The Heart of the Matter

Title: THE HEART OF THE MATTER
Author: P Nelson
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 205
Genre: Erotic Romance/BDSM

Eric Danvers thought he had found the perfect submissive before she was swept right out of his arms.

Now pining after the one woman he can’t have, Master Eric finds himself stuck in a gruelling cycle of emotional torture that has nothing to do with his BDSM lifestyle. Just as he was about to take a hiatus from The Cage and the lifestyle altogether, Master Eric is asked to take on the role of training Dom for one of the new subs. Rather than agreeing, he’s coerced into the role and finds there’s more to his new training sub than meets the eye.

Elizabeth Williams is a sub on a mission.

Elizabeth Williams has read every single book on BDSM she can get her hands on, and she feels as if this is the lifestyle for her. After saving up for an entire year and working an extra job, she finally had enough money to enter the couples training program at the most exclusive BDSM club in Vancouver. Unfortunately, as soon as Elizabeth and her boyfriend are accepted, he decides that he wants a different sub. Elizabeth decides not to let go of her dream and enters the submissive training program.

Master Eric soon finds that Elizabeth Williams may be more sub than he can handle. He loves her brattiness, but he knows it hides a pool of inner hurt that cried out to his Dom instincts to heal. Elizabeth falls for Mater Eric as soon as she meets him and really believes she cannot help her brattiness. She wants to give him her true submission, but she might not be able to set aside her past hurts to move on. Read the story of Master Eric and Elizabeth in The Heart of the Matter.

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Eric sat on a stool at the bar of his former favourite place in the world. The sound of whips, hands meetings fleshy backsides along with the moans and groans of sex used to relax and centre him. Now
,it was just a reminder of what he wanted but couldn’t quite seem to reach. He took another pull from the beer bottle and surveyed the crowd, looking for the couple he most wanted to watch scene. Eric knew it was perverse, but if he couldn’t have Lilith, then he didn’t mind being their third wheel.

            “Master Eric.” The cheery voice of the resident shrink Calla Jones buzzed in his ear.
Eric didn’t need a shrink to tell him what his problems were. He already
knew he was straight
-up fucked.

            “Calla, can I just ask you to go away
,and you will like a good sub?” Eric asked as his eyes slid over the petite blond. She was wearing short leather boy shorts, but instead of fetware on the top she wore a
T-shirt that read DM.

            “Not a sub tonight
,Master Eric.” Calla smiled and pointed at her shirt. “I’m a dungeon monitor
,and I need to get through some club business while I’m at it.”

            “Don’t let me keep you.” Eric contemplated the last bit of beer and wondered
whether he should even bother ordering his second beer. He could have
only two drinks at the club. If he wanted to get really wasted, Eric would have to either go home or find another bar.

            Instead of moving away, Calla pulled out the stool next to him and sat down. Eric groaned and wondered
whether he could make a hasty retreat before she opened her mouth. It wasn’t very Dom
-like, but at this exact moment, he really didn’t care.

            “Master Eric, the club needs you to step up.” Calla’s voice had gone from cheery sub to serious shrink in less than a heartbeat.

            “You know I
’d do anything for the club,” Eric replied slowly
becausehe had a fairly good idea of where this was going. Even though he would do anything for the club, there was something he wasn’t willing to commit to right now.

            “Good. Master Gaige has decided not to train any more subs. He wants to focus all his attention on his new permanent sub Lilith,” Calla explained what Eric already knew.

            “Yes, I
’m aware of their situation,” Eric
’s voicegrated out. Unfortunately, he was too aware of their relationship. Eric was Lilith’s boss
,and he had waited months to introduce the obvious natural sub to the lifestyle, but another Dom had pipped him at the post. It was galling to know he had been half in love with Lilith all that time
,and now the only time he got to scene with her was in the company of the Dom she obviously loved.

            Calla’s face softened slightly as she looked at him. “We need another Dom to help out with the training. There
’s a girl who
’s ready to start in the next week
,and I had her lined up for Master Gaige, but I think you
’ll suit her much better.”

