Ricochet (10 page)

man - that looks painful. Way to go, bro; you're

such a fucking badass!"

"What…?" Rick fumbled for the remote and

turned over to the news channel.

"TV star Richard O'Shea was pulled over for

a speeding violation earlier today," a smug

sounding presenter said. "It looks as if O'Shea has

a lot in common with the character he plays on the

hit TV show
Collar Crime
- trouble magnet Agent

Alex Tanner!"

"What the hell?" Rick stared at the TV in

horror.

"You're one bad dom-fucking dom!" Cilla

hollered down the phone.

"Yeah, whatever. Fuck off, Cilla." He

snapped the phone shut and turned his attention

back to the news.

"It hasn't been a good day for O'Shea - our

sources tell us he took six in the studio discipline

room earlier in the day too - and then another six

this evening at the Justice Hall. Even Alex Tanner

doesn't usually get into that much trouble in one

day!"

Rick watched, in stunned surprise, as they

showed some grainy cell phone footage of him in

the discipline room at the Justice Hall. He could

feel the embarrassment deep in his bones as he

watched every single humiliating second of it. It

only made it worse when he realized that whoever

had taken the footage had to have been standing…

right in the spot where Susan Antonio had been.

"Shit. What a crappy thing to do! I was nice to

her as well," he muttered, feeling completely

betrayed. It wasn't, strictly speaking, legal to video

other people's punishments, so maybe Susan

Antonio hadn't been the sweet innocent he'd taken

her for. She clearly didn't seem to have any

problem breaking the law, even straight after being

punished for it.

His cell phone rang again, but he ignored it.

The only person he was worried about was Petra -

he hoped this didn't mean his job was in danger.

He sent her a text, apologizing and saying he'd

explain at work the next day. He really wasn't up

to any kind of conversation with his boss tonight;

he'd probably only say something to make the

situation worse.

He turned off the TV and stared blankly at the

carpet for a long time, feeling like the entire world

was against him. The doorbell rang, and he

wondered if it was the press, wanting some kind of

stupid interview. He supposed it was better to get

it over with, so he rolled off the sofa, walked

slowly to the front door, and opened it.

"Hey, Rick - are you okay?" Matt was

standing there, holding a pizza box in one hand and

a bottle of wine in the other. He was wearing dark

chinos and a blue shirt that brought out the color of

his eyes. He looked like he was dressed for a date,

except for the denim jacket slung over the top,

which didn't match his outfit at all, and the silver

scarf draped around his neck.

"What are you doing here, Matty?" Rick

asked tiredly.

"I saw you on the news." Matt pushed past

him and walked into the house. "You looked like

shit, and I figured you hadn't eaten, so I thought I'd

bring something over. Pizza and sympathy?" He

held up the pizza box.

Rick gave a little chuckle and shut the door.

"No need, Matt. I'm fine. Okay, so this hasn't been

the best day of my life, but I'm fine."

"Bullshit." Matt's eyes blazed angrily. "I can

tell you're hurting, and I don't blame you. How

dare they show that footage? Nobody should have

been allowed to film you! That's infringement. Do

you know who it was? You could bring a case

against them."

Rick thought of Susan Antonio quietly

snuffling into her tissue beside him on the bench.

He thought of her thin shoulders, scuffed shoes,

and the hole in her blouse and decided he didn't

mind her making a fast buck out of his misery.

"Yeah, I know, but I won't bring a case. I'd rather

let it drop."

"Good luck with that - it'll be all over the

papers tomorrow."

"I know." Rick ran a tired hand through his

hair. "But if I don't make a big deal of it or

complain about it, then it'll pass over more

quickly.

Matt nodded, thoughtfully. "You know, for an

idiotic lunk, you're actually quite sensible at

times."

Rick managed a faint grin at that. "Did you

say something about pizza?" he said, brightening a

little as his stomach began to growl.

"Yup. C'mon - you can eat lying on your

stomach, can't you?" Matt grinned at him.

"Sure - I've had plenty of practice!" Rick

wished he hadn't said that the minute it was out of

his mouth. "You know - from on the show," he

added quickly to cover his mistake. "Alex is

always eating that way after the chief has punished

him."

"Yeah. Sure." Matt patted his arm. They went

into the living room, and Matt took off his jacket

and scarf and hung them neatly over the back of

one of the chairs, while Rick eased himself down

onto the sofa with a sigh. "You really are having a

crappy day," Matt said, handing him a slice of

pizza.

"Yeah, but it's looking a lot better now," Rick

said, looking at the pizza, his mouth watering.

"Pepperoni and onion? My favorite!"

"I know." Matt went over to the sideboard,

found a couple of glasses, and brought them back

to the coffee table. Then he opened the wine and

poured them both a glass.

"Wine - very civilized," Rick said, taking a

sip. "And expensive!" He let out an appreciative

sigh and glanced at the bottle.

"Of course." Matt inclined in his head. "You

might act like a complete philistine, but I've

noticed you always seem to know a good wine

when we have a cast party. So - how do you feel?"

"Sore." Rick winced.

"I'm not surprised - twelve hard licks in one

day - that has to hurt. What's it like?" he asked

curiously.

Rick took a bite out of his pizza. "You've

never taken licks in public?"

