He loved the way Vince’s breathing picked up and his muscles flexed. He knew the idea was making the sub nervous, but he didn’t say his safe words. The ring looked thick, but he’d picked a hollow one, not one made from solid steel. Cason didn’t want to start too fast, with too much weight, or it would be too painful.
He didn’t tell Vince that, though.
Vince had closed his knees and Cason spread them farther apart again. “Don’t move your legs.” He trailed his fingers up and down Vince’s thighs, inching closer on each pass to his goal. Letting his pinkie graze the wrinkled sack on the next stroke upwards, Cason smirked when Vince groaned.
He was so responsive. Finally he began stroking Vince’s balls, pulling them down and then watching them flex upwards when he let them go. Closing his hand around the loose sack, Cason tugged downward and then froze. Vince’s back arched and his hands clenched in fists.
“You’re going to like this so much,” Cason promised him. He closed the beautifully colored metal around the stretched skin and then let go of Vince’s balls. It took two hands to screw the rainbow ring closed. “Ready?”
Vince nodded.
“I want to hear you.”
“Yes, I’m ready.” Vince’s body was tense but he was taking deep breaths and staying calm. Cason used one hand to stroke his lower back and waited just until Vince had let out all his air, then dropped the ring.
He wasn’t the one with the stretcher on his balls, but still, Cason shuddered when Vince gasped in a huge breath and let it out in a shaky groan.
“Fuck yeah.” He gave Vince a second to get used to the way the metal ring snuggled against his balls and pulled them low, stretching his sack. The skin wasn’t very tight yet, but when he added the weights…
“This is going to look amazing.”
The two tear drop shaped weights matched the ring, the metal colored with all the hues of the rainbow. They were tiny, just an ounce apiece, but he had others in the set that got bigger and heavier. He licked his lips. “I can’t decide… should I put these on one at a time or at the same time?” He leaned over, heat already rising from the sub to warm his lips, as he kissed the slender neck from shoulder to ear.
He nipped at the soft lobe, then sucked the sting away. “What do you think, hmm? Do want me to prolong this and add the weights to your balls slowly, one at a time so you can feel them stretch gradually, or do you want it all at once?”
“Wh-Whatever you want, sir.”
Stroking one hand down the stretched skin, Cason tugged on the ring. “Are you sure you want me to decide?”
“Yes! Please!”
He stood up straight. His hands were sure as he threaded the chains of the weights through both loops, holding the weighted tear drops in the palms of his hands. Cason watched intently, his own cock hard in his jeans waiting for the right moment…
He dropped the weights and let them swing free.
“Fuck!” Vince cried out. He shuddered and strained at the cuffs holding him down, his back arching and making the weights sway back and forth. “Oh God!”
Cason stood back and watched. He took a mental picture, the perfect image of Vince, his head up, back arched, with his balls stretched tight by the beautiful rainbow metal decorating his sack. Then he began to make all those beautiful lean muscles dance.
He stroked up and down the stretched skin with his fingers, then inched up to Vince’s ass, squeezing and kneading the firm muscles. Vince would groan and move with him, then hiss and try to stay still. Cason enjoyed making him writhe under his hands.
The only way he managed to keep control over his cock was to keep his pants on. He could feel the front of his pants getting wet as his cock leaked into his boxer briefs. Watching Vince’s hole flex, Cason couldn’t resist getting inside him somehow. He toyed with the piercing, tugging on it, while he decided what he was going to do.
Stopping to get the lube would ruin the momentum as he drove Vince toward his orgasm. He squatted down instead. A brief bite of pain hit him as his cock twisted in his underwear. He used one hand, palming his stiff erection and shoving it into a better position.
Cason leaned in and blew air against Vince’s balls, then used his tongue to draw wet circles over them, pulling and nipping at the tight skin.
“Oh. Oh, fuck.” Vince grunted and his thighs trembled. The weights shivered and began to swing. Cason chuckled and let the vibration tickle the sensitive orbs. He swept the flat of his tongue up and over the weighted ball ring and along Vince’s perineum to the sweet little ring piercing decorating the smooth flesh. He stuck his tongue through the silver ring and tugged gently.
He took the small chain he hadn’t shown Vince and fed it through the hoop with small clinking noises. Vince’s head popped up and he tried to look back. Sweat trickled down his sides. To increase the sensations, he clipped the chain to the weights. He tapped them, making them sway and pull on the chain through the ring in Vince’s guiche.
