It had been a few weeks since I’d visited Black Thorn again. Classwork was starting to become more intense and I found I had to stay after class a couple times, as well as spend more time on homework. I still also had my job to contend with, and I was trying to pick up more shifts to help pay for my schooling. I was willing to work as hard as possible to ensure that I wasn’t going to be stuck in a dead-end job forever.

And I didn’t have the emotional energy for kink right now. Not when my brain was full of information technology terms and concepts that required my full attention. I found myself exhausted at the end of the day, falling right asleep when I got into bed.

But as the semester continued, I got into a routine and felt like I was ready to go back. Alone, this time, not with my doofus friends who had no idea what kink was about. They were good guys, but… that night had honestly been a little embarrassing.

It was scary to go back, because the prospect of seeing Archer again meant that I would probably end up hooking up with him, and where would that lead? I would fall right in love with him and then I’d be screwed. That was how abusive doms got you, after all. They’d lure you in with sweetness and sexiness, and then when they had you locked down, they’d start the abuse.

The best way to prevent this was to avoid getting into relationships at all.

A brilliant idea came to me as I combed my hair, looking at my reflection in the mirror.

I wouldn’t ask Archer if he wanted a relationship. I’d ask him if he wanted to be friends with benefits. That was the perfect solution. It meant that we could continue to enjoy each other’s company, without all the emotional obligations of a romantic partnership.

That was a good idea. Of course, the main pitfall with such arrangements was that they blew up when one side developed feelings. But I already had feelings for him, and I just had to keep them tamped down. I could enjoy Archer’s domliness and keep myself in check.

It was better than the alternative, in any case, which was to not see him at all.

Maybe I was getting nervous over nothing. Maybe he wouldn’t even be at the bar tonight.

The tram ride downtown seemed to take forever, but when I finally stepped off, I felt energized. I had figured out what I wanted, and I was going to go get it.

I found the door for Black Thorn, and the bouncer let me in. I liked that he didn’t ogle me, like bouncers at other clubs often did. It was little details like this that gave me good feelings about this bar. Despite my past experiences, I was almost willing to believe that there really was a good community here.

I made my way to the bar—my first stop, obviously, and Goldie smiled when she saw me. I was glad to see a familiar face, and I ordered a beer and sat down, hoping to talk to her.

Now that I was actually here, I was feeling more nervous. But I was still focused on my goal. I was going to find Archer and work this shit out, damn it.

“Archer’s here tonight,” said Goldie when she came back around to me.

I blushed. “Really?”

“Yep. And he wants to see you too.”

My mouth dropped open. “No way.”

“Yeah way. You both told me you want to see each other again. So I’m obviously trying to make that happen.” She grinned.

“Wow,” I said, and she turned away to help another customer, leaving me to digest this bit of information.

So Archer had been looking for me too? It really was meant to be.

I turned to the rest of the club and started scanning the faces, trying to find the alpha who’d become the only man I could think about. I kept thinking I saw him, but it always turned out to be another alpha, someone who superficially looked like him.

A deep voice rumbled behind me. “Hey, Danny.”

I jumped, startled, and turned around, amazed to see Archer standing right before me, with a rakish grin on his face. Just his very presence sent a shiver down my spine. This was only the second time I’d seen him, and my body remembered what he’d done to me last time.

“Hey,” I said, my voice quavering slightly.

He grinned. Like most alpha doms, I suspected he liked having that effect on me. “I’ve been looking for you.”

I gulped. “I know. I’ve been looking for you too.”

“So…” he said, his eyes traveling up and down my body. I felt myself get hard already, just knowing he was looking at me lustfully and imagining me naked. “Want to play again?”

“Of course,” I said softly, leaving my drink on the counter, everything and everyone else forgotten. There was only me and Archer now.

He took me by the hand and led me into the play area, taking me a way I hadn’t been before. We went up a set of stairs and into a more secluded and quiet area with booths with curtains. When we entered a booth, I saw that it was actually spacious inside.

“I don’t need anyone else to see the sinful things I’m going to do to you tonight,” he said silkily, pulling the curtain closed, and now my cock was at full attention, straining under my jeans.

I was practically quivering, waiting for his instructions, but they didn’t come.

He walked all around me, and I could feel his eyes on me the whole time. Gliding over my ass, my legs, my chest, my neck. I felt incredibly vulnerable under his penetrating gaze, and even through my jeans my erection was visible. I wanted to be free of these clothes, free so he could use me.

