Safeword: Mayday by Candace Blevins
Chapter 10
When Heather awakened, the first thing she saw was the trapeze bar hanging over the bed. She’d have to ask about it at some point, but she wasn’t ready to hear the explanation just yet.
A quick inventory told her she was thirsty and needed to pee. She was still between both men, and their legs were all intertwined with each other, though their bodies had separated in their sleep. She wasn’t sure if she could get up without waking them, but she needed to use the restroom sooner rather than later, so she’d have to do her best. She pulled herself up towards the headboard, sliding her feet out from the tangle of legs, and then crawled between Marcus’s head and the headboard towards the nearest edge of the bed, which was three feet away because the bed was huge.
She wiped gingerly because everything in that general area felt tender. Not painful, but she felt the toilet paper in a way she wasn’t used to. She’d had sex before without feeling this way, what was the difference?
She didn’t want to get back into bed with the men, and she considered her options while she washed her hands. Maybe she could quietly get dressed and go find food — or at least something to drink.
However, when she stepped back into the playroom, the curtains were open around the bed, and both men were sitting up on pillows propped against the headboard, complete with a space in the middle for her to sit between them. She stopped and stared, and finally asked, “Can we go into the other room and get something to drink? I’m thirsty.”
Marcus nodded towards the nightstand closest to him. “There’s a mini fridge beside the bed. Grab me an orange juice and see if there’s something in there you’d like. I have the coffee contraption set up in the other room if that’s your preference — just have to switch it on and wait for it to do its thing.”
Heather walked to the bed, opened the nightstand, and frigid air spilled out around her legs. She put a small bottle of orange juice and a Coke on the bed, and looked at Kyle to see if he wanted something, but he said, “I’m fine for now, thanks.”
She hopped up on the bed, tossed both bottles to Marcus, and crawled across the mattress to take her place between them again. The cap twisted off easily and she took a big swig of Coke, willing the caffeine to do its thing. She should have chosen an orange juice or water, but she needed the caffeine.
She expected one of the men to start talking, but they didn’t, so after waiting through a few moments of silence, she leaned into Marcus and said, “You’ve probably got things to do today, so I can get ready and get out of your hair pretty quickly.”
Marcus rested his hand on her thigh but kept it still, so he was touching her without annoying her. “If you need to go then I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll understand. If the two of you can stick around, I’ll enjoy the company. This is new for you, so you’re probably all sexed out this morning, and possibly a little sore. I don’t know how you’ll sense it, whether it will be a good feeling, or one you’ve learned to identify as possible damage. Either way, I’d like to just hang out and talk for a while. I’d love to go flying again, but that’s probably out of the question because we need to do something the three of us can enjoy.”
“I sensed it as tenderness, actually. Like when I’m recovering from a twisted ankle and it’s at the point where I can walk on it but must take it easy or I risk re-injury, it’s like that. It’s fine, but I probably shouldn’t do anything to add to what’s there until it has more time to recover.”
Kyle leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder. “Was I too rough last night?”
Did he get carried away because she was so into it? Was that the difference? If so, she didn’t want to do anything to make him back off next time. “You were perfect, Kyle. But, you said something to Marcus at one point, about not asking his permission, what was that about?”
Kyle looked at Marcus, and the other man must’ve taken that as his cue to answer. “Most Dominants require that their submissive not orgasm without permission to do so, and Kyle has been trained to hold his orgasm back when instructed. He wanted my input on when you were ready for things to come to an end, but he didn’t want there to be a power exchange between he and I. I knew what he meant, so I waited until you were ready, and then told him when it would be good for him to orgasm.”
“You mean, people can control when they—” She looked at Kyle, then Marcus, and back to Kyle. “No way!”
They both laughed, and Marcus said, “Yes, way. It takes a lot of training for some people, but it’s pretty standard in our lifestyle for a submissive to not orgasm without permission.”
She wasn’t sure what to think. She’d assumed he was teasing at first, but he seemed serious. There was absolutely no way she could have stopped what happened to her earlier, no possible way she could have controlled any aspect of when she came — but maybe after she’d had a lot of experience, things might be different? She wasn’t so sure. She looked up at Marcus. “What if they orgasm without permission?”
Marcus glanced at Kyle before looking back to Heather. “Each Dom or Top or whatever gets to make the rules — within the submissive’s boundaries, of course. Some would spank or flog or something along those lines as punishment, some might assign time standing in a corner.” He shrugged. “Anything goes as long as the Top operates within the boundaries the submissive defines ahead of time. If the submissive is a male there are other options, since it’s physically possible to keep a male from ejaculating even when the Top isn’t around, while it’s not quite as easy to physically keep a female from being able to orgasm for long periods of time.”
Heather started to ask how it was possible to keep a guy from ejaculating, but decided it wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with Marcus. “You know what? I think I’m ready to change the subject. I would love some reading material so I can explore this on my own, but for now, I think I have more than enough to think about. I’d like a quick shower. Alone. And then I’d like food.”
