Troy
It was going better than he thought it would, but he wasn’t ready to relax yet. Bryce was a little too hesitant for Troy to understand what he wanted. One minute he would look confused and skeptical, the next he would watch them like he didn’t want to let them go.
Oliver had been over the moon with the way the meeting had gone, and Troy had to agree with him. Once Bryce had found his footing, he’d moved past the awkward phase quickly. They’d gotten a lot of good information, and Oliver’s little stunt had proven Bryce wasn’t just seeing them as potential customers.
They’d had a long talk about flirting and how far things could go without them needing to discuss it more. Troy had wanted Bryce to understand that he didn’t just want his submission, they wanted him to be a true Dom with Oliver as well. It would be a balancing act, but he wanted to make sure Bryce understood that.
He didn’t want Bryce to feel pigeonholed into one role and expected to stay there.
It could work. Bryce just needed to see it.
As they relaxed with their drinks, waiting for the food and eating the breadsticks Oliver loved, Bryce brought the conversation back around to more personal topics. “So how long have you two been together?”
Oliver gave Troy a sweet smile. “Two years as a couple, and before that we dated off and on.”
“Dating as in vanilla dating?” Bryce took a drink of his soda and relaxed back in his seat.
“Sort of.” Oliver shrugged. “We met at a bar and hit it off. It was mostly vanilla for the first couple of months until we both started opening up.”
“It was easy to see that Oliver wasn’t the dominant kind of guy and I liked that, but I wasn’t sure if he’d realized what it could mean.” Troy mentally shook his head at the time they’d wasted not talking about what they really wanted.
“I’d met a few people online that were into BDSM and played around a little, but never anything serious. Troy looked like a total Dom, which was one of the things that had me flirting with him to begin with, but when he didn’t mention the scene, I just pushed it to the back of my mind.” Oliver frowned and started playing with the wrapper to his straw. “We were both trying for a traditional relationship, but wanting something else.”
Troy broke in because he knew Oliver didn’t like this part of their story. “We actually broke up several times over the course of a year, but would always get back together. I was still trying to force myself to ease up on the dominance I really wanted, and Oliver was trying to fight his needs as well.”
He reached under the booth and took Oliver’s hand. “It was never big fights or cheating. We just weren’t happy but weren’t talking.”
A smile broke over Oliver’s face, this time reaching his eyes. “Until that night.”
“What night?” Bryce was leaning forward, elbows on the table, looking curious.
“We hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks at that point. Not long for most people, but at the time it felt like an eternity. I’d met a guy, another sub, who told me about the club. We went one Friday night when they were allowing new people who were curious to come check things out. Well, I’m hanging out with my friend and we’re flirting with some of the Doms. Nothing serious, but it was nice not to fight what I wanted.”
Oliver looked over at Troy and grinned. “My friend started talking about a sexy Dom he saw across the room. I looked over and there was Troy.” Oliver gave Troy a mock frown. “Surrounded by little twinks who were going crazy.”
Troy shrugged. “I didn’t do anything with the twinks. They all looked like I could break them with one thrust.”
Bryce choked on his drink and shook his head. “Then what?”
Oliver laughed. “I very sweetly went over there and told him how surprised I was to see him.”
Troy snorted, almost sending water out his nose. It had to be the biggest reaction Bryce had seen from him. “Sweet? How about we tell him the truth?” He looked over at Bryce. “This sweet sub here made a hell of a scene. Marched right over and demanded to know what the hell I was doing there. He then proceeded to tell me off, saying that if I needed to practice on little twinks to figure out how to be a Dom then fine, but I could come begging him back when I knew what I was doing.”
Bryce laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe. Finally he managed to speak. “Why haven’t I heard this before?”
“There were mostly just new people there. Many of the regular club members don’t go on those nights for privacy reasons. I think Ben and Conner were the only regulars there in the bar area to see it.” Troy let his hand come up to rest on Oliver’s shoulder.
Oliver leaned into his touch and picked up the story again. “I started to storm off dramatically. Pissed doesn’t even begin to describe how angry I was. He’d never mentioned anything about wanting BDSM, but there he was with a dominant band around his arm. It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.”
“Pot, meet kettle.” Bryce gave Oliver a teasing look.
“Sure, that part is obvious now, but at the time, I didn’t see it that way.”
“I did.” Troy broke in. “I knew right away why he was there, and I was ticked he’d thought to ask strangers to do things to him and not me. So I grabbed his arm and told him that it sounded like he needed a Dom to teach him some manners.”
