Solace (Devastation Trilogy Book 2) Page 14

  That’s still vibrating.

  He’s set it on a random pattern so that it changes every couple of minutes, and I can’t get used to it.

  “Um, hey, Aus,” he says. “Hang on a minute, okay?”

  “Are you okay, Dad?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. You caught me by surprise, is all. I’m not dressed.” He’s sort of frozen in place, like his brain just blue-screened. He locks the door and turns, running a hand through his hair as he heads toward his closet.

  “What’s going on?” she calls and we both hear her try the knob.

  “What are you doing home, honey?”

  “Dad? Why’d you lock the door?”

  “Because I just told you, I’m not dressed.”

  I know one day we’ll look back on this and laugh.

  But not tonight.

  He emerges from his closet with a pair of shorts in his hands and stumbles as he tries to pull them on while walking.

  George unlocks the door and cracks it open just a little, so he can peek out. He can’t open the door enough to slip through it if she’s standing right there, though, because then there’s no way she can’t see me.

  I, however, have a slight problem. The butt plug has changed vibration patterns again, to a tantalizing hum. The way George has me trussed means now it’s pressing firmly against my prostate and threatening to send me over the edge.

  I can’t help it—I whimper.

  But George doesn’t even look my way.

  “Um, honey? I thought you were supposed to call if you were coming home?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it. It was a last-minute thing. Several of us are going out to dinner. I’m not staying long, just wanted to say hi. I’ll be back later, after dinner. What’s going on?”

  “Are you alone?” he asks.

  I freeze as I realize the full potential implications of this.

  “Ashleigh and Jessica are waiting outside in the car. Why?”

  “I need you to move back, sweetie.”

  “What?”

  “Aussie, step back from the door. Please.”

  Her tone changes, on guard now. “What’s going on, Dad?”

  But apparently she moves, because he slips out, closing the door behind him, and their voices turn muffled.

  I gasp, whining again. I clench my teeth around the ball gag and try to breathe through my growing predicament. I don’t want to disobey Sir.

  And I’m kind of a moaner when I orgasm in a situation like this. I can’t help it. Both Casey and George have done a pretty damn good job of rewiring my brain. Now that we can safely have secret sex, they both enjoy making me moan.

  I can’t hear what George and Aussie are talking about out in the hall, but the butt plug’s pattern changes again. Now it’s a deeper, stronger throb, and I catch myself starting to hump the air and grunt into the ball gag.

  This isn’t going to end well. I desperately do not want to disobey Sir, or freak Aussie out.

  Even the silicone cockring George put on me isn’t really helping at this point.

  Shit.

  I try to run through any number of scenarios in my brain that might help me hold back, including trying to remember an essay I wrote about torts as part of taking the bar exam. I’m not having much luck because the vibrations are pressing right against my sweet spot.

  My cock’s leaking a huge puddle of pre-cum all over my abs, too.

  I’m sure if Casey could see me like this, desperate and horny and struggling to obey, she’d laugh her fucking ass off.

  I can already hear her giggles in my head as I run through this story with her.

  Just when I think maybe I do have a handle on this and I will make it without exploding, the vibrator changes patterns again.

  Motherfucker.

  This time, there’s no way I can hold back. My eyes drop closed and I change my struggle to trying to stay as quiet as possible while my cock explodes, cum splashing all over me, all the way up to my chest from the angle.

  Another problem quickly presents itself—the vibrator’s still throbbing inside my ass, and now that I’ve already come…it’s not comfortable.

  At all.

  As in, it’s rapidly spinning up toward the bad kind of pain that I don’t think I’m going to be able to hold out for.

  I’m not expecting it when the tears hit.

  I’ve disobeyed Sir, I’m probably going to have to safeword, and our fucking evening looks like it’s been ruined. Even more than the pain and the sex, I crave the sweet, quiet minutes after we’ve both come and I can stare into his eyes and feel like I’m the center of his universe.

