The Fear of Surrender (The Hampton Road Club 3)
Master Thomas sees a submissive man aching for
surrender if only Linus can be convinced not to fear The Hampton Road Club.
Linus never wants to return to Hampton Road after
being attacked by a Master there. Even though he aches for the attention of
Master Thomas -the one who he’d
originally wanted - he isn’t sure he can ever trust another Master not to abuse
him again.
Thomas is furious with himself for not protecting
the beautiful young submissive whose company he’d enjoyed on a few occasions.
He’s relieved that there have been some recent changes to help protect the
submissive men who offer themselves at the sadomasochism club. It’s about time
to bring the club into the progressive age of the 1920’s. Now that the new
rules are in place, perhaps he can woo Linus into giving him a chance.
As Thomas goes out of his way to be kind to him,
Linus wonders if he’s misjudged the Master. He’s still not sure if there’s a
future for them. What if he never wants to surrender to another man? When he
allows Thomas to teach him the joys of Dominance and submission, Linus
discovers that he not only wants to surrender, he wants to be claimed
permanently. If only Thomas’ old life doesn’t come back to haunt them and
destroy their chance of being together forever.
If You Had Never Heard of BDSM Before…
Thanks for having me here
today Helena! I’d say that one of the things I’ve enjoyed about writing The Hampton Road Club series, is that
not only is it M/M BDSM - a particular fave
of mine – but it’s set in the 1920’s. Now I love the roaring twenties, but
there’s more to writing this series than that. Many of the characters in the
books – particularly the young ones – haven’t the slightest clue that such a
thing as sadomasochism exists as a sexual practice. Nor have they ever heard of
bondage and toys, and they most certainly have never considered what it would
be like to surrender themselves to a Master. It’s all a big unknown – there
aren’t any books or films to enlighten these men. They have to discover it for
themselves or hopefully meet others who are likeminded.
The men who indulge in
their darker desires at The Hampton Road
Club have to be extremely careful. Not only because they are gay, but
because any type of activities that are what would be considered BDSM in
contemporary times - would’ve been labeled a perversion that would cause any
adherents to be treated in an institution or arrested and incarcerated. I’ve
read news articles from that era where castration was used as a way of
discouraging so-called ‘deviant’ behavior. I had to bear all of those issues in
mind while writing this series.
Linus, the young
submissive in The Fear of Surrender, only discovers that such a thing exists
when he meets an older man at a speakeasy who had hired him as his companion
for the evening. Linus doesn’t sell his body, but does accompany men to the pansy
clubs as their date for the night and occasionally performs some sexual favors.
Ned, his gentleman for the evening, takes him to The Hampton Road Club and
suggests that he might find what he really needs there. He encourages Linus to
find a man who really cares about him and who can fulfill his needs.
In Book 2 of The Hampton Road Club, The Rules of
Love, Linus has a bad run in with a Master who mistreats him. Right when he
thought he really had found what he was looking for, the club becomes sullied
for him. Even the beautiful Master Thomas who he’d played with a few times and
had begun to fall for no longer seems safe. As The Fear of Surrender begins,
Thomas is hopeful that he might get another chance with Linus and is willing to
do whatever it takes to win him over. In this scene, Linus considers giving
Thomas that chance.
Excerpt from The Fear of Surrender (The Hampton Road Club 3):
Linus stared at his hand in Thomas’. He tried to
remember if they’d held hands the three times they’d been alone. The times
Linus had allowed Thomas to touch him, had wanted it.
But
I still want it.
He squeezed Thomas’ fingers. It was all so confused in
his head. Before the whole Preston disaster, Linus had been sure Thomas had
wished for him to be his gentleman friend. Of course, Linus had also been very
excited about all the activities he knew Thomas would desire from him. Then
there had been the anticipation over the new ones he figured Thomas would
eventually reveal.
They hadn’t held hands—not really. Not the way they were
doing at the moment. It had been more like Thomas’ grip around Linus’ wrist the
one time he’d tied his hands together in front of him. He’d bent Linus over a
large padded ottoman then placed a blindfold over his eyes. He’d asked if Linus
he’d ever worn one before. When he’d replied honestly that he hadn’t, Thomas had
gently explained that it would help heighten the sensations of what he felt. It
was also a way for them to build trust with each other. Then he’d asked Linus
if it was okay to use it on him.
That
was the difference. He asked.
