Chapter Eight
TWO DAYS later, Jasper knocked on the door to Keith’s room, poking his head in when Keith called that it was open. He bit his lip, making sure Keith was alone as he stepped inside. “Can I talk to you?”
Keith turned his chair away from his computer, motioning to the bed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong exactly.” He sat on the edge of the bed, resting his notebook in his lap. “It’s just….” He picked at the metal spirals. “Vincent….” He wasn’t sure how to broach the subject, even though he knew Keith wouldn’t mind. Probably.
Keith pushed his chair closer. “Did something happen?”
Jasper frowned, fighting his indignation.
Keith might not have spoken badly about Vincent, but Matt had made a point to warn him, again, that Vincent was a dick and not worth Jasper’s time.
“No. He agreed to a date, but only if I bring a list of limits to discuss. So we can see if I wanttobehispet,” he said in a rush, risking a peek at Keith when he didn’t immediately say that was a stupid idea.
Keith didn’t seem as surprised as Jasper had expected. “Do you want to be his pet?”
Jasper let out a breath and resumed toying with his notebook.
“I haven’t hated any of what we’ve done so far.
” He could have done without tasting himself, but even that…
. “And you and Matt are happy with Reiko, and Terrance with Amber. I want to give it a try. I just—” He shrugged.
“—don’t know how this is really supposed to work. ”
“Which part?”
Jasper flicked his fingers, a bit desperately. “All of it?”
Keith coughed in a way Jasper was sure hid a laugh. “Okay. So Vincent is definitely a Dom. You’ve been submitting to him?”
“I guess so, yeah. He made me kneel and answer questions, and then ordered me to… do stuff.” Like that wasn’t an understatement at all.
“Stuff you liked?”
“Mostly. I mean, yeah, pretty much,” Jasper replied. His ass was still warm enough to get him aroused if he wasn’t careful. But he wouldn’t mind doing that again. Not in the least.
“And you like submitting? Handing over control?” Keith asked.
“Is that weird?” It seemed weird if he thought about it too much, but that first night, tied up and completely helpless in the chair, he’d finally found a missing piece of himself.
And each time after, when he was at Vincent’s mercy, he understood that piece a little more.
Except that part of him seemed to get a lot bigger at the same time.
“I liked taunting him? Not because I didn’t want to do what he said, but… . It was fun to make him work for it?”
Keith did laugh then, the one Jasper usually only heard when Reiko or Matt were around. “Of course you’re a brat.” He shook his head. “All right. So what is it you need from me?”
“He asked for my limits. I don’t even know what I don’t know about limits.” Jasper hesitated as he gnawed on his lower lip, “I told him he could do anything he wanted to me, and he didn’t like that. He asked if that meant he could cut on me. Who would even want to do that?”
Keith tilted his head with a raised eyebrow, then shrugged. “Lots of people, actually. But I can list some common kinks for you, and some limits you should probably have until you get more experience.”
Jasper sagged in relief. “Thank you,” he said, flipping his notebook open.
BY THE time they were done, Jasper had two pages of kinks listed, with details or definitions Keith had given for the ones he’d never heard of.
Keith had also pointedly gone over basic safety precautions, general expectations, and guidelines on top of everything else.
Jasper suspected most of what Keith told him was prompted by the mention of cutting, which irked him about as much as he was grateful.
He’d been tempted to ask what Matt’s problem was with Vincent, but he didn’t want a biased explanation.
Not yet anyway. If the reason was really bad enough that Jasper wasn’t safe with Vincent, he was sure Amber would have said something the first night.
He flopped onto his bed with a sigh. His head was swimming as he tried to process all the information, staring at the notebook pages without seeing them.
He was supposed to figure out his limits from this?
What if he said no to something he would have enjoyed?
Like spanking. As much as he wanted to do the whole sub thing, he’d never really gotten past the “being tied up” fantasy.
He didn’t want to miss out on something because he didn’t know any better. But at the same time, the thought of trying even half of these things made him uneasy.
With another sigh, he grabbed his highlighters and stretched out on his stomach to start marking. Pink for no, yellow for maybe, and green for yes.
No to cutting, knives and needles, and all the different toilet plays, choking, suspension, branding, CBT, and guns.
Yes to restraints, spanking, blowjobs, anal sex, biting, aftercare—Vincent had been doing that already, hadn’t he?—plugs and toys, and edging.