“Cason! Oh…” Vince shuddered. “Please!” Deciding to take mercy on him, Cason leaned forward, watching that dark pucker flexing like it was begging to be tortured.
Vince’s voice rose as he descended into incoherent noises, no longer able to talk as Cason began to rim him with all the skill he possessed. He licked, sucked, and thrust with his tongue until the muscles loosened. The weights danced as Vince moved constantly, unable to stay still. Wetting one finger, Cason probed the slick circle and then sank in to his first knuckle.
Soft, hot flesh surrounded his finger and then he pulled back, circling and then sinking back in again, this time all the way down. He did that over and over until Vince was rocking against him, clearly lost in the sensations Cason was giving him. Cason sucked on the back of Vince’s balls, drawing up a mark on the stretched flesh.
“Please,” Vince cried when Cason began tapping on his prostate, just barely nudging the sensitive bundle of nerves. Teasingly, he slowed his thrusts, pushing the sub under his hands beyond sensation into pure need to come.
The next time he thrust in, Cason pegged his prostate firmly. Instead of letting up and sliding his finger back out, he thrust hard in small circles against the smooth bundle of nerves. Vince shoved back as far as his bonds would let him, slamming against Cason’s hand and shuddering as he spilled hot cum all over the bench under him.
Cason drew his orgasm out, massaging Vince’s prostate until the muscles stopped clenching and clinging to his finger with every pulse of cum. He pulled out slowly, but Vince groaned anyway. His hole winked and flexed as he slumped in his bonds.
Jerkily, Cason undid his pants and shoved them and his underwear down his thighs, pulling out his cock and balls. The shaft was rigid, thick and hard, throbbing and aching for release. With one hand Cason tugged on his balls and he stroked from base to tip, twisting his wrist as he roughly massaged the head of his cock. His hips flexed, driving hard against Vince’s thighs, until the heat building inside exploded, sending shot after shot of Cason’s thick cum splattering against Vince’s ass and lower back.
Falling forward, Cason caught himself on one hand, his chest against Vince’s bare back. They lay there for a few minutes, recovering together. Forcing himself up, Cason gathered the dangling weights into his hand before he unhooked all the chains.
Vince groaned as the weight on his balls eased. Using the wrench he’d set close by, Cason unscrewed the ball ring and took it off. He didn’t let Vince out of the restraints yet. He used a soft hand towel to clean up the mess he’d made, then ran his hands along the slim back, massaging his shoulders and arms.
“Just let your arms dangle when I unbuckle them.”
“Hmm… okay.” Vince was a limp puddle. Cason smiled softly.
Cason slowly undid the wrist cuffs, rubbing at the slightly red flesh where Vince had pulled against them. The wide black leather straps, butter soft on the inside, wouldn’t leave marks for very long. He appreciated the leftover marks of what Vince had allowed him to do while they lasted, stroking the heated flesh.
Slowly, he eased Vince up off the bench until he was standing. Loose limbed, with shaking legs, Vince leaned back against Cason. He could tell Vince was just about blissed out of his mind and his own orgasm had left him tired.
“Come to bed with me?” Before he’d have asked if the sub wanted him to call him a cab, after they eased down from the high of the scene on the couch in the living room. Cason wanted to sleep next to Vince again; he wanted the slim man in his arms, safe and warm the whole night.
Vince nodded.
Cason tucked him into bed, then grabbed a bottle of water. He made Vince drink some of the cool fluid to ease his throat and keep him from getting dehydrated and then finished off the bottle. He stuck it on the nightstand, quickly stripped and left his clothes on the floor beside the bed.
Sliding beneath the covers, Cason grabbed his clock. “What time do you have to get up?” Cason didn’t want to set the alarm, knowing that Vince would be leaving his bed when it went off, but he knew the other man had to work.
“Five. Five-thirty if you’ll drive me.”
Cason punched in the time and turned on the switch on the side of his clock. “Five-thirty it is.” He lay down and Vince wormed across the sheets until he was tucked against Cason’s chest. His cheek pressed against Cason’s heart.
