Justin's POV

Waking up nestled snugly in Brian's arms was always a reason for me to smile, but particularly so these days, and particularly this morning. The night before had been as Brian said, "Amazing." And not just the sex. Brian had willingly offered himself up, sacrificing his ego in the most profound way to show our friends how much I meant to him, what a singular position I held in his life, and I wasn't even sure why. I had only ever asked him to be honest with me.

Granted, in the past, his being honest about his feelings for me with others would have made me feel incredible, as it did now, but I never expected it. Just when I thought I knew Brian, it turned out that I didn't, well, not completely. At such times, I would learn something about him that he'd endeavored to hide (and for a long time, successfully) or he would do something so sweet, so surprising. I was still in awe of him.

And a little confused. Was this particular sweet, surprising gesture spurred by our impending collaring ceremony or by Ethan and Chris's being released from jail? Was it just a natural progression of our increased intimacy?

Brian interrupted my happy reverie by slipping beneath the covers and deepthroating my cock, which was still rock hard from sleep.

A delicious orgasm later, Brian and I emerged from the bedroom (we'd smelled coffee).

Emmett singsonged, "Morning lovebirds!"

Michael couldn't even look Brian in the eye.

Ted asked pointedly, "Did you two sleep well last night?"

Daphne looked around in confusion. "What? What'd I miss?"

I grabbed her shoulders, leaned in (she was sitting in a chair at the table), smiled brightly, waggled my eyebrows, and, in a stage whisper, told her, "I'll tell you all about it later."

Brian took the opportunity to smack my ass and forged onward toward the coffeemaker.

Ben piped up merrily, "From what I heard, I'm guessing you two probably slept like babies, two high, sexually sated babies."

I blushed and smiled brightly.

Michael kept glancing away and snickering. Finally he couldn't hold it in any longer. He cried out, mimicking Brian's growl-y shout, and badly, "Fuck, oh fuck me. Pound my ass. Oh yes. Harder. Harder!"

Normally, in the face of such humiliating ridicule, Brian would have glowered and said something to indicate how little I meant to him, but, this time, he shot me a tongue-in-cheek expression. He drawled, "Yes, little Sunshine here packs a wallop!" Then he turned to Michael, smirking and said, "I'm sure you'll have great fun imagining it."

Michael turned bright red, and everyone but Michael, even Ben, burst out laughing.

A few minutes later, Michael was searching Brian's desk drawers for a bic pen (Brian wouldn't let him touch any of his designer pens) and found, it turns out, an advertisement. He inquired, "What's this, Brian? An advertisement for someplace named Las…cow…ax."

Emmett, who had come up behind Michael, swatted him gently and replied, "Silly, that's Lascaux (breaking it into syllables and pronouncing them slowly). Brian was asking me about it a month or so ago. It's a bistro named after a place in France where caveman first got his paint on, well, as far as we can tell. The bistro is actually modeled on the caves, except that they display something a little bit fancier than Captain Caveman's Study of Antelope on their walls. They even nabbed Antoine from Terre du Lait et Miel, a hot, hot, hot chef in Paris, and not just because he's built. (sigh) but, of course, he is, and he plays for our team!"

Then he asked Brian, "Was your client impressed?"

I repeated, "Client?"

Emmett continued on happily, "Brian said he was thinking about taking a very, what did you call him, a, a, oh, yeah, a very discerning man with an artistic eye."

Brian sighed and looked down.

I was so jealous. I smiled, though my heart wasn't in it, and looked away.

But then Brian said something that caused me, eyes wide, to whip my head around, "Actually…Justin, the…the night we were supposed to have dinner with Debbie…I made reservations for us there."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Brian rolled his lips into his mouth and let his head fall.

I inquired hesitantly, "You…you planned a date for us?"

Then he sighed and lifted his head until his eyes met mine. He replied softly, "Yes."

My eyes lost focus as I pondered this. Then I realized what night he was talking about. "Wait. The night we were supposed to have dinner with Debbie…that was the night…"

Brian cut me off with another soft "Yes."

Oh God.

