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Part 3
The boy was perfect.
All long, graceful limbs, sinewy without an ounce of fat, slender without seeming frail. Tension kept his muscles tight and firm. His blonde hair was just long enough to grab hard. His skin deeply tanned all over.
But the best thing about him were his eyes. Wide with fear they stared at Shane. But they were not blank with panic. Shane could sense the agile young mind behind them search his face for clues on how to best survive. And behind that fear he could see the fury of a young man who had been bent and twisted but never broken.
He was exactly what Shane wanted. What he needed.
For a long, delicious moment he remained motionless, enjoyed the growing confusion in those wide eyes, enjoyed how their colour shifted from a pale blue to a stormy dark grey. What a wonderful extra treat, he thought.
Then his slave shifted uneasily, unable to stay still and Shane's smirk grew into a wide smile. He nearly laughed when the boy flinched away, averting his gaze, clearly expecting punishment for moving. This was almost too easy.
Shane let go of his chin and straightened up, rolling his shoulders to relief the tension that was plaguing him since he had arrived in Hongkong. Such high exposure jobs still got to him. He entered the inviting twilight of his cottage, breathing in the familiar scent of the mangrove trees, his eyes scanning the main room and finding everything where it was supposed to be.
It felt like coming home.
The rain was softly drumming against then roof, easing his mood from elated happiness to mellow contentedness. Life was good.
He kicked off his expensive shoes and used his toes to strip off the socks as well, leaving them in the doorway right behind his slave who didn't dare turn around to watch what he was doing. His back so tense Shane could count the muscles. Then he padded over to the bar barefoot, enjoying the feeling of warm wood under his feet. His fingers traced the polished wood of the counter before he took a bottle of cold beer from the fridge and settled on a bar stool.
With a satisfied sigh he pressed the icy bottle against his brow, feeling his tension drain away further while his slave was shifting again nervously.
Shane imagined that his tension ran out of him like water and crawled across the floor to seep into the boy, making his skin crawl. It was an amusing thought and he chuckled softly making his slave flinch again.
He opened the bottle and took a long drag, his mind pleasantly empty of tight schedules, carefully laid plans and important calculations. Nothing mattered for a few days. He took his time emptying the bottle, leaned back on the bar stool with one elbow resting on the counter.
A hundred ideas drifted through his mind, mixed with memories of the recent job and past holidays he had spent right here. But like a lazy cat watching a fly he just let them drift by. Only when he had finished his beer did he stir again.
"Have you been taught how to serve a master, Stephen?" he asked into the silence of the room and was awarded with yet another flinch of his slave.
"Yes, master." The answer came a moment later, hesitantly, the voice forcefully held calm.
"And have those lessons included how to do a massage?" Shane continued.
"Yes, master." Firmer this time. More confidently.
Invisible to the slave who still didn't dare face him, Shane smiled. This would be so much fun.
He slipped from the bar stool, walked over to the kneeling slave and removed the leash from his collar. A shudder ran through the boy's body when Shane's fingers touched his neck but otherwise he remained motionless, keeping up the posture of an obedient slave.
Interesting, Shane thought, studying the tense shoulders. From the file he wouldn't have expected the boy to be so well behaved. He was definitely not drugged into obedience, his eyes were too clear for that. So either he had been very thoroughly cowed in preparation for his new master - which Shane doubted as the Silver Beach staff knew perfectly well he liked his slaves rebellious. Or his survival instinct had teamed up with his intelligence and told him that he wouldn't survive a single day with a master like Shane if he didn't duck.
If Shane had been here for an extended stay he would have preferred a more difficult slave but as he only had four days this speed up in the game he played with his slaves was perfect - like everything at Silver Beach.
Again rolling his shoulders, Shane walked over to the bed, stripping off his shirt on the way and dropping it on the floor carelessly. After all it wasn't him who had to keep the place tidy. He stretched out on the bed on his stomach, resting his head on his crossed arms.
"Come here and work out the knots in my shoulders, Stephen." he ordered without another glance at his slave.