  Like nothing else in that moment matters to him but me.

  Knowing I’ve put that gentle, sated smile on his face, taken his worries away for a few hours.

  Helped him escape life for a little while so he can actually focus on living again on the other side of it.

  I’m about to try to push the ball gag out of my mouth to call for him when the door opens and George returns, closing—and locking—it behind him.

  He turns. “Okay, boy,” he softly says, then pulls up short as he gets a look at me. “Oh, shit.” He hurries over and grabs the remote, thumbing it off.

  Relief washes through me, quickly replaced by an ocean of guilt.

  “Shh, it’s okay.” He rapidly unties me and stretches out next to me on the bed, pulling me into his arms. I can feel he’s not hard anymore—dammit—and I let him hold me as I softly sob around the ball gag.

  Then he reaches up, unfastens it, and removes it from my mouth. He kisses me, but I’m already whispering.

  “I’m sorry, Sir. I’m so sorry. I tried to hold back, and—”

  “Shh. It’s okay, boy. It’s my fault. Shh.” He tucks me against his chest and gently rocks me, comforting me.

  I earned punishment. Doesn’t matter it wasn’t my fault. Worse, I’m sure I’ve disappointed him, and that’ll disappoint Ma’am when she hears the retelling of this.

  “Stop,” he whispers against my forehead. He lightly scrubs his nails against my scalp. “You’re still my good boy. This one’s all on me, baby, shh.”

  Finally, I manage to get myself under control. We’re both covered with my mess now.

  So much for our weekend. “I-I’ll clean up and sneak out the back door, if you can get Aussie into the kitchen. I’ll walk over to Ma’am’s house and wait there until I can come get my car.”

  His brow furrows. “Why?”

  “Be-because she’s home. Aussie.”

  “Well, for starters, she’s not home right now. She was here with friends, who, thankfully, she had enough sense not to bring inside the house with her. I told her I’m not alone, and unless she wanted to have a conversation right now that’s uncomfortable for all involved, she should leave for a while. And to not tell her friends anything other than it’s not a good time for me to have guests, or I’ll show them her fifth-grade school picture.

  Then he smiles, making me laugh.

  “There’s my good boy,” he gently says, nuzzling my nose with his.

  This is one of those funny differences between him and Casey. She’s easier on me physically, seems to burrow deep into my mind, and our sexy play is like she’s reached into my brain and made my fantasies real. Emotionally, however, there’s always remained a distance between us on her part that I’ve never been able to bridge.

  Whereas George beats the crap out of me and has fun with me at my expense, but when he switches modes he’s gentle and tender and loving, and I’d kill or die for him to keep that feeling going.

  Like I could almost close my eyes and imagine he wants to…be with me.

  Except I know that’s not possible, no matter what he proposed during the DC trip.

  Right?

  He kisses me again. “She’s coming back in an hour. She’s not spending the night—she’s going to her girlfriend’s house. She’d already asked Aussie to stay over, so Aussie will say I have plans and have to spend
the weekend working, anyway. The girl’s parents are out of town this weekend. Right now, they’re heading out to dinner to meet up with other friends.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He cups my cheek. “Hey, stop,” he gently says. “You’re not going anywhere, and our weekend isn’t ruined.”

  “But…you should spend time with her.”

  “We will. We’ll spend time with her later, but she’s not spending the night here. I told her I have company this weekend, and had she called me first, I would’ve warned her and told her not to stop by.”

  His blue gaze searches mine. I can tell he’s serious.

  I try one more time. “Sir, I’ll be okay if you want to spend time with her.”

  He sadly smiles. “But I won’t, boy. You don’t understand, do you?”

  “Understand?”