I turned away from everyone and shut my eyes tight, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall, but I could do nothing about the painful ache in my chest. I tried to process this new information. Brian had planned a date for us, and of his own accord, on the day I went to see Ethan. The restaurant sounded so perfect. Exactly the kind of place I had always wanted Brian to take me. If I hadn't gone to Ethan's, if I hadn't eaten the food he'd made…with our incredible reunion and the dynamics of our new relationship, we would have had everything. We wouldn't have so much anger and pain to deal with, we wouldn't be afraid that Ethan and Chris Hobbes might try to harm one or both of us, we wouldn't need to testify in a trial…

As though Brian could read my mind, he, now by my side, though I hadn't even heard him approach, added, in a whisper, "and we wouldn't be engaged."

Now his arms were around me. I turned into his embrace and buried my face in his chest, sobbing softly, my body shaking with the force of my sobs. He held me tight. Then the implications of what he'd said hit me. I lifted my red, teary eyes until they found his, sniffled, and asked, "Does that mean that Michael was right? That you only said yes because you feel guilty?"

Brian leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. Then he whispered, "No, Angel. But you have to admit that what happened brought us closer faster."

I nodded. "That's true." I looked around. "Where'd everybody go?"

Brian chuckled. "I told them to get the hell out."

"I must have been really out of it. I didn't hear anything."

Brian didn't reply. Instead, he leaned down again and kissed my lips once more, this time, with greater force, plunging his tongue into my mouth. Then he slid his hands to the back of my neck, tilting my head and pulling me closer, kissing me more and more passionately, causing my breathing to become erratic and my heart to pound hard, and irregularly, within my chest. I threw my arms around Brian's neck and met his passion with my own. I was so turned on that I felt a little faint.

Suddenly, Brian broke our kiss and pushed me back about a foot. Then, his eyes so dark and intense that they looked almost black, he gazed into my eyes and commanded, "Angel, take off your clothes."

I loved Master's voice like this. It actually made my breath catch in my throat and my heart skip a beat.

"Slowly."

I did as he asked, watching his eyes as I stripped. First I pulled my T-shirt off and tossed it to the ground. Then I unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans and turned around before sliding them down past my hips (bending over as I did) to my ankles. Then I toed them the rest of the way off and turned around.

He commanded, "Get down on all fours."

I complied. While I did so, Master went to get something, though I had no clue what. Then he was placing a full-length mirror in front of me and a little to the side and one behind me diagonally so that I could look into the mirror in front and see the second mirror, which provided a perfect view of my ass. He said, "Angel, I want you to watch me in the mirror."

I replied huskily, "Yes, Master."

Then he kneeled behind me and began caressing my ass cheeks. He breathed, "So beautiful. You're so beautiful, Angel."

Then he looked up. His eyes were dark with desire. When he caught my eyes in the mirror, I blushed and felt a sort of falling sensation in my chest, which was then quickly followed by a delicious full-body shiver. The compliment had an effect on my cock, too, causing it to leak.

Master leaned down and swiped his tongue over my entrance. I moaned. Loudly. Then he pushed his tongue inside me. I watched, my eyes wide, my mouth open. When he started pushing his tongue in and out, I began to pant. So much that I felt a little dizzy. Feeling his warm, wet tongue moving inside me caused my entire body to quiver. Much too soon, he pulled his tongue out and sat up. But he quickly replaced it with two lubed fingers and began opening me up. He then massaged my prostate, setting my body to trembling as waves of heat and electricity rippled through me.

When Master pulled his fingers out, I whimpered in disappointment. Master chuckled. Then, he lubed up a long wide red butt plug and slowly worked it inside me. When it was fully buried in my ass, Master flattened his hand and spanked me. I gasped. It didn't hurt, but he'd spanked me dead center, causing the butt plug to move and initiating another delicious wave of heat and electricity.

Then Master stood. His eyes held mine as he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and then inched them down and off. I glanced down and caught sight of his hard cock. Precum bubbled out of his slit, and it looked almost purple. I lifted my head and saw that Master's mouth was open a little, his eyes intense. All this had quite an effect on my cock. It took everything in me to do nothing, to simply remain there on all fours and wait.

Master slipped his wife beater off and then went to fetch, first, a paddle from the bedroom and then the chaise, from the corner. He moved the chaise so that it was behind me diagonally, lined up with the second mirror, and sat in the middle (facing me).