Wrapping one arm around Vince’s back, Cason moved until their legs were tangled together and they couldn’t get any closer. He sighed and relaxed into sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Cason dropped Vince off and then went home. He sat in his chair in the living room with a cup of coffee and watched the news. His mind wasn’t really on the forecast for the next week but it provided some badly needed noise outside of his own head.
His thoughts were swirling so fast, so many things running through his mind, that Cason could barely figure out what was bothering him. Finally, he narrowed it down to a single issue; he was disturbed by his continued inability to see inside Vince, even though the man was a sub who so clearly was seeking his center.
Maybe his grandpa would know what was going on with his abilities. Cason was close to his family, but his grandparents most of all. His father had more of the daimon blood than Cason did, but he’d never really accepted it. The family’s affinity to connect with other people and precipitate that singular crisis of conscience people who came across their path needed made him uncomfortable
But Cason had spent long summers with his grandparents, working in the kitchen with his grandma on his mom’s side. He’d learned southern cooking, and how to woo a man with the faint hint of an accent and manners that weren’t seen all that often in the present era.
When visiting his father’s parents, Cason learned how to make authentic Greek food… and how to use his ability that grew after he finally hit puberty. He’d never asked his grandpa why he accepted Cason’s unique route to helping others, but he often wondered if his grandpa could see his center and was helping him find his path his own way.
Glancing at the clock, Cason picked up the phone. Early risers, he knew his grandparents would be up, even if they weren’t running the restaurant anymore.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Gigia. How are you?”
“Oh, these old bones are still moving.” Cason tucked the phone against his shoulder. “Never mind that. It’s been so long since you called.” Two weeks. He’d called them just two weeks before. “How are you doing, Casonaki mou?”
He smiled at being called her little Cason, even though he was nearly thirty. “I’m good, Gigia. Busy helping all the indecisive college students figure out what curriculum best fits their career path. What’s been going on in the family?”
That question sent her off in a long ramble on the current status of his cousin Nikki’s pregnancy, Rhea’s latest boyfriend, and the shameful grades Nikita had brought home in English. Cason only listened superficially; he’d already heard a lot of this when he spoke with his parents.
“— which is ridiculous because she speaks English every day. That girl needs to learn how to apply herself.”
Cason braced himself as the litany ran down. If he told his grandma he’d met someone, everyone in his family would know about Vince by the end of the day. But they weren’t really more than friends, even if Cason knew he wanted more, that didn’t mean Vince did, or would in the future.
“And when are you coming over for dinner?”
“Oh. Soon, I hope. Things have been a little busy lately.”
“Too busy to come see your Gigia and Pappous? We all have a finite time on this earth and yet you can’t take an evening to visit your family?”
Cason took the guilt bullet with a wince. “I’m sorry.”
“Come to dinner and I’ll forgive you.” She knew she had him, and Cason knew she knew it too. “How about this Sunday?”
Cason turned his mug on his knee. “Okay, Gigia. I’ll be there for dinner with the family. Speaking of Pappous, is he there?” he asked casually.
He waited while she called his grandpa to the phone. “All right, here he is. Be here early next week and we’ll have time to chat.” He knew that meant she knew he had a specific reason to speak with his grandpa, and she’d drag it out of him if she had to. His grandma was fierce about protecting her family.
“Hey there Cason.” His grandpa’s voice was warm and it loosened the knot in Cason’s stomach just hearing it.
“Hi Pappous. I was hoping we could talk, if you have a few minutes.”
Cason took a sip of his coffee and made a face at the cold bitterness. He set it on the coffee table.
“Of course, Cason. Just let me go into the office.” There was a lot that other members of their family didn’t understand. Cason’s grandpa had more of the ability passed down through their family line than Cason did. Whenever he had a problem, he knew his grandpa could help him understand his ability; he hoped he still could.
“I’m assuming this has something to do with a man who you cannot help?”
“How did you know, Pappous?” Cason sank back in his chair.
His grandpa laughed. “Oh, I recognize the signs. You have been quite restless lately.”
“What? Am I on my path to my center?” Feeling incomplete had always bothered Cason. He knew what he wanted, but he’d never been able to find it. The lack of balance in himself was probably what drove him to help others, but now… he was tired of being left alone. Humans were meant to connect with each other and he’d never felt more disconnected.
