Page 72 of Bottoms Up
Julian continued.
“You will strip before you are three steps into the downstairs playroom. If we invite you into another room in the house for the purposes of hurting you or fucking you, the same applies. However, you will strip in the hallway outside our private suite,should you be invited into it. You will never, not once, be clothed while in it.”
“Understood.”
“No questions asked,” I added. “You’ll go where you’re instructed, take up the position ordered, and wait if we aren’t there.”
Atlas nodded. “Again. Understood.”
“Once orders are given and we’ve transitioned into scene mode,” Julian said, “you don’t speak unless asked a direct question.”
“I have something to add, a slight change from earlier,” I said. “Should you disobey, and I get that if you think there’s a security issue you’ll probably step out of your role and we’ll have to be okay with that, but for any other reason, if there are obedience issues, we reserve the right to skip a pain session. Make you go two weeks between. Three if it’s egregious.”
“He will agree to this,” Gavin said.
Atlas gave a sharp nod. “It’s fair.” He clearly didn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to argue against something he saw as fair.
“You will not approach either of us for sexual use,” Julian said. “We will summon you. You may request a pain session on the back end of the seventh day, but not before. The decision and timing will be ours.”
Gavin lifted a finger. “Let’s allow him to let you know of his needs once per month, with a guarantee of pain in the next six hours of your waking time, at a maximum, upon notification, even if it’s merely binding him uncomfortably and having someone inject thecocktail di dolore e sofferenzawhen they feed from him, and then leaving him in place for hours, until it fades.”
What does that mean?I telepathed.
It’s Italian for the cocktail of pain and suffering. The venom that creates unbearable pain. Like acid in your bloodstream.
To Atlas, he said, “I can work with that.”
Julian kissed the top of my head again, and asked me, “Anything else you want to add?”
“Yeah. It kind of feels like it’s a given, but it feels important to say it and get it out there. No safewords. Julian will know if something is truly wrong.” I looked at Gavin. “It would be nice if we had a list of triggers, things not to do, but if we stumble on one…” I looked up to Julian. “You’ll know it isn’t normal pain, normal fear, right?”
“I will.”
I looked back to Atlas. “I need feedback.”
“What honorific should I use with you, ma’am?”
“Let’s go with Sir, no matter how I’m dressed.”
“Sir. I would not agree to this arrangement if you insisted upon giving me a safeword. It’s important that, once a scene starts, I have no escape. No way to stop the pain.”
“Then we’re all in agreement,” Julian said. “When not in a scene, you’ll be dressed in standard clothing. Marco and Cora have requirements for Homewood security personnel, and you’ll choose your clothing when off duty. You’ll be referred to by name unless we are using you, when you’ll be Muscles, toy, or some other name that will be totally our discretion. You’ll speak freely when not in a scene.”
“That’s acceptable, Sir.”
“You’ll have private quarters, which you may lock. We won’t invade your space unless there’s a safety or security concern.”
Atlas’s expression didn’t shift, but I felt the silence settle deeper — that quietacceptanceof structure. Of being used the way he needed to be.
“We’ll also establish a protocol,” Julian said. “Verbal and nonverbal, for when orders mean the relationship has changed from equals to…not.”
“He prefers something texted or written,” Gavin said. “That doesn’t preclude oral communication, but I text the brick wall emoji to him, followed by orders of which room to go to and what he should do upon arrival, or whom he should see and then obey, when I lend him to others.”
Gavin looked to Atlas. “Marco is Master Vampire and your employer. Cora creates rules for the shifters at Homewood — when you can change and run, hunting rules, etc. Since the Lion King lives on-site, you’ll have three bosses, plus your two Masters sitting before you. I have confidence you’ll maneuver the politics, but should you find yourself stuck between bosses, speak to Marco about it and ask for assistance.”
“Thank you for giving me a home, Master Gavin, and for understanding why this arrangement will work better for me, the consistency of the same people hurting me, people who understand what I need.”
Gavin looked to us with a wry smile. “He truly can’t handle intimacy or emotions, and yet he craves the connection he’ll get by…” He shrugged. “Let’s not analyze it too much, but I believe it will do him good, belonging to the two of you.”
