Page 124 of Rut Bar

“It’s a cage. For my… For me.”

He raises his eyebrows, and motions for me to hurry. I curl two fingers under the flap and rip through the paper shipping tape. My hands tremble as I pull the sealed plastic wrapped contents from the box.

It’s lighter than I thought it would be, and I’m glad that I listened to the crafter when he said to pick titanium over steel, especially since I go in the ocean a lot. Anthony takes the empty box and sets it aside while I open the plastic bag and touch my chastity cage for the first time.

It’s cool and smooth against my hand. I turn it over and inspect the design. The head is shaped like a cock with a hole in the center, so I can still go to the bathroom no matter how long it stays on. The body is made of a sequence of rings, and where my knot would grow is a thick band of unforgiving metal. The whole thing connects to a ring that will go around my balls with a lock at the top to secure the base to the cage. A triple set of keys hang from the cage with a ribbon.

“Nice,” Anthony says, taking it from me when I offer it to him to look over. “Good job, babe. I think she’ll love it. But we can definitely spice up the presentation a bit for her. Do you want help, or do you want to do it yourself?”

I love that he asks. That he doesn’t simply put up with my fetish, but he understands and encourages it. How did I get so lucky? Finding one person who understood me was uncommon enough, but three? A part of me still can’t believe it. Sometimes I wake up thinking this pack thing was a dream.

After my first girlfriend looked uncomfortable when we were confessing our secret fantasies to one another, I never thought this was something I’d ever get to try for real.

“I want to do it myself,” I decide. And right now is the perfect time. Vee is out on a brunch date with Brendan.

“Okay, babe.” Anthony pulls me down for a quick kiss and then lets me go. “She’s going to love it. Don’t be nervous.” He heads to the kitchen and pulls the fridge open to grab a drink. I put the cock cage in my pocket and grab my car keys from their bowl.

Hesitation makes me pause while slipping into my flip-flops. What if I mess it up? This is important. It’s the gift that decides whether she officially takes me into her pack. Forever. I don’t want to disappoint her or mess it up. “You know… it wouldn’t hurt if you kept me company for the ride to the store.”

Anthony pops the top of his soda and smiles. “Sure, babe. I need to pick up some things from the store anyway.”

“Yeah, good.” I blow out a relieved breath, because now it feels more legit. Like we’re running errands together instead of him helping me because I’m afraid of messing this up. “Sounds good.”

* * *

The next day,I cut my morning surf short and we all get to Rut early. Anthony heads to the bar to do his usual pre-opening duties. When Vee and Brendan go to head upstairs, I stop them.

“Vee, do you, uh… Could we…” I clutch the box in my hands and glance at Brendan, silently begging him to help a brother out.

Brendan doubles back down the stairs. “I’ll catch up with you. I forgot to ask Anthony for the receipts from his last beer order.” He claps me on the shoulder on his way past me. “You’ve got this,” he whispers, “I know you can do it.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Did you need me?” Vee asks.

“Always,” I answer.

Vee’s expression softens. She holds a hand out and waves me over. “Then come, pet.”

I follow her up the stairs, my eyes trained on her butt. I can’t help it when it’s right there. She looks so good in those tight skirts. The flash of the red bottoms on her black heels and the clip clop sound they make on the stairs has my groin tightening.

Dammit. No, that’s bad.I can’t get hard or she won’t be able to put the cage on my cock. I force myself to look away from her butt. I try to. I can’t. It’s too perfect. The tight skirt emphasizes the upside down heart shape of her backside.

Think about surfing. The cold of the ocean. The smell of salt and brine. Catching a sweet ten-footer and flying through the spray. The way the rest of the world falls away when you’re inside a barrel, the water all around you, then you come out the other side with a surge of adrenaline that makes your body soar.

When she shuts the office door behind us and looks at me, one eyebrow raised, I swallow hard.

“What do you have there, pet?” she asks, glancing at the box with curiosity.

“Anthony helped me pick it.” When I realize how badly that came out, I panic that I’ve already messed up. That she won’t understand it’s my courting gift. “The box. He helped me pick the box. I picked the present. It’s your courting gift. I hope… I hope you like it.”

Vee leans against her desk and reaches toward me. “I’m sure I will. Should I open it now?”

My gulp is audible as I hand the box to her. I breathe a sigh of relief when she takes it. It’s done. It’s out of my hands. Now I’ll know if this was the right decision and I did a good job.

“It’s pretty,” she says, stroking the lacquered wood and the ornate latch that keeps it closed.

“It’s for jewelry. That’s what the lady said.” Although I’m not sure this is the sort of metal accessory the little old lady at the shop imagined would go inside the box. “The present is inside. Not the box. But the box is a present too, I guess.”

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