  He sighs. “Dec, I can’t sleep unless you’re in bed with me. That’s why I’m always so grouchy by the time the weekend hits. I’m usually running on maybe three hours sleep a night, if that. That’s why Case gives you to me every weekend—so I can recover. Unless you’re in bed with me, I can’t—”

  He chokes up. “Without you in bed with me, I can’t make the sound of the wind and the screams go away.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sir removes the butt plug from me and fucks me after I blow him enough to get him hard again. I love how me takes me like this, me on my back, my legs wrapped around him, able to stare up into his eyes, able to watch his face.

  Able to kiss him.

  He kisses me now, slowly fucking me, making love to me.

  That’s what I can fool myself into thinking, at least. That it’s making love for him and not just sex.

  I’m still shocked he’s not sending me away, but as I watch his face and feel him start to come inside me, I shove all those other emotions to the side and focus on staying here and now, with him.

  For him.

  He kisses me after he comes, then we have our nuzzling, our snuggling.

  My balance is restored, mostly.

  Although his revelation has taken me totally off-guard. I guess I hadn’t realized that about his sleep patterns, but in retrospect it makes sense.

  Why he always tries to keep me in bed with him and sometimes orders me to stay.

  Why he frequently curls up with me for naps in his office during the week.

  I’m confused by how this makes me feel, but I guess I should accept it. I’ve accepted everything else about this situation.

  We retreat to the shower, where he holds me again, tenderly washes me, and makes me more than a little envious of all the years his wife got to spend with him. We’ve dressed in shorts and T-shirts and have moved downstairs by the time Aussie returns.

  I hear her car drive up. This time when she arrives, Sir meets her at the front door and lets her in. He walks with her to the kitchen, where I’m sitting at the kitchen table, probably red-faced and definitely feeling nervous as hell. I want to turn invisible where I’m sitting.

  She pulls up short when she sees me, obvious confusion on her face. “Dad? What’s Declan doing here? I didn’t see another car.”

  “It’s in the garage,” he says.

  So much for staying invisible.

  Then Sir walks over and stands behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders and gently kneading. “Aus, I need you to keep a secret for us, honey.”

  “For…us? As in, for you and Declan?”

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes widen. “You and Declan are sleeping together?”

  He squeezes my shoulders to keep me quiet. “What Declan and I do isn’t your business, honey. But you cannot tell anyone about us.”

  “I thought Declan’s dating Aunt Casey?” I didn’t know she thought that, so that must have been a conversation between her and Casey.

  “Again, that’s not your business,” Sir tells her. “If you tell anyone and it gets out, we all can be in a lot of trouble. I need you to promise me, honey. You can’t say anything.”

  She looks from him to me and back again, but I can’t look her in the eyes.

  Her voice grows angry. “Declan, are you cheating on Aunt Casey? Because I’ll tell her if you are. I’m not keeping this from her!”

  Interesting that she’s more pissed off about the thought of me cheating versus the thought of her dad being bi or gay.

  Sir answers for me. “There’s no cheating involved. There’s…an arrangement. Aunt Casey knows everything and sort of…helps out with logistics.”

  Her anger apparently diminishes, replaced by confusion. “So…are you bi? Or…gay?”

  Here we go.

  “Doesn’t matter what we are, honey,” Sir says. “You have to promise me not to say anything. You cannot tell your friends—no one. Don’t even say anything to Ashleigh, or your brothers. I’ll tell them when I’m ready. Don’t even hint to anyone that I’m dating. That’s no one’s business, anyway.”

  “Why can’t anyone know?”

  “Because Declan works for me, and so does Aunt Casey. All three of us can get into serious trouble. Not to mention the media would have a field day with this.”

  “And…she knows? Aunt Casey knows all this and is okay with it?”

  “Of course. This is a complicated situation. I can’t ‘date,’ sweetheart. Not without it being a total clusterfuck. I’m the governor. I don’t get much privacy. Especially after what I…survived. I need this bit of secrecy. For a lot of reasons that I don’t owe you explanations for.”

  She leans against the counter and crosses her arms. It’s a gesture that reminds me so much of Casey and Ellen that it takes my breath away. She’s grown into the spitting image of Ellen, and it makes me wonder how much of Aussie’s mannerisms are from the decades of friendship Ellen and Casey shared.

