Spring Training (12 page)

Straightening, he smiled. “Jason, Carrie. Thanks for coming.”

Jason approached, his hand extended to shake. “I hope she knew who was out there before she opened the door. Otherwise, some poor salesperson might have gotten the shock of a lifetime.”

Todd shook his friend’s hand. “She used the peep hole.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” He turned to find his sub and froze.

Brooke’s back was to them as she hugged her friend. When he turned around, one eyebrow was raised in question.

“Beautiful, don’t you think?”

“Yes, but what I think doesn’t matter. What do you think?”

“Her body’s a work of art.”

“Your artwork?”

He shrugged. “Not exactly, but I’m responsible.”

“I think I want to hear this story.”

“It’s Brooke’s story to tell.” He waved Jason to the sofa. “Have a seat. I’ll get you something to drink. Beer?”

“Water.” He placed a hand on his chest. “I’m trying to stay away from alcohol and sodas. Carrie says they’re bad for my heart.”

The woman in question joined him. “All the doctors say he’s better than new, but I’m not taking any chances with his health.” He patted her thigh as she sat.

“Water, it is.” Todd leaned into the refrigerator, almost busting his head when Jason’s sub shrieked.

“Brooke! Oh. My. God!” She was out of her seat, practically flying across the room.

It was impossible to tell if her outburst was in admiration or horror.
Please let her see them for what they are. Badges of honor.
Water bottles in hand, he paused in the kitchen, barely daring to breathe as Carrie swept his slave’s hair aside.

He thought Brooke was just as proud of the marks as he was, but he wasn’t sure. Her behavior regarding her friend’s reaction would tell the tale. With one slim hand, his slave gathered her hair and held it over her shoulder, exposing the pattern on her back. Then she raised her chin. Her eyes met his, locked him in with their honesty.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” she asked her friend, who was busy tracing the faint marks with her fingertip. Jason had joined her, looking over his sub’s shoulder.

“Incredibly beautiful,” Jason said.

“Do they hurt?” Carrie asked.

“No.”

“I bet they did once.” Jason’s sub seemed mesmerized by the crisscrossing lines.

“I hardly noticed the whipping.” She was lying, but because of the pride lighting her eyes, he decided to let the fib go. “I was sore for a few days after, but it was a good pain if you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean.” Carrie nodded. “But I’ve never seen anything like this. Did your Master do this?”

“Yes.”

He felt Jason’s gaze on him, but he refused to look away from his slave. “What she means is I’m responsible for them. I didn’t wield the whip.”

Carrie placed a hand on Brooke’s shoulder, spun her around. “What does he mean by that? You have to tell me.”

Brooke glanced over her shoulder at him. He nodded, giving her permission to tell the story if she chose to.

“Let me serve dinner first. If you really want to hear the story, I’ll tell you while we eat.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Carrie assisted in the kitchen because, in her words, she couldn’t wait any longer than necessary to hear Brooke’s story. Todd kept quiet, but he felt the same way. The dishes were set out on the counter. They helped themselves then sat around the coffee table to eat since Todd’s dinette wasn’t large enough for all of them.

“Start talking, Brooke.” Once Carrie got her teeth into a story, she wouldn’t let go until she knew the whole of it. Just what he’d been counting on, only he hadn’t expected Brooke to tell him and Jason, too. It was his lucky night.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning.”

“And don’t leave anything out,” Carrie added.

“I won’t. I promise.” She looked at him when she said it. Then he knew he would get the answers he’d been looking for.

He couldn’t let her go on without reassuring her. “I love you.”

Her smile was sweet and full of understanding. “I love you, too, Master.”

She began at the beginning when he’d asked her to take their relationship out into the world, and she’d countered with her request to become his slave. Her rendition was spot-on, even admitting she only thought she knew what that sort of lifestyle would mean.

“Master Todd has done his best to shield me, punishing me for only the rule violations he couldn’t ignore. In truth, if he’d punished me as often as I needed it, I probably would have asked to void the contract.”

“But you didn’t,” Carrie said.

“No. I wasn’t ready to be a slave, but I wanted it in my heart. Master did the only thing he could. He found a trainer for me and left me in his care.”

Her telling of the time she’d spent with Frank nearly broke his heart. Her struggle to understand what the man was asking of her, and her desperate soul searching to find the right answers.

“I ran away because of something Frank let slip in conversation, or perhaps he pretended to let it slip. I don’t know. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I just left with the clothes on my back.”

“That explains why you’re naked,” Jason said. “This asshole won’t buy you any clothes.”

They all laughed at his joke. “No, I have a closet full, but Master is proud of the marks on my body. He wanted to show them off.”

“I wanted to show
you
off,” Todd corrected.

She dropped her eyes, acknowledging the truth of his statement.

