Page 82 of Possession

“Oh, it is,” Demarcus said as Six dragged a protesting Ollie toward the back of the clubhouse. “We’ve all been fielding phone calls from concerned community leaders ever since you walked out of the Chamber meeting. I think somebody might’ve even recorded it and posted it online somewhere.”

“Uh-oh,” Mason said, peering up at him. “Is that okay? Is that going to cause problems?”

He had no clue, and honestly, he couldn’t even think about it at the moment. All he wanted to do was get out of his damn suit, crawl into bed—preferably with two boys alongside him—and sleep for half a day.

“You probably just made everything worse,” Vinnie said in an angry voice Tomas had never heard before.

Tomas slowly lifted his head. Vinnie had his arms crossed tightly over his chest, and he wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“How is getting the town riled up going to help anything?” Vinnie spat.

“Vinnie,” Mason scolded, starting to step back, but Tomas tightened his hold on him to keep him close. He looked up at Tomas. “He didn’t mean that. He just does this when he gets scared.”

That explained the look on his boy’s face. It wasn’t just anger. There was fear there. Genuine fear. That stemmed from a bone-deep worry something could have happened to Tomas. That something mightstillhappen.

He pressed a kiss to Mason’s temple. “Wait out here for us, okay?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Mason said, giving him one more squeeze and then moving back toward the couches and curling up next to D’s boy, Kenneth.

Ignoring the curious stares of the others, Tomas walked straight up to Vinnie and grabbed his elbow when he tried toback away. He leaned down and said into his ear, “We’re going in my office for a punishment unless you safe word right now.”

Vinnie licked his lips and kept his gaze averted, but he didn’t say anything or use the hand gesture they’d agreed on for a nonverbal safe word.

Tomas nodded once and then guided him through the club. He closed the door firmly behind them and then moved over to the couch in the corner of his office. Sitting, he assessed Vinnie quietly for a moment.

“Is Mason right? Are you lashing out at me because you’re scared?”

Vinnie still didn’t really say anything, but his jaw was tight.

“Okay. Let’s see if we can loosen up that tongue.” He leaned forward and quickly unbuttoned and lowered the zipper on Vinnie’s jeans, giving them a tug until they were around his thighs, and then he gestured at his lap. “Lay down.”

Hesitating for only a second, Vinnie shuffled forward, his tight jeans preventing him from taking a full step, and his skin flushed dark in his cheeks. He was nothing but grace as he lowered himself over Tomas’s lap though.

He ran one hand over Vinnie’s tiny little briefs, stroking his cheeks through the soft fabric and running his thumb down the crease. Goose bumps erupted on the back of his thighs, and he lifted his hips the smallest amount, looking for more, and Tomas couldn’t help but grin at the way Vinnie’s body still craved his touch despite everything else.

“Even when you’re scared, you don’t get to talk to me like that. Do you hear me, little brat?”

Vinnie jerked on his lap, like he was surprised at the endearment that wasn’t completely nice but not all the way mean either. When he didn’t answer, Tomas pinched the sensitive skin where one of his thighs met his rounded ass.

Hissing, Vinnie glared at him out of the corner of his eye.

“I asked you a question.”

“I hear you,” he snapped.

“So angry, gatito. I think I’ll slap this ass until you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours. Understood?” Vinnie buried his face in his arms, so Tomas gave him a hard crack across both cheeks. “Vincent, do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand!” he yelled, his voice muffled but the anguish clear as day to Tomas.

Instead of scolding him for shouting, he started spanking him, slapping one cheek and then the other. He didn’t warm him up, simply laid into him. This wasn’t a funishment. Vinnie needed to know there would be consequences when he was rude.

But he also needed to know that no matter how hard he bratted or sassed him, Tomas wasn’t going anywhere. He’d redden his ass as often as it took for Vinnie to feel safe enough to share his fears in a calm way instead of lashing out.

As he moved all across his round ass and then down to the tops of his thighs, he’d occasionally found spots that made Vinnie jerk or squirm against his lap. He paid special attention to those, slapping them several times in quick succession or giving them a mean pinch.

He wasn’t sure how long it would take to break through the wall of anger Vinnie had wrapped himself in as he hadn’t had to really discipline him yet. He’d never really disciplined anyone like this before, spanking them as punishment and not as fun impact play.

All his exhaustion from an hour ago drained away as he hyperfocused on the boy across his lap, intent on giving him exactly what he needed to help smooth the ragged edges of his emotions, make them easier to swallow and hopefully easier to share.

---