A Strong Hand

head slightly. "Why don't you two get ready for your next poses?"
    He frowned as he watched Nick walk off the set with the pretty girl hanging onto his arm, wondering why he had thought to pair them. When he first saw them glaring at each other and struggling over the crop, he was inspired by the combative chemistry, but watching them laugh together now reminded him of Nick's doubts about being gay.
    "Let's see it," Ashley demanded, coming up behind Damian and interrupting his reverie.
    Damian went to the computer and downloaded the shots, setting them to view in slow rotation.
    "Revolt of the sub," Ashley said. "Damned fine shot!" he exclaimed, looking at the two lithe bodies braced dynamically against each other, struggling for control.
    Damian stopped the slide show, examining the best shot.
    "But which is which?"
    "Why, Nick, isn't it? No, it's hard to tell really," Ashley mused. "He looks a bit of a switch there, not cowed by her at all."
    "I suppose there's a little switchery in all of us," Damian answered, chuckling at the look of horror on Ashley's face.
    132

    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    "My dear Ian, there is absolutely no truth to that rumor at all !"
    "You were born holding a cane then? How pleased your mother must have been."
    "Yes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Ashley peered more closely at the screen, where both model's faces were clearly visible, unlike all the other photos. "Did you take this for yourself or the catalog?"
    Without answering directly, Damian brought up the shot in Photoshop and cropped it in all around, to where it still revealed the stubborn set of Nick's mouth and chin. He cut off the sides, keeping the angular attitude of their bodies, but the new framing completely altered the emotive quality of the photograph. Instead of two angry people struggling for a whip, the image took on the aura of a dangerous dance of seduction, as if a couple were doing some kind of dissolute tango around a whip for a maypole. There was no telling who was in control, but the way the light fell on the taut muscles of both model's arms led directly to the gleaming crop, making it the focal point of the picture. "The play of masculine and feminine, showing the intrinsic power of each."
    "I don't know how you see these things," Ashley said, shaking his head. "That is far more seditious than actually seeing that crop strike the flesh. Dammit, I was there, and I want to know what happened next between this pair."
    "Now that really is a compliment," Damian said. "Thank you."
    "Best catalog ever," Ashley murmured. "What are you going to do to top this next year?"
    133

    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    Damian looked startled. "This was a one-time project. You said so yourself."
    "And you believed me," Ashley said, smug with pity. "Even after all this time, how little you know me."

    * * * *
    Two black male models flanked the blond sub woman, all wearing the same leather collar, with square steel studs and a large ring in front. Black leather set off the woman's fair skin, while the two men wore red collars, contrasting with their dark skin.
    Unlike other purveyors of erotic toys, Ashley's company offered a wider array of colors, rather than just the usual black.
    "Black is so dull," Ashley declared, watching as Damian worked with the three models. "I like a bit of color."
    "At both ends, no doubt," Damian teased.
    Ashley laughed. "You know me too well. On some issues."
    It was gratifying to see Damian joking about the subject; he'd been alone for a long time. And now Ashley realized he'd been right to wait. No casual encounter would have satisfied him like whatever it was he was doing with Nick. Ashley could tell that he was a special young man. Not merely beautiful on the outside, but with a sweetness and naïveté about the life that suited the photographer's style. Without ever having played with him or seen him in action, Ashley intuited that Damian preferred the mental aspect of dominating another man, rather than taking pleasure in the technical mastery required to leave the marks that he himself enjoyed.
    134

    A Strong Hand
    by Catt Ford
    Damian straightened up and stretched his back. "That's the regular collars done. Now for that new line you've got.
    Who's going to show those off?"
    "Nick for sure in that wine number. And I think Markie for the black. I do like a blond in black," Ashley declared, rubbing his hands.
    "Why not use Derek?" Damian asked mischievously. "He's got a lovely,