Adam nodded. "Anyone off-limits for being an active participant in this scene?"

Marc thought for a while. Angelina.

"What was that thought?"

Observant man. He had to be if he was going to get Marc through this scene successfully.

"Just wondering if Angelina has to be involved other than feeding you some information up front."

"Can't say until we get started. She on your hard limits list?"

Was she? Did it matter if she was? Marc had no idea if Adam planned to honor or push him on his limits. The goal of this scene was all about reuniting with her and working out their problems that seemed insurmountable. Would seeing him in such a vulnerable state make that outcome more or less likely? Making himself vulnerable to her would be one of the hardest things he'd ever done, but wasn't that the reason she'd left-twice-because he wouldn't let down his guard or let her get that close? Having her there might not be a bad thing.

Marc sighed. "Soft limit. If you can do it without her, I'd prefer that, but if you think she can help, I don't want to tie your hands."

"Speaking of which, any types of restraints on the hard-limit list?"

Angelina had restrained him when she tried to top him, and he hadn't freaked out. "Don't think so."

"Do I need to uphold the Geneva Convention and avoid torture tactics?"

Marc's heart pounded with a new ferocity. Torture? Just what did Adam have in mind? Obviously he wasn't planning on a military interrogation scene, but would Marc be considered the enemy?

Trust him.

Marc called his bluff. "Do whatever you need to do."

The grin on Adam's face didn't bode well for him. "What's your biggest fear?"

Fear? "Losing Angelina."

"More primal that that. Something that's been with you longer-maybe your whole fucking life."

Marc thought, but drew a blank.

"What makes you break out in a cold sweat?"

As if on cue, his skin became clammy.

"Yeah, that's the one. Tell me."

"Feeling trapped."

"Like in a hole?"

Marc shook his head. "Not exactly. I don't know how to explain it. Trapped. Cooped up. Unable to breathe. Smothered."

"Alone?"

Marc's throat closed off and he croaked, "Yes. Well, I think so, anyway."

Adam scrutinized him a while longer across the desk and then noted something on the pad. He leaned forward on his elbows, staring at Marc across the desk. "Just to clarify, you're giving me full control without restrictions. Any hard limits are mere suggestions. You're giving up your use of a safeword. That's the only way this will have a chance of working. While you trust me to do no harm, there are some inherent risks in doing what I have in mind. I can't predict or control all outcomes. You going to allow me to proceed and relinquish your safeword?"

Marc's chest ached from either holding his breath, or the beating of his heart. If he allowed himself to safeword, it would give him an easy out again, enabling him to continue to run from whatever had kept him in fear mode his whole life.

Marc cleared his throat. "I am giving you full control in the scene. No restrictions. No hard limits. No safeword. I'm aware of the inherent risks, but I want you to proceed as you see fit. Do whatever it takes." He paused a moment before adding, "I'd prefer not to have an audience unless absolutely necessary. Just you and me."

"Are you already trying to control the parameters of my scene, Marc?"

Marc felt a moment's dread, but he really did need to turn himself over completely to Adam in order for this to work.

With no small amount of trepidation, he responded, "No, Top. You do what you have to do."

"Let's finish this discussion in the interrogation room. Grant's got a video camera set up there. I want to tape your consent before we start. No doubt some of those I'd ask to participate in the scene will balk before they'll join me unless they see you giving full consent, no safeword. I'll also want you to sign a statement of consent for the RACK conditions and giving up your safeword, in case I need further proof I didn't go batshit crazy on you."

"That's fine."

They walked upstairs to theme room four and Marc entered wondering if this is where Adam would conduct the scene, as well. Interrogation scenes could be effective in getting at triggers and buried memories.

The red light flickered, but Adam quickly grabbed Marc's attention.

"Give a statement about what you've asked me to do."

Marc repeated much of what they'd talked about in Adam's office.

Adam added, "Once the scene starts, safeword or not, you will tell me immediately if there's any numbness in extremities or muscle cramps so I can determine if they warrant a change of position or tactics."

Marc nodded.

"This is a video, Doc. The proper response is 'I understand, Top.'"

"I understand, Top."

"You're aware I won't be telling you anything about what I'm planning to do ahead of time or during this scene."

"Yes, Top."

Marc couldn't know which tactics were real and which were mind games once they began. He'd have to believe it was all real as Adam took him through the scene and broke him down to a level psychologically, somewhere beyond losing his ego and full-on sleep-deprived psychosis, where Adam could pick at those buried memories.

