Chapter Four

The party was underway, but being the boss kept him from drinking more than a couple of beers. Dallas sat on the tailgate of Jace's truck with him, keeping an eye on everyone who worked directly with him.

At least, that's what he was telling himself.

His eyes were mostly on Dimples and Ruben, who were sitting on a log near the bonfire, chatting each other up like two guys who had known one another for years.

Jace noticed as he picked at his bell peppers, the only things left on his paper plate, after Hoovering the rest of his food. "If you want them, better let them know before they hook up without you."

"Jace, you may be into throuples and shit, but…it's hard enough with one guy. I can't see being with two. Not…those two."

"Ruben is about the sweetest man I've met, except for a very few."

"I'm not…I'm not the one for sweet guys," he admitted.

"Oh, because if they're sweet, they must not like hard fucking?"

Jace knew too much. Dallas kinda hated that. "Yeah. Okay, yeah."

Jace nodded in their direction and said, "Well, you got Dimples there. He looks like he could take a rough fuckin'."

"Yeah, if I was the one being fucked, I'll just bet."

As he chuckled, Jace waved over his partner, Roland. Roland came over exasperated. "I need to work. Hunter called to ask if we could get together in the morning to work, and I said yes, as he's not even being paid for this, but…"

Roland moved between Jace's legs and was kissed roughly. "You need a break. No backtalk."

"We're not in a scene right now, Jace Conroy."

Figuring he could help, Dallas added, "We're all gonna be working morning to night and then some for the next year, at least. Might's well have a burger and chill when you can, right?"

Roland was a pretty man, long curly hair done in a bushy ponytail, blue eyes glaring. "Be careful, Dallas. I'll recruit you next."

"I don't know anything about drawing houses!"

"I don't draw houses," he said exasperatedly, but Jace smacked his butt. "Okay, I do, but it's much more involved than that."

"And he's given you a good excuse to stop thinking about that for a while. Go get Tango away from Burke, where I'm sure Tango is talking nonstop about security, and you both take yourself over to the fire, eat, and relax!"

Roland moved from him and spun around to see that Tango was, indeed, talking business too. "See, I'm not the only one," he said before rushing off to do as Jace suggested.

"See, that right there! You're constantly having to wrangle ‘em. I got enough on my plate with the cows."

"Cows don't keep you warm at night, Dallas, and if they do, you got more issues than two hot men that could be yours, if you gave a little."

Dallas hopped off the tailgate, planning to forget his earlier rule for himself and look for the whiskey when they heard a car driving up, barely above the country music that was playing on the speakers Damon set up outside the bunkhouse.

When they all saw the blue and red lights, a few of the men—all those who worked with Dante—got squirrely and looked ready to book it out of there.

Dante, however, went to meet the car with Blaine, Bruno, and Jace on his heels. Dallas figured he should probably go too, being the manager of the ranch itself. Besides, none of them knew Ron Daily, the sheriff, like he did.

When he got to the car, Ron was getting out of the driver's seat, leaving the door open so he could lean on it. "Howdy, all. I'm breaking up a party?"

"Are you breaking up the party?" Jace asked him.

"No, not unless you all been up to no good."

The man wasn't good-looking in the least, but he had the swagger of a much sexier man. He was lean, almost six foot tall, and had thinning black hair under that pretty, immaculate cowboy hat. He smirked a little, as his beady eyes moved over everyone, with more coming behind them.

Dante moved smoothly over to the man and proffered a hand. "Hello, Sheriff. I can assure you; we are up to nothing but good."

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said while reluctantly shaking Dante's hand. "You the new owner?"

"Yes, sir, I am. Dante Carrillo."

The sheriff's eyes moved over him in his casual tan suit and crimson-colored shirt that had three buttons undone, showing his perfectly smooth chest with a line of black hair that disappeared under the shirt.

"Heard of ya. Listen, the man who owned the place before you…has anyone seen him? His boys called me in a fuss about their daddy going missin'."

Dallas looked around at the others, but then stepped up to offer his hand to the sheriff. "Sheriff Daily, hey. We met when I first came to work here for Harrison, and believe me, he's not here. I don't believe anyone's seen him. If anyone did, it would be the talk of the place. He left and barely said goodbye to anyone, he was in such a hurry."

Daily nodded at Dallas before he said, "Well, still had to come ask, ya know? If any of you see him, give me a call."

Hunter walked over to the man, towering over him as he stepped up to proffer a hand. "Thanks for coming by, Sheriff. If you'd like, come back after your shift, and have a steak."

