“You’re going to have to touch them, you know. If you’re going to be a stable hand,” Adam said, a smile in his voice.
I closed my eyes and replaced the hat on my head to take a moment to disconnect from Luke’s gaze and gather myself. I opened my eyes with renewed intention.
I was the stable hand and Luke was the pony. My job would be to have hands all over these ponyboys, and as much as the responsibility excited me, it challenged me too. I could do this job. And I wouldn’t be a slave to my baser impulses, no matter how much they wanted to rule me at the moment. They—Adam, Kamal, Luke and the rest of the ponyboys—needed me to be professional. And I would be professional if it killed me.
Fake it till you make it.
I took a step forward and regarded Luke with what I hoped was an assessing manner. I tried to pretend Luke was an actual horse in my care and did what I would do if it were so. I placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder and squeezed gently, then ran my hand down Luke’s arm to his wrist, where I circled it as if taking his measure. The man’s skin was warm and covered with a sheen of sweat, but I felt a humming of energy beneath. He was electric.
“How old?” I asked, releasing Luke’s wrist and bending to run a knowledgeable hand slowly up the man’s leg from the top of his boot to his knee.
Luke made a huffing noise and struggled to stay still, exactly like a horse might, and I tried not to smile. Maybe this job wouldn’t be much different after all.
Kamal nodded. “Twenty-eight. Healthy as a h—” His eyes met mine, and he tried not to laugh at his error. “Well, he’s very healthy. A bit too headstrong for his own good, but we’re working on his behaviour.”
I straightened as I moved my hand along Luke’s naked flank to the dusting of soft hair on his belly, where I laid my hand flat and looked upward, meeting Luke’s gaze. I felt the power and the energy contained within this incredible specimen of a young man, and a thrill rushed through me. Luke blinked, eyes wide, and gazed back at me with something like respect. At least for a moment. Then he shook his head and snorted, moving away from my touch and closer to Kamal.
“Easy there, you devil. You’ll stand for him in the grooming barn, or I’ll hear of it and punish you for such bad manners, understand?” Kamal said, the hand on the back of Luke’s neck tightening. “Understand?”
Luke coughed and nodded, his face the caricature of a sulky teen.
“Very good, Jensen,” Adam said. “You have exactly the manner of a perfunctory stable hand the ponyboys enjoy and we demand. The more you can think of them as lesser creatures than yourself, yet still respect them in all the ways they deserve, the better you’ll be.”
Kamal snapped the tip of his crop against Luke’s thigh, very close to where the ponyboy’s penis swelled in its steel cage.
“Getting a bit tight there, Luke? You like our new stable hand.”
Luke whined and shifted his feet, then let his eyes run over me as I felt an electric jolt go through me.
“Oh, shit,” I couldn’t help muttering as my hand instinctively came down to rub against the aching cock in my jeans. I blushed and let my hand fall to the side, embarrassed.
Luke’s chest rose and fell as his eyes pierced mine with obvious interest and white-hot desire.
“Luke’s a little pent-up these days,” Kamal said. “You’ll have to excuse him.”
“Why? He not performing adequately?” Adam asked, looking critically over the blond ponyboy.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Kamal grinned. “I’ve been giving him some motivation in the form of deliberate neglect of certain needs until he gives me what I’m after.”
“I see. An excellent technique.”
“I’ve always had good results with orgasm denial.”
“Except he looks like he wants to fuck our new stable hand into the ground right now.”
“Jesus,” I breathed. “Christ.”
A loud guffaw and a curse word broke the silence. Kamal turned and cracked his bullwhip in one fluid motion. “Enough! I expect you two to be able to stand in silence while I’m otherwise occupied!” he said, boots stomping on the wood floor as he marched over to the others.
“Both of you, turn and place your forelocks to the wall. Spread your legs.” The men were quick to obey. “You’ll wear your tails for the rest of the afternoon. That should help you to remember your manners.”
I glanced at Luke and Adam. Luke watched Kamal with interest as Adam stroked the ponyboy’s blond hair absently. Neither evinced any surprise at Kamal’s declaration.
Kamal threw the whip and the crop to the side and walked to a wooden table set up against the wall of the arena.
“Why not get Jensen to assist you? We’ll see if he can handle the job. We might as well find out now,” Adam said.
Oh hell no. What?
