“You did very well, Cassidy. Thank you for the scene tonight and for letting Amy get a closer look,” I said as I helped her back into her clothes.

“Thank you for the scene, Master Paul.”

I nodded, and she left the cell. I glanced out into the hallway hoping to find Amy. I wanted to talk with her while I cleaned up the implements but she wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Where could she be?

I quickly cleaned the implements and checked the floor using a black light for any blood. As I returned my toys back to my bag, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I was sure that it was Amy letting me know where she was. I was surprised though to see that the text wasn’t from Amy but from my brother, Jay.

Jay: Hey man, give me a call when you can. Johnny’s in the hospital. Nothing to worry about but call me.

“Fuck,” I said out loud and glanced around the hallway. “Where are you, princess?” I said under my breath.

I hurried upstairs and walked toward the bar because I assumed that’s where Amy would be. I needed to find Amy so we could leave and I could get home to call Jay. Johnny and Amy consumed all of my thoughts at the moment, but I still noticed the back of Anthony Graves sitting with a woman. I felt another kick in my stomach at the thought of tying him up and watching the anger bleed from his system. When I glanced over at him as I walked by, my knees nearly buckled when I saw that the woman he was talking to was Amy.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Sitting beside the woman that I’d do anything for, was the fucking man I’d do almost anything to see break in front of me. With the two of them sitting side by side, my brain could have exploded. I looked at the two of them: my delicate princess and the reserved and bottled up Prince of Irons.

God, they looked so fucking good. But I just couldn’t even look at him right now. Too many thoughts and feelings were zipping through my mind and body. The only way I could deal with this right now was with anger.

“Graves!” I barked out.

I expected to see him jump at the tone of my voice but the Golden Boy was as cool as could be. I didn’t even see him flinch though he did look over at me. Walking over to them, I came to a stop less than a foot away from his feet. While he didn’t move his head, his eyes followed me, and he looked straight up at me.

In his gray eyes, I saw a small fire. He was so fucking controlled. God, I wanted to tie him up and poke him with a fucking stick. I’d keep poking him until all this shit that he keeps secure and out of sight purged from his system. He may fool Everett and even Blake. But I know it exists. And I could help give him the relief if he’d just fucking let me.

I closed my eyes. I could hardly stomach the sight of him right now.

“I swear to fucking God, Graves. Get away from her.”

“J.P.—”

“Quiet!” I glared at Amy as Graves stood.

“Relax, Paul. I was just talking to her. She was upset and alone. I brought her some water.”

“Get away from her, Graves.”

He really has no fucking clue what he does to me…or what he makes me want to do to him. To make this situation even worse, Colin Everett had to appear. Of fucking course.

“What’s going on guys?” Colin asked as he stood next to Anthony.

In that moment, I had to mentally paralyze myself because I wanted to knock his head off his perfect neck. He stood to the side of Anthony but slightly in front of him. I knew this fucking stance; this was a “mess with him, and you mess with me” stance.

I hated Colin and everything about him. He’s best friends with my muse and gets to scene with him. Colin fucking Everett gets to do everything he wants, whenever he wants because he has everything.

Confident that I wasn’t going to hit Everett, I kept my tone as even as I could.

“Everett, this doesn’t concern you.”

“He’s bent out of shape because I sat by Amy and brought her water.”

“Let’s go, Anth. Calm down, Paul. We’ll leave you guys alone.”

Colin and Anthony started walking towards the bar. Oh, no. No, no, no. They are not having the last laugh.

“Good boy, Graves. Listen to daddy.”

Neither of them turned around or even acknowledged me, which pissed me off even more.

“J.P.,” Amy whispered.

I narrowed my eyes at my princess. She wasn’t so innocent in all of this. I was extremely interested in what they were talking about.

“Why were you talking to him? What did he say? Were you guys talking about me?” I asked.

She just stared at me but looked lost. She’s going to have to lose that questioning and confused look if she wants to be my submissive.

“We’re leaving. Now!”

I pulled her off the couch and led us to the parking lot.

“Paul! Wait up!”

Jesus, now what? I opened the passenger door and guided Amy toward the seat before turning to see Matt coming towards us.

“Sweetheart, relax please,” Amy whispered.

“What, Matt?” I noticed Matt was looking at Amy. “Get in the car, Amy.” When Amy was inside the car, I focused on Matt. “Now, what is it, Matthew? I have something to tend to, and you’re keeping me from it.”