Maybe to blindfolds, whips, orgasm denial, gags, piercings, permanent marking, nipple clamps, cock rings, and collars.
He chewed on the end of his highlighter, looked everything over, and then listed them out in neat columns on a separate sheet. Some of his tension eased at having it done and ready to go, and he turned to his homework instead.
WHEN FRIDAY came around, Jasper was antsy again, but excited. He knew Matt disapproved, but Amber seemed happy for him. He could tell she was wary, but at least she didn’t keep telling him he was making a mistake.
A car honked from outside and Terrance whistled when he opened the door to see the same sleek black car that had dropped Jasper off the past two weekends. “Who knew what you were really looking for was a sugar daddy?” he teased.
Jasper flushed and elbowed Terrance on his way past. “Very funny.”
Terrance laughed. “Call if you’re not coming home tonight!”
Jasper waved over his shoulder and climbed into the back seat.
He tugged at the button-up collared shirt he’d dug out from the back of his closet.
He didn’t have many clothes that weren’t old and faded or didn’t have holes, but he did at least have one nice black shirt he hardly ever wore.
Most of his wardrobe consisted of things he’d picked up from Goodwill or discount racks.
When the car stopped in front of a fancy restaurant, the driver opened his door. Jasper swallowed his nerves and climbed out, hoping he wasn’t too underdressed in his khakis.
Once inside, he followed a host to the back of the restaurant, where Vincent had apparently reserved a private little room for them. “How rich are you?” he asked when the partition slid shut behind him.
Vincent looked up from his phone. “Does it matter?” he asked, pointing to the chair across from him.
Jasper shrugged and pulled his list from his pocket. He sat and handed it to Vincent. As Vincent read it, he struggled not to fidget.
“Which one of them helped you put this together?”
“Keith,” Jasper answered, picking up the menu to give his hands something to do. He stared at it a moment in confusion. Nothing had prices listed. And the menu was broken down into courses, with only a few options on each one.
“Good. He’s usually the most sensible one,” Vincent said, setting the list aside. “Have you thought more about what you want?”
Jasper glanced at him over the top of his menu. “With being your pet?” He shifted in his seat when Vincent nodded, still not quite believing this was really happening. “Keith said you’d probably want a contract?”
Vincent nodded again, pulling an envelope out of his suit jacket. He set it beside his own plate when there was a light knock on the door.
A server came in to take their orders, and Jasper swallowed his impatience at the interruption. Once they were gone, Vincent handed the envelope over.
Jasper pulled out the folded paper, glad Keith had shown him an example contract or he’d have no idea what he was looking at.
As far as he could tell, it was a basic setup for a two-month agreement. Vincent agreed to provide anything necessary for their time together and to adhere to Jasper’s limits. In return he expected Jasper to use his safewords as needed and to never lie.
“Does this mean you can lie?” Jasper asked with a frown.
Vincent snorted softly. “Lying wouldn’t get me what I want.”
“What is it you want?”
“For now, you.”
Warmth spread through Jasper’s limbs, but he forced himself not to be distracted by it. “That’s not really an answer.”
Vincent chuckled. “Maybe not. I won’t know what else I want until I’ve had a chance to play with you more.”
Jasper carefully folded the contract and slipped it into the envelope. “Can I have a couple days to think about it?”
“You don’t trust me?” Vincent asked, though Jasper suspected that was another test.
“No, I do,” Jasper murmured. “But I still want to talk to Keith and Amber and make sure I’m making the right decision.”
“You’re more pragmatic than I thought.”
Jasper straightened in his seat with a glare. “I’m not stupid.”
“I didn’t say you were. And I didn’t say it was a bad thing either,” Vincent replied. “The more mindful you are, the easier my job is.”
Jasper snorted. “Like it’s so hard to get someone off?”
Vincent raised an eyebrow, his expression shifting in a way Jasper swore cooled the room a few degrees.
“You think it’s easy?” he asked, propping his chin on his fist and absently turning his glass with his other hand.
“If I’d refused to continue the scene when you safeworded, would you have come back? ”
Jasper blinked, remembering the mix of panic, shame, and frustration when he’d reached his limit. He’d only wanted to make Vincent stop because he would have come, regardless of trying to hold back. If Vincent had ended the scene there….