Ricochet (30 page)

"
I always wanted to wait - to find the right

dom,
" Matt said earnestly.

"
And now you have,
" Karl purred, taking hold

of his hand and pulling him towards the table.

He pushed Matt down onto it, and Matt felt

himself tensing in anticipation.

"Here," Rick said, unbuckling his belt and

handing it to Karl. "It'll do instead of the rope

that's in the script."

Matt took another deep breath and tried to

relax as Karl moved towards him with the belt.

"
No bondage,
" Matt said. "
Not for my first

time. It's too much.
"

"
You don't trust me?
" Karl pouted.

"
I… I'm not sure.
"

Karl looked wounded. "
The experience will

be so much more beautiful if you surrender to me

completely,
" he said, trailing a finger down Matt's

chest.

"
I'll try, but, you don't need to tie me. I'll

surrender without that. Let me show you.
" Matt

slid off the table, got down on his knees before

Karl, and reached for his pants. Karl grabbed his

hands in a surprisingly sudden move that caught

Matt off balance. He wasn't acting as he let out a

startled cry, and then another as Karl pulled his

arms behind his back and wrapped the belt around

his wrists so fast that he had no time to process it.

"
Ssh, my sweet little sub. You know this is

what you really want. Let me play with you,
" Karl

whispered darkly in his ear.

Matt felt his heart beating wildly. This wasn't

about Ben anymore - this was his own fantasy of a

commanding dom taking him against his will,

forcing him into sexual acts that he wanted to

experience but was too scared to pursue for

himself.

Ben Harris - naïve, innocent little Ben Harris

- had more guts than he did. At least Ben was

putting himself out there and trying to get what he

wanted, whereas Matt kept himself locked up in

his own safe little world.

Matt shook helplessly. He wanted this

experience for real. He wanted to know how it felt

to give up control and surrender to a powerful

dom; he wanted that so badly it hurt. Karl had tied

the belt loosely around his wrists, but Matt could

feel the bondage anyway, constraining him, making

him helpless, forcing him to submit… and it was

too much.

"Ricochet!" he yelled, without even knowing

why, just wanting the feelings to stop.

Rick was by his side in an instant, and Karl

stepped back, looking bemused.

"Matty - are you okay? What's the problem?"

Rick asked, quickly untying his belt from Matt's

wrists. He put his hands on Matt's shoulders,

grounding him, and Matt found himself spinning

back to reality.

"What's happening?" Karl asked.

"Ricochet is his safeword," Rick replied. "He

wanted out of the scene. Matt…" Rick took hold of

his face and turned it towards him, trying to get his

attention. "You're freaking us out, buddy. What's

going on?"

"Nothing. It's fine," Matt said, feeling like the

biggest idiot in the world.

"You were doing great. It was spellbinding to

watch," Rick told him. "I completely believed the

performance; I was living every single moment of

it with Ben."

Matt wasn't surprised about that because he

had been too. "I don't need to rehearse this

anymore," he said shakily. "I think it'll ruin it if we

over-rehearse. I need to come to it fresh on the

day." He tried to imbue the lie with as much

sincerity as he could. "Thanks so much for your

time, guys, but I'll be fine with it. It's all cool."

He pulled away from them and ran towards

the door, ignoring their surprised expressions. He

felt so damn embarrassed - he needed to get out of

here, fast.

He ran back to his trailer, locked the door,

and sat down with his back to it, trying to work out

what the hell he was going to do.

When Rick had met his mom he'd seen

himself through Rick's eyes, and he knew he'd

come over as such a prissy little sub: always so

uptight, never going after what he wanted, always

needing to be in control and repeatedly dating

service-oriented doms because he was too scared

to face what he really wanted.

Well, he didn't want to be that person

anymore. He wanted to do something dark,

dangerous, and reckless. He wanted to experience

the same emotions Ben had experienced as Jason

seduced him. He wanted to shake up his life and

see what happened.

He got up, went over to his laptop, and

looked up the nearest kink houses on Google. He'd

only used the idea of going to a kink house as a

jerk-off fantasy before; he'd never thought of going

to one for real. It wasn't something that a sensible

person would do… which was why he was going

to do it now. He wasn't going to be sensible,

boring, always-in-control Matt anymore. He was

going to be someone else - someone who did wild,

bold, impulsive things and lived life to the full.

He clicked on a place called Fantasia, which

was a short drive away. The site's blurb promised

"a service tailored to your individual needs, taking

your express wishes into account," and Matt

guessed that was as close to being in control as he

was going to get. After that, it'd be out of his

hands.

He gave a false name and chose an

appointment time for later that evening, after work.

Then he then sat back and stared at the screen in

disbelief, wondering what the hell he'd just done.

"Is he okay?" Karl asked, as they watched

Matt run from the rehearsal room.

Rick shrugged. "He'll be fine; he's just going

through some stuff right now. This whole scene is

a big deal for him."

"He's not a virgin too, is he?" Karl asked

suddenly. "Like Ben?"

