A Strong Hand

scares me like fuck."
    "Really? Did he insist on using it on you?" Nick asked, surprised. Somehow Ashley's sense of humor was such that he couldn't see him acting quite the way Damian did. Even today, he was a little uncertain around the photographer.
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    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    Remembering their encounter the night before, with him bent over naked getting his arse spanked and then sucking Damian's cock, made him feel bashful while still sending shivers of delight through him when he thought about it.
    "No, not at all. When he told me he was into all this, I kind of ... lost it and screamed at him and dumped him," Derek mumbled shame-facedly.
    "You mean you didn't even try it?" Nick asked, wondering if he was just extremely weird for agreeing to all that Damian had done to him so far.
    "No! Why should I?" Derek asked defensively.
    "You won't know if you like something until you try it,"
    Nick pointed out. "I thought you were more adventurous than that. You sure talk a good game."
    It was Derek's turn to flush. "Well, maybe I'm not. Are you telling me you've tried this?"
    "I'm not telling you anything, but if I really liked a guy, I think I might give him the benefit of the doubt," Nick said. He watched as Derek's eyes followed Ashley, who was joking with Markie, leading him to the set on a leash. "He must have thought that you didn't trust him."
    "Shit," Derek said. "I didn't mean to hurt his feelings. I just freaked."
    "If you have a safe word, you can use it to stop someone,"
    Nick explained, suddenly feeling much more secure talking to the boy he'd thought was so worldly and experienced. At least he knew something Derek didn't. "Besides, Ashley doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would just hurt you without stopping to check if you were enjoying what he was doing."
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    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    Derek sighed. "Enjoying! Besides, it's too late now, anyway. He's all over that blond bloke."
    "If you really want him, if you ... love him," Nick said hesitantly, "maybe you should talk to him."
    "I was kind of hanging around you, hoping he'd get jealous," Derek said with a laugh. "You're fuckin' gorgeous and if he thought I could get you, then maybe he'd ... he'd be interested in me again."
    Nick smiled. "Not going to work, Derek. I think he knows about me and Damian."
    Derek's eyes flew to meet Nick's and he chortled triumphantly. "So you are dating him!"
    Nick glanced at Damian uneasily and the photographer looked up at him at that moment, smiling warmly. "Yeah, I guess I am," he muttered.
    "Cool!"

    * * * *
    Derek nudged Nick in the ribs as they stood behind the lights, watching Damian as he set up the next shot. "Dude, have you noticed that you're never in a shot with any of the girls?"
    Nick had noticed it and wondered uneasily if Damian thought he couldn't hold his own with the beautiful girls, but he wasn't about to explore that thought with Derek. "Nah, no big deal."
    "Ashley said this shot might end up on the cover," Derek said, nodding toward the sensuous tableaux.
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    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    The way Damian had lit the models twined together, Nick could not actually see what they were doing, but the tangle of masculine and feminine, the golden gleam of light on bare skin shining with droplets of sweat, the hint of restraints and whips, muscles tensed with power or soft in surrender, left plenty to the imagination. He longed to be a part of what he was witnessing, even though the ephemeral emotion created by the glimpses of bodies was just an illusion, nothing real, nothing solid.
    Yet it felt real to him. It called to him like a siren of yore as the flash of Damian's light froze the continuously moving mass of silken flesh into slivers of time, one moment after another.
    And then it was over.
    "All right. You can take a break now," Damian called out.
    The models giggled and joked as they unwound themselves from each other and became ordinary people again, instead of seductive gods and demons with the power to entice Nick out from his safe position behind the lights.
    He looked over at Derek to find that he had been likewise affected by the scene. Derek's mouth was open and he looked rather gobsmacked as he stared. He swallowed and turned his head toward Nick slowly, as if just coming awake. "Dude, that was ... something else."
    "Yeah," Nick agreed. "Something else." He couldn't remember ever feeling jealous when any of his past girlfriends had mentioned other guys to him, but he felt it