Page 40 of Possession

“What’s that?” Mason piped up. He was standing a few feet away from them, his eyes practically glowing with eagerness as he watched the two of them stand off against each other.

Tomas smiled at him and then turned it on Vinnie. “I assumed Ollie told you I was polyamorous, and that doesn’t appear to be the case.”

Vinnie sucked in a breath.

“And that means I’m not looking foronekind of person as a partner; I’m looking for multiple people that will fit my life and my needs and who I can care for in the way thattheyneed.”

Swallowing, Vinnie said softly, “We want really different things.”

“No, we don’t,” Mason argued, stepping forward.

Vinnie squeezed his eyes shut. “Mase, don’t.”

“No,” Mason said, sounding almost angry. “You always do this. You always say this. You act like just because we have different kinks and we want to try different things, that makes us completely different, but what we want is exactly the same.”

“And what is it the two of you want?” Tomas asked, raising a hand so he could rub his thumb just beneath one of Vinnie’s tantalizing cheekbones.

“Someone to take care of us,” Mason said clearly. “Someone to make our relationship whole.”

“Is that what you want?” Tomas asked Vinnie, utterly captivated by the way his long eyelashes fluttered at the gentle touch on his face. He was so angry, but just beneath that, he craved soft touches too.

“Yes, but it’s more complicated than that.”

“Life is complicated,” Tomas whispered, “but this doesn’t have to be.” He stepped back, giving Vinnie some space. “And we’ll never know if the jagged edges of our pieces fit together if we don’t even try.”

“We’ve tried before,” Vinnie said, lids slowly opening so he could hold Tomas’s gaze. “We’ve never been able to find someone who can fulfill both of our needs, who doesn’t end up liking one of us more than the other.”

Tomas nodded. “You both keep hinting at wanting different things. Why don’t you tell me? Let’s stop beating around the bush and speak plainly.”

Vinnie chewed on his bottom lip, obviously reluctant to reveal something so personal. Tomas understood that. They didn’t know each other that well, but he had a feeling that for the chance to get to know Vinnie, they needed to get over this hurdle. He needed to pass whatever test it was Vinnie was so sure he’d fail he wasn’t even going to give him the exam.

“I like praise,” Mason said, moving closer to Vinnie and pressing in against his side.

Vinnie raised his arm to give him more room in what looked like an automatic gesture, wrapping the limb around Mason and tugging him a little closer. Tomas wondered how often that happened, how often Mason asked for comfort in a nonverbal way and Vinnie gave it to him, whether consciously or unconsciously, attempting to step into that dominant role and give Mason what he needed.

Did it go both ways, or was this part of the bitterness that he’d glimpsed? He couldn’t imagine the psychological toll it would take on a sub to try and be a switch when it wasn’t in their DNA.

Tomas smiled at Mason. “That’s unsurprising, and considering what a good boy you are, I’m sure you get it quite often.”

Mason sank his teeth into his bottom lip and squirmed against Vinnie.

“What else do you like?”

“I like impact play and exhibitionism.”

At that, Vinnie snorted, but Mason ignored him other than to pinch him in the side and kept going.

“And I like doing role-playing scenes.”

Tomas nodded. None of those were deal-breakers. In fact, he was interested in all of them as well. Some of them, like impact play, he’d even tried during parties. He’d used a crop and flogger a few times on different subs and found it almost hypnotizing, falling into a rhythm and turning the skin pink and then red. And sending a sub soaring into subspace when done correctly?

Perfection.

“What else? What do you want from a Dom?”

Mason glanced at Vinnie, but he just shook his head, still unwilling to say. “A strict daddy.”

Tomas scratched at his jaw, the soft sound of his nails on his beard filling the space between them. “Like Six and Ollie?”

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