{"id":1097,"date":"2021-02-09T05:36:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T00:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2023-01-22T21:49:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T16:49:12","slug":"before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/before\/","title":{"rendered":"Before"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Timewise, Before is a prequel to the Ever After series, but if you plan to read the series, it’s probably best to read this story last. If you don’t plan to read the series, you can enjoy this as a standalone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the people watching your scene were more interesting than the scene itself, you had a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie was in one of his all-time favorite positions\u2014arms and legs spread wide across the X of a St. Andrew\u2019s cross, his wrists and ankles anchored to the unyielding wood, his stomach flat against the beams supporting him, the concrete floor cool under his feet, and his back bared to the whip\u2014but he was bored. Not quite Big Bang Theory re-runs bored, but nearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019d saved up for this trip too, painstakingly accumulating the funds to pay for a guest pass to the exclusive Manhattan BDSM club and an outfit worthy of being seen there. And then he\u2019d blown it all by picking the wrong partner to play with, jumping at the first person who offered to string him up because holy hell, he wanted to be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just not like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was all right, the Domme who\u2019d offered to play with him. Safe, sane, consensual. All of that. Pretty to look at too, though her allure was mostly in the whip she\u2019d worn around her neck, its ends dripping down into her d\u00e9colletage. She\u2019d caught him staring, and he hadn\u2019t wanted to knock her self-confidence back by explaining that it wasn\u2019t her breasts he\u2019d been staring at. Then one thing had led to another and now he was on a St. Andrew\u2019s cross with her whip whistling through the air to strike against his back like\u2026 like a wet noodle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first he\u2019d hoped she was just warming him up, that harder strokes were coming, but even when he\u2019d prompted a little\u2014topping from the bottom, though he knew better\u2014the lashings hadn\u2019t gotten any harder. She thought<\/em> she was being ruthless. There was a lot of good talk about bracing himself and how well he was taking it, about how pretty his skin looked cross-hatched with red stripes, but did he even have red stripes? He sure as hell couldn\u2019t feel any. And that was what he wanted\u2014to feel<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he people-watched as he counted\u2014ten, Mistress, thank you, Mistress\u2014and wondered how soon he could get down and if it would be too greedy of him to try again, to search out another top to play with. Someone more\u2026 more like him<\/em>. Holy hell, that guy was good-looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJamie,\u201d the Domme prompted when he forgot to thank her for her last stripe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shit. What number had they been on? He\u2019d been completely thrown off by those hot, dark eyes and the man they belonged to. Tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair cut short and a terracotta complexion, like the sun had baked him into hardness. He stood perfectly upright, dressed in a black cotton shirt that laced at the neck and black leather pants that laced at the crotch. Jamie wanted to unlace him from head to toe and then lick him from head to toe, and if that guy wasn\u2019t a Dom, Jamie would hand in his sub card, because he\u2019d never seen anyone more perfectly possessed, more thoroughly commanding. And alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cCan you give me a color?\u201d the Domme asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie wanted to tell her to go away. He belonged to that<\/em> guy now. But he pulled himself together. He had an obligation to his partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d he told her. \u201cI just forgot what number we were on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, drifting into subspace, were you?\u201d She stroked the hair out of his eyes, somehow believing he could\u2019ve reached subspace as a result of that short and ineffectual beating. The Dom with the coal-black eyes sure didn\u2019t believe it. He suppressed a smirk as he turned his head away from the scene like he\u2019d lost interest in it. Jamie tugged at his bonds, yearning to be free so he could get over there and drop at the man\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still need a color,\u201d the Domme said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie hesitated. He was as green as green could be if green meant capable of taking more, but completely red if red meant wanting the hell out of the scene. Would the handsome Dom think he was too much of a lightweight if he called red over a few half-hearted licks with a carriage whip?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYellow?\u201d he tried. \u201cI mean, I could take more if you want, but I\u2019m kind of ready to just zone out, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSweet thing.\u201d She touched his cheek, and he resisted the urge to flinch away. \u201cYou\u2019ve taken so much already.