Man, I’ll tell you what. Woods patrol? Not the most exciting. I hadn’t seen much action . . . just two couples making out against trees . . . Girltoy bounding over at one point to ask what kind of snacks I had . . . watching slaves struggle to figure out where to go . . . hoping for a glimpse of Kel in her neon vest. Which she pulled off. I get what a guy I’m being here, but big boobs in any kind of uniform . . . that shit was heaven.
I spotted Dave and Kamen hiking near the meadow line. Nothing better to do, so I trailed along, keeping my distance . . . If they’d checked behind them even once, they’d have seen my vest. And if they’d stopped talking for even a second, they’d’ve heard me. But they tromped along, yakking away, and I heard Kamen say, “I’m surprised you didn’t be allies with Gould, man. He said he wanted to.”
“I didn’t want to be paired with Gould,” Dave replied. “If Gould gets caught, he’ll drop to his knees, give his captors the best head of their lives, and then knit them a neck-warming garment while they use him as a footstool. I don’t want to be on that team. I want to be on the team that wins.”
I had to grin at that. Gould . . . ah, Gould. Yep. The guy was born on his knees. I didn’t quite get it. You know? I hated people watching me submit. Which was why Gould was fascinating to me. Because he did whatever Kel or I said. No questions asked. That’s some real “with great power comes great responsibility” stuff, right there.
Dave and Kamen lowered their voices, and I lost interest in following them. I doubled back a ways and then headed deeper into the woods . . . was strolling along, listening to the crackle of condom foil in my vest pocket, when I saw a movement in the trees. I stopped and watched, and after a moment, I saw a familiar face.
He was wandering, just, you know—I don’t want to say clueless, but he has this Alice-in-Wonderland expression . . . all kinds of crazy shit can be going down around him, and he’ll be staring around only half-surprised, like . . . Oh this is all so very peculiar. Now lemme drink this potion. You’ve seen people like this? They’re pretty much a step-off-the-curb away from getting hit by a bus.
Someone like that, you protected him sometimes as much out of exasperation as out of love, you know?
And I did love him. He was Kel’s slave, but he was my . . . He was mine. I guess is the best way to put it.
I was straight. I know that sounds like bullshit. But I wouldn’t call myself bi or anything. I understood there were lots of degrees of bi, but I didn’t feel bi. I felt straight. But what I had going with Gould was more than friendship. Don’t know why only him. Maybe because he was kind of like a lot of women I’d known.
I’d told Kel that once and she’d acted like I was being douchey. But in all seriousness, why would “like a woman” be bad? I loved women. And wasn’t it possible that if Gould had some qualities that I normally associated with women . . . good qualities; I’m talking being sensitive and thoughtful and not running his mouth all the time just because he’s got a dick and a voice . . . that’s why I felt attracted to him?
Kel said all qualities belonged to all genders, which I agreed with. But . . . for instance, she and I got into an argument a while back, because I asked her if she was drawn to Gould because she kind of pitied him . . . wrong way to say that, for sure. She’d said, “I don’t fall in love with people because I feel sorry for them.”
Good thing, huh? Because when she’d met me I’d been a pretty sorry bastard.
All I’d meant was that Kel liked protecting people, and I got why Gould brought that out in her. Because me, hell, I’ll shoot the shit with anyone. I’ve got no problem striking up conversations, telling people what I want, being an asshole . . . I am a class-fucking-A livewire.
But when you put yourself in a position of being responsible for someone who’s not like that . . . someone who doesn’t give his trust real easy, whose brain is always working quietly but who can’t make himself say what he needs to say . . . it’s a pretty heavy thing when a person like that trusts you. Loves you.
I didn’t feel sorry for him like he was pathetic or anything. I felt sorry for him because society wasn’t really built with people like him in mind. Which was a shame. People like him were extraordinary. I didn’t say that lightly.
He was about to walk right by me. How he could miss my radioactive piss-colored vest, I had no idea.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
He jerked around. Saw me and smiled. “The woods patrol. What’s up?”
“You need a granola bar? Juice box? Condom?”
“Nah. I’m good.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “What’s going on, sir? You seen anyone get shot?”
“Nope. Lots of making out, but no shooting.”
“Yeah, same.”
I approached him. “I just saw Dave and Kamen.”
“Together?”
“Yep. They have an alliance.”
He frowned. “Dave said he was flying solo.”
“He said he thought you were too subby for the rigors of competition.” Kel said I liked to stir shit up. Guilty as charged.
Gould raised his eyebrows, and I thought for a second he was actually offended or something. But then he grinned. “Ohh, Dave. That asshole. I’ll have to give him shit about that when he’s up on the post and I’ve got a gift card.”
“So you think you’re gonna win?”
“If you quit distracting me, yeah.”
“I don’t think you need any help being distracted.” I reached out and carefully took his wrists. Eased his hands out of his pockets. He bowed his head instantly and crossed his wrists behind him. I whistled a little tune and slid my hand down his back. Over his crossed wrists and onto his ass. “You almost walked right by me.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
I pinched his ass lightly. “What about how bad you wanna get strung up on the post?”
“Kel told me to win, sir. So I will.”
“Yeah? You do whatever you’re told, slave?”
I caught his smile, half-hidden by his mass of hair. “Depends who’s doing the telling.” He raised his head. “Don’t you have some patrolling to do?”
I kissed his cheek, his hair tickling my nose till I almost sneezed. “I got distracted.” I kept my lips close to his ear. “You sure there’s nothing you’d want a condom for?”
He fake-gasped. “Sir!”
“Because I know how we could add some action to this hunt.”
“You’re such a dork.”
I grabbed his crossed wrists and squeezed. “Are you disrespecting me, slave?” I squeezed harder. “Saying no to me?”
He took a step back, narrowing his eyes. I let him go. Kel had been training the hell out of me lately in how to interact with him. She said it sometimes seemed like I was misusing my power. Which I didn’t mean to do. I just liked messing with people, liked kidding around. But I figured this was the kind of thing she was referring to. Gould wasn’t allowed to disobey an order. So, like, even joking about “You have to do this or else . . .” wasn’t fair to him.
I just wasn’t used to being around anyone this sensitive. Again, didn’t mean that in a bad way . . . but it was confusing. And it was hard to explain, since Kel seemed to know instinctively how to deal with Gould, and I just had to keep trying . . . fucking up . . . trying again . . . Even after more than two years of play, he and I sometimes ended up on completely different pages. And I was the one who looked like a jerk, because I mean . . . delicate flower, big clumsy boot, you know?
For the first few weeks after we signed the master/slave contract with Gould, Kel had laid into me for everything. I needed to be more specific when I gave Gould orders. I needed to remember to praise him when he did things right. I needed to be able to tell the difference between his fuck-yeah breathing and his freaking-out breathing . . . It was like, Christ. What did I sign up for?
But then I’d thought about it and realized I’d had to give the same level of attention to learning to submit to Kel. Had to learn how to read what she wanted even when she wasn’t saying anything . . . had to quit thinking about what would get me off, and figure out what got her off . . .
Same deal here. Except I had to put myself in the shoes of a guy who probably cycled through more thoughts per second than I did in a full twenty-four hours.
I grinned again to show him I was just fucking with him.
But he was already smiling. “Guess I am. What are you gonna do about it?”
See? Same page.
“Mmm.” I stepped close enough to get him to start shifting his weight. “Bet I can make you pretty sorry.”
He turned his head slightly. Nuzzled my cheek in a way only girls had ever done before I met him. “You’ll have to catch me first,” he whispered.
And then he ran.