"Steak, huh? What kind?"

"Only the best rib eyes, T-bones, and strips we could find in Billings."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I might just have to do that."

After he got back in his car and left, Dimples came over to scold Hunter, which made Dallas think he'd seen the last of the mobster. "What the hell did you invite him back for?"

Dante calmed him easily. "Hunter was thinking ahead, Marius, as we all should be. He's ingratiating himself and us in the process, to the local law enforcement chief. It's smart. Take notes," he said scathingly, then moved off in a smooth walk to leave Marius, or Dimples, to seethe.

Hunter chuckled but tried to ease Dimples's ass chewing. "I am not the biggest fan of police either, believe me, but I know when to suck up."

Feeling for the guy, Dallas went to him next and said, "Let's get a beer, huh?"

"Sure."

They walked together to the cooler, and the heat coming off Marius was extreme. He had been embarrassed in front of all the others, and for anyone, that was hard to take. Especially since he was supposed to be one of the leaders.

Sitting on the same log as Ruben again, Marius took a long slug of his beer before Ruben whispered to him, "Daily is a prick."

"Oh, I got that. I got that the first five seconds."

Dallas sat on the other side of Marius, and said, "Yeah, he hates everyone. He saw me in town about a week after I started at the ranch. I was buying some supplies, you know, deodorant, shampoo, and shit. He walked over to me and gave me the third degree. I get it, in a way. I was the new guy in town, and small towns aren't known for their trust of new people."

"Try being a new brown person," Ruben said, laughing sardonically. "He didn't even ask me a question. He just told me to get where I was going."

"Fuck that mother fucker," Marius said. "I'll bring my crew and show him what keeping the peace looks like."

Ruben and Dallas both laughed at that. "I don't think that's…peace," Ruben said.

Finally, he agreed. "Maybe not, but I'd be real peaceful after."

"I have a feeling he would be too, as in rest in peace," Ruben said, and Marius leaned over to whisper to him, which made him giggle.

That burning in his gut came back and it was unmistakably jealousy. The only problem was…which one was he jealous of? At that moment in time, he had no clue.

"I'll leave you two alone. Didn't mean to butt in."

In unison, they both cried, "No!"

Marius set a hand on Dallas's leg and squeezed. "We got room for a third," he said suggestively. "No worries, cowboy."

Dallas wasn't having it. "Sorry, guys, I was always told three was a crowd."

Ruben got up and moved next to him. "We're not…doing anything. We're just talking."

After throwing an arm around Dallas's shoulders and wriggling his brows at Dallas, Marius growled, "Yeah. We're just talkin', cowboy."

He had the distinct feeling he was in trouble, but he'd been in trouble before and never had it flowing through his veins like fire. As he absently rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, he grunted, "You two are fucking crazy."

"Yeah? That's a compliment where I come from, blondie."

"Cowboy, blondie, make up your mind on one nickname, Dimples."

With a deep chuckle, he said, "Oh, I can think of a few more for a sweet cowboy like you."

Ruben scolded him, "Dimples is a sweet name. He won't tell me why he got it though. He says he has to show me."

Dallas's eyes instantly narrowed as he turned his head to Marius. "Oh? Is that right?"

"Want a show? I'll perform for you two anytime."

Without looking his way, Dallas told Ruben, "They're either on his ass or he's lying to get people to ask to see them."

"His ass? Really?"

Dallas's head spun to him to see Ruben's eyes heat as he thought about how fun that would be. "Again, I should leave you two alone."

Dallas got up before either could protest and started to move away, but stopped and tensed as he heard Marius chuckling.

Once he regained his composure, he left to head back to the tailgate where Jace and Burke were laughing together. "Hey, buddy," Jace said to him. "What happened? I thought you were maybe gonna go for it."

"With that…gangster? Forget it. Let Ruben have him."

"I don't think he wants him. He left right after you, looking pretty bummed."

Dallas spun around and saw that it was true. Ruben had left the log and Marius was about to. "Why? I wasn't stopping them."

Burke leaned in to speak to him, talking quietly. "Ruben likes you, man. Don't you know that?"

"How do you know?"

"I see it! He stares at you whenever he thinks you aren't looking. He's got it bad."

If he was completely truthful with himself, he would confess that he knew that. Ruben's shyness barely disguised that he liked Dallas. They'd done flirting of their own, but he'd catch himself and stop. Not shitting where you eat…he'd tried to live by that all his life, and failed quite a few times. The thing was however, he'd fucked around at other ranches. There were always closet cases. They were fucks, though, not anything more, and Dallas knew deep down that if he were ever to be with Ruben, it would be more than a fuck.

