Ty woke up Monday, unusually on edge. It took him a while to figure it out, but when he went out into the kitchen to make Spencer’s breakfast, realization slapped him in the face.
The last week of their bet.
He had seven more nights to use this bet as an excuse to feel…alive, was the only word he could think of. He didn’t know what would happen after Sunday night. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to happen. Ty, in no way, saw this coming, yet it felt right.
Moving on autopilot, he scrambled the eggs, crisped the bacon, and brewed the coffee. He didn’t even hear when Spencer came up behind him and jumped when arms wrapped around his waist. Ty leaned his head back on Spencer’s shoulder, giving him more access to nuzzle into his neck. This sure was new, but not unwanted in the least. Could he give this up in seven days?
“That smells really good.” Spencer kissed his neck before moving over to get two mugs out of the cabinet. “I have to stay late at work tonight. Monthly sales meeting tomorrow that I have to prepare for.”
Spencer had a sales meeting one Tuesday out of every month. Ty felt robbed of a night with him. Why did they save preparation for the meetings until the night before, for fuck’s sake? Stop acting like this. You need this night to remind yourself that this is just a bet! Even thinking the words just a bet had that sudden ache back in Ty’s chest, and he rubbed it, as if he could reach the pain and soothe it.
“Ty, you okay?”
“What? Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” Ty replied, knowing his tone was slightly harsher than he meant it to be.
“Okaaay.” Spencer exaggerated the word…like Ty didn’t already know he was being weird. He didn’t need the hint; he was well aware of how awkward he was being.
“Sorry, just have a lot on my mind. It’s gonna be a busy day at work.” Spencer knew him better than anyone; there was no way he didn’t see right through the lie. Ty gave him credit for letting it slide.
“All right, well…I’ll see you later, I guess.”
Shit. He knew Spencer just as well, and that was most definitely disappointment in his voice.
“Spencer.” Stopping him, Ty pulled him close and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He wasn’t wearing the loincloth; he knew it resembled a kiss you’d give your lover goodbye in the morning before work…and he didn’t care. With relief, he realized Spencer didn’t care either as the kiss was returned. “See you later,” he whispered, as they broke away.
Ty didn’t want to spend the night by himself, the thought bothering him more than he wanted to admit. So when his dad told him to come for dinner, Ty was relieved to have something to do. He left work at the same time as his dad, pulling in the driveway behind him.
Walking in the door, Ty could smell his mother’s chicken pot pie, and boy, was this a night he needed comfort food. The table was already set and waiting; his mother was just taking warm rolls out of the oven, and she set those on the table next to the pitcher of iced tea. He had to admit, it was nice not to have to be the one to have dinner ready…mainly because he sucked at cooking…but, this past week, all he did was wait on Spencer. That was the part of the bet he could definitely do without and couldn’t wait to be over.
He crossed the kitchen and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, Mom. It smells delicious in here.”
“Hi, honey. I’m glad you came over. I haven’t seen you in a couple of weeks.” She hugged his waist then they all sat down.
Dinner started with the usual talk about work. Ty and his father had a new client who wanted three computers and a fax machine/printer installed in their office next week. He tried to keep his mind on the conversation, but it kept drifting.
“Tyler, spill it.” His mother tapped the table next to his hand with her fork, looking concerned. She never called him by his nickname, insisting that isn’t what she named him. Still, being called Tyler always made him feel like he was in trouble.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been pushing your dinner around your plate for the last ten minutes. You normally would’ve been on seconds by now. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, just tired.”
“And I’m Lady Gaga.” He looked up at her and laughed. “What? I know who Lady Gaga is!” She smacked him on the arm. “I’m serious. Your father said you’ve been weird all week.”
“This is your doing?” He looked over at his father, feigning annoyance.
“What’s going on, honey? It’s obviously not work or your father would know about it. Are you having girl troubles?”
“No, Mom, I’m not having girl troubles.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Then is it Spencer?” Ty choked a little on his iced tea, not ready for her to bring up Spencer. How did moms do that? “So, it is Spencer. Did you guys have a fight?”
“Mom, I’m fine, seriously.”
“Tyler…I’m worried about you.” Using his full first name again and a guilt trip…oh, she was good.
“It’s nothing, really. I’m just going through, sort of, a change, I guess? I don’t know how to describe it.”
“And it has something to do with Spencer?”
