Bitter Bonds by Lex Valentine

caressing his naked body, making him yearn for something he couldn’t put his finger on. He struggled to open his eyes, to see where the music came from, who made it. Fingers brushed his face. Lips touched his lightly, leaving the taste of lust and something more behind. His heart began to race.
    Finn. The name floated in his mind and he identified it with the touches and kisses that made him ache. God. He loved the boy so damned much but he had no idea what to do about it. Fear wrapped around him, binding him more strongly than cuffs or stocks or chains. As Finn’s touch left him he cried out, hands reaching for the man he loved.
With an effort, he lifted his eyelids. He stood in the bar at Darkness. On either side of him Gavin and Kellen stood with heads bent, their whispers filling his ears with things he didn’t want to hear. Before him stood Micah and Haven, flanking a grand piano where Finn sat, playing the beautiful music that filled him with happiness. The boy glowed with a silvery white light, his head bent over the piano keys. He wore only tight black leather trousers and boots and his pale skin gleamed in the low light of the bar. Silky strands of white blond hair fell over his face, obscuring his features from Jake’s gaze.
Micah and Haven leaned over Finn, whispering in his ears. He stopped playing and Jake’s soul ached at the loss. Finn stared off into the distance, his entire being focused on something out of Jake’s range of vision, something both Micah and Haven pointed out to their friend.
“You’re going to lose him.” Kellen’s whisper sent a shudder through Jake.
“He needs a collar, a Dominant to control him.” Gavin’s hiss filled Jake’s other ear. “If you can’t give him what he needs, he’ll find it elsewhere.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Jake. Don’t lose him.”
Jake drew a deep breath and tried to take a step forward. An invisible hand in the center of his chest held him back. He struggled, trying to get free, trying to get to Finn. As he looked on a tall man, almost too beautiful to be a Dominant, came up to Finn. Haven and Micah stepped back. Finn stared up at the man who held out a glittering silver collar. He stood and the man smiled at him. Finn returned the smile and knelt, his movements graceful.
Pain began to radiate through Jake’s body and he struggled to move, but couldn’t. As he watched, terror ripping through him, the Dominant put the expensive collar around Finn’s neck and closed the clasp with a padlock. Soft hand claps came as he pulled Finn to his feet, tossed the key to the padlock into a trash receptacle and enveloped Finn in a crushing embrace meant to warn all Dominants that this was his sub to love and protect.
Finn allowed the Dominant to lead him away and even though Jake called after him, screaming and pleading with the submissive, he never looked back. Ears ringing, head woozy, Jake stared at the door Finn disappeared through. Finn had never once looked at him and despite his desperate pleas, Finn hadn’t looked back. Jake’s heart broke into a million pieces.
With a strangled yell, Jake sat up in bed. His heart raced and his breath came in painful gasps. He stared around his bedroom at the cabin, trying to get a grip on his panicked emotions. Rubbing the center of his chest to ease the ache in his heart, Jake swung his feet to the floor. Head hanging, he gazed sightlessly at the braided rug beneath his bare feet, his mind filled with the dregs of the dream.
In all his life, Jake had never been more sure of anything than he was about his feelings for Finn. The music he could live without. He’d already decided that being a rock star had been the dream of his twenties. It wasn’t the dream of his thirties. Now, he wanted peace, love and happiness. He needed companionship and contentment. He wanted to feel loved and needed and he wanted to know that the person he loved and needed returned his emotions full force. Building a home and a life