He heard how the boy got to his feet slowly, his first steps towards the bed slow and almost clumsy as if he was stiff from kneeling. A slave who had not mastered the art of kneeling - an interesting fact to keep in mind, Shane thought. Then his naked feet padded across the floor almost soundlessly. Not silent enough for Shane not to hear, he noted with satisfaction. So he didn't have to worry about the boy ever sneaking up on him. Of course he planned to make sure that very soon Stephen wouldn't want to harm his master at any cost. But for the first few hours being careful didn't hurt. Actually - being careful never hurt. With his senses trained to put him in full alertness should any danger even in his sleep, Shane was feeling safe.
Then the boy climbed onto the bed and, after another moment of hesitation, slowly settled on Shane's lower back to give his master the massage he had ordered.
Through his pants Shane could feel the delicious heat of the slave's body. For a moment he hoped Stephen would do something foolish and try to attack him in some way. It would be funny to show the boy just how helpless he was at the mercy of his new master.
But then Stephen's hands settled on his shoulders, skilled fingers running over skin, mapping Shane's muscles. It amused Shane that the boy didn't show any curiosity at the scars his back showed. A share of the fights he had been in when he was younger had left their marks on him. Instead the slave only took a short while to find the knotted tension at the base of his new master's neck and he started to work on it.
"When you are done with the massage I will likely be asleep." Shane announced, slightly muffled by the fact that his face was resting on his arms. "When my luggage arrives, unpack the large leather bag and put the suitcase under the bed. I want a light dinner. Fish would be nice. And champagne. Wake me at sundown. Understood?"
He could almost feel how Stephen tried to process the fact that he had so far not been threatened in any way and that he was now put to work on quite sensible tasks. He was confused and that was just like Shane wanted him. For now.
"Yes, master." The boy acknowledged his orders.
"Good." With a relaxed sigh Shane closed his eyes, his sole interest for the moment enjoying the touch of his slave's fingers.
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Giving a massage was one of the things Stephen loathed less in serving a master than many other things he had been forced to learn. It wasn't anything he would ever have bothered to learn if he had had a choice but it wasn't too degrading either.
It was definitely not what he would have expected to be doing at this point in time. He had expected his master to be a nasty middle aged to old man, only interested in hurting and fucking him. This cool, controlled young man he wasn't sure how to deal with.
He had sworn to himself that he would obey, no matter how hard it would be or what vile tasks his master heaped on him to survive and disappoint his master's expectations of an unruly slave. But so far this man had not asked anything Stephen was hard pressed to deliver and he had been firm but almost polite in his orders - considering he was talking to his slave.
He is just toying with you, the dark voice in the back of his head warned Stephen, but the young slave found himself slowly relaxing as the body of his master relaxed as well. The more his master drifted off into sleep the more Stephen's tension lessened. Maybe he was being toyed with but at least he wasn't in immediate danger of being beaten and killed. And that was a lot better than he had hoped for.
He watched how his fingers traced the lines of lean muscles in is master's shoulders. The man was in top condition. Stephen wondered if he was in some kind of combat training with the many scars crossing his back. Some seemed to be from cuts, other had the distinct shape of bullet holes. This man was probably pretty dangerous, Stephen realized. He didn't feel any inclination to test the theory.
Maybe he's not such a bad guy, he tried to convince himself. Maybe I'll actually be better off with him than here at the Resort. Maybe I'll get used to serving someone who's not a complete asshole. Maybe things will turn out well after all.
Yeah, the dark voice answered. That is why he asked for a rebellious slave like you. That's why you are naked.
So maybe he wants to fuck me, Stephen argued back. So? It had to happen eventually. Maybe it want be all bad. And even if, maybe I can put up with it in exchange for not going back to the training grounds. Or getting killed.
The dark voice remained ominously as if she was not voicing her terrible suspicions to let him find out for himself.
Stephen ran his hands over his master's back one last time to make sure he had not overlooked any knotted muscles. Then he slipped off the man and the bed with a soundless sigh, settling in a crouch next to the bed that would have had his trainers in a fit for the lack of grace and subservience.
He hated being a slave. Hated everything single thing about it. Whatever his master turned out be - kind or cruel - nothing would change that fact. But if nothing else the training at Silver Beach had taught him how to silence his own feelings. To be a thing, dead inside. Somehow he would make it through his alive.
With a last glance at his sleeping master he went outside to wait for the slave who would deliver the luggage. Maybe he would be able to glean more hints about his master from the items he carried with him. That would help a lot in figuring out how to best survive him.
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go to PART 4