Ty could feel his palms beginning to sweat. He’d never been anything but honest with his parents; it had always been just the three of them, and he knew they would always listen. Why was this so incredibly hard to say to them? “You guys like Spencer, right?”
“Of course, we do, honey. Why would you even ask that?”
“And it didn’t bother you when I told you Spencer is…gay?” He said the word cautiously…like just saying it automatically labeled him, as well.
“No, why would it make a difference to us?” his father answered. “He’s a good guy. We think of him like another son.”
Those words from his father gave Ty the courage he needed.
“And, what if he were your son?”
“Tyler, you’re not making any sense.” His mother stared at him, obviously not getting this connection so easily.
He didn’t want to actually say the words. Saying the words out loud, to someone other than Spencer, made this so real. Once he said it, he couldn’t deny it anymore.
“I…that is, Spencer…and I…” Is it hot in here? Why is it suddenly so hot in here? He rubbed his damp palms on his jeans and looked back and forth between his parents, hoping they would get what he was trying to say without him actually saying it.
“Oh.” His father, apparently, connected the dots first and sat back in his chair, taking a rather large drink of his iced tea. “He…and Spencer…” he said to his wife, taking, yet again, another large gulp of tea.
“I see.” That was all his mother said, the room getting extremely quiet. A couple of minutes passed and finally she broke the silence. “I have to admit, it wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Let me finish, Tyler.” Her tone had him shutting up pretty quickly as fear swallowed him whole at the thought of disappointing his parents. “It wasn’t what I was expecting since you’ve shown no signs before that you had…that kind of interest, but it doesn’t change anything. You’re our son, and we support and love you no matter what. Isn’t that right?” She glanced at her husband now, using those strong eyes of hers to make him snap out of his shock.
Clearing his throat, Ty’s father agreed, “Of course. Absolutely. Like I said, we like Spencer. If he’s important to you like that, then we support it.” Ty wanted to laugh at the awkwardness his father obviously felt discussing this but couldn’t love his parents more for their understanding.
“The thing is, I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but things are definitely different.” He wasn’t going to go any deeper with them, but he knew they had an idea of what he meant. “Just promise me, if nothing changes between Spencer and me, you won’t treat him any differently. I haven’t even told him I was going to talk to you about this. Then again, I had no idea I was going to talk to you about this either.” He laughed a little, hoping to take some of the tension out of the room.
“Your secret’s safe. Promise me something, though.” His mother held his hand now, comforting him. “If this develops further, don’t hide it from us, okay?”
“I promise.” The relief he felt was just what he needed tonight. Because it wasn’t just things with Spencer that were different. He was different. The ache in his chest every time Spencer referred to the bet was confirmation that Ty was feeling something more for his best friend. He couldn’t even deny anymore that maybe some of those feelings had always been there. It was the damn bet that made Ty brave enough to admit what he wanted. But when the bet was over, would he be brave enough on his own to admit how his feelings had changed?
Better question was: had Spencer’s feelings changed?
By Tuesday night, Ty was definitely ready to spend some time alone with Spencer. He felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders by talking to his parents. Now, he couldn’t wait for him to get home from work.
The front door closing had him leaving his bedroom and quickly walking into the living room. Spencer had just taken his jacket his off, and his nose and cheeks were a little pink from the cold, winter chill. When their eyes connected, it sent butterflies to Ty’s stomach. Normally, he would’ve been embarrassed, but it seemed he and Spencer had gotten past the discomfort of their new situation and had moved on to some sort of acceptance.
“Hey, smells like tacos in here.” Spencer smiled and started to walk over to Ty.
“That’s what you ordered, right?” Ty met him halfway, and they just stared at each other. In any other relationship, he would have kissed his lover without hesitation, but they hadn’t established what their relationship was now. Ty was thankful not to have to make the decision when Spencer leaned over and pressed his lips to Ty’s.
“I missed you last night. What’d you end up doing?”
“Funny story, actually...” Ty knew Spencer deserved to know what he’d told his parents. He just hoped he would be okay with it. “Let’s eat, and I’ll tell you all about it.” He was nervous now as he went to plate both of their dinners. He could see Spencer staring at him out of the corner of his eye, trying to figure out what Ty was going to tell him.
They sat down on the couch, but as Ty went to turn the television on, Spencer shook his head and grabbed the remote to set it back on the coffee table. “No, let’s leave it off. So, where did you go last night?”
“I had dinner with my parents.”
“Okay, nothing weird there, so why are you so nervous?” Spencer pressed for information. Was Ty such an open book that he couldn’t hide anything from his parents or Spencer?
