Page 16 of Now and Forever

Seth’s eyes flew open. “I don’t want to fall asleep before you come back, though. Maybe I can turn on the TV while I wait?”

Almost an hour of guiding Seth into a state of extreme relaxation had just evaporated in an instant. Malcolm drew his eyebrows together, trying to imagine what signal he’d missed from his boy. Maybe Seth’s earlier attempts at conversation had been more significant than Malcolm had realized.

“Was there something important you needed to tell me?”

“Yeah. I mean, to me it is.”

Malcolm brushed stray locks of Seth’s hair back from his forehead. “Then it is to me, too. Let me clean up a bit, then I’ll climb into bed while you tell me what’s up.”

“Okay, thanks.” Seth smiled. “Then I’ll leave you alone.”

Malcolm gave Seth’s knee a couple pats as he rose from the bed. “Don’t ever dothat.”

Seth let out a chuckle. “You know what I mean. I’m guessing you have work stuff.”

“Just a few reports to go over. Nothing major, but I’d like to get it off my plate so I can focus on planning your birthday trip for next weekend.” He winked.

Seth broke into a grin. Malcolm could already tell how excited he was about going to Portland and the club again. They’d been discussing it for a while and Seth was finally ready to go into the dungeon. After washing off, Malcolm opted to wear his tee and sleep pants. While he preferred skin on skin with Seth, he really wouldn’t get any work done if they were both in bed naked.

“All right,” Malcolm said as he crawled under the covers. “What’s on your mind?” He tugged Seth to his side.

The moment Seth began picking at the blanket, Malcolm realized that whatever he wanted to talk about was making him anxious.

“You know I like Nate and Tina a lot, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Malcolm forced himself to allow Seth to elaborate on what he meant without further prodding. He had his own areas of communication he could probably work on, and sometimes trying to push his boy into telling him all when Seth wasn’t ready was one of them.

“Well… I was thinking, would it be all right if we didn’t do the trip to the club with them? If we just went on our own?”

“Sure. I don’t see why that would be a problem. We could always go out to dinner with them on another night to celebrate your birthday.”

“I won’t use the word ‘mad’, but do you think it’ll hurt their feelings?”

Malcolm jostled Seth and gave him a kiss on his temple. “Great job with that. Nate might tease you about it, but no, their feelings won’t be hurt. Despite how goofy Nate can get, he’s actually one of the most level-headed and mature people I’ve ever known. Tina too.” He chuckled. “Perhaps even more so. But that’s fine. I didn’t make anything definite with them yet, anyway.”

Seth nodded. “Good. I sort of guessed that, but I wanted to make sure. They’ve helped me so much, been so nice. I’d never want to do anything to hurt their feelings.”

“I know, sweetheart. And I’m sure they know that too.” Malcolm laced his fingers with Seth’s. “I’m assuming it’s because you want it to be just us?”

“That’s a big part of it, yeah. But…” Seth sucked in a deep breath then slowly let it out. “I’m not sure how I’ll react when we go, and I don’t want to flip out or do something weird in front of them. I think I’d be so self-conscious about them being there, that I’d end up not being able to focus on anything else.”

“Ah.” Malcolm nodded. “I get it. That makes sense.”

“And, uh…” Seth cleared his throat. “There’s one other thing I’ve been thinking about.”

“Oh?” Something in Seth’s tone had Malcolm intrigued.

“Do the nipple clamps really hurt more than getting them pierced?”

Malcolm’s cock twitched in interest, and he wondered how much work he’d be getting done that night after all.

“Well, yes. Part of it is that the pinch from the clamps is continuous, whereas the piercing is quick. Happens in a second, then it’s done.”

“I think the clamps hurt worse when you first take them off.”

Malcolm grinned. He was loving their conversation. “Yes, that too. But as long as you take good care of the piercing—and you know Daddy will make sure of that—there’s no other pain other than a dull ache initially. But you know we can’t play with them until they heal, though, right?”

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