Submission Under the Mistletoe (14 page)

“
Earth to, Brad.”

Quickly, lifting his head, he saw his brother
lifting a single brow giving him a peculiar look. Brad realized
he’d been lost in his own thoughts for more than a minute. “Sorry.
A lot on my mind. My thoughts are all over the place.”

“
Apparently. Love has been known
to do that to a man.” Brian let out a heavy breath.

“
Well, like I was saying, things
are complicated between Gabriella and I.” He took a moment before
going on. Stared at Brian, he said, “China Doll is in the
lifestyle.”

“
China who?”

Leaning back against the chair, Brad repeated,
“China Doll. That’s Gabriella’s scene name. She’s in the same
community as our sister, Josh and Mike.”

“
Shit.” Brian rubbed his hand over
his bald head and slammed backwards into the chair. “First
Alesha…now you.” He shook his head. “What does this mean? You
moving to Charlotte and going to start only wearing black
leather?”

“
No. I’m not moving.” Brad shook
his head. “That’s just stereotype. We’ve both seen that Josh and
Mike don’t dress like that. And I’ve been to the dungeon and people
wear various styles of their own.”

“
Whatever. It’s your life.” Brian
was no longer looking at him, he was staring out the window his
expression pensive.

“
I don’t expect you to understand.
Fuck,” the word broke from his lips hard. “I don’t even understand
fully what I’m getting myself into. I just know I have to try it.
Not just try it, live it.”

Brad waited for his brother to look at him again.
When Brian finally did Brad continued, “There’s something about
it.” He tapped the center of his chest. “I don’t know if it’s only
because I care for Gabriella or because I’ve always shied away from
Dominance and leading, taking on the carefree attitude because of
fear of letting others down. But, with her…I like knowing she can
count on me to protect her, guide her…pleasure her like she needs.
When she kneels at my feet and stares up at me with those trusting
amber eyes, I could just—”

“
Fuck.” Brain launched up from his
chair and slashed his hand through the space between them. “Damn
it, enough!”

The explosive tension in the room between them hit a
high level. Brad had not seen his brother this upset, at him
especially, since they were in college. Brian had been going
through an emotional break up that he never shared with him. But
for almost a year his brother had been bitter, angry and
emotionally lost to even his twin. Brian had recovered through
party and dating, and Brad had moved into that scene along with
him, mostly to stay connected to his brother. The rage had seem to
pass and Brian’s smile had return, more strained, controlled, but
it was there.

“
Brian, look, I’m sorry to unload
this on you.” Brad rose slowly. “I love you. I want you to be the
first to know.”

Seeming to get himself in check, Brain stepped to
him and embraced him. “Love you to, man. I am happy for you.
Whatever you have to do, don’t mess it up.”

“
I’m going to try my
damnedest.”

When they broke apart, Brad kept a hand on his
brother’s shoulder, trying to assure himself Brian was truly
okay.

Seeing his assessing gaze, Brian smiled. “It’s all
good. Look you said you didn’t have a lot of time so get out of
here.”

“
I am. Later we’ll do dinner
around six.”

“
Got it. Since you have to take
Alesha back her car, I’ll let you explain to her that we will not
be there.”

“
Chicken. Scared of a little
girl.”

“
With two big ass men to protect
her…hell yeah.”

Brad laughed. “This is true.”

With that, he left. Minutes later he was in the car
and driving to his sister’s house.

~YH~

When Josh opened the door, Brad handed him the keys.
“Cowboy. One of the people I needed to see. You have a few
minutes?”

“
Hey, Brad.” Josh let him in and
patted him on the back. “For a friend I do. I just got back from a
sight visit. Mike and Alesha are meeting with a client.” He nodded
toward the side room, where the night before it had been filled
with holiday revelers.

It now held a conference table with Mike at the
head, Alesha inputting stuff in a laptop beside him and three other
people. All of them staring down at a large draft print out.

Lowering his voice, Brad said, “I want to ask you
about being a Dom.”

Titling his head, Josh stared at him. Brad noticed
there wasn’t a lot of shock in his friend’s features, more
curiosity.

“
Alesha told you.”

Shrugging, Josh kept if voice equally low. “She did
mention you being the ‘Dom’.” Josh made quotation marks in the air.
“That China Doll had submitted to before the dungeon attendees to
be released from Reel.”

Shaking his head, Brad said. “That turned out to be
a whole fiasco in itself, but by now I’m sure things are taken care
of. I’m sure you can figure I have a lot of questions in my
head.”

Leading him up the stairs, Josh pulled a key out of
his pocket and opened a room Brad had never been in before.

“
There’s no better place to have
this conversation but here.” Josh said, closing the door behind
them.

Brad was speechless. He’d never
considered that he sister and her men
scened
in their home besides her
performing an occasion bow. Now, as he stood in the middle of a
room with so much equipment and toys he was stunned, to say the
least. “I’m not even sure what to ask anymore.”

Chuckling, Josh said, “Let me
explain first what the BDSM community is and isn’t. Then we’ll
begin with your initial question, what it means to be a Dom and
follow that up with the role and responsibility of a sub.
Especially since
they
hold all the power in the relationship, not the
Dom.”

That bit of knowledge brought Brad’s gaze back to
his friends. “Seriously?”

“
Absolutely.
That’s why they are given a safeword. A Dom’s role is to discover
what pleases his sub, push them past what they are comfortable
doing and knowing their
limit
…things they refuse to
participate in for specific reasons. As a DM, Dungeon Master at
Strong Blends, I know this was the problem with China Doll and
Reel.”

Brad knew that too from talking with her last night.
In the past he would have believed this information would’ve been
too much for him. However, now with his future with Gabriella on
the line, he couldn’t wait to learn all he could.