“What did Frank say that sent you running?” Carrie didn’t miss a thing. Todd cringed, knowing the truth was going to come out.

“I’ll get to that.” Again, she looked to him for permission.

“You can’t tell the story and leave that part out. It wouldn’t make any sense.”

“You did it for me.” The love in her eyes, in her words, made it hard for him to remember they had guests, and that he’d promised her he wouldn’t ravish her until they’d left.

“I did.” He dipped his chin, agreeing with her. “Go on, slave.”

She smiled then picked up where she left off, explaining about her jealous rage.

“When I came to my senses, I came here to the one person I knew I couldn’t live without. Master was livid and rightfully so. He loves me, and I’d scared him to death with my disappearing act. He was so angry he wouldn’t touch me. As I said, in the past he’d declined to punish me except when I stepped so far out of line he couldn’t ignore my behavior. Running away, worrying him, Frank, my family, even both of you, wasn’t something he could ignore.” She took a deep breath as did he. “Instead of punishing me himself, he arranged for the woman he was seeing to do it for him.”

“What the fuck?” Jason stood, ready to take him on.

“No,” Carrie wailed. “He hasn’t been seeing another sub, has he?”

“No, not at all.” Her eyes were apologetic as she spilled his secret. “He’s been seeing a Dominatrix while he’s been at Spring Training. He wanted to understand the mind of a sub so he could be a better Master to me.”

Jason dropped back to his seat. “Fuck, that’s messed up.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Carrie said, gazing at him with something that might have been admiration but felt more like pity.

“He did it for me,” Brooke reminded them. “Frank let it slip, only he didn’t say the woman was a Dominatrix. I thought what you did at first—that he was with a sub. Those days when I was on my own, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter to me. I believed in his love for me. If he had a sub in Arizona, it was only because I wasn’t there with him. So I came to beg his forgiveness.”

“He let his Domme whip you?” Jason asked, clearly still not convinced Todd didn’t need an ass whooping himself.

“I didn’t know she was going to whip Brooke. As her sub, I gave her free rein to punish my slave for her grossly inappropriate behavior.”

“And you stood by and let her do that—” He pointed at Brooke. “—to the woman you love?”

“He couldn’t stop her,” Brooke interjected. “He’d agreed not to stop the scene. Only I could stop it, and I was not going to safe-word out and disappoint Master. I’d already done enough of that. Besides, he was locked in the stocks.”

Todd met Jason’s questioning look with a look of his own that said, “Don’t you dare fuck with me, or I’ll dismember you right here.” The other man wisely returned his attention to Brooke.

“As fascinating as that bit of information is, please continue. But trust me,” he glanced back at Todd, “I
will
hear the rest of that.”

“This is the part that’s difficult to explain. Carrie, perhaps you’ll understand it better than they will.” She nodded at Jason and Todd.

“Try me.” Carrie was on the edge of the sofa. Todd could practically see the notes she was taking in her head.

“Well, I’d tried and tried to answer Frank’s question. He kept asking me why I submitted to him, to Master. He’d say, ‘Why did you suck my cock?’ or ‘Why did you let me touch you that way?’ My answer was always, ‘Because Master told me to.’ The man tried everything to get me to come up with a different answer, but I couldn’t. He said I had to look inside myself to find the answer. Believe me, I tried, and the more I tried, the more certain I was that I wasn’t going to find it because it wasn’t there.”

“Frank can be harsh,” Jason said. Todd had introduced the two men when Jason first came into the lifestyle. They’d scened together a few times.

“I was monitoring every session she had with him,” Todd said. “We agreed on every course of action—until that last day. He went too far. I wasn’t able to be online in real time. When I saw what he’d done, I was raving mad. By that time, Brooke had already pulled her disappearing act, and I thought it was because of that last scene.”

“It wasn’t. The scene was far from pleasant, but I endured it because I thought my Master had approved it. Anyway, I wasn’t any closer to having an answer for Frank anyway, so when he dropped his bombshell—that Master Todd was with another woman—I left.”

“Oh, Brooke.” Carrie patted her friend’s arm.

“It took me a few days to get my head on straight, but once I did, I knew I had to come here and face whatever punishment Master decided was appropriate. I’d done something unforgivable, but Master forgave me anyway.”

Todd smiled, willing Brooke to see the love and understanding behind it. “I didn’t trust myself to administer a suitable punishment. Mistress Lola indicated she wanted to meet Brooke, and when she offered to be the intermediary, I took her up on it.”

“It was the right decision,” Brooke agreed. The smile on her face assured him of the truth in her statement. “Frank had been trying to get me to see something, but his methods weren’t working for me. I had no idea what he wanted me to see. Master had discussed our situation with Mistress Lola. I think she knew exactly what I needed the moment I walked in the door.”