“You’re kind of tense. Maybe you should come back in and relax a bit before getting in the car with your girl.”

“I appreciate your concern, or was it Blake’s idea to send you over here?”

“Colin—”

“Fuck Everett! Was he too much of a coward to confront me himself?” I asked.

If I hear Colin’s name one more time tonight, I might snap.

“No. He was going to come out here, as was Anthony. But Blake suggested that we go since you seemed pissed at them.”

“You can tell Everett to go fuck himself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to tend to some things.”

“What did he say to you, Amy?” I asked her but was met with silence when I got in the car. “Tell me.”

I kept my focus on the road and let my foot ease off the gas pedal.

“Maybe we should wait and talk when we get to your house,” she said quietly.

Seized with anger, I gripped the steering wheel as tightly as I could. Even though I agreed it would probably be best, I was pissed that she shut down a request from me. Would things always be tug and pull with her?

No other bottom would get away with it if they were mine. Not even Graves. But he needed me...he just didn’t realize it. He didn’t necessarily need a master, he merely needed to be pushed and hurt by one often. Maybe a weekly session would do the trick. Blake couldn’t be immune to seeing that some dark lurks behind those eyes.

Fuck I wanted to mentor him so bad all those years ago. But fucking Blake had to take that from me. I gripped the steering wheel even tighter, and at a stop light, I pounded my fist on the wheel. Out of the corner of my eye, Amy jumped.

I needed to calm down. And in order to do that, I needed Graves and Everett out of my mind.

“I’m sorry, Amy,” I offered and gave her leg a pat. “We’ll talk when we get home.”

She remained silent for the rest of the drive, which gave me some precious moments to settle down. When we got inside, she walked ahead of me and sat on the couch. She crossed her legs at the knees and folded her arms over her chest. Angry little princess. I pushed my sleeves up and assessed her sitting there.

“After Cassidy went on her way and while I was cleaning the toys, I got this text.”

I handed her my phone and watched her expression of pissed off anger fade to sympathy and concern.

“So, I came to find you so we could leave and I could take care of this. Imagine my surprise when I get to the main room and find you fraternizing with Anthony fucking Graves.”

“He wasn’t doing anything but talking to me, J.P. He saw that I was upset.”

“Why were you upset?”

“I just watched you pull a woman apart! Then you sat and cuddled and cared for her. I felt like an intruder! And I couldn’t sit there and watch you care for another woman. I already felt inadequate—”

“I’ve done nothing to make you feel inadequate. Don’t blame me for whatever someone else instilled in you.”

She flinched and frowned at me before looking away. Was that too harsh of me? I ran my hand over my face and put my hands on my hips as I watched her.

“I want to be what you need, J.P. I want to be everything, but I’m afraid that it’s going to be so hard with us living in different cities.”

My stomach twisted inside. This had the hint of a break up talk. She wasn’t going to break up with me. No fucking way. Then she’d become a fuck buddy of Graves’ when she’s in town. No goddamn fucking way.

“Move in.”

“What?” she said as I ran a hand through my hair again.

“Look, we can work it out. You want to be my everything, then move in.”

“Am I going to be able to be all that you need?”

“Yes. We just need to get your mind there, princess,” I said and cupped her cheek. “I’ve got to call my brother. When I’m done, we’ll talk about it.”

She smiled that gorgeous smile of hers and nodded. I kissed her lips and walked toward the bedroom as I dialed Jay. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Paul. I was beginning to worry about you, man,” Jay said.

“I was at work,” I lied. “What’s going on?”

“Johnny was really sluggish all day and collapsed before dinner. The doctor in the emergency room said it was dehydration, but they want to keep him overnight.”

Dehydration wasn’t so bad. It could have been much worse.

“Okay. Are you guys at the hospital where he had the surgery?”

Jay explained that he took Johnny to the university medical hospital. I slammed my fist on my dresser.

“Fuck, why would you take him there? Why wouldn’t you take him where he had the surgery, Jay? They have his file and know what was done recently along with all medication.”

“There isn’t a co-pay at university med for him, Paul.”

“You basically just took him to a third world hospital for care!” I shouted.

“Money is so tight, Paul,” he tried to reason with me.