“Um, well, they sort of…know.” Ty winced, like he was waiting for the blow.
“They know…about…” Spencer motioned his hand in between the two of them.
“Yup.” Ty hurried on, “I mean, they don’t know about this.” He pointed to his barely there clothing. “That would just be gross. But you know my mom! There’s no getting anything past her!”
“Your mom is scary that way.” Spencer laughed, and it relieved Ty to hear.
“Look, all I told them was that things had changed some between us. See, that’s exactly why I didn’t want to go to your parents’ house.”
“Yeah, but the difference between you and me is, I don’t care if anyone knows.”
Ty’s head shot up in surprise at what Spencer had just confessed. “You don’t?”
Spencer put his plate down and slid across the couch next to Ty. “No, I don’t. Why would I?”
Why wouldn’t he? This conversation was getting too serious, too fast. “I don’t know…I guess…people will look at us differently.”
“Then, I think the question you need to ask yourself is why do you care? I can’t answer that for you, Ty. You need to take a deeper look and see if you truly do give a shit what anyone else thinks.” Ty shifted on the couch, suddenly, feeling the weight of that question on his shoulders. Why did he care? The solemnity in Spencer’s expression was replaced with a mischievous gleam—no doubt because he’d realized the gravity of the question weighing Ty down.
“However, I think considering you wouldn’t go to my parents’ because you were scared they’d know”—he took Ty’s plate out of his hands and set it on the coffee table—“and then you went to your parents’ house and told them”—taking Ty’s hand, he pulled him up to stand—“well, I think that deserves a punishment. Don’t you agree?”
Ty licked his lips and nodded.
“Clean up this mess.” The authority in Spencer’s words leaked sexual intent. “Then come to my room.” He started to walk away then added, “No need for the uniform.” Well, hello there, Benny.
Ty had never cleaned up the dishes so fast in his life. Five minutes later, he was standing outside of Spencer’s room, too excited to care that he was completely naked. He knocked on the door, and his knees nearly gave out when Spencer opened it, also completely naked. Grabbing Ty by the cock, Spencer pulled him in the room and shut the door.
Only the light from the bedside lamps illuminated the room with a soft glow. On Spencer’s closet door, there was a triangular contraption hanging from a high hook that Spencer usually hung his bathrobe from. There were two chains; one end of each chain connected at the top by the center hook. The other ends of the chains came out and connected to opposite ends of a bar, forming a triangle. Attached to the bar, also on either end, were handcuffs, and in the center of the bar was a collar. All of Ty’s confidence drained as he looked at this thing he knew he was meant to be put in.
“Uh―”
“Do you trust me?” Spencer asked, his lips brushing Ty’s ear, his chest pressed to Ty’s back.
“Um…”
“Do. You. Trust. Me?” He repeated the words, the force in his voice sending pulses of stimulation racing right between Ty’s legs.
“Yeah.”
“What was that?”
“Y-Yes, Sir.”
“I’ve seen it, Ty. I’ve seen the look in your eye when I give you an order. You follow your instincts, and your instincts have been telling you how much you love to submit…to me. Do you agree?”
Spencer used his body behind Ty to move him over to the metal and leather nightmare. He pushed Ty until his was facing the closet door with the bar behind his neck. “Raise your arms.”
Ty looked over his shoulder at Spencer, and he shivered from the tone of the command.
“There it is. There’s the look.” Spencer waited for Ty to make the decision they both knew he would.
Ty’s pulse was racing, but the bottom line was, he did trust this man completely—and holy fuck did he want to submit to him. Raising his arms, he started to tremble as Spencer closed the first cuff around his wrist then the second. Spencer took his time buckling the collar around Ty’s neck, and Ty was grateful for it. It wasn’t too tight, but he felt the restriction. It freaked him out while making him hard as a fucking rock to know he was at Spencer’s mercy. He couldn’t move his hands or head, and the chains kept him close to the door. He heard Spencer walk over to his bed and pick something up.
When Spencer was once again behind him, he said, “Tell me your safewords, Ty.”
Ty swallowed hard, his mouth so incredibly dry. Licking his lips, he said, “Peachy, yellow, and red.”
“And what are you now?”
He couldn’t look down at his cock because of the contraption, but he didn’t need to. He released a trembling breath and said, “Peachy.” The word flowed so easily from his lips it surprised him. He didn’t overthink; just like Spencer had said, he followed his instincts. And his instincts were telling him he wanted this.
