Bitter Bonds by Lex Valentine Page B

silence.
    “I’m sorry. It was your song. I shouldn’t have interrupted.”
    The hand Jake had stretched out toward Finn descended to his shoulder. The submissive’s skin was cool to the touch, prickled with goose bumps.
“It was beautiful, Finn. Exactly what I was looking for. You don’t have to apologize for helping,” he said softly.
The boy’s head lifted slightly and he cautiously peered over his shoulder at Jake. His expression held fear and an unbearable sadness that made Jake want to wrap his arms around the guy and hold him in a bone crushing hug. Finn turned away again, dipping his head so he could knuckle his eyes.
Jake’s heart broke. The boy loved music so much. The longer he stayed with Jake, the more obvious it became. He hummed when he cleaned the studio and when he did chores in the condo upstairs. He played the piano daily now before dinner and Jake had found sheet after sheet of handwritten music in Finn’s little apartment, on the bed, desk and table. The guy needed to go back to Juilliard. Jake just didn’t know why he resisted the idea.
Finn finally turned and their gazes met. “I thought you would be mad that I took over your song,” he whispered, his expression still agonized.
This time, Jake went with his gut and wrapped his arms around his lover. “You are more than welcome to make music with me any time, Finn. Your talent is amazing.”
The submissive buried his face in Jake’s chest, holding him tightly around the waist. “I’ve never heard anyone with such a beautiful voice. You should be a star, Jake.”
Jake chuckled and ran his hands down Finn’s back, his fingers tracing the nubs of his spine. “That is the pot calling the kettle black.”
Finn started to shake his head in denial but Jake took hold of his chin in one hand. “Your singing leaves something to be desired, but your playing and song writing skills are incomparable. The words you sang fit my song perfectly.” He pulled Finn to his feet and smacked his denim covered ass. “Now, go write down what we played. Words and music both. I know you can do it. You’ve a photographic memory for music. There’s staff paper in the control room.”
He watched the submissive do as he was told, walking into the control room, then sitting down near the board. With his head bent over the paper, Finn wrote rapidly while Jake turned everything off and put away his guitar. By the time he returned to Finn’s side, several sheets of paper held notes and lyrics. Jake took them from him.
“Good boy,” he murmured, the phrase falling automatically from his lips. He hid a wince, but Finn didn’t seem to notice his slip back into dominance.
“Can we do this again?” Finn asked, his pale eyes hopeful.
Jake took him by the hand and led him out of the studio. “Sure. I enjoyed it a lot.” He steered them toward the door to the stairs. “Now, I think it’s time we went back to bed and did something else we both enjoy a lot.”
As they climbed the stairs, Finn glanced back at Jake who noted the eagerness of his lover’s expression. He laughed softly. He’d never in his life indulged in vanilla sex. Now, with Finn, he found himself thinking of it constantly. The silky wetness of Finn’s mouth. The heated clasp of his ass. The bliss of his touch. He had it bad and if he dreamed of taking Finn into his playroom and spanking his pure white buttocks until they glowed a fiery red, no one knew of it. His nightly dream forays into BDSM were a secret. Except that he had the oddest notion that Finn dreamed of the same things. Nine - Jake
    “The boy longs for a collar.”
    Ray’s words pierced Jake straight through the heart. He sipped his cola and watched Finn standing in a corner of the bar talking with Haven and Micah. The three of them were wiping sweat from their brows after spending the last hour burning up the tiny dance floor with their erotic moves. Jake had never seen anything more guaranteed to make a Dom’s dick hard than the