Taking off his jacket, Brad said, “Let’s begin.”

chapter ten

“
Well, if it isn’t Mister Very
Vanilla.”

Brad allowed the door of the Leathered Dragonz to
swing closed behind him. Moving forward, he shook the hand of the
big man white man in his green leather ensemble, including a
matching cowboy hat with antlers. “Brad. K, I believe.”

“
Dom K, but for you, K is fine.”
He returned his hand shake. “Have you come to take me up on my
offer?”

It was almost comical to see the big man giving him
a wink. Shaking his head, Brad, smiled. “Yes and no. The offer of
training.”Brad stepped over to a rack and pulled out one.
“Specifically the technique to execute the dragontail.”

“
Well, well.
Someone is not so
vanilla
anymore.”

The trainer’s words were true. Yesterday, after four
hours with Josh, where he tagged out and Mike came in for another
three on the use of toys to add to his education. Brad was more
than equipped with knowledge on a base level. He knew he still had
a lot to learn, but he just need to be able to work with one sub
and together they would grow as he strengthened his
understanding.

“
You’re right. Do you have the
time to train me, I know Christmas Eve is tomorrow.”

“
It’s no problem for me. What is
your time frame?”

“
Roughly four days.”That’s when
China Doll would return from her parent’s house.

“
We can start today, do more
tomorrow take off Christmas and finish up on the following day. You
will not be as good as I am…” A wide smile stretched across his
features. “But, you will be good enough to have a satisfying ending
to any sub. If you follow instructions well.”

Holding his arms away from his body, Brad said, “I’m
your clay.”

K’s face transformed into a more stern, serious
expression. “Cupid, assume the position. He’s my sub that is
smaller in stature, like a female…” He paused.

Brad understood Dom K’s unspoken question. “Yes, a
female sub is what I will have.”

Brad saw a man, come out of the curtain shielding
the back room dressed in jeans and a purple leather vest, and move
to a door on the other side of the store.

“
Remember, it doesn’t matter if
the person you are having a session with is male or female, the
body gets respected the same.”

“
Got it.”

Dom K began moving in the direction the short man
disappeared.

“
Should I purchase a dragontail
first?”

“
No need, we’ll
use my prime whips. If you’re
good
, I’ll even gift you with one.”
He winked at Brad as he passed through the door.

Liking the trainer a lot, Brad chuckled, and
followed him into another room.

The room was decorated in black, with gray carpet
and thick padding on the wall, Brad assumed for insulation of
sound.

The blond haired sub was now standing naked with his
back to them and his hands up in the air.

Dom K walked to his sub and cuffed him to two chains
hanging from the ceiling and locked two other cuffs secured to the
floor around his ankles. Then he stroked the subs back with his
hand and whispered to him in low tones.

The moment seemed so intimate, Brad almost turned
away giving them time. However, he recalled Mike telling him the
importance of connecting with a sub before a session, no matter how
long the relationship had been going on.

Moving away, Dom K went to the wall that had four
different lengths of whips on the wall and selected one. It was a
folded piece of leather with a handle. “Four foot is one of my
favorite lengths, so I’m going to teach you how to use that
one.”

“
All right.”

“
The most important reason I’m
going to give you one of mine, is because even though I work the
leather intensely of all the dragontails I make, they still are a
bit stiff when new. It takes months sometimes to break one in just
right.” Dom K held the whip away from his body, the tip of it
pointed at the floor and made circling motions. “See how it swirls
perfectly, looping around?”

Brad stood to the side and listened. “Yes.”

“
You know it’s just right.” He
smiled. Taking another one down, he handed it to Brad. “Now, I want
to show you practice throws. You will not actually use it on Cupid,
but I will. Still you need to know the weight and feel of it. The
same motions you used to practice through can be taken to the body
of your sub.” Demonstrating a few pops of the whip, K said, “If you
can get the basic skills down today, then tomorrow I will have you
work on contact.”

Taking the other whip from him, Brad followed Dom
K’s body positioning and throwing instructions.

Several of Brad’s throws, flick of the wrist, caused
the tip to falter and dive toward the ground.

“
Better,” Dom K said. “Always
think of it as an intension of you. Your reach, your touch. You
wouldn’t allow your finger to touch your sub in a way you didn’t
want or would cause hurt, the whip must be thought of in the same
way.”

They went through multiple body positions, and
stances that K would make him throw the whip in.

Brad’s shoulder was starting to burn. That shocked
him; since he normally spent hours in the gym lifting weights.

“
I know you’re feeling it now.
But, don’t allow your grip or technique to suffer. Some sessions
your sub may require maybe longer than others.”

Gritting his teeth, Brad pressed through the
pain.

“
Let’s talk about the body of a
sub next.” Dom K moved closer to the handcuffed man.

Listening, Brad stepped beside the trainer.

“
When tossing the tail at your
sub, you want to concentrate in these two areas, the upper back.”
The Dom rubbed the sub’s back and moved his hand down to the center
of it. “And/or the buttocks area from the top to about upper part
of the back of the thighs.” His hands followed his
words.

Brad recalled, Mike talking to him about staying
clear during impact play of a person’s kidney area and their lower
spine. As a medical professional, Brad already knew it was where
the internal organs were closer to the surface and striking those
places could cause damage; both external and internal.

“
Okay. Stand to the side and I
want you to watch me with Cupid for a moment.” Dom K didn’t step
away, but took his dragontail at the handle and tip and rubbed it
along his subs back repeatedly, whispering to him again.

Then the experienced Dom stepped back. “You want to
be further away when you first start, the length of the tail and
some. You can gradually move closer to them.” He assumed one of the
stances he’d shown him, angled slightly away from the body with his
front foot pointed toward the restrained man.