Finally, he laid a hand on my chest and started to unbutton my shirt. I started to help by undoing the buttons on the bottom, but he took my hand in his firmly. “Stop,” he said. “Be patient. I’d like to unwrap my gift myself.”

His tone was stern but not unkind, and I immediately stopped, letting my hands drop to my sides. He started to slide my shirt off my shoulders and eventually took it off. My skin was forming goosebumps already, and my nipples were hard. I wanted so badly to take my pants off, but I didn’t dare disobey him.

He leaned his head down and kissed my shoulder, sucking hard and leaving marks, I was sure. He kissed a trail all the way down my chest, sucking on my nipples. I yelped in pain; he nibbled the soft skin there with his teeth and grinned when he saw the anguish on my face.

It was beginning. Now I just had to buckle up and enjoy the ride.

He knelt on the floor in front of me and started to unzip my pants. But I didn’t feel dominant, even though he was in the submissive position. I knew I was completely at his mercy, and he was going to take his sweet time giving me even a single dose of pleasure.

After sliding my pants down, he took my shoes and socks off and removed my pants, leaving me completely naked. My ass was already dripping with slick, and my cock with precum. I was wet for him, and could feel my entrance pulsing in anticipation.

But who knew what he had planned?

When he’d stood back up, he put a firm hand around my neck and pulled me over to the couch in the room, which was upholstered in leather and framed with dark wood, giving it a luxurious appearance.

“I want you on all fours here,” said Archer, and he helped me up onto the fabric. I held myself in a tabletop position, my ass toward him, fully exposed for him to do as he pleased.

“Looks like you’re already ready for me,” he said. “Tsk, tsk. An impatient boy.”

I could only whine in response, and he laughed. He slipped his hand down and wrapped his fingers around my cock, using the precum as lubrication to stroke me fast.

I cried out at the unexpected pleasure. He was clearly trying to bring me close to the edge of an orgasm, which wasn’t difficult, considering my state.

“Are you ready to cum?” he asked in a low voice.

Why was he asking me this now, before I’d even seen his cock? There was no way he was going to let me have an orgasm now.

“Y-yes, sir,” I said, knowing that I’d tumble over the edge in just a moment. I couldn’t hold off any longer.

“Good,” he said, and he slowed down his strokes, eventually taking his hand off my cock and leaving it to hang, hard and throbbing.

I couldn’t help it; I whimpered. Even though I knew there wasn’t any chance of an orgasm, part of me had been hoping that I was wrong.

Something about him being totally in control of my pleasure was intoxication, and I felt flickers of sensation that threatened to push me off the edge and into freefall, into a delicious orgasm that rivaled all the others I’d ever had.

But I wasn’t going to get it any time soon.

Archer walked around so that his cock was right in front of my mouth. “Go on and suck, boy,” he said, “suck that fat daddy cock.”

Daddy. A shiver of frisson went up my spine at hearing the word. How had he known that was a kink of mine?

It didn’t matter; just that one word had almost stirred my orgasm again. I moaned and looked him in the eyes, and his disaffected expression turned me on even more. I was desperate to cum, and it was just a game to him.

Of course, it was a game to me too—but as the submissive partner, I felt the urgency of all my body’s desires. I was almost animalistic in that way. I only wanted two things: an orgasm, and his cock up my ass.

But it was up to him to determine whether I deserved it.

I slid my tongue over his cock, enjoying the human taste of his skin, the salt of his precum. I completely lost myself in the blowjob, closing my eyes and sucking with gusto, wanting to make him harder than he already was.

He put his hand on my head, tangling his fingers in my hair, and I moaned at the sensation, loving how it made me feel.

I had no sense of time as I sucked, my tongue gliding all over his velvety skin. But soon he tugged my hair back, and I looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Your mouth is amazing, boy,” he said softly, “but I think I’m ready for your ass.”

I bent forward slightly so my ass was presented to him, but he took my upper arm and pulled gently. “I want you against the wall,” he growled, and my cock quivered, wanting his touch more than anything.

He pressed me against the wall and loomed behind me, his big alpha bulk, all muscle, holding me in place. I felt him guide his cock against my entrance and press in.

I was so wet that no lube was even needed. He slid right in, and even though he was so big I could feel him stretch me out, it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. I loved feeling him press against my walls and I moaned, wondering if people on the other side of the wall could hear me.

