can handle returning to that dark place, then there’s no reason you should give up on him.”

Horror washed over Hark. The beautiful submissive in front of him had lost his master? But he was full of light.

“Which is why I’m not going to give you the full ten strokes, only a lesser number. Your motives were honorable, even if misguided.” Diachi tipped up Bryan’s face. “However, we do have two other infractions to deal with. You not only disrespected me by taking over, but you also forgot to give me my welcome home kiss until I reminded you.”

“Yes, Master.” Bryan’s tone was solemn.

“For that you’ll receive one stroke each, plus two more for your misguided motives and doubting my ability to keep Hark with us so we can both help him. In the future, you must remember I treasure our routine and feel off balance when I don’t have it.”

“I’m sorry, Master. I won’t forget again.”

“Let’s hope you don’t.” Diachi stepped back, his expression stern. “Over the couch.”

Bryan immediately obeyed, draping his tall frame over the low back of the couch, exposing the tight ass Hark had lusted after earlier in the day. He’d been right. Tight enough to bounce quarters off of. Diachi soothed his palm over the rounded globes before stepping back. “Count off.” Then the whistle of the bamboo switch cut through the air before the snap of it hitting flesh overrode it.

Hark winced as a bright red stripe appeared on Bryan’s left cheek. “One, Master.” It sounded as if Bryan was speaking through gritted teeth.

“Good boy.” Diachi let the switch fly again, a little bit harder than the first. It landed on the opposite cheek. Hark was surprised it didn’t cut through the skin.

“Two…Master.” Bryan jerked. His voice broke as he dealt with the strength of the blow. The switch landed again. “Three, Master.” A pained gasp escaped Bryan, but his master was swift in delivering the final blow. “Four, Master.”

“And we’re done.” Diachi helped Bryan up, turning him into his arms. “All is forgiven.” He brushed away the tear that had escaped to trail down Bryan’s cheek. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“And I you, Master.”

As Bryan buried his face against Diachi’s shoulder and Diachi drew him closer, Hark slipped out of the room. Never before had he felt as much like an intruder as he did in that moment. Aftercare was a special time between the Dom and his submissive, and needed no witnesses – especially a broken switch like him.

Running his hand up and down Bryan’s back, Diachi uttered soothing words as his submissive cried against his shoulder. He knew this deal with Hark would be hard on his man, but he’d never expected his submissive to take such a strong stance about him staying. His lover truly had a giving heart. He barely glanced up as the sound of Hark’s retreat reached his ears. In his arms, Bryan stiffened.

“Shh, he’s just going downstairs, love.” He kept his voice soft and soothing. “He’ll be here in the morning, I promise.” He slowly moved them toward the same couch Hark had vacated earlier in the evening. Settling down on the thick cushions, he drew Bryan onto his lap, loving the way his submissive wrapped himself around him.

“I’m truly sorry, Master.” The words teased his chest.

“I know you are.” He toyed with the blond curls resting against his shoulder. “But somehow I think your disobedience was worth every stroke you received tonight.”

Bryan tried to shift away, but Diachi refused to let him go. “No. If I wanted you to move, I’d tell you. Now be still.”

“Yes, Master.” Bryan’s head dropped back to Diachi’s shoulder and his frame relaxed again him. “Now we’re going to discuss the reason you didn’t feel comfortable admitting the truth to me in front of our guest.” He continued to stroke his hand up and down Bryan’s back.

“Reason, Master?” The weary tone in his submissive’s voice assured his suspicion was correct.

“It isn’t merely your desire to not leave another submissive in the hell I found you that caused you to lash out tonight. I know you. You have a big heart, but not that big. You found out something today about Hark, didn’t you?”

Bryan nodded.

“I need words, slave, not head nods. What did you find out about our guest that changed your whole view of our situation?”

“Easton knew him.”

Surprise flowed through Diachi. It wasn’t completely illogical that Bryan’s right hand man might know Hark, but where would the quiet soft spoken man have met his former submissive? “Easton knows a lot of people. So why would him just knowing Hark be so important?”

Bryan lifted his head to stare up at him, his blue eyes wet. “He knew him from the service, and to hear him talk about it, it’s a miracle because —”

“Easton never talks about his time serving our country,” Diachi finished. “So Easton knew him while they were both in the service. What did he do that left such an impression on our friend?” Diachi drew his finger down Bryan’s check.

“He beat a man to death in Korea because he attempted to rape a female soldier, and put three other men in the hospital before nearly dying himself. When Easton asked him why, he said no woman deserves to be raped. What kind of men would we be, if we let such a selfless man hide in the shadows, when we have the ability to bring him out?”

