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

XLIV

"You look disheveled," Leo noted when Aspen trotted into the kitchen the next morning.
"I don't usually fall asleep in a bathtub," Aspen returned sourly before he remembered his manners. "Good morning."
Leo returned the greeting with an impish smile and pushed his empty plate away. "Thea isn't home. They're at the shops stocking up."
Aspen nodded and then went on the hunt for his favorite granola. He needed to ask Thea what brand it was. — It had been on the kitchen shelf the first morning he'd stayed over, in one of those neatly labeled jars that his domme also kept her pasta in, and Aspen didn't know anything about it except that it was the best granola he'd ever had.
He served himself his humble breakfast in silence and sat at the table across from Leo.
Leo didn't say anything until Aspen had finished his coffee, and then reached up, smoothing his hand over Aspen's dirty blonde hair. "How was your night?"
Aspen scrunched his nose. "Mistress Thea decided to torture me. I came nine times, and then I fell asleep in the bathtub. I didn't even get to have the horchata she said she would make me."
Luckily, Thea hadn't forgotten about him in the tub. She had woken Aspen up and he had stayed awake just long enough to make it out of the tub.
Still, he remembered that Thea had sat him on the toilet, and had helped him dry his hair before sending him off to bed.
"¡Ay, Dios! That bad, hm?" Leo scrutinized him for a second before he said, "My horchata isn't as good as Thea's but I can make you some if you'd like. Sounds like you've earned it."
Aspen flushed. "If it's not too much of a hassle—"
"Nonsense."
Before he got up, Leo placed his briefcase on the table and pulled out Aspen's quiz from the night before. "Last night you asked me questions," he added before he pushed up the sleeves of his henley and sauntered over to the kitchen space. "Today it's my turn."
"Okay," Aspen said flatly.
"Would you have assumed a role as a submissive if Alan hadn't offered it?"
"No," Aspen said immediately. "Maybe."
"Why?"
Aspen flushed. "When the first Fifty Shades movie came out, I was curious, just like everyone else. But  I knew that what they were showing in that movie wasn't exactly reality, and ... I was a student then. I didn't have the time."
"Alan had time to fuck around lots, and I had even more time to put him back in line. It's a question of perspective."
Before either of them could say another word, the door opened and Thea came in, laden with bags.
Aspen got up and helped her carry them into the kitchen and then wordlessly started putting them away.
"Are you okay?" Thea asked gently. She reached out and twisted a strand of his dirty blonde hair around her finger.
"Yeah. I just don't fall asleep in the tub every day."
Thea laughed. "You're still in your pajamas," she noted.
It was at that moment that Aspen noticed he'd spent the last half an hour in Leo's company shirtless.
Oh.
"'S fine," he mumbled. "I don't mind."
Leo passed him a mug and winked at him. "If I had a physique like that, I'd be showing it off too."
Oh.
Thea responded by lightly hitting Leo in the back of the head. "Stop flirting with my submissive."
Leo stuck his tongue out at her in return.
Had Aspen been like this with his sister?
He mentally removed himself from the situation playing out in front of him and took a sip of the drink Leo had made him.
It was warm and it tasted ... somewhat like Christmas.
Leo had turned his attention back to Aspen.
"So, golden boy. Since your Master is out of order for a little while, what do you say to me taking over for him?"
Aspen choked on thin air, happy that he hadn't taken another sip of the horchata. "Only if you promise that I'll get out alive, Sir."
"Don't worry. I'm not interested in permanently damaging merchandise. I just think I could teach you things, too."

Still, Aspen didn't change his plans, and he packed up his things after breakfast, got into his car, and returned to his apartment.
He hadn't been in there in months, and the first thing he did was hire a cleaner for the next day before he made a grocery list for the following week.
He felt like he was functioning on autopilot as he left his apartment to walk to Trader Joe's.
Would he have accepted a position as submissive if Alan hadn't offered it?
He'd said no just then, but a small part of his brain was whispering to him about how he would have had the money to find a professional domme like Thea or a professional dom like Lepold. He didn't spend most of his money anyway — He preferred to keep himself humble.
A professional domme or dom... And then what?
Aspen had never given a serious thought about what he wanted for himself. He liked to sink into his work and keep only a few hours a week for personal time.
Alan had changed all that.
He'd made sure Aspen left the office at 5 PM every day, and thanks to the fact that Aspen lived alternating between Alan's and Thea's apartment, he'd always had people to talk to.
Would he have taken on a position as submissive without Alan? Maybe.
Would he have enjoyed it as much as he enjoyed it now? No.
He might not have ever met Thea, and Leo probably only a few years later. He wouldn't have made friends with Spencer—
Lots of what-ifs there, and those made his brain swim.

His phone rang just when he got back to his apartment.
Unknown number.
Aspen answered anyway.
"Hello, golden boy," Leo's voice rang from the speaker, "How about you sit in on one of my sessions tonight?"
Aspen's brain short-circuited. "I'm not a voyeur—"
"Are you not?" Leo asked back. "Did you lie in your quiz, hm?"
What?
"No," Aspen choked out.
"Hm," Leo hummed, and for a split second, Aspen thought he was talking to Alan.
"The quiz can tell you that?"
"The quiz can tell me a lot about you," Leo said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Aphrodite at 7:30 PM, got it? Wear something comfortable, but nothing that would embarrass me."
Silence, for just a moment. "Don't forget your collar."