“You know I cannot tell you that. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Cason explained everything he’d been through. He started with seeing Vince for the first time and learning about the younger man’s ex, Vince’s unhappiness after every scene growing every time Cason saw him. He ended with his need to be close to Vince, even though he couldn’t see the spirits’ influence on him, or how to help him reach his center through the paths shown to him.
“Hmm, you know…” Cason heard the loud thud of a book hit the desk, “your situation reminds me of something I once read in my Pappous’ journal. Give me a few minutes, this book is pretty big.” Cason could hear him turning the thick homemade pages in the leather-bound volume. Cason couldn’t read Greek, so he’d never been able to read it himself, but during his teen years they’d spend several hours each week going through the information passed down by Procopio men from the very first daimon of their line, Cason’s great-great-grandpa, and down to them.
“Yes… yes. Just as I thought.”
“What did you find out?” Cason found himself leaning forward in his chair. He needed to know something, anything, that would help him decide what to do. He was getting too close to Vince to survive letting him go, and they’d only had two full scenes together.
“I believe this boy’s ex you spoke of is either a daimon, or the descendant of one.”
Cason almost dropped the phone. “What?”
“I would guess it is a descendant. A full daimon would not have let him go before he completely destroyed him. It sounds like your boy has some deep scars from the man he was with. That could be what is obscuring your ability to see his center. That and…”
“And what, Pappous?” Cason asked through clenched teeth when he didn’t finish his sentence. This entire conversation had him on edge; sitting in his chair was going to drive him crazy.
Cason got up and paced the living room. He knew about the existence of other daimons, theoretically at least, but that one of them had used his abilities to try and break Vince, on purpose, sent rage flashing through him. If he ever came across the asshole…
His grandpa sighed. “I’m not sure, and I don’t want to speak out of turn and disrupt your path. I will say one thing. It is impossible to escape from what is destined.”
Cason frowned. “What does that mean? Vince is destined not be able to find his center because of the damage already done to him, which is why I can’t see the influences of the spirits on him? Or, if I’m able to help him even though I can’t see the spirits’ influences, I’m destined to lose him when he walks away from me like every other man I’ve been with?”
“I… can’t say. I’m sorry I can’t help you more, Casonaki. I really am.”
Cason rubbed his forehead. He leaned against the chilly glass of the front window, trying to cool his anger. “No, don’t feel bad, Pappous. I know more than I did before. It helps to know why my ability was suddenly defective. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cason turned around and looked at the clock. “I should let you go. I know you have your golf game at ten. I’ll see you Sunday for dinner. Bye, Pappous, give Gigia a kiss for me.”
“Bye, Cason.”
It was a struggle, but he kept his mind busy and on something other than Vince as he sanded a set of dildos. He liked to do the work at a slow pace, by hand, to make sure the wood would be perfectly smooth without a single rough spot. He balanced on his tall stool at the workbench, letting his mind turn over his grandpa’s words as his hands stroked back and forth along the grain of the wood with fine grit paper. The rasp of the wood was the only sound in the quiet room.
His phone rang; the loud trilling startled him. Cason jerked and dropped the dildo; it rolled and knocked his phone off the edge of the workbench. He got down on his knees and reached under the edge, grabbing the phone and answering just before his voicemail picked up.
“Hello,” he said abruptly, wiping fine sawdust off the knees of his pants.
“Hi, Cason.”
Cason’s frustration evaporated and he leaned against the bench. “Oh! Hey, Vince. You actually called instead of texting me. To what do I owe this honor?” He grinned as Vince laughed.
“Dork.”
“Guilty as charged. That doesn’t mean this dork won’t smack your ass for calling me names the next time.”
Cason heard Vince suck in a deep breath. “Not fair! I’m at work.”
“You earned it.” Cason didn’t have to try hard to come up with plans for their scenes together, even if he felt like he was stumbling around in the dark without his ability to guide him. There were so many things he wanted to do to and with Vince.
“Well it’s a good thing I’m wearing loose coveralls. I actually just got back from lunch and Migg told me that he’s playing at a gay bar tonight with his full band. You said you wanted to hear him and I thought, if you meant it—”
Vince was asking him out on a date!
Cason interrupted Vince as he began to babble. “Of course I meant it. I’d like to meet your friends since you’ve met Brandon and Suzanne. Page told me you met Luke and Sean too during sub’s night at the club. The only one of your friends know is Page and I’m not going to count your other roommate.”