A Strong Hand

"What are you thinking?"
    "Thinking with my dick, I guess," Damian laughed.
    "Believe me, your dick doesn't even come into it. If your dick had been doing any thinking whatsoever, Nick wouldn't be moping around here as if his pet dog died and you would have had me on my back on the floor, instead of sucking air with my knee in your gut," Ashley claimed, disgusted. He let Damian go and cuffed him lightly on the back of the head.
    "You're suffering from Top Drop."
    "I am not! I've never—"
    "Yes you are. You're questioning your own instincts. Trust yourself."
    "What if I hurt him?"
    "You're an experienced and attentive Top. Are you trying to make me believe that you would ignore Nick's reactions and cause him an injury?"
    Impotently, Damian clenched his fists, glaring at Ashley.
    "You don't understand."
    "I understand perfectly," Ashley said. "You're afraid that you're the one who's going to get hurt. And there's no evidence for that. The boy adores you."
    "He's too young," Damian muttered.
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    A Strong Hand
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    "No, he's not." Ashley paused, studying the other man. "I think you've found the one you've been looking for all your life and it scares you to death."
    "You're right about that last part at least," Damian said, trying to pin Ashley to the wall in his turn. "So your advice is for me to claim him?"
    "You already did that," Ashley said, disengaging with ease.
    "Listen, you're the only Top who would play with that sub who had lost his leg. Everyone else was afraid of hurting him and wouldn't touch him. You had the patience to go slow with him and discover his limits. When you two parted, he felt like a man again."
    Damian seemed startled. "You think I'm insulting Nick's manhood?"
    "Just because he's a sub doesn't mean he's not a man,"
    Ashley said gently. "He may enjoy submitting to you, but he's still your equal in this. It's not like you to forget that, Ian.
    Now that you know he has a liability, work with it."
    "Fuck me," Damian murmured.
    "Oh, believe me, I would like to, but I've blown my only chance out of the goodness of my heart," Ashley mourned.
    "Now that you've regained your sanity, I'll never be able to overpower you again. You're a Top's Top, and I'm merely a kinky bastard with a cane." He reached over and gave Damian's bottom a squeeze. "Mmm, I'm a fool, passing up my chances to do the lad a favor. But I'm a sucker for a boy with beautiful eyes."
    "He asked you to talk to me?" Damian asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
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    Ashley rolled his eyes. "Damian, I had to force a few stammered 'ums' and 'uhs' out of him. Is it likely that he came to me for confessional?"
    Remembering Nick's largely inarticulate and tentative responses, Damian chuckled. "No, I guess not. How did you put him on his knees?"
    "Pointed at the floor. You've trained him well," Ashley said smugly. "He's missing you badly, or I doubt very much it would have worked. And take my word for it; the AW 2001 is the spanking bench for you. It would provide ample support under his chest; no chance of his hip going out on you or an awkward position leading to an injury. I'd be happy to give you a good price on a demo. Nick would look simply delicious bent over one with his pink little arse raised at just the right height for fucking."
    Damian shook his head, smiling ruefully. "And I suppose you'd like to watch."
    "If only. That would be payment enough for me," Ashley said, a glazed look of lust coming over him. "And perhaps you'll bring him round to the clubs. I've never seen you in action and now that you're playing again—"
    "No, no, I'm over all that," Damian said hastily. "Though perhaps we might come round one day to watch you raising cane."
    Ashley laughed at the double entendre. "My competitive days are over. I only do demonstrations now, usually at conferences. But you never know."
    "Things looking up with Derek?" Damian asked slyly.
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    Ashley snorted with laughter. "Some things, yes. We're talking. I don't think he quite understands the call of all this kinky stuff yet, but he's trying to keep an open mind."
    Damian nodded. "That's a good first step."

    * * * *
    Meanwhile Nick emerged from the bathroom with his eyes suspiciously red, but dry. He saw Damian and Ashley emerge from behind the flats and hoped that whatever Ashley had done hadn't ruined everything. Already he regretted having confided the little that he had, but Damian looked to be in a