Marcus tousled her hair. “Food sounds good. Why don’t we head off to three separate showers and meet downstairs in twenty minutes? Do you want the breakfast buffet place or Cracker Barrel for breakfast?”
Heather climbed over Marcus and headed towards the bathroom. “I call dibs on this shower since my stuff is here. I don’t care where we eat, so long as we eat.”
* * * *
Once she was in the shower, Marcus asked Kyle, “What’s up with her wanting to shower alone?”
Kyle shrugged and made his way to the edge of the bed. “She was an only child, and she’s used to having alone time. When she’s stayed with me for a few days at a time, she occasionally just needs time to herself without me around. Don’t take it personally. If she doesn’t get some time to herself, she starts snapping at people. Sometimes, just giving her fifteen minutes to herself is all she needs. But if you really want to experience full-on-grumpy Heather, keep her waiting to go to breakfast. She takes her food seriously.”
Marcus noted that Kyle did seem to be moving quickly, so he headed towards his bedroom to shower and change.
But he wasn’t so sure the alone time was due to being an only child. Perhaps that was part of it, but he had a feeling Heather’s sensory issues probably required her to find a time and place to ground and recenter. People on her end of the spectrum were basically living in a state of tactile sensory deprivation, which tended to make people snappy. A hot bath might help, or a hard workout. She’d found her own coping mechanisms and wasn’t likely to appreciate him trying to help her with it, but he’d keep an eye out to see if he could recognize when she was nearing the point of needing time to herself. Maybe he could suggest they work out together, to get her out of the habit of asking to be alone.
* * * *
Seventeen minutes later, Heather arrived downstairs, hoping the guys would be waiting for her, but knowing Kyle would be there and Marcus would not.
She immediately went into Kyle’s arms for a kiss, and she molded into him, letting him control the kiss and hold her. His embrace and his lips had become comfortable for her — not sexual, but Kyle was always there for her when she needed him, and his arms represented safety. Solace. When he ended the kiss, she pulled back a little to look at him. “Thanks for giving me some time alone, and for not getting your feelings hurt.”
“Sometimes you just need some time to yourself. It’s all good. Also, I figured you were thinking of what would get us out the door and towards food the fastest.”
She laughed. “Yep. Speaking of which, where is His Highness?”
They heard footsteps, and then Marcus said, “I’m right here — have you decided where we’re going?”
“If it’s up to me then my choice is wherever we’ll get food the fastest, which is probably the buffet place. Are we all driving separate, or together? Does anyone have somewhere to be later today?”
Marcus pulled his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll drive. I don’t have any plans for the day, and I’m pretty sure Kyle is free, and you told us yesterday you’re free until tomorrow morning. I vote we get something to eat and then maybe head somewhere and toss some Frisbees around.”
Heather headed towards the door. “I’d love to get a run in, maybe park at Signal Point and do the trail by Rainbow Falls and then out to Edward’s Point?”
She heard Kyle groan, but Marcus said, “How far of a run is that? Sounds like fun.”
“It’s only about a six or seven mile round trip, but there are a lot of elevation changes so it really gets the heart rate going. Kyle is groaning because he doesn’t like to be near the edge of a cliff.” She looked at Kyle. “I promise, if we go, I won’t stand right on the edge of the cliff when we get there. I’ll sit or lay, but I won’t stand.”
Kyle opened the passenger door and helped her in. “You always make me nervous when we hike on mountains. You’re almost five feet tall, so you should stay at least five feet from the edge, so there’s no way you can fall off the mountain.”
Heather looked at Marcus in the driver’s seat for help, but it didn’t look like he was going to offer any, so she put her seatbelt on and asked, “How about three and a half feet from the edge while standing, or I can lay with my head towards the edge and close, but crawl to get there? I want you to feel comfortable, but I also want to get the full effect of being there. Is that a good compromise?”
Kyle settled into the backseat and clicked the seatbelt on. “I’m being a whiny ass about this, aren’t I? Sorry, it’s my issues, and I know the two of you would rather go hang-gliding or rock climbing or something, so I’ll figure out how to deal with the hike.”
Marcus finally spoke up as he pulled out of the driveway. “Kyle, I think it might be good for you to stand on the edge, but to do it in a safe way. Perhaps Heather could bring some rope and tie you off, so you could safely stand near the edge. Would you be willing to do that?”
“If it’s not too much trouble to carry some rope, I’ll consider it, but I’m not making any promises.”
Heather responded before Marcus could. “Fair enough. When we leave the restaurant, I’ll need to drop by my place and change clothes, get my five-finger shoes and my basic hiking kit. I can grab twenty feet of rope while I’m there. I have a small wilderness first-responder kit in my pack, so ya’ll won’t need to worry with any of that.” For a day hike so close to civilization, it was the bare basics, but it had come in handy to help others on the trail more times than she could count.
Marcus glanced at her before focusing on the road again. “We’re the doctors, but we’re used to working in a controlled setting. If someone gets injured on the trail, it’s possible you’d be more qualified to stabilize them.”