“I can’t believe you took him there. They don’t have anything on file regarding the surgery he just had,” I repeated.

“If you want to start playing health advocate, get your ass over here and do it. Don’t piss and moan while sitting a state away. I’m doing the best I can.”

I stared at the floor as I paced.

“Call me tomorrow when they release him,” I said and hung up.

I went back to the living room and found Amy still sitting on the couch.

“Well, at least I didn’t have to go looking for you this time,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry. It was just so awkward watching you with her afterward. And how is your brother?”

“He collapsed today and is being kept overnight for observation. Jay said that the doctors said Johnny was dehydrated. He’ll be okay.” I sighed and tackled the rest of her comment. “Princess, I want for that to be us. I need for both of us to be sure you can handle it.”

“I want to be everything and take care of those needs.”

“You want to be my submissive...twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?”

“Yes!” Amy exclaimed.

“I won’t lie to you, Amy. This will be challenging for you. And me. I’ll need to exercise control and consideration all of the time. I won’t harm you, but you will be pushed and challenged.”

“When you say, ‘twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week—“

“It means just that. I don’t partake in bedroom play, Amy. A dedicated submissive of mine is a submissive for the entire time. Not just when my cock is hard or your pussy is wet. This will be difficult for you.”

“I want this.”

“Careful to ask for something you don’t fully understand. The dark is a lonely place, princess.”

“But, I have a few things that I need to get off my chest and make sure we address. Negotiations, if you will.”

I nodded and sat down beside her to give her my attention.

“Go ahead, Amy. I’m listening.”

“My work. I can write anywhere, so moving in won’t have an impact on it. Do you have any thoughts on my writing?”

“I want you to still write. You love it, and it is your source of income. I’d like you to try to work on it while I’m at work. I realize there will be times when something for your books overlaps into the evenings when I’m home, but let’s work to make it the exception rather than the norm.”

“Okay, I can do that. Schedules are good for me.”

“Schedules are good for many submissives,” I added.

Amy smiled and nodded. The talk of her book work brought something to mind that I needed to vent about while we were on this topic. Samantha.

“Since we’re on the book business topic, I’d like to see if you can get on a schedule with Samantha.”

Her forehead wrinkled, and her eyes moved from side to side as she was trying to figure out what I could be referring to.

“Can you get on a phone call schedule with her? I know right now, she’s on your phone constantly either with texts or calls. When I’m home, unless there is one of those exceptions going on, I want your phone away from you. You’ll give her the house number if there is a true emergency.”

She stared at me, listening. Really, what I was proposing was to test the waters with her. I needed to see how serious she was about her dedication to me and our relationship. If she was receptive to my requests regarding her book business, then I would know I at least had her open mind at my disposal.

“I can do that. I will get on a schedule with Samantha and will make sure she understands that when you’re home, I’m not working.”

“Good. What else did you want to talk about and negotiate?”

I was feeling pretty good about our discussion and the negotiation of her book business. But her next topic made my stomach hurt.

“The pictures of Anthony Graves. They need to go.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

I wasn’t expecting this. I was expecting something like negotiating that she needs to work when the inspiration strikes her or have a certain kind of coffee. Not my pictures. In a way, I need those pictures.

“J.P.”

As Amy said my name, I detected a tone of frustration.

“If that’s what it will take to get you to move in and enter this twenty-four hours a day, then I will get rid of the pictures.”

We talked a little more about the pictures and as I drew a bubble bath for her I realized that I needed to make her feel confident that I would get rid of them. I helped her into the tub of warmth and massaged her tense shoulders.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes princess. I need to go take care of something on the computer,” I said as I stood and dried off my hands.

Amy smiled at me when I said I needed to get on my computer for a few minutes. I couldn’t help but smile at her victorious smile. She was so quick to trust. I was still smiling as I walked to my den. She was so cute to think that she was getting her way. In due time, but certainly not yet. I told her I’d get rid of the pictures, and I will…but not yet.

I booted up my laptop and opened up a blank email. I began composing my thoughts as I worked to prevent the fucking Golden Boy of Irons from taking what’s mine.

I hit send and returned to Amy.

“Did you get it taken care of?” she asked me.

“Of course. It only took a few moments, sweetheart.”

My princess was happy, and even though our evening didn’t go as planned, I was content now. She would be moving in...and her mind would be my playground.