Ricochet (48 page)

Matt asked, reaching for the bowl of popcorn.

"
White Collar
?" Rick suggested. "It's about a

sub who is a master forger. An FBI agent cuts a

deal that will keep him out of prison in exchange

for his help solving crimes; the agent puts a white

collar on him to signify he's owned by the

government."

"Hmm, sounds good. Is the FBI agent a dom?

Do they fall in love?" Matt asked.

"Yes and yes." Rick chuckled. "What else?

I've got…
Rizzoli and Isles
. Medical examiner sub

and the cop she works with."

"Is the cop a dom and do they fall in love?"

"You've seen these before!"

"Nah - I just know how they go." Matt

grinned.

" O l d
Star Trek: The Next Generation

repeats?"

"Picard topping his entire crew? I loved that

as a kid. Jean-Luc is one of the greatest doms in

TV history." Matt gave a happy sigh.

"A-ha! I spy a dom-daddy fetish!" Rick poked

him in the ribs.

"I dare any young sub not to fall in love with

Picard. Oh, okay yes! Maybe I do have a dom-

daddy thing going on." Matt rolled his eyes. "What

else?"

"
Desperate Houseslaves?
" Rick scrolled

through the menu. "
Subs and the City?
"

They settled on a show called
Suits
, about a

hotshot dom lawyer with a penchant for wearing

beautiful suits who takes a scruffy pothead sub

under his wing, smartens him up, and falls in love

with him in the process.

"See, they always end up this way," Matt

said, cramming a handful of popcorn into his

mouth. "There is no escaping love; it always

catches up with you in the end."

"Unless you outrun it," Rick muttered.

"Have you ever been in love?" Matt glanced

at him.

"Yes," Rick said tightly. "Have you?"

"No." Matt felt himself flushing. "I've dated

plenty of doms, but I never fell in love with any of

them. I wanted to, but it was like sub-space - it

never happened and in the end I thought I wasn't

capable of it."

"It's better to be that way, Matty," Rick said

quietly. "It's easier in the long term."

"Did this sub you loved break your heart? Is

that why you avoid commitment and have that

stupid no reruns policy?" Matt asked.

"No, that's not it. Now, can we change the

subject?"

Matt wondered who Rick had been in love

with, but Rick clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"Why don't you sit here?" Rick suggested.

"It's more comfortable."

He opened his legs and pulled Matt between

them, so that he was lying with his back against

Rick's chest, the bowl of popcorn balanced on

Matt's lap.

"Wow, the suits in that show are almost as

beautiful as the one you were wearing last night,"

Matt said as the show came to an end. "Suits, uh,

suit you, Rick. You should wear them more often."

"I do look good in a suit," Rick said smugly.

Matt elbowed him in the ribs for that, and

Rick tickled him, and Matt doubled up… and

somehow he found himself lying on his back with

Rick on top of him, holding his arms above his

head, looking down on him with deadly intent.

Matt

went

still,

his

body

surrendering

automatically, the way it had last night.

Rick took a deep breath and then slowly

released him.

"No reruns?" Matt said quietly.

"No reruns," Rick agreed. "Trust me, it's

better this way, Matt."

"Then I should leave." Matt got up, and this

time Rick didn't try to stop him.

"Thank you," Matt said when they reached the

front door. "Not just for last night but for today too.

And um… I know you're not in it, but you will be

there for the sex scene tomorrow, won't you?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Rick smiled

at him. "And then we'll go back to our deal?"

"Yes." Matt wondered if he could ever be

satisfied with those daily spankings now he'd

experienced so much more. "But not, you know,

tomorrow, with the sex scene."

"Sure; can't have any spank marks on your

cute ass for that or make-up will kill me."

Matt planted an awkward kiss on Rick's

cheek. "Bye then," he muttered.

"Bye."

Matt turned and walked towards his car,

feeling oddly deflated.

"Hey - Matty!"

He felt a brief flare of hope in his chest and

turned to see that Rick was waving a piece of

paper at him. Rick jogged over to his side. "Would

you like to keep this?" he asked. "As a memento?"

Matt glanced at it and read the first line:
I,

Matthew Lake, agree to be the slave of Richard

O'Shea…

"Yes," Matt said softly, taking the slave

contract reverently in his hand. "Yes. Thank you."

He put the contract in his pocket and then got

into his car and drove home.

He parked outside his house and sat there,

staring into space. He felt lost, alone and empty

and he was already missing Rick after the fantastic

time they'd spent together. He took the contract out

of his pocket and read it, and a dozen scenes from

the night before passed through his mind. It had

been so good, and he ached from knowing that it

would never happen again. He pressed the contract

to his lips and kissed it.

"Idiot," he said softly, annoyed with himself.

"Stupid, love-struck, idiot…" He stopped short.

Love-struck…

"Oh shit." He gazed blankly at the slave

contract in his hand. "Damn it, Matt - no! He's the

ultimate in unobtainable." Matt banged his head on

the steering wheel in despair. "Only you could be

stupid enough to fall in love with Rick O'Shea."

Rick wasn't due on set until the afternoon, but

he got in early the next day, as he'd promised. He

knocked on Matt's trailer door, and Matt answered

it, already in costume and made up for the day's

filming.