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if. But Jamie kept his sarcastic thoughts to himself, not wanting to do anything that might mark him as undesirable. Because as soon as he could get away from the nice Domme with the deep d\u00e9colletage, he was going back for round two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie prowled across the club floor, looking for the one who\u2019d gotten away. The Dom had been right there a minute ago, watching a bondage demonstration going on nearby but turning now and then in the direction of the bench where Jamie was being served juice by his scene partner. He had let her minister to him because he didn\u2019t want to be rude. She deserved some aftercare even if he didn\u2019t need it. But now he was cursing every unnecessary minute because at some point the sexy Dom had wandered off, and now Jamie couldn\u2019t find him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone was dressed in black, and though his target was tall, he wasn\u2019t tall enough to pick out of a crowd. When they\u2019d been close enough to make eye contact, the Dom had stood out like the only three-dimensional object in a two-dimensional world, but now he was just one more person in a crowded building. Unless, God forbid, he\u2019d left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey.\u201d Jamie flagged down his friend Ben when they passed each other on one of his urgent circuits around the space. \u201cI\u2019m looking for someone. About this tall, dark hair, dark eyes, looked like he might be Middle Eastern. Really, really good posture and just\u2014\u200d\u201d Jamie shuddered. \u201cJust the whole package.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSyed Denir,\u201d Ben said without a moment\u2019s hesitation. \u201cOut of your league.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat do you mean out of my league? I\u2019m a pain slut. I can handle anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean he\u2019s rich. An investment banker or something. Lives in one of those high rises overlooking Central Park. Everyone wants Syed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd?\u201d Jamie challenged. Everyone wanted him. Did that mean Jamie couldn\u2019t have him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019re an actor whose best-known work was for the sandwich shop on 10th<\/sup>. Mmmmm,\u201d Ben said as he mimicked holding a gigantic sandwich up to his face. \u201cAlthough, come to think of it, swallowing might be the kind of skill he\u2019s in the market for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s gay?\u201d Jamie might literally cry if he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, he\u2019s gay, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOut of my league. I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo offense, sugar bear. You know I love you.\u201d Ben tried to pull him into a hug, but Jamie held him off. And that was when he saw him. Syed Denir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie didn\u2019t care where the guy lived or what he did for a living or how much money he had. He just wanted that arm giving him the workover he\u2019d come here for, wanted to see how unrelenting those dark eyes could be, wanted the intensity of Syed\u2019s attention. Just for tonight. Not for forever. Why couldn\u2019t he have that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to ask him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to ask<\/em> him. That\u2019s not how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Jamie was already walking away. He\u2019d attracted Syed\u2019s attention before. He could do it again. Syed wheeled around just as he got there, as if he\u2019d heard him coming, though Jamie\u2019s bare feet couldn\u2019t possibly make a sound loud enough to be heard over the buzz of the crowd. Syed\u2019s eyebrows quirked when Jamie strolled right on up to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m Jamie.\u201d He held out his hand and Syed took it with a grip that was firm and warm and exactly perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSyed. I was watching you on the cross earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou looked like you were enjoying yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid I?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syed smiled, his white teeth bursting brightly out of his darker skin. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want a do-over. I want you.\u201d He put his hands on Syed\u2019s upper arms, letting them rest lightly on the muscle there. \u201cI want these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t take much muscle to swing a whip hard enough to hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot if you\u2019re willing to hurt.\u201d The challenge earned him another smile. \u201cShe didn\u2019t hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syed made a circular motion with his finger, and Jamie spun around to show him his back. Syed\u2019s hand roamed over the marks the Domme had left. Jamie could feel them now with Syed strumming them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not enough,\u201d he blurted out, afraid Syed would say he\u2019d already had too much for one night. \u201cI\u2019m kind of a pain slut, see?\u201d He cranked his head around to watch Syed trace the red stripes crossing his back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd a brat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeventy percent pain slut, thirty percent brat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake it twenty percent brat and you\u2019ve got a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, sir. Anything, sir. I\u2019ve never approached a Dom before, I swear. I just\u2026 I want you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen you\u2019ll have to show me how much.\u201d Syed stepped closer, so that the fabric of his shirt brushed over the skin of Jamie\u2019s lightly worked back. \u201cAnd I want you naked. A body like this\u2026 I need to see it.\u201d He stroked over Jamie\u2019s hip to dip below his waist. \u201cYou\u2019re already hard for me, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie nodded, his mouth too dry for words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen I told you what you have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naked. Needy. Those were the things Syed required of him, and Jamie had no problem delivering either. He stripped off his pants as fast as the tight leather allowed, then dropped to his knees at Syed\u2019s feet, letting the way his cock stood at attention between his thighs speak to his desire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syed walked around him, prowling in a slow circle as Jamie held his tongue and his breath. He wanted this, wanted it so bad. And if he was worthy of it, Syed would give it to him. Syed put a hand under his chin and Jamie looked up past the bulge in Syed\u2019s pants to meet the eyes that had made him promises he needed to have kept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooks like you\u2019ve got a date with a whip.