  “Maybe it’s time Tennessee has an openly gay governor, Dad,” she says glancing from me back to him.

  “I’m not…gay,” he says. “Besides, that’s not your business. You have no right to make that decision for me, or for Declan. I won’t get re-elected if this comes out. I’ll be turfed out in the primary. There’s still time for the state GOP to field another candidate. And with open primaries, GOP voters might defect and vote for one of the Democratic candidates. Or else the GOP might field an independent candidate, if it comes out before the general election.”

  She pulls her phone out of her pocket and holds it up. “So if I call Aunt Casey right now and ask her if she knows you two are here together and screwing around, she won’t be pissed off?”

  “Oh, she’ll be angry at me—for getting caught by you. But she won’t be angry that we’re together. She’s the one who cleared my schedule so we could have a weekend together.” He squeezes my shoulders again. “Go ahead and call her, honey. I’m not going to pull some stupid trust exercise on you. You’re my daughter. She’s the only one you can talk to about this.”

  So…she calls.

  Casey arrives literally three minutes later. Sure enough, she’s wearing that smirk when she hustles into the kitchen.

  “Okay,” Casey says. “So, new ground rules, little girl.” She looks at Aussie and points at her. “Rule one—no visitors here without clearing it with me first. Including you.”

  Aussie gasps. “This is my house!”

  “No, it’s your father’s house. And he’s the governor. Don’t make me request extra security. I’ll delete your gate and alarm codes and get the locks changed and revoke your car sticker. Then you won’t be able to drive into the development without clearing it first, much less drop in without calling. Don’t think I won’t.”

  There’s something akin to shock on Aussie’s face. “Aunt Casey?”

  I realize then Aussie probably thought Sir was bullshitting her and didn’t think she’d actually call Casey, and that we’d be exposed as cheating.

  Casey stands in front of the girl and takes her hands. “Honey,” she gently says, “what happens between your dad and any consenting adult in his be
droom is not your business. At all. Or anyone else’s. How long have you known me?”

  “A-all my life.”

  “Have I ever lied to you?”

  Aussie shakes her head.

  “You’ve all been through a lot as a family. But your dad has survived a literal hell. Your mother was closer to me than a sister or a friend. I knew her better than maybe anyone, except your father. Trust me, if there is a heaven, your mom is standing there cheering them on and scolding you for not acting like the adult you’ve been claiming you want us to treat you like.”

  It looks like Aussie wants to say something else but Casey rolls right over her. “What’d you tell your friends? When you were here earlier?” Now Ma’am’s in the house and she’s in full-on battle mode.

  “I-I told them Dad was on a conference call for work and I couldn’t bring people inside right now.”

  “Okay, good. See how easy that was? Declan works for him. There’s nothing fishy about him being here on a weekend. He’s his deputy chief of staff. It’s his job to work with the governor.”

  Aussie seems to slump a little. “Terrific. So my dad’s deeper in the closet than I am.”

  I barely hold back my amused snort, and only because Sir’s fingers tighten on my shoulders again as I can tell he’s trying not to laugh.

  Apparently, we’ve both let Casey take charge now.

  I’ve also had another question answered. I wasn’t sure, when George slipped in the past and referred to Ashleigh as Aussie’s “girlfriend,” if he’d meant that literally, or meant a girl who was a friend.

  “Honey, Tennessee is still a very conservative state,” Casey tells Aussie. “You know that. If this gets out, especially before the filing deadline, the GOP will primary him, and boom, he’s turfed. You know as well as I do that he’s a RINO. We need someone like your dad in office right now to help eliminate some of the far-right conservative bullshit previous administrations passed. And you know we do. We’ve talked about this. We still have a ton of stuff to accomplish. Remember all the things you said Mom wanted to try to get done as First Lady? None of that happens if your dad doesn’t get elected to this next term.”