"No, that's not it," Rick replied, although

privately he thought Matt might as well be for all

the real pleasure he'd taken from his sex life with a

succession of dull doms who hadn't given him

what he needed. "He wants it to be perfect, that's

all, and he's putting a lot of pressure on himself.

He knows this is a big scene for his character and

for the show."

Having

met

Matt's

mom,

Rick

now

understood why Matt felt he had to be so perfect

all the time. She'd heaped so much pressure on him

about being temple born that it wasn't surprising he

took life so seriously.

"Leave him be for a while," Rick said,

knowing that if he went after him now, Matt would

feel cornered and come out spitting and hissing,

like a feisty cat. He needed time to calm down.

"I'll speak to him tomorrow." If he could coax Matt

into resuming their usual morning spanking routine,

then he might be able to have an honest discussion

with him in the immediate afterglow. That seemed

to work with Matt.

Rick spent the rest of the afternoon pretending

to be trapped down a sewer, getting dirty and

sweaty and occasionally being knocked around by

the bad guy of the week. He had a bad headache by

the time he got on his bike after work, and Matt

had already left.

Rick was so tired when he got home that all

he wanted to do was take a bath and go to bed. He

slowed down as he approached the wrought iron

gates in front of his house, clicked them open, and

was about to drive through when someone

appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his arm,

almost pulling him off his bike.

Rick yanked his arm away, trying to shake off

his assailant… and found himself looking at a tall,

dark-haired man with an old, familiar face.

The man grinned. "Hello son," he said.

There was a big sign on the door proclaiming

Fantasia - Kink House to the Stars
. Matt

wondered how many stars had actually visited this

place as he slipped in, wearing a baseball cap

pulled down over his face. The last thing he

wanted was for someone to recognize him and take

a picture of him on their cell phone walking into a

place like this. It'd be all over the internet within

hours, and he could only imagine what his mom

would say if she found out he'd been to a kink

house.

Matt turned off his phone so he wouldn't be

interrupted during his interview and pushed open

the door.

The kink house was tastefully decorated

inside - nothing like the dives they were often

portrayed as on TV. Then again, this was an

expensive kind establishment and not some seedy,

downtown place.

Matt was greeted by a receptionist and then

taken upstairs into a waiting room. He was only

there for a few minutes before being shown into a

big office, where a fat, blond man was seated

behind a massive desk. The man rose and held out

his hand.

"I'm Martyn Grable. You must Simon

Stevens?"

"Yup, that's me." Matt hoped his handshake

was steady and didn't betray how freaked out he

was right now. He sat down in the comfortable

chair opposite the desk, wondering what was

going to happen next.

"Would you like something to drink, Mr.

Stevens?" Grable asked. "Tea, coffee, water?" He

waved his hand at a wide array of beverages on

the sideboard.

"Water would be fine," Matt said, in a

distinctly croaky voice.

"Of course." Grable poured him a large glass

of water with ice and pieces of lemon and orange

in it, and handed it to him. "You're new to us, I

see." He beamed at Matt. "I always insist on

meeting every new client because accommodating

people's most personal kinks is a very fine art. I

view myself as something of a maestro!" He sat

down, still beaming. "And only by meeting my

clients personally can I ensure that they're matched

with the right partner."

"Right. Uh, good," Matt muttered. 'That's…

you know, reassuring."

"It is!" Grable looked at him darkly. "You

would not believe how many kink houses don't do

their jobs properly. I know we have a bad

reputation, but that's only because of charlatans

who don't understand that this is a very special

kind of work, and one must have a very special

kind of talent to do it."

"Absolutely." Matt nodded, his inner voice

wondering if it also took a very special kind of

talent to spout such total crap.

"I have that talent." Grable beamed at him

happily, making Matt's inner voice snort. "Yes, our

service is more expensive than most, but that's

because it's the best. I truly believe that, Mr.

Stevens." He paused and gazed at Matt

thoughtfully. "You seem very familiar. Do I know

you?"

Matt's heart thudded anxiously. "No, I don't

think so," he said, pulling his baseball cap a

fraction lower and sinking down in his chair.

"Of course, it's not uncommon for people to

give us false names." Grable smiled benignly. "I'm

not saying you did - just that we don't mind. We

understand that this is a very personal arrangement,

but I can assure you of your total privacy here at

Fantasia."

"Uh, thanks. That's good."

"I must assure you that there's no need to be

nervous. We are here to help! A lot of people

come to us to explore certain facets of themselves,

or to fulfill a need that they can't get from their

regular partner. I don't think of myself as running a

kink house, in fact - I prefer to view myself as a

facilitator."

"Right." Matt wondered what the difference

was. "I've uh, never been to a kink place before, so

I'm not sure how it works."

"House! This is a kink house! One thing we

are not," Grable said, his expression darkening, "is

a kink shop! We are absolutely not that. We don't

pay our staff to provide kinks for our clients here!"