His voice soft and low, he said, "Come here, Angel."

I complied, and enthusiastically. I jumped to my feet and turned to face Master. Then I waited for more instructions.

Master smiled. "You're so good, Angel. So patient. I want you to straddle me, but you're to remain on your knees."

I did as he asked. I realized that this put my cock just about level with Master's mouth. My breathing grew ragged when I felt his warm breath on my cock, and I started imagining his mouth sliding over it, sucking on it, taking it into his throat and swallowing around the tip. This train of thought caused me to moan softly and more precum to drip down my painfully erect (and throbbing) cock. Master smiled. Then he began running his fingertips lightly over my ass cheeks, sending warm shivers throughout my body.

From my vantage point, I could look into the second mirror and see my ass in the first. If I looked a bit lower in the second, I could also see my cock (in the same mirror).

Master looked up, directly into my eyes, and breathed, "Do you want me to spank you, Angel?"

I shivered a little in anticipation. Then I replied, "Yes, Master."

"Say it."

I responded, my voice husky, "Spank me, Master. Please."

And he did. He held my waist with one hand and the paddle with the other and sent blow after blow down on my ass. He started softly and increased the force of the blows gradually. About four in, my ass began to sting and, by the seventh, to burn. Watching my ass flinch and tighten and then turn pink was surreal, as was seeing the red butt plug against my pale white skin. The blows caused a prickling sensation, originating in my ass cheeks, to spread throughout my body. Additionally, every blow put pressure on the butt plug, no matter where Master struck me. So the prickling sensation was accompanied by delicious ripples of pleasure that burned through me.

After the tenth blow, sweat on my brow, I was panting and trembling. When the anticipated eleventh blow didn't come, I looked down. Master was gazing at me with awe and adoration. His expression shook me to the core, causing my body to tremble even more. He set the paddle down and caressed my ass cheeks lightly while he placed gentle open-mouthed kisses on my belly.

Then he asked, his voice husky, "Would you like it if I sucked your cock, Angel?"

I bit my lip and squeaked out, "Yes, Master."

He leaned down and took the tip of my cock into his mouth, sucking it hard. I breathed in sharply and my eyes drooped, heavy with desire. He pulled back and blew on it, causing a full-body shiver. When he started leaning down again, so slowly, I licked my lips in anticipation. Then he took my entire cock into his mouth, eliciting a guttural moan. I threaded my fingers into his hair and threw back my head as he continued to deep throat my cock, swallowing around the tip each time it entered his throat. Just as I was about to cum, Master sat up. I whimpered mournfully.

He immediately started paddling me again. The shock, and the sting, of the first blow, a hard one, caused my cock to soften slightly, but the subsequent blows had the opposite effect. The pleasure I experienced was increasing, but more slowly, as the pain took the edge off. I lost count of the blows after fifteen. I could feel their impact, but not the pain. Soon I couldn't even feel the impact. I felt as though I were floating in a warm sea. I didn't notice when Master stopped spanking me or when he removed the butt plug. However, I did feel Master slamming his cock into me. I was surprised to find myself on my back, my legs on Master's shoulders. When I looked at him with seeing eyes, he sent his lips crashing down onto mine, kissing me passionately. As I kissed him back, I still felt all floaty. But the warm sea was growing hotter and hotter and pulled me up, up, up, toward Master. All my movements turned desperate. I thrust my tongue deeper and deeper into Master's mouth, gripped Master's shoulders harder and harder, and pushed back on Master's cock faster and faster until the huge wave my burning sea had become broke, all over his chest. When my ass clamped down on his dick, he broke our kiss and yowled.

Then he leaned his head against my chest and whispered, "So fucking good, Angel. Your body's heaven to me."

He pulled out, removed and disposed of the condom I hadn't even known he was wearing, and gathered me into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped my legs around his waist. Then he lifted me up and carried me to the bed. He kneeled on it, lay down, with me still in his arms, and then covered us up with the duvet. I nestled my head in the crook of Master's neck and breathed, "I can't imagine us any other way than this."

Master rested his head against mine and replied, so softly I could barely hear him, "Me, either, Angel."