Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Freedom Mansion
Shay
Blindfolded and shrouded in the dark should remind me of death. But why does it make me feel more alive than ever before in my life?
All those dead roses in wreathes like my lovers and I were already dead and being mourned, tumbling out in burial mounds outside the mansion’s gates…
I shake my head, balling my fists.
Was it a message?
A reminder?
A threat?
My heart beats hard in my chest. I’m more aware of every breath that I pull in, the tingling of my naked skin, and the sound of my bare feet on the floorboards.
By taking away one sense, everything else becomes more intense.
My cock is already at half-mast.
Yet I am focused more on feeling where the man is behind me, who is leading me on this date in the dark through our new home.
My darlin’ Sir.
“Don’t stop.” D’Angelo’s voice is startlingly close to my ear. I jump. My lips curl into a thrilled smile. “Walk forward. Five paces. You don’t need to think about anything but my voice. Focus on me. Trust me. Obey.”
I steady myself, sinking into the command and the sensation of this moment alone.
No dead roses, Blythe, or the threat of being sent away.
I know that’s why D’Angelo is doing this.
“Yes, Sir.” I don’t hesitate.
I take five steps forward.
I do trust D’Angelo with my fucking heart, body, and life.
More than I probably should.
He bloody owns me.
“Good boy.” D’Angelo rewards me with the whisper of a touch down my naked back, stopping just above the curve of my arse.
I shiver.
It’s Monday evening, and D’Angelo has been as brilliant as always.
Instead of becoming angry (as I deserved him to), after my out of control behavior all day, he led me aside after dinner and told me that we were going to spend the evening together.
He wanted to spoil me, before our first game tomorrow against the Detroit Red Wings.
Who spoils me? I spoil everybody else.
The game is going to be tough, despite D’Angelo rallying the entire team and staff behind the next six games.
I’m bewildered at how many messages I have been sent in support. Even Lucas and Grayson sent me texts today and they normally act like they’re still partying in their frat house.
It makes me warm inside that they care what happens to me. Maybe it’s because I’m the top scorer. Maybe it’s because they truly see me as part of their team, and I never had that at college.
I always dreamed that I would do.
Robyn and Eden are having their book club date together in the library. To be fair, I’d even take a spanking to avoid that boring shit. Actually, I’d take a spanking from D’Angelo any time.
“Why are you smirking?” Warm fingers ghost my left hip. “Turn to your left. One pace forward.”
I obey.
Obeying simple commands like this calms my mind. It settles the crawling sensation that has made me unable to stay still since the meeting in coach’s room.
“I’m just thinking about Robyn snuggled in the library’s nest with one of Eden’s books, probably written by some boring dead bloke.
” I chuckle. “Dead roses and dead authors. You say that you don’t like horror movies, but this mansion has a dark vibe, darlin’.
Are you actually leading me to a vampire to be drained as a blood sacrifice? ”
I yelp at the press of teeth to the base of my throat.
My cock, however, twitches with excitement.
D’Angelo threads his fingers into my hair, tugging my head back.
My cock twitches again.
“You’ll have one with you in this corridor right now,” D’Angelo says, low and dangerous, “if you don’t stop thinking about everything else, rather than staying in the present. This is our date. Just for the two of us.”
My cheeks flush with pleasure.
“Bloody hell.” I lick my dry lips. “Normally our dates at least pretend to include a movie, before we get to the kinky—”
D’Angelo yanks on my hair sharply enough for me to break off with a strangled cry.
“All you need to do is listen to my voice and obey.” D’Angelo finally let’s go of my hair, dragging his hand down to the base of my neck and then squeezing. “Do you trust me enough to do that?”
“Always, darlin’.”
“Acceptable answers are, yes Sir and thank you, Sir.”
Does he know what that stern tone does to me, when I’m naked and vulnerable like this, while he’s still dressed in his suit and not blindfolded?
I bet he does, the brilliant bastard.
“Yes, Sir.” I can’t stop myself smiling. “Thank you, Sir.”
To my shock, I feel D’Angelo’s lips brushing featherlight against mine.
Then they’re gone.
I make a plaintive sound, searching out his lips.
D’Angelo’s mean chuckle comes from somewhere to the side of me.
I turn my head, blinking into the black. My skin goosebumps.
I’m hyper aware and alert for every tiny touch.
“Take ten paces,” D’Angelo drawls.
It feels like I have been walking around in the dark for hours. Not once have I hit anything. D’Angelo is proving over and over why I should trust him, as much as I’m proving that I trust him.