Joel came over to Burke and leaned into him as he side-eyed Dallas and Jace. "It's okay, Joel," Jace assured him. "Dallas is a good guy."

"Howdy," Joel said to Dallas. To Burke, he pleaded, "Can I head back ta the trailer?"

"Too many people?"

"Yessir. Sure is. They's good ol' boys and all, but…"

"Yeah, babe. Go ahead. Where's Damon?"

"He's over yonder, talkin' ta that Avery fella."

Burke tipped Joel's head back so he could plant a long, succulent kiss on him, and once he was finished, Joel's shyness wavered. "We fuckin'?"

"We sure are. Keep this ass warm for me and Damon, Joel. We'll be there in a bit."

"Yessiree!"

Burke laughed as he watched Joel run to their car and confessed to Dallas and Jace, "That boy…god, isn't he the sweetest thing?"

"Yeah, just like Ruben," Jace said, not even trying to hide his prodding.

"Lay off, Jace," Dallas said with a laugh. "I like him, sure, but I'm also his boss. What's gonna happen if we don't work out? I have to keep bossing him around and he's gonna resent it. Nah, it's better if that mob guy takes him."

"One's brash as hell, and one's sweet as pie," Burke mused. "Just like my Damon and Joel. I know for a fact that they would have canceled themselves out and wouldn't have gone further than fucking if I hadn't been around. Not anything against either of them. They are who they are, but they're so opposite, shit, I don't see it happening."

"So, what you're saying is you're the middleman? I'd be the middle guy?"

Jace jumped off the tailgate and said, in the most sarcastic voice he could, "Duh."

*****

Dante and Blaine left the party early. Blaine's eyes were shining with happiness, but there was worry behind them after the sheriff came and told them the former owner was missing.

Dante knew he had to help his husband, or Blaine would worry himself sick. Blaine was the type of man that took other people's troubles onto himself. He'd been that way from the beginning. It was why he was so vulnerable after his mother had died.

He'd taken care of her through her cancer. The two of them were alone for most of that time. While she was sick, he did everything for her, including suffering along with her. It had affected him, made him more empathetic than anyone Dante had ever met. As vulnerable as he'd been, he was the perfect prey for the abusive Troy Castor.

Longing for love, Blaine had gone into the relationship blindly. When Troy began to abuse him, control him, Blaine didn't know what to do. Troy was a very important part of a crime family. Even the police wouldn't have been able to help Blaine.

Dante met him and it was like love at first sight. Feeling his pain only made Dante want him more. Not to mention, he'd hated Troy with a blinding passion.

"BB, come with me."

"I'm not ready to leave, Dante," Blaine started, but as soon as he looked into Dante's eyes, he saw his true intentions. "Yes, Sir."

Blaine was a natural submissive and had been from the start. He loved rough sex, though Dante had been so concerned at first that being rough with him would trigger his memories of his abuse.

It wasn't so. Blaine was a lot stronger than Dante had given him credit for. It was Blaine who had demanded Dante to be rough with him, that he could take it and he liked it.

Dante took his hand, leading him across the road and into the stables. Blaine whispered a caution, "Not in front of the horses, Dante. We'll…I don't know, scare them!"

His chuckle was purposely dark as he let go of Blaine's hand and flipped on the light to better see.

The smell of leather only competed with the smell of the horses themselves. Hay, leather, wood, fresh air, all of them served to arouse him more.

The tack room was neat and organized. He credited the ranch hands, as he'd seen firsthand what clutter there was when Harrison himself had been in charge of.

He grabbed some leather straps, a couple horse blankets and a canteen, which he filled with water at the slush sink. "We're going to really test our new home, BB. I seem to recall that with every move we've made, each of our new homes were christened nicely very early on. I do believe we're getting lax in our old age."

"Speak for yourself, Dante Carrillo."

He was older than Blaine by a few years. Blaine was only nineteen when they first fell in love. Being thirty-four, however, he'd only grown more beautiful over the years. Dante was in his forties and tried his best to keep up his appearance for the man he loved.

"Okay, in my old age."

Blaine came up behind him as he screwed the top to the canteen in place. He felt Blaine's arms encircle his waist, felt lips on the back of his neck as his lovely man tried to seduce him. "You're the perfect age, Dante. Always. You're perfect in every single way."

