Chapter 3 – Chapter 3

"I told you about that dog. You were going to get rid of it. You know what the lease says. And you knew it before the dog showed up."

"Oh come on, Calvin. He's been here for nearly two weeks and you didn't even know he was still here. He's a good dog, and he's quiet. He isn't a yap yap dog like the one the guy in 3B has. And you let him stay."

It had been a mistake to say that. And Rick knew it was as soon as the words had come out of his mouth. Pete indeed had been a good dog, smart enough to know that his existence here hinged on that. And Rick knew it had been hard for him. He was a free-range dog; he'd never had to be cooped up in an apartment like it was with Rick. But he had been quiet and the two had avoided Calvin for two weeks. Rick had known it was just skirting along the inevitable, though. The one thing the dog and his new master had to do was to get Pete out and to the park a couple of times a day. it wasn't just so he could relieve himself. Pete was an active dog; he had to run free at least a couple of times a day to keep his muscle tone up.

The man and his dog had actually been lucky to be able to spin it out this long before Calvin caught them either coming or going.

Rick knew what Calvin was after, how he would use this for leverage. And Rick had played right into his hands by mentioning the dog in 3B again.

"You know why I let the guy in 3B have his dog," Calvin said. He was wearing a grin on his face. Knowing that Rick had trapped myself. "And the same deal is available to you. You know what I want."

"You can't just play favorites like that, Calvin. I could call the owner of the building and tell him you've let the other dog be here. You might lose your job and your apartment."

"Why, yes you could, Rick. That wouldn't keep you from being tossed out on your kiester, of course—the lease you signed is clear on dogs—but it would give me a good laugh. Bet you don't know that the building is owned by my brother-in-law. He'd overlook anything I was doing as long as I didn't move back in with my sister and him."

The two men stood there, in a standoff, Pete looking up from one to the other, wagging his tail. Trusting in his new master. Rick could see it in his eyes. The nearly two weeks hadn't made any of it easier for Rick. With each passing day, he had grown to love Pete more. Rick hadn't realized how solitary his life had been. Once again he had to wonder if his father had been more attuned to his son's life and loneliness and monotonous routine than even Rick was. With each passing day, Rick increasingly saw Pete as a gift and a life saver.

Calvin broke the silence. "You know what you can do to keep this dog here, Rick. Think about it. But not too long. Tomorrow I call a moving company and as soon as they can book it, they'll be here moving your things out onto the street. Then I won't care where you and your pooch go."

He gave Rick a meaningful look and turned and walked to his doorway. He turned again and said, "I think I'll leave this door open for a while and go back to my bedroom and take a little nap." He winked at Rick then and disappeared into his apartment.

Rick felt himself trembling all over, and he fumbled with his keys and then couldn't quite get the door key into the lock. Pete nuzzled his nose into Rick's hand, and he finally was able to insert the key and turn the lock.

Rick went straight to the kitchen and poured himself a slug of Scotch. He chugged that and went back into the living room and collapsed on the sofa. Pete was right there at Rick's knee, raising his paw to his master's leg and looking up at him with those trusting eyes of his.

Rick sat there for perhaps a half hour, Pete in continuous attendance, and then Rick sighed, stood up and crossed to the door. He locked Pete in and crossed the landing. Calvin's door was still open. Rick walked in and slowly crossed his living space, zigzagging around the exercise equipment that helped keep Calvin so pumped up.

The bedroom door was open too, and when Rick entered, he saw Calvin standing at the window, wearing nothing but a big grin. He gestured toward the bed.

"I changed the sheets just for you," he said.

Rick saw that Calvin was holding two pairs of handcuffs at his side, and he started to back out of the door. But Calvin was quick. Rick turned and was moving fast, but Calvin was faster. He landed on Rick's back and brought him to the floor. Rick continued to try to pull himself along the nubby carpet toward the door, but Calvin was bigger and stronger—much stronger.

"So, you don't want to do it on the bed," he was muttering as he was tearing Rick's shirt, popping buttons with a ripping sound. "We can do it on floor just as well. Or are you having second thoughts? Already starting to pack for that move? Found another place that will take that mutt of yours?"

Rick moaned in defeat. "No, please. I'll do it. Just don't—"

But Calvin wasn't listening to him now. He'd won—and the both knew he had. He dragged Rick up from the floor like he was a sack of potatoes, but rather than hauling him back into the bedroom, he carried him over to the area he'd marked off as his exercise area and dropped him down on his back on a weight bench where he had a heavy barbell suspended on a rack. Rick made an effort to struggle up to a sitting position, but Calvin backhanded him across the face sharply, and said, "Stay. Either say you're moving or lay back and take me. I don't like a tease."

Stunned by the unexpected blow, Rick laid back on the bench while Calvin handcuffed his wrists to the suspended barbell at each side and stripped his trousers off.

There was initial pain, Calvin not giving Rick nearly enough time to adjust to him, but once Calvin's cock was buried deep inside him and Calvin was lost in the rhythm of the fuck, think only of his pleasure and release, Calvin was much like any other man Rick had been with. It wasn't like Rick hadn't been with men before. And now that Rick had crossed that barrier with Calvin, knowing that this would now become a routine for them, Rick just gritted his teeth, hooked his legs on Calvin's hips, and pushed his mind into an alternate universe—one where he and his dog, Pete, were rambling in a lush parkland.

Later, in the night, Rick heard Pete nudging at his bedroom door until it opened on the misaligned latch. Rick heard the Sheltie padding across the floor and felt the weight of him jumping up on the bed—momentarily disturbing his master with the image of Calvin's weight descending on him in the bed across the landing earlier that day—and Rick lifted his hand and let it fall on Pete's silky neck as the dog nuzzled into Rick's body with a sigh.

There was a full moon out, and Rick had left the curtains open, not wanting to be in complete darkness on this, his first time of giving in to Calvin's blackmail. So, he was able to see the look in Pete's eyes as he lowered his head on his master's belly. It was such a look of trust and contentment that a tear came to Rick's eyes and he realized that it was a fair enough bargain, not too much of a price to pay, to have Pete with him.