They all waited as Brooke cast her gaze to the floor, gathering her thoughts. “The pain was almost too much to bear, but she knew exactly how much I could take. It wasn’t until later, when she had me do something else, that I finally understood what Frank had been trying to get me to see.”

“What did she make you do?” Carrie couldn’t contain her curiosity.

Todd held his breath. If she needed to say it, he’d live over the personal humiliation in order to understand his sub. Without looking at him, Brooke shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what it was. It was what I needed. I finally got it.”

She placed a tight fist over her heart. “I submit because I want to.” Her sigh filled the silence in the room. “But it’s more than that. I’ve always believed my submissive nature to be a weakness, but I was finally able to see it for what it really is—my greatest strength. And Master’s love, his domination, makes me stronger.”

When she finally looked at him, her gaze filled with love, he was ready to drop to his knees and beg her never to leave him. Begging probably wasn’t the firm approach she would appreciate, so he remained where he was.

“I wouldn’t be happy with someone who couldn’t accept the things I want to do for them,” she continued. “Caring, nurturing is in my system. Calling it slavery is just a term. To me, it means giving everything I am to the man I love.”

The only sound in the room was the rustle of fabric as Carrie sat back in her chair until Brooke spoke again. “I would wear these marks the rest of my life, if I could, as a reminder of how very fortunate I am to love a Master who loves me enough to endure anything for me.”

“Wow,” Carrie said, breaking the ensuing silence. “Just, wow!”

“I hope I didn’t embarrass you,” Brooke said to their guests. “That was a very long and very personal story.”

“But one I’m glad you shared,” Jason said. “The marks look lovely on you. It takes a brave woman to admit her shortcomings then come out on the other side of her punishment stronger. I can see why your Master insisted on showing you off this evening.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Brooke blushed at his friend’s praise. “I have dessert. Would anyone like some?”

Just like that, the spell was broken. A chorus of affirmatives sounded, then Brooke rose to serve the confection she’d created earlier.

“I’ll help,” Carrie said, following her to the kitchen.

Todd watched them go then turned to his friend. “Questions?”

Jason shook his head. “Nope.” They both glanced at the women chatting in the kitchen. “After dessert, can we find somewhere to talk, just you and me?”

The skin on the back of his neck prickled. “If this is about those stocks—“

“Forget the stocks. At least, for now.” His grin said that conversation was still going to take place. “We need to talk about work.”

“Sure. After dessert, we can go outside for a while. Let the girls have some time alone. I doubt they’ll even notice we’re gone.”

After Brooke’s chocolate mousse was devoured, Todd hustled Jason outside with the lame excuse of walking off their dinner.

They’d barely made it to the end of the sidewalk when Todd stopped. “What’s going on?”

Jason motioned for him to keep moving. When they reached the gated pool area, Todd dug out his key and opened the lock. They settled into lounge chairs as far from the surrounding condos as possible.

“The Mustangs need a new starting pitcher.”

“Not news,” Todd said.

“You didn’t hear this from me,” Jason cautioned.

“Of course not.” Everyone knew the Holder brothers were tight with management, but they didn’t use their situation like some players would. “What is it I didn’t hear?”

“The team is looking to make a trade with the Waves. They need a third baseman, and we need a pitcher.”

Holy shit.
Todd studied his friend’s face. “This isn’t a joke, is it?”

“’Fraid not. Anderson is coming off the Disabled List for the Waves. That leaves them top heavy with pitching. Last week, Ruiz tripped on the stairs in his house, chasing a canine escapee of bath time, and broke his ankle. They need a third baseman for at least one season, maybe two.”

“I have two left on my contract.”

“And the Mustangs brought up that loud-mouthed kid last year. He might not know how to keep his mouth shut, but he knows how to play infield.”

Todd collapsed in the lounge chair, staring up at the dark sky. His pulse kicked like a wild horse trapped in a box canyon with no way out.
Brooke.
After all the trouble they’d been through to get to a point in their relationship that made a future look possible, this had to happen. How the hell was he going to keep her if he was living in San Diego, and she was in Dallas?

“I have a No-Trade clause in my contract.”

“Yeah. I know this is bad timing for you and Brooke, but you’ll go rather than sit on the bench.”

He mulled that statement over. Jason wouldn’t have said it if he didn’t believe it was a possibility. “I want to end my career as a Mustang, but not one with splinters in his ass.”

“I hear ya. That’s why I thought you deserved a heads-up. I’m sure Doyle will get around to talking to you about it soon enough, but I didn’t want you to get blindsided.”

“Thanks. I think.” They sat, neither of them saying anything, for a while. “That little twerp played the other day. I didn’t think anything of it because it’s Spring Training. Everyone gets time on the field.”