            “Listen
,Calla
…” Eric began thinking that normally in the kink world he didn’t have to make excuses. He was a Dom and whatever he said was unquestioned by subs and other Doms. Unfortunately, this was Calla in shrink mode and that made things much more difficult. “I’m not really in the mood to spank virgin ass
right now. Can’t the twins do it?”

            They both looked towards the dungeon floor where two stacked Doms wearing the requisite leather pants were watching a demonstration by the owner of The Cage
,Master Flynn. He was using a
six-foot single tail whip to punish a sub tied to a St Andrews
Cross. By the look on the sub
’s face, she was enjoying every minute of it.

            “They
’re not twins,” Calla’s voice had become brusque at the sight of Master Flynn
,“
as you are well aware. And it’s the middle of the hockey season. With their out
-of
-town schedule
,neither of them has time to take on a full
-time sub
, let alone commit to a thirty
-day training program.”

            Eric glanced around the club, looking for anyone who could give him a way out of this situation. He spotted a Dom working a girl over with a sadistic
glee. She was screaming around her ball gag as he placed punishing blows all over her body. “What about Master Keith?”

            Calla gave him a look
as if he
were out of his mind. “Are you kidding me? I can’t give a newbie sub over to the resident sadist. What the hell are you thinking?”

            “I’m thinking you owe me ten for using a swear word.” Eric felt good for the first time that night. He was a man who liked to give out punishments normally.

            “When was the last time you had a scene that didn’t involve Lilith and Master Gaige?” Lilith asked bluntly.

            “I don’t have to answer that question
,Calla.” Eric’s voice had grown hard. He wasn’t mad, more embarrassed.

            “You haven’t played with anyone at the club in months, so unless you
’re doing scenes outside the club
,the answer is you haven’t played with any subs except for Lilith.” Calla held up her hand when Eric opened his mouth to speak. “I get it, I really do. You wanted to bring Lilith into the fold, but it didn’t work out that way. You have to move on before it starts affecting her relationship with Master Gaige. After everything she
’s been through, Lilith deserves happiness.”

            “I know that
,dammit.” Eric didn’t normally lose his patience, but he felt
as if he
were on edge.

            “Good, the sub’s name is Elizabeth Williams
;she is a total newbie to the lifestyle. Elizabeth was supposed to start the couples training last week, but at the last minute her boyfriend, and would
-be Dom, pulled out on her. So now, they
’re doing the training separately.” Calla explained.

            “Why did he pull out?” Eric was curious about this girl even though he hadn’t met her.

            “Neither of them said.” Calla’s voice was casual, but years of reading women’s emotions in the lifestyle alerted Eric
thatCalla was not completely honest. “Listen, she’s a great girl. Ready for a big lifestyle adventure. S
he has a lot of energy and is super
-curious about everything. My analysis leads me to believe Elizabeth will be a brat of the highest order
,and she
’s going to need a Dom with a very firm hand.”

            “I have a firm hand,” Eric said absently as he thought about Jane. He needed to get his head back in the game. Why not do it with a curious tourist? Eric could go back over the basics of the BDSM lifestyle and get his mojo back. At the end of the thirty days
,they would go their separate ways. No fuss, no muss.

            “Yes
,you do
,Master Eric,” Calla replied watching him intently. She didn’t say anything else letting him come to his own decisions.

            “I’ll do it.” Eric watched Calla’s face light up. “On one condition.”

            Calla scowled at Eric. “What condition?”

            “You find someone else for the next training sub. I don’t mind taking one on every once
in a
while, but I’m not going permanent like Master Gaige.” Eric was serious. He didn’t want to be stuck with all the newbies.

            “Deal, but you know we don’t get a lot of tourists through The Cage anyway.” Calla seemed happy with his decision. “I
’ll forward your details on to her
,and the two of you can meet out in the mundane world.”

            “Fine.” Eric eyed Calla as she stood up, getting ready to leave. “Where are you going
, Calla? You owe me ten.” She appeared to struggle with the command for a second before demurely lowering her gaze.

            “Where do you want me
,Master Eric?”
she asked.