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Andrew\u2019s Cross, Take Two. No one was bored this time. They\u2019d drawn spectators\u2014not surprising with the way Syed could crack that whip\u2014but Jamie wasn\u2019t looking at them. He was too busy thrashing within the security of his bonds, alternately arching into the whip and wincing away from it as Syed laid down one perfect strike after another, his cultured baritone calling out numbers with brutal precision. One, two, ten, twelve, sixteen. How many had he taken? How many more could he take? All he knew was that he never wanted it to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweat and hair dripped into his eyes as he tossed his head to the rhythm of his moans. Nothing was real except Syed and the whip. The pain and the man who delivered it. The crack of air as the whip came forward and the hot line of fire it left behind. He wasn\u2019t even in the room anymore, was somewhere else where it was only him and Syed, and Syed\u2019s whip was like his hands\u2014caressing, punishing\u2014and his hands were like a whip\u2014hard but necessary\u2014and his voice said words, only now the words weren\u2019t numbers. They called him back to a consciousness he hadn\u2019t been aware he\u2019d left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere you go,\u201d Syed said when Jamie blinked his eyes open. \u201cHave a bit of water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie didn\u2019t want water. He wanted Syed to go on saying the things he\u2019d been saying while Jamie had been too deep in subspace to catalogue them, but Jamie had promised to be no more than twenty percent brat, so he accepted the bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m good,\u201d he said when he\u2019d drunk as much as he could handle. Syed took the bottle from him and hitched him up, resettling him in his lap, which Jamie realized was where he was. Not out on the floor, but in a curtained-off nook. Quiet and private. He nuzzled into the soft cotton of Syed\u2019s shirt, vaguely wondering where his pants had gone. His cock had deflated while he\u2019d been floating through subspace, but it surged back up now. He was naked in Syed\u2019s lap. They\u2019d had a scene. A good scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid I do okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou were magnificent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo were you.\u201d Magnificent. There was no other way to describe it. He\u2019d floated so high, gone so deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the idea of you getting on the subway in this state. I have a car here. Let me drop you off at your place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That wasn\u2019t the offer Jamie had been hoping for. Remembering that he had permission to be twenty percent brat, he twisted in Syed\u2019s embrace until he was straddling him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be more private if we went to your place.\u201d He walked flirtatious fingers up Syed\u2019s chest while peering through his lashes with his best fuck-me eyes. Syed lived near Central Park, probably alone, while Jamie shared a squalid one-bedroom in Tribeca with a roommate. But maybe Syed didn\u2019t date plebes like him. Maybe Syed didn\u2019t even fuck<\/em> plebes like him. He had his head tilted like he was considering Jamie\u2019s proposal way too hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou were with a woman earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was with a whip<\/em> earlier. An arm\u2019s an arm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve proven otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had, but Jamie wouldn\u2019t mind having it proven to him again. Over and over on a regular basis. He squealed when Syed rose with him clamped tight in his arms. Syed shouldered his way through the curtain shielding their nook, carrying Jamie straight for the front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUm, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, Jamie?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to have pants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syed laughed, a deep and hearty sound that promised more than sex. They were perfect for each other. Jamie already knew it. And he was going to spend the rest of his life making sure Syed knew it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~The End~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before<\/em> is a prequel to the Ever After series, which starts with Aftercare<\/a>, but if you haven\u2019t already read the Ever After series, please be aware that the happy ending Jamie and Syed have found here doesn\u2019t last forever. Read the blurb before purchasing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

Make sure you never miss a new free story by signing up for my newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/a>   \"Cover<\/a>   \"Cover<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before there was Casey and Brooks, before there was Syed and Dashiell, before there was Garrett and Aayan, there was Jamie and Syed. This is the story of how Jamie met Syed and the scene that started at all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,6],"tags":[26,18,19],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bdsm","category-mm","category-outtakes-epilogues","tag-impact","tag-male-dom","tag-male-sub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1220,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/1220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanyachris.com\/freestories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}