His hot breath was in my ear as he fucked me, and his groans and grunts of exertion made me shiver, barely able to stand up straight. But it didn’t matter, because he was holding me tight in his arms, thick with hard muscle and damp with sweat.

My cock was pressing against the wall uncomfortably, but the friction was enough to bring me closer to the edge, and I found myself rutting against it in a rhythm, engaged in a primal dance between alpha and omega.

“I’m going to come in your ass,” Archer hissed, and his thrusts became more erratic and rough, until I felt his hot release explode inside me. I nearly came myself as he pressed into me, squeezing the air out of my lungs.

He stayed inside me for a moment, then slid out easily and turned me around. My cock stood at full attention.

“Looks like you liked that,” he said, smirking.

“Yes, sir,” I said, breathless.

He stepped closer to me and pressed me to the wall again, but this time we were face-to-face. He reached down and gripped my cock, but didn’t move his hand, instead letting me throb against his fingers.

“Please, sir,” I whispered, and he squeezed my cock tighter.

“Please what?”

“Please, stroke my cock,” I said. “Sir.”

He started to move his hand up and down, and I almost felt like I was going to explode immediately. But I managed to hold back. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I didn’t want to come without permission.

That was how you got punished.

And even though punishments turned me on, I wanted nothing more than sweet release in that moment.

Archer gradually increased his pace until I was hovering on the edge, using every ounce of my willpower to hold myself back. I was leaking precum and bucking against his hand. Only my mind was strong enough to keep me in check, because every other part of my body was screaming for an orgasm.

He didn’t say anything for a few moments, so I pleaded. “I want to come, please, sir,” I begged. “Please.”

“You have been a good boy,” he said. “Ask nicely.”

“P-please, daddy,” I half-whispered. “Please let me come.”

“Good, good boy,” he said. “Let me see you come.”

I exploded in his hand, my orgasm shooting out and shuddering through me. I closed my eyes tightly and moaned, my back against the wall and my cock in Archer’s hand.

It felt like I’d returned from the dead when I opened my eyes again, the aftershocks of pleasure still rippling through me. Archer still held my cock, and I still remembered that I was his submissive, and my pleasure was a reward.

“Thank you, sir,” I said politely.

He finally let go of me and held me close against his chest. My head was right next to his heart and I felt it beating strongly. Even though we were in a club with moaning and music, his breath and his heart were all I could hear.

He let me go and helped me get dressed and then held me again as I continued to come down from the high. I was starting to breathe normally, and my legs no longer felt like they were made of jelly.

After I’d fully come down from what was an absolutely incredible sex session, my head was starting to clear and I remembered my original intentions for coming here tonight.

First, I had to get his number.

I fished my phone out of my pants pocket. “Let’s trade numbers,” I said. “We can’t keep making poor Goldie be our one way of communicating.”

Archer laughed and handed me his phone. “Of course. I regret not getting your number sooner, the first time we met.”

“Well… maybe our lust was simmering over the past few weeks, just waiting to explode tonight,” I said.

“There were many explosions tonight,” Archer said with a grin, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I hesitated, unsure if now was the right time to bring up a more serious topic. But I had to go for it. If I didn’t set boundaries now, things would get worse.

“Um, Archer… I wanted to ask you what kind of arrangement you wanted. If you want to keep seeing each other again, that is.”

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I don’t want a relationship. A romantic one, I mean. I was thinking we could be… I don’t know… friends with benefits?” I looked at him hopefully, scanning for any signs of disappointment. It would suck if we weren’t on the same page, but it was better to find that out now rather than later.

But Archer looked relieved, his expression relaxing. “That’s perfect. I’m… not exactly ready for a relationship either.”

I nodded, realizing that things were going exactly as I’d wanted them to. I ignored the small sinking feeling in my chest, as I realized I was betraying what my heart wanted. But no. I knew what was best for me, and this was what I had to do.

“Awesome,” I said, even though I didn’t feel awesome about the decision at all. “I’m glad we’re in agreement.”

“Me too,” Archer said. “Want to head downstairs and get some juice or something? Let’s make sure you don’t get dehydrated.”

I nodded and stood up to put my pants back on. “Sure,” I said. Something sugary would be good right now.

I followed Archer out of the booth. My hand drifted toward his, but I pulled it back as soon as I realized.

I couldn’t make this romantic. Nope, not at all.

I wasn’t going to screw myself more.