​Can you stop me? - Prologue

Cash looked up from his desk when Brio waltzed into the room.  His colleague wore skin tight jeans and undone boots, an oversized t-shirt slipped coquettishly off one pale skinned shoulder, and his neck was ringed with livid bruises.  It might be early on a Friday morning but it looked as though Brio had already started the weekend.
     “Have you considered feeding your Dom real food instead of letting him snack on your neck?” Cash asked.
       “It wasn’t just my neck,” Brio smirked, “My ass has a matching pattern. Wanna see?”
       “I would rather gnaw my own leg off.”
      Brio pouted and settled gracefully into the chair across from Cash’s desk. “What ya got for me, sensible adult?”
       Despite his perpetual attitude Brio looked tired.  Cash knew he was under pressure preparing for his role as an expert witness in Christian’s upcoming murder trial and it was wearing on him.  Painter said he planned to take Brio away for a break once it was all over.
     The sooner that happened the better. For everyone involved. The case had dragged on ridiculously.
       “I have something of a rarity for you to cast your eyes over, and something of an ethical problem.” Cash opened a couple of files on his computer and cast them to the wall screen.
       “Oh, ethics, my favoritest thing.  You do know I have no ethics don’t you?”
       “Say things like that very quietly, expert witness.” Cash commented.
    “Pah,” Brio shrugged, “I’ll be fine in court, I’ll drag out the old money, bullet proof confidence attitude and all will be well.”
       Cash really hoped so.
       Brio turned his chair towards the wall screen and perused the data.  Cash let him take his time.
    “Well colour me fucking fascinated,” Brio said eventually, “Someone likes what he likes. I’m assuming it’s a he.”
      “Yes.”
     “I wonder where he hides the bodies?” Brio murmured, his gaze still firmly fixed on the lines of data and the slowly revolving representation of a human brain.
       “Not funny, Brio.”
       “Well, it’s got that whole serial killer vibe.”
       “Can you be serious for once.”
       “I don’t think I have ever seen such possessiveness.  That’s off the scale need to own.”
        Brio pushed himself up from the chair and walked over to the wall screen.  Cash joined him.    
      “Interesting range of kinks,” Brio pointed out, “Feminisation, bondage, objectification is very high, and that’s a significant streak of sadism, but the possessiveness, that’s got to be causing him problems if he isn’t in a very stable arrangement.” 
       “He doesn’t appear to be having problems,” Cash commented.
     Brio quirked an eyebrow at him. “He says he hasn’t got problems, or you know he hasn’t got problems?”
       Cash didn’t answer, just chewed on his lower lip, his forehead creased.
       “In some ways this is as complicated as I am,” Brio said.
       “But not as chaotic.”
       “Thanks, buddy.”
      “Sorry, but you know what I mean.” Cash flashed Brio a smile. “The really interesting thing is this guy didn’t even ping my radar.  I had no clue he was even gay let alone an outlier on the kink spectrum. I assumed, and I admit it was an assumption on my part, that he was asexual.”
       Brio scoffed, “You’re losing your touch, Cash.  I would have spotted this a mile off.  It’s giving off vibes so intense it’s practically gothic vampire level of control.  This is a dominant of the highest order. I can smell them across state lines.”
        “And yet you didn’t.”
        “I know this person?”
        “We all know this person.”
        “Fuck.” Brio looked horrified. “He has to be getting his needs met.”
        “He swears he isn’t. He swears he hasn’t scened for years.” 
       “He’s lying, he has to be unstable without a playmate, and a seriously submissive, ‘yes Master, of course you can take my soul’, one.”
        “Maybe he does something else to alleviate the pressure,” Cash suggested.
        “Like what,” scoffed Brio, “Crochet? This guy must be a boiling pit of needs.” He stepped closer to the screen. “Or…” His voice dropped out of his usual high drama tone as the scientist in him stepped up, “He has turned the need to control inward.  He has wrapped it around himself. As a protective measure.”
       His eyes narrowed and Cash could see his brain running scenarios. “I am never going to be the most stable guy in the room,” he said seriously, “But compared to this guy, I’m solid as a rock.  He must be on a knife edge.  If he cracks it’s going to be almost catastrophic.”
       “That was my thought,” said Cash. He pointed to a line of data. “But I also noted that there is a strong altruistic line here, I think maybe he is tapping into that to keep the needs at bay, to stop his desires spiralling out of control.”
        Brio nodded, “Yes, I see it, but that’s not going to hold forever without real world interactions.”
Cash sighed, “Can you run the new “what if” program Ash developed on this?”
      “I can,” Brio admitted, “But it’s not perfect yet, it’s still in beta testing.  Do you feel the need to show this guy how bad it could get if he doesn’t do something about his desires?”
        “I do.  I think he needs to acknowledge that he has to take the pressure off himself somehow.  He can’t just keep ignoring this.  Which brings us to my ethical dilemma.”
       “Why? Has he got some job that could be impacted?  Looking at this I’m thinking maybe surgeon, they tend to be uber controlled.”
      “Yes, if he snaps there could be serious fallout.” Cash admitted, “He’s  not a surgeon though. He’s our fucking lawyer, and he’s defending Christian in the murder case.”
       Brio looked at him in horror.


Can you stop me? Book Three in The Outreach Series is now available on pre-order.  Release date is 26th March 2021 Pre-Order Can you Stop Me?