A thread of nervousness ran under his skin. He’d never
lied to Thomas, but he might’ve made it seem that he was more experienced than
he really was. He’d been so attracted to him that when Thomas had first
approached him at the club and asked if he liked to be spanked, he’d blurted
out that he did. Thomas had also wondered if he wanted to be tied up and he’d
nodded vigorously, scared but excited at the same time.
‘Words
please. You know what to do.’
But he hadn’t. He didn’t. Instead, he’d played along
so that Thomas wouldn’t choose another boy. When he eventually did choose
another boy, Linus had already believed that he was the only one who held
Thomas’ interest. Was that still the case? Or would there be others Thomas
would go around with while he was also seeing him. If so, maybe he shouldn’t
accept Thomas’ offer after all.
His hand felt so nice, so warm. It made it seem as if
he wasn’t all alone, far away from his mother and father and all his brothers
and sisters. It was even better than that because with Thomas, he had all the
attention. So he had to know for sure. Because if he was going to be with Thomas,
he really did want all the attention on him.
“If I give it a try, give it a chance—will it only be
you and me?”
Thomas furrowed his brow. “Are you asking if I’ll be
with any other men while we’re getting to know one another?”
Linus nodded, then remembered. “Yes.”
“I’m going to assume that you don’t want to go to the
club, correct?”
“I’m sorry…”
Maybe Thomas would take back the offer. He squeezed
Linus’ hand.
“Don’t. This is important to me so I want to do it
right, give us a fair shake. I’ll still be going to the club—”
“Oh.” He dropped his chin and tried to pull away.
Tears stung at the backs of his eyes. Thomas held on to him, gripping him
tighter.
“You didn’t let me finish. I’m a board member and
there are some important meetings coming up regarding rules to make the club
safer. I need to be at the club for those. Plus, that’s where my friends are.
You are more than welcome to come with me at any time, but that’s not something
I expect. I just want to be honest with you about where I’ll be. However, I
promise I won’t be with any other man either there or anywhere else while you
and I figure this out. Agreed?”
Linus relaxed and looked up at Thomas, giving him a
small smile. “Agreed.”
Thomas smiled back. “Good. That’s going to be one way
where I can gain your trust.” Thomas regarded him as if he wasn’t sure what to
do with him next. “I tell you what. I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow
night. I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock at the guesthouse and we can go from
there. Sound good?”
“You mean like a speakeasy?” The last thing Linus ever
wanted to do again was go to another one of those places.
Thomas patted their joined hands with his other one. “No.
I want to take you to a nice, respectable Italian restaurant I know of in
Pasadena called Del Rio’s. Do you like Italian food?”
“Um, I don’t know. There was an Italian family that
lived a couple farms over, but we hardly ever saw them and I never ate any of
their food.”
Thomas appeared to be holding back a smile, maybe a
smirk—Linus couldn’t tell.
“Well then, I suppose this would be a good way for you
to find out if you do. I’ll see you at seven o’clock.”
Thomas gently unlaced their fingers and it hit Linus
that everything had just been decided. He usually preferred that, but it was
all so fast. He’d be alone with Thomas in the car again. It was okay, at least
he thought it was, but…
“Wait!”
Thomas paused from where he’d been about to swing a
leg over the bench. “What is it?”
“Where’s the restaurant?”
“It’s on Colorado, near Fair Oaks Ave. Why?”
“Oh, um, I could save you the trouble and just meet
you there instead. At seven o’clock, you know, like you said.” He swallowed
hard.
Thomas relaxed back on the bench. “You don’t want me
to drive you?”
“It’s not that…” He squirmed. It wasn’t fair not to be
honest with Thomas if he expected Thomas to be honest with him. If things
progressed with them, he’d eventually have to confess that he’d misled him back
at the club as well. “Okay. It is that. But I don’t want you to be mad at me. I
just um, I need to get to know you better. That’s all.”
“I’m not mad, Linus. Thank you for telling me the
truth—that’s going to be very important in order for us to have a chance
together.” Thomas rubbed a hand across his beautiful golden hair that Linus
loved. The gesture was in seeming contemplation over Linus’ statement. “All
right. If that’s what you need to do. May I ask how you’d be getting there?”
Linus had
the impression that Thomas was going to extra pains to accommodate him and he felt
bad. It always made him happy when he pleased other people. He did want to please Thomas. He really did
like him an awful lot. But he wasn’t ready yet.
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