“Good. I think I need to try another approach since nothing else seems to sink in. For some reason, you can’t seem to grasp that there’s nothing wrong with feeling the way we do.” Ty felt something slide across his ass—a wide, hard, flat surface. Spencer went to his side and held up a wooden paddle. “You want out, you say the word,” Spencer reminded him.
“Yes, Sir,” Ty whispered, know Spencer needed clarification that Ty was still with him.
“You’ll count each spank until I hear you say it.”
Before Ty could ask what it was, he felt the first blow. The paddle landed on his right ass cheek, stinging as it made contact. “Shit!” he yelled out, the sting echoing on his round cheek. He felt Spencer’s hand smooth over the tender spot. “Count, Ty.”
“One,” he said, his voice shaking.
“I want to hear you say it,” Spencer growled before the paddle landed on his left cheek this time.
“Two… Say what?” Ty managed, the burning sensation on both sides overwhelming him. He’d never been spanked before, had never even thought about it. Right now…he wanted more.
The paddle hit again on the right, followed by Spencer’s soft hand sweeping over the sore spot and Ty yelling out three. “You need to resolve this conflict in your head. I want to hear you say it.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Ty’s rapid breathing was making him lightheaded. His cock was so hard he thought it would break in half. He braced himself as he felt the next impact on the line between his left thigh and ass. “Four.”
“Tell me you crave this,” Spencer whispered in his ear, teeth clenched and voice dangerous as he slipped a finger between Ty’s smarting ass cheeks and brushed over his hole. Spencer quickly removed his finger and smacked Ty with his bare hand this time, the zing loud in the otherwise quiet room. Immediately after, Spencer ran his hand up Ty’s ass crack and back down. “Count.”
“I…I can’t think…I…five―”
Spencer brought the paddle back down on Ty’s stinging ass. “Say it!”
“Six… I do! I crave it!” He started to rub his throbbing cock up against the closet door, trying to get relief when Spencer circled his fingers around the base and squeezed it tight.
“You don’t come until I say you can.”
Those words flashed through Ty’s mind, bringing him back to the night that started it all. That night all those weeks ago, he’d wondered what it would be like to be in the position of the begging booty call. Now, he was the one begging Spencer for release. How did he get here? He didn’t care because, again, all he wanted was more.
“Tell me if you care if people find out. Say it, out loud.” Spencer’s force was unrelenting, his sweaty body formed to Ty’s from behind, and all Ty wanted to do was come.
“I…” Did he care if people knew? Now that he’d told his parents, and they were okay with it, did he give a shit what anyone else thought?
He’d thought about the answer for too long. The paddle came down again, Spencer’s hand trailing behind. “Fuck! S-seven,” Ty called out, his brain turning to mush.
“Say it, Ty. I want to know if you care what other people think of us.”
“I don’t care! I don’t! I just want it!”
“What do you want?” Spencer demanded.
“I want… I want this!” Holy shit! Did he really just say that? He did, and he meant it. Saying it out loud was so fucking freeing. He wanted this, and he had no reason to feel ashamed of it.
Spencer turned him around so fast the room spun for a second. The power of their mouths crashing together threw his body back against the closet door. His shoulders ached, and he couldn’t care less. All that mattered was getting closer to Spencer somehow. Their tongues fought for dominance, and as he had for the past week and a half, Ty gave in because it felt so fucking natural to him. Spencer lined up their cocks and took them both in hand. The intensity of what had just happened between them had Ty whimpering, craving release.
“You can come, Ty,” Spencer whispered then took his mouth again as Ty let go, spasms shaking his sweat-covered body. Spencer wasn’t too far behind, adding to the mess Ty had already made between them.
Spencer wrapped an arm around Ty’s waist as he released Ty’s left wrist from the cuff. The collar was next, followed by Ty’s right wrist. Ty sagged in Spencer’s arms as Spencer slowly backed them toward the bed. He felt like he was floating.
Laying Ty down on the bed, Spencer left him, and Ty was too drained to ask where he was going. A minute later, Spencer was back with a warm washcloth to clean Ty’s stomach and cock. Ty was aware of Spencer rolling him to his side and placing a cool compress to his burning ass cheeks for what felt like, at least, a few minutes. Ty could barely keep his eyes open, and when he felt the warmth of Spencer against his back, holding him so tight, Ty sighed and let sleep claim him.