“What was Ben doing with all this going on?”
“He was dying. Jealous lovers screaming at each other with all those newbies standing around watching? It wasn’t the first impression of BDSM that he wanted to give them.” Troy’s lips twitched at the memory.
“So Troy pulled me against him and somewhere in there called me a brat and said he should teach me a lesson, or something like that. I might have egged him on a bit. Ben was watching all our drama and just stood there while we hollered at each other. I think he understood what was happening faster than we did, really. I was nearly panting, I was so turned on. Troy looked like every bratty sub’s fantasy.” Oliver leaned back against the seat, fanning himself dramatically.
“Between how turned on he made me and how frustrated I was, I couldn’t think.” Troy leaned over and gave Oliver a kiss. “Ben stepped in at that point and asked us if we wanted to talk things out or if we needed to separate.”
“I yelled something about how I wasn’t going anywhere because I wasn’t going to leave my Dom with anyone else.” Oliver’s smile turned wicked. “Ben said that if Troy was my Dom, then I was going to have to behave or Troy would have to punish me. Well, I egged both of them on because by that point, all I could think of was going over his lap. God, that was so hot.”
“I sat down and pulled him over my lap. Gave him a good lecture about screaming at me in public and explained we were both going to talk. Then Ben talked us through Oliver’s first spanking, making sure we were both safe, but also using it as a teaching experience for the newbies. I think some of them thought it was a planned demo, but it turned out all right in the end.”
“All right is an understatement. It was so hot, I came all over his lap.” Oliver shivered at the memory. “Then he had to punish me again later for that.”
Bryce shook his head. “Ben never said anything about it.”
“I think he was trying to keep us from losing it again at the club. Once we started talking and explaining what we wanted and needed out of a relationship, things improved. We learned to be honest with what we were thinking.” Oliver looked over at Bryce with a loving expression on his face. “We both realized how much I liked the exhibitionist part of what had happened and started talking about adding a third to our relationship pretty quickly after that.”
“Having the club helps, but we both enjoy having another with us, and it satisfies the part of Oliver that likes to be watched and to see me with someone else. That was one of the things he hadn’t wanted to tell me about. He was afraid of how it would sound, but it wasn’t something that bothered me.” Troy was watching Bryce as they explained, but he couldn’t tell what the other man was thinking. Did he get it? “It fits us. We like playing, but what we really want is a permanent person in our life. Another lover or boyfriend, whatever you want to call it.”
Bryce took a sip of his drink. He seemed to be rolling things around in his head before speaking. The silence wasn’t long, but it was heavy. “Did you talk about a switch, or were you thinking of another sub or Dom?”
“It’s not like ordering a hamburger.” Oliver snorted, breaking the tension. “We just talked about meeting someone. Finding a guy that would fit with us, someone we could love.”
Some of Bryce’s tension seemed to fade. Had he thought they were just looking for a switch and he fit the bill? They’d been watching him for a while, and maybe he needed to understand that. “We noticed you a few months ago. You were doing a flogging demo and—”
“And it was so hot we had the best sex ever.” Oliver sighed, giving Bryce a heated look. “Best. Night. Ever.”
The waiter came back over with their food before Bryce could find his voice. Troy was just glad the guy hadn’t come a few seconds earlier. They’d eaten there enough in the past that the restaurant knew to automatically seat them in the back where the tables were more spaced out. Their booth was round and fairly private, set back in the corner, which was a good thing for them.
By the time the food was passed out and the waiter left, Bryce had managed to sort through everything they’d told him. “I saw you that night. You made it hard to concentrate on the guy I was flogging. We weren’t together, it was just for the demo, but even after we were done and I was making sure he was alright, you were still on my mind.”
“I told Troy that we were going to have to thank you. He thought that would be kind of tacky, but now it seems fine. So, thank you.” Oliver beamed, pleased to be able to tease both of them at the same time.
“You’re welcome. It seems like you owe me, though.” Bryce’s words dripped with sex, sending a shiver through Oliver.
“Oh, yes.” Oliver nodded, his mind obviously whirling with naughty thoughts.
“Eat your dinner.” Troy looked over at Bryce, cocking one eyebrow and giving him a stern look. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Is that how this would work?”
Troy wasn’t following the change in topic, but Oliver got it right away. He nodded, swallowing a bite he’d taken. “Yes. He gets all bossy with both of us, but you both get to be all sexy and take charge with me.” Oliver gave him wide Bambi eyes and shrugged like he was confused. “He says I’m a handful, but I just don’t see it.”