My captain. My boyfriend. My Dom.
I lift up my chin, proudly facing ahead as I take ten paces.
I’m a servant obeying my king.
At ten paces, I stop.
A brush of fingers across my hip. Then…just the tip of one finger…along the length of my cock, as if in reward.
I suck in a shocked breath.
My balls ache.
“You’re walking through my mansion, naked and blindfolded, because I told you to.” D’Angelo’s suit jacket brushes against my chest. He must be in front of me. My blush deepens. Is he inspecting me? “Maybe I’m just walking you around like my pet. Should I put a collar and leash on you next time?”
Instantly, my mind conjures the image.
Bloody hell, I want that…need it.
“Yes, Sir.” Instinctively, I reach up to wrap my own hand around my neck.
It’s comfortable.
I imagine that it’s a collar.
That D’Angelo and Robyn would ever want to permanently collar and claim me as theirs.
It’s easy to say that our love is forever. Yet I know how disposable I am.
I’m the toy and not the husband material.
I’ll enjoy this while it lasts. I’ll worship these men and women who I love. But I don’t know how to make them want to keep me.
Silence.
Uncomfortable, I turn my head from side to side, as if I’ll be able to see through my blindfold.
Then a hand cups my cheek.
“Cucciolo,” D’Angelo says, softly, “we’ll talk about that when we’re both not under this much pressure. I was going to suggest that we try a play collar temporarily for some scenes.”
Play.
Yeah, Blythe made that clear about me.
I know that trash like me is only worth playing with temporarily.
My eyes burn with tears. I am glad that the blindfold hides my distress. I don’t want to look like an ungrateful sub.
I’m trying to be good, even if I’m failing.
“Thank you, Sir,” I force out.
“What’s wrong?” Instantly, D’Angelo’s arms are around my shoulders, massaging. “Color?”
Shit, I should have known that he wouldn’t miss anything. He’s too good a dom.
I relax under his touch, leaning forward to rest my head on his shoulder. “Green now that I’m touching you.”
“Was it the talk about the collar? You can say no—”
“I want it,” I say, quickly. “It’s just…”
Not enough.
Blythe used to say that about me: I was greedy.
Yet I know how valuable life is, having come close to losing it. I want to experience food, thrills, sex…every sensation.
I need to feel that Eden’s sacrifices for me meant something.
D’Angelo sighs. “We’ll talk about it properly, before we try it.
I’ll give you time to think about it and process.
For now, I have something special for this date.
I don’t want you clambering around on the roof, injuring your ankle falling down ladders and probably, breaking your neck.
But I know that you need a safe space of your own to stargaze.
So, I had this room installed just for you.
After tonight, the rule is that no one can enter without your permission. ”
I listen hard to the creak of a door being pushed open. Then D’Angelo pulls me after him into a new room.
I smile, as my toes curl into a thick, warm rug.
No one has offered me a room of my own before, which no one else can enter unless I say so.
It will be somewhere that I can finally feel safe.
“Stay with me.” D’Angelo is the center of my universe now. His voice winds around my mind and soul. I feel him in my heart, pumping through my blood. “In a moment, I’m going to take off the blindfold. The lights are off. Your eyes should only take a short moment to adjust. You can talk again.”
I still reply, “Yes, Sir.”
I enjoy the way that he holds me closer because of it, brushing his lips against my ear.
“You’re being such a good boy for me.” D’Angelo gently pushes me away with a final squeeze of my neck in encouragement.
Anticipation rushes through me.
D’Angelo removes the blindfold.
For a moment, it’s overwhelming to be able to see again.
I almost stumble, squinting.
Then I gasp. “You built me an observatory.”
I spin on the spot.
Joy rushes through me.
Dazed, I stare around at a room out of my dreams.
D’Angelo has gifted me the stars.
The room is small and bare. A set of wooden cabinets stand on the far side. The roof is low, glass, and domed.
It’s a clear night, and the stars and moon are pinpoint sharp all around me.
I have never seen them through a domed roof like this.
They’re spectacular.
I tip back my head, feeling infinitely safe in how their infinite largeness makes me feel small.
Everything is put into perspective the moment that you stare at suns that have lived and died before your entire planet was even born.
I choke up as I rush to my gleaming bronze telescope, which I struggled to buy with my first salary here in America. I run my hand across the cold telescope mount. It’s been angled through a slit in the roof.
It hits me like a punch to the gut.
D’Angelo made the library for Robyn. The study for Eden. But this observatory is just for me.
Would you install an entire room at the top of your house for someone who you only wanted for play?