Matt shook his head. "I try to never get into

trouble. It's really not that hard, Rick; you should

try it someday."

"Ha ha." Rick made a face. "Seriously - you

never got disciplined at work ever?" Matt shook

his head as he bit into his pizza. "How about at the

Justice Hall?"

"Nope." Matt shook his head again.

"How is that even possible?"

"Actually, it's quite normal for most people."

Matt rolled his eyes. "You're the freak here, Rick."

"And you're the control freak." Rick grinned.

"Never getting into any trouble - ever?" He raised

an eyebrow. "You need to cut loose and take some

risks, Matt. You might find you actually have some

fun."

"Yeah, because it definitely looked like you

were having fun on that news item earlier," Matt

responded tartly. "And you didn't answer my

question - what's it like?"

"Painful. Hey - didn't you have a date with

Ermentrude tonight?" Rick asked, changing the

subject.

"Yeah." Matt's face had that pinched look it

always got when he was unhappy.

"What happened?"

"She dumped me."

"What? Is she an idiot?" Rick tried to sit up

and then winced and flopped back down again.

"Are you upset?"

"No. That's the weird thing. I think I should

be, but I'm not. I'm more mad, I think."

"That's good! Don't be upset - be mad. You

totally didn't deserve for her to treat you that way."

"That's not it; I wish it was. I think I should've

got mad at her a long time ago, but I didn't.

Anyway, I'm not mad at her - I'm mad at myself. I

knew I wasn't enjoying being with her, and I

should've ended it, not her. Damn it!" Matt kicked

the pizza box and it went flying halfway across the

room. He made an apologetic little noise and

dashed over to get it and bring it back to the sofa.

"Well, I'm angry with her, even if you aren't,"

Rick said. "I always hated the way she ordered

you around and treated you like you were

something she'd scraped off her shoe."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Matty. She wasn't good enough for

you. Never could understand why you stuck with

her."

"Me neither." Matt sighed.

"Well, I'm glad it's over," Rick said between

bites of his pizza. "You should play the field, Matt.

You're a good looking sub - doms everywhere

must be falling over themselves to sweet-talk you

into bed."

"I'm not like you, Rick. I don't think I'd enjoy

playing the field."

"You're young - have some fun!"

"See, to me, that isn't fun." Matt bristled. "I

want to connect with someone, Rick! To find a

dom I can really trust and relax with and not…"

"Not?" Rick raised an eyebrow.

"Not have to count with." Matt's pale skin

flushed an endearing shade of pink. "I wish I could

switch off my brain and not have to count

everything all the time."

"It was worse with Emily, wasn't it?" Rick

said. "I could tell. She made you nervous and when

you're nervous the OCD is worse. Also, you yell at

me more on set." He winked.

Matt laughed. "Well, you do deserve to be

yelled at a lot of the time."

"I know. What can I say? I'm trouble - and

today that caught up with me, big time." Rick

glanced over his shoulder ruefully.

"I'm an OCD freak who can't keep a dom, and

you're an idiot who can't keep out of trouble." Matt

grinned and held up his glass of wine. "What's left

to do but celebrate?"

Rick laughed and clinked his glass against

Matt's. "You're right. At least we can be screw-ups

together!"

He finished his pizza and lay back down with

a sigh, yelping as his sore ass made itself felt.

"Do you want me to put something on that?"

Matt asked, getting up. "Where do you keep the

ointment?"

"What ointment?"

"Whatever you use on your subs after

discipline?" Matt raised an eyebrow.

Rick felt irritated, even though it wasn't

Matt's fault. "I wouldn't know. I've never

disciplined a sub in my life."

"What?" Matt folded his arms over his chest,

looking perplexed. "Seriously, Rick?"

"Seriously. Who the hell am I to discipline

anyone for anything? I'm the biggest screw up there

is!"

"But have you never done a really hard

spanking session with a sub because they enjoyed

it?"

"No, because I wouldn't enjoy it; it's not my

thing," Rick said firmly.

"Really? What is?"

"Hah - that's between me and my subs!" Rick

grinned up at him.

"So you hate spanking?"

"No!" Rick was outraged. "I love spanking -

that's the point! That's why I'd hate to swing a strap

around and do a really hard-core discipline scene.

For me, spanking is… well, it's beautiful!" He

smiled as he remembered spanking that sub he'd

picked up last night. "It's an act of intimacy,

affection and sensuality - I adore pulling a sub

over my knee and building up a spanking like

playing a piano or painting a picture. Just to whale

down with some implement for the sake of it, even

if the sub gets off on it - that really isn't my scene

at all. It's not me, or how I like to play."

Matt gave a little whistle. "Wow - that's

almost poetic, Rick. Just when I think I've got you

figured out, you go and surprise me. I've never met

a dom like you before, although half the time I'm

not convinced you are a dom."

"Well, I am," Rick said flatly. "Just not that

kind of dom. Look, spanking is a really personal

thing for me, Matt. It's special, and a really big

deal. I hated being down at the Justice Hall not

because I took licks but because I had to watch

other people taking them - especially subs. It was

like watching something that's incredibly important

to me being trampled into the dust. It set my teeth

on edge."

Matt sat back down on the sofa again. "You

actually mean that? It really did upset you?" He

sounded surprised, and Rick realized that Matt had

never seen this side of him; then again, he never