The Flesh Cartel - Episode #7: Homecoming

whispered into the boy’s ear, trying to bring him the rest of the way.
    “I love making you happy, sir,” Douglas murmured back. He sounded so dazed. Still trembled softly.
    “Is that so?”
    “Yes, sir. More than anything, sir.” He didn’t sound dishonest so much as absolutely exhausted, wrung out, and Nikolai felt pity curl through him again. Too soft, indeed. Well, knowing his own weaknesses as a master simply meant he could adapt for them. He could walk the line, be both understanding and firm at the same time.
    “Take this, then.” He picked up the discarded plug, sticky with lube and cum, and gently nudged it into Douglas’s mouth, pushing until the boy gagged and his nostrils flared. “I’m doing you a favor, understand? No need to talk anymore. No need to beg or apologize or explain yourself. Just let yourself take the pleasure I give you. Now . . .” He reached around, opening up the boy’s cock cage with practiced fingers. Gave the newly freed cock a slow pump.
    Nothing. Flaccid.
    If the boy could talk, Nikolai knew he’d be saying, “I’m sorry, sir, I’m just tired, sir, please let me rest, sir.” Instead, he whined and twisted. The effect on Nikolai’s mood was the same as if he’d complained aloud. “Douglas,” he warned. “I know we’ve had a long day, but being too tired to perform is a privilege not afforded to slaves like yourself.”
    Douglas nodded, but still his cock didn’t rise.
    How very disheartening. He’d never had trouble getting or maintaining an erection before, not even when he was new.
    “Too much ‘contraband,’ perhaps? Sugar crash?”
    Douglas mumbled something around the plug that sounded to Nikolai like I don’t know, sir.
    “You must learn discipline, Douglas. Stronger self-control.”
    Another mumble, longer than the last. The boy clearly wished to make something known, but Nikolai had no intention of permitting excuses, not now.
    “If ever I deign to treat you again, I expect you to know your limits and stop before you make yourself useless.”
    No mumble this time, just a nod. The boy hung his head, the gesture contrite, but kept his shoulders squared and his back straight. Nikolai felt his irritation fade a little at that.
    “You’ll push through it, Douglas. It’s bad enough you’re letting it show; I should punish you for it.”
    A shudder. It looked like he’d started to shake his head, to beg, but then stopped himself. Lifted his chin, set his jaw. Yes, sir , that expression said. I deserve it, sir. I’ll submit and be grateful.
    Gods, Nikolai couldn’t stop himself from loving the boy. Wasn’t sure he even wanted to. “Shhh now. Shhh.” He stroked Douglas’s back. “I’ll help you. Do you want help to obey?”
    A quick, fervent nod, and were those tears in the corners of Douglas’s eyes? Nikolai leaned in to kiss them away, tasted salt and exhaustion and . . . sadness? “I’m here for you, Douglas,” he murmured against the boy’s temple. Stroked Douglas’s cheek, then pulled the plug from his mouth and laid it on the bed beside them. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
    Douglas sniffed back his tears, licked at sore lips, cleared his throat, and shook his head. “N-nothing, sir, I’m just . . . You’ve been so good to me and I’m letting you down and I’m sorry, I don’t want to let you down, sir, please . . .”
    Nikolai waited for Douglas to finish his thought, but the boy fell silent, lips pressed tightly together, chin wobbling.
    “I’m not angry,” Nikolai tried.
    “T-thank you, sir. That’s m-more than I deserve.” Lips tight again. Chin still wobbling. Not fear, then. Was he truly so upset at his failure to perform for his master? So early in their training? Could Nikolai be that lucky?
    No. Probably not. And whatever this was, it seemed unlikely to be a problem kindness could solve. There’d been nothing but kindness today. A firmer hand, perhaps. Nikolai stepped away, turned toward his walk-in closet. “No more tears, Douglas,” he said as he opened the closet door, rummaged through the shelves for what he needed. “You’ll make me think you’re unhappy to serve me. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”
    “N-no, sir.” The boy’s watery voice drifted in on another sniffle, but then he took a deep breath, let it out slowly, loudly. Nikolai found what he was looking for and took it back to the bed.
    No more tears had fallen in his absence. Even more pleasing, the boy was still