Bryce laughed. “I can see it.” Then he looked over to Troy and started playing with his pasta. “I’m just not sure how it would all work.”
Troy glanced around and, seeing they were fairly isolated in the back of the restaurant, turned back to Bryce, wanting to answer honestly. “I think it’s going to have to be something you experience and not simply something we talk about. It’s one thing for me to say that I want to dominate you in the bedroom while you’re spanking Oliver, but I’m not sure you’ll believe it or really understand it until we’re actually doing it.”
Pushing the ravioli around on his plate, Troy tried to think of what else he needed to say. “In everyday life, I don’t need multiple submissives. Oliver isn’t exactly a full-time sub, but we probably lean more toward that end of the scale.”
“He wants someone to share the burden that is Oliver-the-sub, not someone else to boss around all the time.” Oliver leaned back in the seat, hand dramatically draped over his forehead like a bad stage actor, then grinned, taking the sting out of the teasing statement.
“Basically,” Troy said dryly.
Bryce snorted his laughter and choked on the bite of alfredo he’d just put into his mouth. After swallowing and taking a few sips of his drink, he seemed more relaxed. “I’m getting the picture. I still think that nothing beats firsthand knowledge, so that’s still important.”
Troy let another smile escape. Between Bryce’s not-so-subtle flirting and Oliver’s dramatic “Yes,” it looked like their evening was about to get more interesting. He glanced over and gave Oliver a tight look. “Behave.”
Oliver gave him a pretty pout, then bit his lower lip enticingly. “I’m sorry, Sir.” He tilted his head, giving Bryce a shy look. “Sirs.”
“Oh, you’re a handful.” Bryce didn’t seem to mind, though.
“He looks so adorable and obedient, but that’s when he’s at his most devious.” Troy reached out and let his fingers slide over Oliver’s ear, playing with his hair. “That’s when he usually desperately needs a spanking. He needs help remembering to be good. Don’t you?”
Oliver gave a jerky nod, leaning into Troy’s touch. “Oh, yes. I need lots of help.”
Bryce’s hand tightened on his fork, and he knew the other man was desperately trying to behave in the restaurant. He was making it too easy on him, though. That would have to change. He leaned in close to Oliver’s ear, all the while watching Bryce, letting him see the heat that was building, and whispered, “I think you need to tell Bryce more about that spanking.”
Oliver gave a breathy whimper. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember to be good, Sir. I need to be bent over your lap and have my bottom spanked until it’s red.”
“How do we spank a naughty sub’s bottom?”
“When it’s naked, Sir. You have to pull down my pants and see what you’re spanking.” Oliver squirmed in the seat and a quick glance downward, which let Troy see how hard his boy was. “No playing with yourself in the restaurant, kitten. I see that hard cock.”
“Yes, Sir.” Oliver’s breathy response was to Troy, but he was looking at Bryce. “I have to ask permission to touch my cock. But he’s so good to me that he almost never tells me no.”
“Because you ask so nicely, kitten.” Troy growled the words out, loving the way both men reacted to his words. “What are you thinking, Bryce?”
There was a long pause when he thought Bryce might not answer. He looked at Troy like he was having some kind of discussion in his head. But then Bryce seemed to make the decision to share his thoughts because he leaned back in his chair and reached out to play with his glass. The small nervous fidgeting spoke louder than his silence. “I was envisioning both of us having to ask you to play. Thinking about how it would feel to be caught in that moment of wanting to…say, spank Oliver…and knowing that I not only have to talk to you about doing anything to myself but have to ask to control Oliver. It’s hard to think through—”
“But it’s so hot.” Oliver broke in, seemingly unable to control himself. “You having to call Troy while he’s out at work or running errands. Then he could give you instructions for both of us and you would get to carry them out.” Oliver shivered, loving the fantasy he was building up in his head. “He would give you permission to touch me or to spank me. God, it would be so…”
“I’m with him on it.” Troy knew the words came out dry as he cocked his head toward his dramatic sub. “I think it’s hot, but we’d talk about what parts you liked and what parts didn’t fit within your limits. It’s going to be about compromise. Not just what I, or the drama queen over there likes.”
Bryce gave them both a slow nod, fighting a little grin. “It all comes down to communication, firsthand knowledge, and seeing what works.” He picked up his fork, giving them a heated look. “I think we’ve started the communication process. Working on the physical side should probably be next.”