"You ready?" Rick asked. He was sure Matt

already knew all the lines - hell, he probably knew

all Karl's lines too - but that wasn't what he was

asking.

Matt took a deep breath and nodded. He

actually looked pretty calm and didn't seem to be

having a freak out, but Rick knew how much Matt

held things in.

"You counting?" Rick asked.

"Everything in sight." Matt grimaced.

"You'll be fine." Rick put his hand on Matt's

shoulder as they walked towards the set and

gradually felt the tension relax a notch, but not

much.

Karl was already on set, as was Steve Chang,

Petra, and all the crew.

"I'm here to wish you luck, Matt," Petra said.

"I know this is a big scene for you - and for the

show."

Matt gave a tight little smile. "You wrote a

fantastic script, Petra."

"And you'll do a fantastic job acting it," she

told him firmly.

Matt nodded, but he didn't look convinced.

"Wow - this set is great. I love what you guys

have done with it," Rick said, looking around. The

set for Jason's playroom was beautiful, reflecting

Jason's money and status. It was a fully equipped

playroom, painted dark red to give it an air of

danger and sensuality. The scene was supposed to

take place at night, so the lighting was low and

hundreds of flickering candles had been placed

around the edge of the room.

"It's cool, isn't it?" Rick said to Matt, as they

walked around the new set.

"It's all an illusion," Matt replied shortly.

"Without all the damn candles I bet it doesn't look

half as good."

"The candles are romantic - seductive. It

shows Jarvis has spent some time trying to get into

Ben's head. If I were seducing Ben, this is what I'd

go for too." Rick put his hands on Matt's shoulders

and squeezed. "Go for it, buddy. This is your

moment. You're gonna knock 'em dead."

Rick stood over to one side and watched as

Chang ran through the scene with Karl and Matt.

He could see why Matt found Chang so hard to

work with; he was abrasive and so focused on

what he wanted to happen that he didn't explain

things in a very sensitive way.

This could either go horribly wrong or very

right, and he hoped Matt wouldn't crumble under

the pressure. Matt had a deep sense of professional

pride, and he'd be mortified if he screwed this up.

Rick could see that Karl was tense too. He

might be an older and more experienced actor than

Matt, but this was an intense scene by any

standards, and most actors would have to psyche

themselves up to play such an edgy scene,

especially if they were doms.

The tension worked in their favor in the first

part of the scene, as Jason invited Ben into his

playroom.

The part they'd rehearsed last week went

much more smoothly this time, with Matt getting on

his knees to undo Karl's belt, and then Karl taking

him by surprise and slipping a rope around his

arms. Matt sailed through it, and at the end of all

the takes he glanced over at Rick and grinned. Rick

grinned back and held up both thumbs; it was clear

their session in his playroom had definitely helped.

Then it was time to shoot the scene where

Jason undresses Ben, and Rick noticed Matt's body

language becoming increasingly tense.

"Look, sweetheart," Chang said to Matt.

"From now on, you're naked until the end of the

scene. Now, we can either give you a flesh

cultured sock to wear over your junk, and I can

film around it, or you can make it easy on us all

and go naked, which means the scene will take half

the time. Your call."

It wasn't much of a call; Chang had made his

preference perfectly clear.

"I'm not sure," Matt said, flushing. A lot of

subs got off on being displayed nude in public by

their doms, but Rick knew Matt wasn't that kind of

sub. He might like a little humiliation, but he

wasn't an exhibitionist, and he'd find it tough to be

naked and to stay in character with all the crew

standing around, gawping at him.

"We don't have time for any prissy sub

modesty," Chang snapped.

"Okay, I'll do it," Matt said, flushing even

more - but with anger this time at being

steamrollered into something he clearly wasn't

comfortable with. Rick remembered Matt's

prediction that he'd lose his temper and get into a

big fight with Chang, and he stepped forward.

"Hey! Listen up!" he yelled to the crew. "Matt

just saved us a couple of hours by agreeing to do

the scene naked. I suggest we repay his kindness

by sharing the experience with him. Who's gonna

join me?"

He took off his shirt and unbuckled his belt.

"C'mon guys! Don't let the kid do his first sex

scene without some help! We all want this episode

to rock, don't we? Petra…" He turned to the

showrunner. "You wrote a fantastic script - I know

you want this to be good."

"You're right, Rick, I do; and if I'm asking

Matt to strip off, then I figure I should be prepared

to do the same." Petra stripped off her tee shirt to

reveal a bright pink bra underneath, and the crew

started laughing and joking as they also began

stripping off their clothes too.

"If it gets my fucking scene done right, then I

don't give a shit," said Chang, removing his clothes

quickly and throwing them onto a nearby chair.

"Any collared sub who thinks their dom might

have a problem with it doesn't have to do it," Rick

said, but nobody seemed to fall into that category.

Rick finished undressing and stood there,

completely naked except for his cowboy boots,

watching as everyone on set followed suit.

Matt looked around, an expression of surprise

on his face that quickly became amusement. Before

long, the entire room was naked, and once the

laughing was out of the way it seemed like the

most normal thing in the world that they were all

working in the nude. Nobody was ogling anyone -

they were all just focused on getting the job done.