"Ah, the blinding of a man in love."

"Not blind a bit. I see other men, see their eyes on you, and every day I'm reminded of what a beautiful man I was lucky enough to marry."

Dante turned to face Blaine, saw those shining, beautiful eyes that were filled with so much love they almost hid the desire. Knowing him like Dante did, he saw the heat rising that blended with that love. "Into the woods, Blaine."

"The woods," he said as he kissed Dante full-mouthed, licked the underside of Dante's tongue. "We'll go into the woods and my Master will take me and break in this new home of ours, yes?"

"Yes," he said, holding the back of Blaine's head and pressing their mouths roughly together, kissing him deeper, being much more demanding.

The rise of heat between them had never waned. He thought their lust for one another would eventually fade into comfort, a sweet familiarity. That had happened, the familiar, the comfort, but the lust clung, refusing to be put away.

He kissed Blaine with that lust, then grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the stable doors, his bundle under the other arm.

The forest began, trees thick, but still nothing like in the eastern part of the country. Here, in the Rockies, the trees were spaced far enough apart to allow a man to breathe and move while among them. And he found a spot big enough for the encounter early in their walk through those trees.

After flipping a blanket open and laying it on the ground, Dante snapped his fingers then pointed to the blanket. "Kneel there and take off your shirt."

Blaine gracefully moved to his knees, his eyes lowering in respect. God, when he was in submission, there wasn't a more beautiful person in the world.

His back was straight, head high with his pride at kneeling for his Master. Oh, they'd been heavily into the practice of SM, living it all the time at first. That was mostly because of this, the way Blaine looked, the pride radiating off him, the lust, and the joy of his submission.

Work and life had made it so they no longer lived the lifestyle daily, but they didn't neglect their need of it. Blaine needed to be taken from his thoughts, taken from the day to day almost as much as Dante did.

He moved to Blaine and unzipped his pants, extracting his long, thick cock that was almost fully erect and pushed it against Blaine's lips. "Don't open yet."

Blaine's eyes met his as Dante rubbed his precum over Blaine's lips and they were glowing with desire. His breathing was harsh, fast, and loud in the quiet of the forest, with the music and voices from the party now far away from them.

Shining with his precum in the moonlight that barely shone through the trees, Blaine didn't move to lick it from his lips. No, he was an obedient boy, always still until Dante told him to move.

"Good, beautiful Blaine. My boy, my slave."

He knelt to Blaine and started to unbutton Blaine's pants as he kissed the corners of his mouth. "Baby, my sweet baby. Our life is starting over, so fresh, new, in this vast place. I am going to take you on every inch of this property if I have my way."

"Yes, Master," Blaine whispered before Dante fully kissed his mouth.

"Stand and take the rest of your clothes from this perfect body that belongs to me."

"Yes, Master," he said before he stood and began to undress as Dante lay fully on the blanket to watch as each inch Blaine's lower body was revealed.

When his cock was released from his silky black briefs, it bounced lewdly, slapping his lower abdomen. What a lovely whisper of a sound that was, and Dante reached for it grabbing that beautiful pink cock and stroking it slowly, rubbing a thumb over Blaine's slit.

"I want to taste you, Blaine. I want to suck your cock."

Blaine smiled down on him for an instant before he was kneeling, naked. "Anything you want, Master, you know I'll give you."

"Your pain?"

Blaine's face suddenly reddened brightly, and his breathing became even rougher. "Sir, I will take your pain gladly. Anything to please you."

He said it was for Dante's pleasure, but that was where that familiarity came in. Dante knew his husband better than anyone. Thousands of times they'd played together, and each time, pain made Blaine come hard enough to pass out, almost to the point of losing his mind. A regular pain slut–that was his baby.

Leaning on his forearm, Dante took Blaine's cock into a tight grip before licking over the tip, making noises to let Blaine know how much he appreciated the delicate flavor. It was delicious, making Dante's nerves light in anticipation.

As Dante sucked the cock he had felt inside his throat so many times, he smiled inwardly, the breeze that blew across his heated skin felt like a caress. The new place, the new home that they'd have one day soon, Blaine's new smile, it all hit him in the gut in that moment.

Blaine groaned a tense little noise in his throat. A hand reached for him and threaded fingers through Dante's hair, stroking him even as Dante stroked Blaine's dick.

It was the soft before the rough, the moment he could express his love on the warmer side before the heat rose and they were lost in the sharpness. Those were important to Dante, to have a caress before a slap, a kiss before a hard fucking. Never did he want Blaine to forget that everything he did, no matter how painful, was done amid an immeasurable love.