Diachi sighed and decided to play Devil’s advocate. He needed Bryan going into this without blinders when it came to Hark. His former submissive was a good man, but a man nonetheless. “Perhaps what you and Easton see as an honorable action may not be what it seems.”

Bryan sat up, and eyed him warily. “What do you mean?”

Diachi squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Hark’s mother was raped by his father.”

A scowl crossed Bryan’s face. “That doesn’t make the crime any less heinous, Master. It probably only made him more adamant about how women are or should be treated. The idea that you’re suggesting he’s only out for revenge is just sick. Hark is far from perfect but the way Easton spoke of your former sub - Hark considered all the men of Easton’s unit to be his family. That he’d lay down his life for any of them. Which tells me he’s a protector.” Bryan crossed his arms. “Just like you.”

Amusement at Bryan’s outrage bubbled inside of Diachi as he realized his sub wasn’t blind to Hark’s faults. But he wouldn’t give into the urge to smile. “And your point is?”

“Well, think about it. How would you feel if I died tomorrow? Even if it wasn’t your fault? Wouldn’t you be torn up inside?”

Any humor Diachi felt died instantly. “Don’t even joke about that. I
will not
lose you.” He dragged Bryan back into his arms.

Bryan relaxed against him. “I’m not saying you will, Master… just put yourself in his moccasins. Even if you did everything right and still lost your family, how would you feel as a man, as a protector? It’s that part I want to appeal to. The part I want to bring back. If I can get him to care about me, maybe we can bring him back.”

It suddenly dawned on Diachi what his sub was trying to say. “That’s why you wanted him to agree to accompany you to work? He’s going to be a bodyguard of sorts?”

Bryan tipped his head back. “Yes. In a way. He’ll work with me. There’s something fishy about the situation with my new line. Hark has admitted he’s worked with Jude in the past. I want him to do some discrete investigating. Perhaps see if he can find something the investigator my uncle hired hasn’t.”

Diachi turned the idea over in his mind, weighing the pros and cons. “I don’t think the job is going to be enough,” he finally said.

“What do you mean?” Bryan toyed with the edge of Diachi’s shirt.

Covering his sub’s fingers, he tried to explain. “If a job would be enough, the one Olivia asked him to undertake when Zheyna and her child were in danger, he wouldn’t be here. He needs more.” He looked into Bryan’s eyes. “Do you trust me? And know I’d do nothing to hurt you?”

Bryan gazed at him uneasily, but the love in his eyes never wavered. “Of course, Master.”

“I want to give you to him during your hours at work. He needs to be reminded what it means to be responsible for another. He needs to know his actions or lack of them will affect another.”

“Master?” The bewilderment in his tone wasn’t a surprise but the hint of panic was.

“Shh, I’m not tired of you. He’ll merely be an extension of me while you’re at Sterling Foods. He’ll report any infractions back to me, and generally take care of you as I would.”

A shuddering breath escaped Bryan. “An extension? What if he asks me to service him, Master?”

Diachi struggled with himself before answering. “Then you have my permission to do so, but I know Hark. I doubt as skittish as he is that he’ll ask such a thing. The man I remember will be reluctant to take something that isn’t his.” He brushed his fingers over his lover’s cheek. “But if he does, and you feel comfortable doing what he asks, then I want you to do it.”

Confusion filled Bryan’s face before he turned his head into Diachi’s chest. “You’d let me cheat?”

Diachi lifted his sub’s face. “If I know, it’s not cheating, love. Would it be any different than me turning you over to Olivia or one of the other masters for a scene or punishment?”

He could almost see the wheels turning in his sub’s mind.

“That’s different, Master. Even if I play with others, I’m still yours.”

“As you will be when you submit to Hark.” He brushed his thumb over Bryan’s lower lip before letting his touch drift to the
symbol of his ownership resting around Bryan’s throat. “As long as this collar remains, you’re mine.” He sighed. “Once you told me you dreamed of belonging to two men. Of being able to serve them both with no jealousy.”

Bryan stiffened. “That fantasy died when Steven attacked my former master. I’ll never again allow my selfish needs to ruin my relationship with my master.”

“This has nothing to do with your selfish needs, but perhaps mine.” He tilted his head back. “If you could’ve seen how you looked squaring off with Hark.” He pressed Bryan’s hand against the length of his erection. “It was very erotic.” He guided Bryan’s fingers inside of his loose bottoms.

“You want him?” Bryan tried to pull away from him.

He sighed. How did he answer this in a way his sub would understand, without hurting him? “He’s an attractive man and I’d have to be dead not to…”

Bryan scrambled away from him to stand next to the couch. His chest heaved even as his expression remained closed off.

