A Strong Hand

vulnerable throat," he said, privately thinking that Nick's was much more tender and sweet. And he couldn't help but notice how Ashley and Derek eyed each other whenever they thought the other one wouldn't catch on.
    Ashley's lips thinned to a straight line and his green eyes grew cold. "He thinks I'm a complete pervert. A sadist," he said grimly. "I'm sure he wouldn't be interested."
    "What happened between you two?" Damian asked. "Why do you keep him on if it's such a sore subject between you?"
    "He's free to leave if he likes," Ashley shrugged. "I'm sure I don't care."
    Sure you don't, Damian thought. "Well, I have a sub to put into a collar."
    "Sorry about that. I rather jumped the gun yesterday."
    Ashley had the grace to look abashed.
    "Trying to force my hand, Ash?"
    "I actually don't know what I was thinking, but I apologize for taking liberties with your sub."
    Damian thought Ashley was sincere; he sounded confused, which was unusual for the ordinarily brash man. "If you can't be happy, you want me to be? Vicarious romance?" he asked, curling his lip sarcastically.
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    "So it's a romance, then?" Ashley pried gleefully.
    "You bounce back too easily," Damian laughed. "It most definitely is not a romance. I'm just helping him discover himself, and that's all you're going to get out of me."
    "Don't be too sure of that," Ashley called after him.
    "Nicholas, may I see you in my office, please?" Damian asked, aware of Derek's big green eyes fixed on them.
    "Sure, sir," Nick said cheerfully, but he turned immediately to follow Damian.
    The photographer closed the door and pointed to the floor.
    The thought of kneeling to the Bettie Paige girl was just ...
    distasteful, but Damian had only to point and Nick couldn't get on his knees fast enough.
    Damian stood motionless, staring at the boy kneeling in front of him. It was a distinct possibility that Nick might want to move on from him, now that he'd seen for himself that there were women who were into the scene. Damian had no problem imagining Bettie bending Nick over a table and spanking him, and it was eating him up that Nick might prefer it that way. The boy seemed to be struggling to come to grips with the fact that he was engaging in kinky sexual acts with another man.
    "You were standing very close to Bettie, pet, and you let her touch you," Damian said sternly.
    "You posed us, sir," Nick said in confusion, not sure what he'd done wrong. Damian couldn't possibly be angry about what happened out on the set, could he? After all, it was only for the photograph.
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    "I did," Damian agreed. "But are you sure that's all it was?
    Perhaps you find Bettie attractive?"
    Nick looked up in shock, and then quickly lowered his eyes once more, gripping his hands tightly behind his back to still their trembling, afraid that Damian was going to use Bettie as an excuse to end what they were doing together.
    "Perhaps you'd rather it were Bettie bending you over her lap and warming your bottom?"
    "I don't want that, sir," Nick muttered, with a shiver of distaste. "I don't want anyone else to ... do what you do with me."
    Damian stared intently at Nick's bent head, as though he were trying to get into the boy's mind for absolute confirmation that Nick wasn't interested in Bettie at all. He hadn't missed the shudder Nick gave, but wasn't quite sure if it meant disgust or arousal.
    "Sir?" Nick said anxiously, afraid to ruin what he had with Damian, but determined that he would let the man know something of how he felt.
    "What is it, pet?" Damian asked.
    "I ... I didn't like it when you were talking and laughing with Bettie," Nick admitted.
    "What didn't you like?" Damian asked curiously. "That I was talking to Bettie, or that she was talking to me?"
    "It wasn't that you were talking," Nick replied. "It was ...
    you looked like you were having fun with her and I thought maybe ... you might want someone more ... more—"
    "Experienced?"
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    Nick nodded miserably, certain now that Damian was going to tell him that he would prefer someone he didn't have to explain things to.
    Damian chuckled and shook his head, amused that they'd both been consumed by the same jealousy. "Bettie and I were talking about riding, pet, that's all. I have no interest in her outside of a shared love of horses. You've said yourself that you don't know if you're gay. I merely thought perhaps it might be more