“Even Amber?”
“They basically abandoned us,” he said, a bitter anger in his words. “We never saw her or her family outside of holidays anyway, and Dad stopped taking us after Mom died.”
“Is that when he started drinking?” Vincent was starting to piece together a better picture of Jasper’s life before now, and it was worse than he’d initially thought.
“Yeah,” he whispered, his fingers limp in Vincent’s grasp.
Vincent stroked his own against them before lifting Jasper’s hand to brush his lips across his knuckles, then he pulled out his earbuds and his phone to connect to the Wi-Fi and let Jasper pick a show to watch. They spent the flight watching the new Star Wars series, only getting through most of the second episode before they landed.
They made a quick restroom stop, then found their bags and the car rental counter, and by the time they got loaded up, it was lunchtime. “It’s about an hour drive from here. Hungry?”
Jasper sank into the passenger seat with a wrinkle of his nose. “I can wait until we get there.”
Vincent gave him a dubious look. “Why don’t we stop and get a snack at least.” He found the nearest gas station, got them set with drinks and snacks, and put in the address for the cabins. Jasper was asleep before they made it out of the city, which wasn’t surprising considering the ungodly hour they’d been up at. He used the chance to call Zach.
“Oh? Two calls in as many weeks? Don’t I feel special,” Zach answered.
“Careful, I might start to believe you actually miss talking to me,” Vincent replied dryly.
Zach snorted. “Oh, the horror. You on the way, then?”
“Just got on the road. When were you wanting to do dinner?”
“I figured you’d want to settle in and enjoy your new sub first. Get all those pent-up kinky itches scratched properly. How’s Wednesday or Thursday sound?”
“Works for me.”
“Great. Don’t bother with stopping by the office. I’ll go unlock the cabin before you get here and leave the key and paperwork there. Make sure to read and sign everything,” Zach said, stressing the last bit in a serious yet pleading tone. “It’s the second left after the office. It’ll have the green porch.”
“Aww, preferential treatment? For me?”
“You’re right. I’ll have to leave a little special something on your pillow to balance that out.”
“Don’t you dare,” Vincent growled, but the call disconnected before he even got the words out. He muttered under his breath and questioned whatever life decisions he’d made that meant most of his friends were brats or dicks.
The drive passed in silence, and he used the time to center himself and consider the different scenes he had in mind. To move his focus from work and everyday tasks to being the Dom Jasper needed and deserved for the next two weeks.
THE CITYfell away around them, slowly replaced with the large trees of deep woods. Eventually Vincent spotted the sign advertising the cabin exit in five miles. A completely unassuming wooden sign with fancy script, only the coiled loop of rope hooked over one corner giving any indication of the type of clientele they catered to.
He took the exit and followed the road to a small office building with a Welcome to Evergreen Escape sign out front. He continued on, following Zach’s instructions until he found the cabin with the green porch and parked. Then he reached over and gently shook Jasper’s shoulder. “Jas, wake up. We’re here.”
Jasper stirred with a groaned protest before jolting upright, somehow going from dead asleep to excited in point five seconds. He stared at the cabin with wide eyes before hopping out and up the few steps to get inside the cabin before Vincent could even turn the car off.
He shook his head and got the bags, then dumped them inside the door before turning and taking in the mix of rustic log cabin and modern design. The main floor was divided by a large sofa and wall-mounted TV to the left and dining table to the right, a doorway leading to the kitchen beyond it. Stairs near the far wall led up to a loft, where he could see the king-size bed to the right and a walled-off section he assumed was the bathroom on the left.
Since he didn’t see Jasper anywhere, he headed down the hall and found him standing inside the playroom. He let out a low whistle at the size of it. Pictures didn’t do the cabins justice.
Nearly double the size of his own, with one corner set up as a shower with frosted glass walls for easy cleanup. The room was divided into sections, one dedicated to suspension, another to impact play with a bench much like the ones he had at the club. The benches were custom-made by Zach, and Vincent had ordered all of the ones in the club and at home from Zach when he’d first started planning the club.
One corner of the playroom even had one of the exam tables he’d seen on the website meant for medical scenes. Several shelves lined one wall, full of candles, a violet wand, and what looked like a fire kit. Most of the toys were in new unopened packages, and anything they used would be theirs to keep and charged to his account after they left.
Jasper made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a gurgle. “This is insane.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow, hooking an arm around Jasper’s waist. “Is this not why you picked this place?”
“I mean, yeah, but….” He flapped a hand at the room. “You don’t even have all this.”
“A few of the private rooms at the club have a lot of it,” he said. Except for the extensive medical paraphernalia. He’d been considering setting one up, but after the unfortunate scalpel incident at the club, he was having second thoughts. “Why don’t you take the bags up while I make a late lunch.”
