Take Me Down The Rabbit Hole (BDSM | 18+)

XXXIX (A/N at the end!)

There was a metal sign on Leopold's office door, similar to the one on Thea's, and this time, Aspen took the chance to read it.
It was fairly nondescript, denoting Leopold as Mr. L. Silva.
Master, not Mister.
Aspen battled the lump in his throat down with multiple gulps before he raised a fist to knock.
"Yes?"
Leopold's voice was considerably harsh, and all of a sudden, Aspen was overcome with fear of disturbing the man while he was doing something important.
But then again—
He opened the door and stepped over the frame, ducking his head slightly so he wouldn't hit his head.
"Master—"
Before he had finished, a large shadow blocked the light streaming in from the hallway behind Aspen.
"Aspen," came the response. "Are you telling me your Misstress is at home without you?"
Aspen managed a nod, his head still ducked. "She did say I wasn't going to be a big help if I wasn't going to pay attention to her, and because she," he swallowed again before he continued, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, "knows me so well, she said I should talk to someone about what's plaguing me. I figured you'd be my best bet, Sir."
"Oh?"
Finally, Leo moved away, and Aspen could straighten up as he entered the room. He turned, his eyes running over the doorframe.
Leo chuckled. "I had it lowered on purpose. I'm sure it'll be no surprise to you to hear that I like it when people bow to me."
Okay.
Slowly, the Leo-puzzle-pieces were clicking into place, and Aspen was beginning to figure out what kind of man he was.
"Well," Leo said sharply, commanding his attention. "Are you here as a submissive or
as—?"
"As a lawyer," Aspen said softly.
Leo seized him up and then nodded. "Well, then, Dr. Arkwright. How may I help?"
Aspen hadn't expected Leo to invite him to sit; he'd been fully prepared to have this mentally taxing conversation halfway out the door.
But Leo invited him to settle into a sophisticated leather armchair in the corner of the room and poured him a glass of water.
Aspen forced himself to stay on topic. "Yesterday you said you beat a submissive's ass bloody and made that person sign a slip that said he can't sue you."
Leo leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs before he worked on undoing the cufflinks on his jacket.
"I did say that," he confirmed, and he didn't sound one bit bothered by his confession. "And I did do it like that."
A small smile played over Leo's lips and he got up, rummaging through a stack of manilla folders before he pulled out a piece of paper. He handed it to Aspen before he sat back down.
Hereby I, Alan Caulan, confirm that after my relentless begging, my Master, Leopold Silva, has agreed to spank me bloody. I also confirm and assure that I will not hold Mr. Silva legally accountable for any physical damages he may cause me.
Alan. Oh... boy...
The document was dated back some years, and, of course, bore Alan's signature.
"As you can probably tell, your Master's ass healed just fine."
Aspen handed the document back.
"This isn't a legally binding document."
"I never said that's what I wanted it for."
"I deal in legally binding documents."
"Oh," Leo said with another light chuckle. "I sure hope you do. Let's get on with it. What does the bloody ass have to do with your dilemma?"
"Where's the moral ground between sadism and abuse?"
There he was, out with his question.
Leo nodded. "Excellent point."
Answer the question, Aspen begged in his mind. Give me something tangible here so I can do my job.
"The easy answer is that sadism is for the submissive's benefit — provided the submissive in question is a masochist, of course."
"So if the submissive isn't masochistic, sadism is abuse?"
"Yes. The hard answer—" Leo shrugged his shoulders matter-of-factly and then taxed Aspen with his deep brown eyes. "You're sitting here right now wondering if you'll be able to tell the two things apart. And I'm here to tell you that if you should encounter a case of domestic abuse while working for Alan, you will know it."
The older man leaned forward and poked his finger at Aspen's chest. "You'll know it here first, when something feels off, and then you will know what your next steps should be."
He gave Aspen a firm nod. "That's why Alan is putting you through this. So you will learn the difference organically. BDSM and sadism in particular aren't textbook things to study up on. There's no one size fits all. But abusers, at their core, are much the same." He looked down at the old contract before he continued.
"Yesterday I hit you extra hard because you were being a brat."
Before Aspen could argue, Leo held up his hand.
"Let me finish. You were being a brat. If I had kept going at the same pace, you could have easily taken another ten with the belt. Alan was a brat back then, too. He signed this document and learned that I don't fuck around. And after, he was happier for it. He begged me to never do to him what he asks for again, and for the rest of his days with me, that was the one request I honored the way he had laid it out then and there. I kept the paper so I could hold his words over his head whenever he tried to pull the same move on me again; to remind him of what happened. No other reason."
Once again,. Leo got back up and returned the sheet to its folder.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Aspen looked up.
He would spend forever in this office, pulling every single detail about Alan from Leo's mouth, if he could.

*

A/N
Yay for earlier updates!
Wonderland series trivia: Leopold was actually just supposed to be a one-appearance character. I wrote him to give Alan some depth and to poke fun at the type of dominants people usually write about on Wattpad — sadistic, cold, and whatever have you. If you go back to Take Me to Wonderland chapter LXXI, you can see the beginning (and end) of this attempt when June first meets him.
Then, a few years ago, I experimented with the relationship between Leo and Aspen thanks to a kinktober prompt list, and when Thea joined the Wonderland universe for this sequel, I decided Leo should get a sibling (foreshadowing, maybe?). — And now here we are.
He might be my favorite character to write. Oops.
That's it for the Wonderland series trivia.
If you're still reading this, let me know if I should publish the LeoxAlan kinktober shorts!
Edit: Thanks for your interest in more LeoxAlan content! All shorts about the both of them can now be found in the "Wonderland — LeoxAlan Shorts" collection on my profile!