Then, he decided the tenderness was over and he moved to his knees, grabbing Blaine's face in a rough grip, his voice gravelly. "I want to hurt you now. I want to see your perfect skin covered in welts. So beautiful you are when you're in pain, my darling slave."

Blaine, panting, let his eyes roll back and he became limp in Dante's grip.

He pushed him down on the blanket and grabbed his cock, squeezing it, watching Blaine writhe on the blanket. "That's a good slave. Show me how it hurts," he commanded before he unhanded the cock and wrapped his fingers around Blaine's balls, giving them a vicious squeeze.

"Ow, oh, god, Master!"

"Shhh, keep your voice down, BB. You wouldn't want all those people back at the party to know how your husband is hurting you and how you love it. Or do you?"

Blaine's head thrashed side to side, and Dante let go of his balls, slapped his legs closed and told him to spin around to his stomach.

Like his limbs were too heavy, he struggled to do as he was told, but managed it. He lay in one long line of beautiful naked body. The moonlight shone over his pale flesh, showing he had not a blemish, a perfect canvas for him to paint his pain.

The straps were of varying thickness and length, so while Blaine lay patiently, Dante took his time getting to know each, slapping one against his own hand, then another, watching Blaine jump at each crack.

"Just trying them out, Blaine. I want the one that will hurt the most."

The heaviest strap had a buckle on it, one that fit in his hand perfectly. As he slapped it against his hand, he felt that thudding sting, how it resonated up his arm and knew that was the one that he'd use. Tossing the others aside, he ran the strap over his hand while he contemplated the best place to start.

"I want to start a new tradition here, Blaine. Your new safeword is spruce."

"Spruce. Yes, Master!"

Eyeing the rock that was a couple feet in front of Blaine's head, he got a wonderful idea.

Blaine sometimes needed to focus on something as he was in scene. Dante picked up the ten-pound rock, placing it within reach of Blaine's long arms. "This is what you'll hold onto. Do not take your hands from it while I'm whipping you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master, hold the rock."

Blaine stretched out his arms, wrapping his fingers around the gray stone and it was perfect, forcing his head to stay down on the blanket. That would effectively keep his screams muffled.

Kneeling again on the blanket, Dante ran a hand over Blaine's fine ass, two muscled globes that were clenched in anticipation of the beating. "Lay still for me, Blaine. Take my pain. Show me how excited you are that a sex club will be here soon, and I'll take you into each and every private room and torture you until you come."

That sweet trembling began, his ass jiggling with it. That was when Dante said, "I'm going to start. Brace yourself, BB, and know I love you dearly."

"I love you, Dante. Don't hold back," he said, and Dante smiled at the memory.

When they'd first started playing with BDSM, he'd gone very easy, so worried about his former abuse. Blaine took offense to that, and he'd screamed at Dante to stop babying him.

The first crack of the strap was loud, and Blaine screamed into the blanket under his face. Dante's smile grew slowly, and he felt it. It widened a little more with the second crack. The buckle bit into his hand as he held it so tightly, like all the love and lust he felt was causing his grip to tighten around it.

Raising it high, he brought it down swiftly, and that sound turned his blood into fire.

The screams from Blaine lasted another four snaps, his entire body rocking with his crying. Then, like Dante expected, the trembling stopped, the tears dried, and Blaine's face went slack as his head turned to rest on one of his outstretched arms.

Subspace. Dante continued to bring the pain to him so he could continue to fly for another minute or so. Dante's arm was tired, and his strap came down much less brutally until he tossed it with the others and set his hand on the beautiful red stripes on Blaine's ass and legs.

The heat radiating was incredible. Blaine's dreamy smile told its own story. It was beautiful, that face, as Blaine found that peaceful, floaty place that was better than all the drugs in the world. Dante brought him into his arms, laying him over his lap as he cradled him.

"You did so well, BB. You're such a good boy for me. You took my pain so well," he cooed to his husband as Blaine limply held onto Dante's neck.

Dante's lips brushed Blaine's sweaty forehead, then rested his cheek on his hair as he let Blaine come around and begin to cling to him. "Dante?"

"Yes, my love?"

"That really hurt. Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me, BB?"

Blaine's tiny voice was the most precious thing he'd ever heard. "For buying this place just…just to make me happy."

"Oh, my love, don't you know? I would buy the entire world just to see your lovely smile."