“I…no…dammit, Diachi! If you want him, why didn’t you just take him? I would’ve never known? Why rub it in my face?”

Snagging Bryan’s wrist, he hauled his lover back into his arms. Then he buried his hand in Bryan’s curls. Jerking his head back, Diachi growled. “I
love
you. I’d never act on my desires for him if you’re not committed to the same path as me.”

“Then why are we talking about this?” Bryan’s eyes searched his.

“Because you’re willing to revisit the hell Steven left you in to bring Hark out of the shadows.” He rubbed his nose over Bryan’s, their breaths mingling. “Why not ask that he give you something in return? Can you say your need to be shared has faded?”

* * * *

Those words weighed heavily on Bryan as he entered his work the following morning. It also made him vastly aware of the tall shadow hovering behind him. After talking privately with Diachi this morning, Hark had been withdrawn and had only stirred when they’d pulled into the underground parking ramp. Bryan stopped by the security desk in the lobby of Sterling Foods. As usual Marius, his head of security, nodded to him before standing to check his badge – a policy Bryan himself had insisted upon shortly after the sabotage had begun.

“ID, Sir?” Marius stepped out from behind the desk. “Standard procedure.”

Bryan half expected Hark to refuse, but in the end, all he did was tug a battered leather wallet out of the back pocket of his pressed khaki’s. The man had paired it with an ivory polo shirt and trim leather belt at his waist. He’d even pulled his long hair back into a single braid, which only accented the harsh planes of his angular face. “Here.” After fishing out his license, he placed it on the counter within easy reach.

Marius took it with a smile before entering the pertinent information into their security system. Once finished he set the driver’s license back on the counter. “Thank you…Mr….
Ah-kull-a
?”

“Ah-cool-a,” Hark corrected absently before shoving it back into his wallet.

His head of security took the correction in stride. “Very good. Now, if you’ll please place your thumb on the scanner?”

Hark tipped his head and studied the man, then the small thumb pad.

It was another innovation Bryan had insisted upon since the ongoing thefts continued. But in light of the scowl across Hark’s face, this might just be one time he should second-think his newest security policy. Prepared to use his clout as the CEO to get Hark past security, a sigh of relief escaped him when Hark laid his left thumb on the pad to be scanned. Less than thirty seconds later there was a low beep behind the counter.

“Here you go, Mr. Akula.” He handed Hark a small plastic badge with a bar code on it. “Please be sure to wear this at all times when you’re within both the plant and the offices.”

“Of course.” Hark hooked it to the collar of his polo shirt. The bright yellow badge contrasted sharply with the creamy white material. After making sure it was secure by tugging on it, Hark nodded to him. “Please lead the way.”

Once they were in the elevator, an uncomfortable silence filled the air as the tight space rose steadily skyward. “So now that you have me here at your mercy, what exactly is your plan? To have your way with me? I can assure you I don’t submit to just any man.”

Bryan’s laugh sounded forced to even his own ears. “As if I’d ever try that.” He rolled his shoulders. “When it comes to my men, the more dominant they are the better. I don’t have a single desire in my entire body to be in charge in the bedroom.”

Hark seemed to study him before turning his attention back to the closed doors. “Then why did you insist on this three times a week thing? I could be at your place working on my sculptures. Or is it you don’t trust me to be alone with your Master?”

“Master can take care of himself. Even if you threw yourself at him, I’d trust him to honor his promises to me.” He met Hark’s eyes. “Trust is a vital part of our relationship. If we don’t have that, then we have nothing.” There was a ding as the elevator reached its destination. Moments later the doors slid open and revealing his
dark
outer office. “That’s odd. Sharonda is usually in before me.”

Hark stilled and a quiet change seemed to wash over him. His hand wrapped around Bryan’s arm, stopping him from exiting the car. It wasn’t any one thing he could put his finger on, but it was as if the man had shifted out of friend mode into protector mode. Gone was the grumpy artist and in its place was the dark warrior.

“Stay here.” Hark canted his voice low. “Let me check everything out.”

Bryan opened his mouth to protest. “But…”

The glare Hark gave him shut him up. “Diachi would kill me if I let something happen to you. Stay put, or I’ll disable the elevator with you inside it. I need less than five minutes to clear the room.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Bryan’s hands went to his hips and he narrowed his eyes.

“Want to try me?” Hark seemed to grow before his eyes. “We both know you like being paddled, but let me assure you, you won’t like the ass warming I’ll give you if you don’t do as I say.”

Bryan clenched his jaw and ignored the way his body responded to the threat. Hark was right — he did so enjoy a good spanking, flogging, or paddling. Even those Master sought to use as punishment. “I haven’t given you the right to punish me.”