            “Pull your shorts down to your ankles, lean over and rest your hands on the bar.” Eric felt a surge of satisfaction go through him as Calla immediately did as he requested. Going into the bag at his feet, Eric unzipped his kit and looked through it until he found what he was looking for.

            “What
’s your safe word
, Calla?” Eric asked as he tested the weight of the paddle in his hand. It felt good to have an instrument of torture ready to use.

            “Red
,sir,” Lilith answered immediately.

            “Good girl.” Eric reached up and pushed the
T-shirt away from Calla’s ass to reveal the small of her back. Calla was a good-looking woman, but she needed a little more meat on her bones for Eric’s liking. “It’s a count of ten. This is a punishment, so I want to hear you count out.”

            “Yes
,sir.” Calla’s voice had become breathless in anticipation of Eric lighting her ass up.

            “Good girl.” Eric lined the paddle up with the fleshy part of her ass and struck. The sound of the paddle hitting her ass made his balls tighten and his dick harden.

            “One.” Calla breathed out.

            The next few smacks came in rapid succession, landing just after Calla’s count. Hearing her breathy voice, seeing the way her body responded to his paddle brought Eric the kind of peace he had search
edfor these past few weeks. He was finally out of
his head and in his Dom space, working over a woman who was committed to this small scene with him.

            “Ten.” Calla sighed and her head sagged between her outstretched arms.

            “Good girl
,Calla.” Eric’s voice was rough. “You took your punishment like a good sub. Do you want to be rewarded?”

            “I think I can handle that.” The voice of The Cage’s resident porn star said from beside him. Eric knew that Calla had been playing with Master Dillon and his protégé Master Mason for the past few months. Calla wasn’t wearing either of their collars, but Eric felt himself step back emotionally and physically.

            “Of course
,Master Dillon.” Eric relinquished his rights to aftercare to Master Dillon who inspected his
handiwork on Calla’s ass. He rubbed the red stinging flesh
,and Calla whimpered in response.

            “This is very nice work
,Master Eric.” Master Dillon commented in a matter
-of fact
-tone. Normally
,the guy was full of sarcastic comments, but tonight he appeared to be serious.

            “Thank you
,Master Dillon.” Eric took out some cleansing wipes and used them on his paddle before he put it back into his kit bag. Eric watched as Master Dillon leaned over Calla and said something in her ear. She nodded and stood up with a slight wobble. Master Dillon helped her pull her boy shorts back up and signalled for Master Mason to come over.

            “Why don’t you administer a little aftercare to Calla
,Master Mason?” Master Dillon addressed Master Mason as he approached. A grin spread across the other man’s face
,and he picked Calla up and held her to his chest.

            “No problem
,Master Dillon.” Master Mason nodded to Dillon before doing the same to Eric. “Have a good night
,Master Eric.”

            Before he strode away
,Calla’s voice called out
, “Don’t forget to watch for Jane’s phone call.”

            “I won’t.” Eric accepted the reminder. He was looking forward to meeting this new sub and seeing where the next month took them.

            “You taking on a new sub?” Dillon asked Eric with a frown.

            “Yup. A training sub,” Eric replied
,and Dillon frowned harder. “What?” Eric was starting to get worried over Dillon’s reaction.

            “Tricky business, training new subs,” Dillon remarked as his gaze caught something that looked interesting. Eric followed where he was looking and spotted Lilith and Gaige approaching a St Andrews Cross. His heart clenched at the sight. “You don’t want to end up like them, having to scene with one sub for the rest of your life.” Dillon’s voice took on a tone of sympathy.

            Eric thought about only playing with Lilith for the rest of his life and believed it wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. But he was looking forward to meeting Elizabeth and working out some of his demons.

P Nelson has just started her journey in Erotic Romance this year with her debut novel Take My hand. The Rehabilitation of Master Dillon is a prequel novel to Take My Hand focusing on the character of Master Dillon. Nelson calls Vancouver her hometown and is married with one young daughter. At 6.00pm most days she can be found with a G&T in one hand and either her daughter or a good book in the other.

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