Kyle chuckled from the back seat. “You could help them if they suddenly thought the trees were talking to them, and I could help them if they needed something stitched up, assuming Heather has that stuff in her pack, but yeah, Heather would probably be fastest at patching someone up enough to get them out of the woods and into one of those controlled environments where doctors work best.”
Heather shook her head. Her First Responder certification and EMT license were both up to date, but she figured the doctors would still know more than her in an emergency. “I have a suture kit I take on long hikes, when we’re days away from civilization, but for short trips like today I depend on butterflies, tape, and medical grade super glue. I end up giving someone on the trail first aid maybe a dozen times a year — usually not someone in my party, but someone we come upon who needs help. It’s rarely more than a twisted ankle or a bleeding blister, though.”
Marcus pulled into the restaurant parking lot and said, “Yummm, bleeding blisters. Wonderful pre-breakfast conversation.”
* * * *
“I know Kyle first got you to his house with the promise of making a few barrels of wine,” Marcus told Heather over breakfast, “but I’d like to hear the story from you.”
“We met at the hospital, and it should’ve just been a random encounter and we never saw each other again, but the woman I was there to see told me to go get something to eat, and Kyle keyed in on that, and the next thing I know, we’re at this all-you-can-eat meat place, where they bring it to your table and carve it for you, and we’re talking about birdwatching and winemaking, and then it turns out he does paintball tournaments, and the next thing I know, he’s challenged me to a paintball competition, and we make plans for the following Saturday.”
“And she kicked my ass all over the place. I had so much paint on me, I looked like a demented piece of abstract art.”
Heather laughed. “It was probably two months later, after we’d been birdwatching together twice, and had eaten dinner together at least once a week, before he invited me to his house to make wine.”
“And I tried to kiss you, and you acted like it was a total surprise, and I felt awful.”
Heather nodded, understanding how that had played out in his head so much better now that she understood the whole submissive thing. “And after I backed away the first time, you went nearly four years before you tried again.”
“So, he got you to agree to see him again because it was a challenge?” Marcus asked. “The paintball thing?”
“Maybe. I mean, I liked him from the start, but I’d stopped trying to have relationships by then, but I love a good paintball battle, so I was up for it. And then, I agreed to go to his house because I trusted him by then, obviously — and I hadn’t made wine since my grandfather died, and Kyle had all the equipment, and he was familiar with the process Gramps used, but that isn’t it, either.” She looked at Kyle. “We clicked, and I wanted to get to know you better, and then once I did, I couldn’t let it go past friends because then I might lose you.”
“We absolutely clicked. I wanted you in my life however I could get you, but you have to know I was always aiming to have you in my life romantically. I didn’t know how it would work, but you’re so strong and capable, I just knew you’d be okay allowing me to service you, to take care of the small stuff so you can go do the big stuff.”
Heather wanted to comment that Kyle wasn’t just there to handle the small stuff — he was a huge part of her life, but Marcus asked, “Four years of running together, birdwatching, paintball, winemaking, and what else?”
Heather lifted Kyle’s hand, kissed the back of it, then laced her fingers into his and settled their joined hands on the table before she told Marcus, “Somehow, Kyle became my person, you know? He’s the one I texted when I got a cool contract job I was excited about, the one I called when I got back into town from a grueling expedition and just needed to stuff my face and veg out in front of the television to recover. He fed me, he listened to me, and he tucked me into his super-comfy guest bed and then made a huge breakfast the next morning.”
“But you were my person, too,” Kyle said. “When Sam got shot and I was called in to sew her up after surgery to try to minimize the scarring from being shot in the chest at close range with a damned forty-five caliber bullet, but ended up having to sew up veins and arteries and muscles to help the thoracic surgeon and on-call trauma surgeon save her life, you were the one who talked me down, afterward.”
Kyle hadn’t been in a good place the next day, and Heather had taken him out and gotten him rip-roaring drunk, and then had to babysit him for hours until he’d fallen asleep. She wanted to move them away from that particularly painful topic, so she said, “Yeah, and you took me to Atlantic City to watch her husband fight a year or so later, despite the fact you aren’t a big fan of violence.”
“Sam and Ethan are good people,” Marcus said. “I’m so glad Sam bounced back from being shot.”
“It was close, during surgery,” Kyle said, and then he must’ve decided to change the subject, and he asked Heather, “Do you remember when we got roped into that pickleball tournament?”
Heather groaned. It’d been some charity something-or-other for the hospital, and Kyle felt obligated to participate. “No, you roped me into it.” She rolled her eyes. “I still have that stupid trophy we won.”
“They were pissed that we’d never played before and we somehow managed to win.”
“The two of you have seemed to be on the same channel, or wavelength, or however you want to put it since I first saw you together,” Marcus said, and he met Heather’s gaze. “I’m so glad the two of you are finally taking the next step. You’re good for him, and I’m pretty sure he’s good for you.”
Heather leaned into Kyle, and he wrapped his arm around her, and nothing else had to be said.