"I need to get my life back, Adam..." he turned to the camera, "...and whoever else is watching this." He focused on Adam again. "I need to know why the hell I keep screwing things up with Angelina. I need to know what happened to make me like this. Simply hearing it from Mama won't cut it. There have been too many lies. I need to experience those early feelings again. It's no different than what Damian does with his bottoms, only I need catharsis of a different kind."

"Well, if it will help get your head out of your ass, then you've got my full support. I'll close the club down for a week when we do this and send out e-mail notices to members so they can plan accordingly."

A week? What the hell had he just committed himself to? How long did Adam think he'd need? Marc had figured on two days tops. Perhaps Adam was including aftercare in that assessment, the time he would need to process whatever happened during the scene. Unless Adam expected him to need time to reintegrate after a full mental break. Hell, that would take more than a week.

Marc hoped this worked.

"Just remember, Doc, you've agreed to a RACK scene. I won't stop when you hit the emotional wall that's blocking you. There's every possibility of you experiencing an emotional break that can't be mended. You sure you want to go through with this?"

He'd never participated in a Risk Aware Consensual Kink scene before, as Top or bottom. This definitely wasn't going to be a military interrogation adhering to the Geneva Convention bans on torture either. In a RACK scene, Marc would be broken down, mentally and physically. If his mind wasn't able to reintegrate, he might lose Angelina anyway. He might even lose the ability to function physically and not be able to relate to her in the only way he knew how-sexually and as her Dom.

But if he didn't try, he would lose her anyway-and his very soul. "I have no choice. I can't keep running."

Adam proceeded to get him to repeat that he'd forego a safeword, as well as the Geneva Convention, and agree to whatever Adam decided he needed in the scene.

"Consider it done." Adam stood and walked around the desk to shut off the camera. "Oh, and on your way home, hit the surplus or thrift store for clothes you won't mind losing. Wear them when you come over for the scene. Don't want to mess up any of those high-priced civvies of yours."

Marc swallowed hard as he rose from the chair. He didn't know what Adam had planned but had no choice but to comply.

"I'm going to ask you again before we start to ensure your willingness to proceed, so if you have any second thoughts, or even fourth or fifth ones, you'll be given one more time to opt out. After that, your ass is mine."

"I understand and appreciate that, but I won't be backing down."

"I'll still ask."

Lord, don't let me chicken out.

"Any blackout dates you can't do, Marc?"

Marc pulled out his phone and pulled up the calendar app. "Let me check and see if I can find a few free days in a row." Things were slowing down at the outfitter store with the snowmelt and instability of the remaining snow and ice. "The remainder of this week looks pretty clear, actually."

"We'll probably need two full weeks before you'll be able to work again-inside the store, at least. You won't be in any shape for a nature trek for about a month."

The man hadn't been kidding. He might lose a few clients in the process if he couldn't find other outdoor enthusiasts to lead any already-booked treks but to hell with clients. Angelina was all that mattered.

"I understand." Both stood, and Marc reached out to shake Adam's hand. "I appreciate this."

"Don't thank me yet. This isn't exactly something someone wants to do to a friend."

Again, Marc felt a moment of dread. He remembered SERE resistance training but wasn't sure which tactics Adam expected to employ.

"I'll work on the plan tonight and let you know tomorrow by text what your instructions are."

Marc started toward the door. "Oh, Doc." He turned back toward Adam. "Karla's ecstatic about the possibility of buying your house. She loves that place. Thanks for the offer."

If Adam could make things right for Marc and get him back with Angelina long-term, he'd sign over the deed to him without a penny changing hands, not that Adam would accept such a gift.

Dio, Marc hoped the house would be a better fit for them than it had been for him.

"My pleasure. We'll talk about closing sometime after all the dust settles from this scene."

Adam chuckled. "Why not wait until after Damian's wedding? You may not be capable of signing legal papers for a while."

Marc swallowed hard. He would not back down no matter how frightening Adam made it sound.

Chapter Twenty-Four.

The text from Adam came early the next morning. Marc had waited up all night. "If u still want to go thru with this, b at Club at 1530 hrs today. Kitchen entrance."

Marc had packed an overnight bag in case he needed toiletries or a change of clothes. He figured he'd either be nude or wearing the thrift-store clothes he had on now, even if he was there two full weeks. Not knowing what Adam had planned set his nerves on edge, but he had no intention of backing out now.

After rattling around in his lonely mausoleum for hours, he headed downtown a little early and grabbed some fast food on his way to the club. Probably should have eaten something healthier, but he was anxious for this scene to start-and end.

He entered the kitchen as Karla carried a plate of what looked like her peanut-butter brownies over to Adam, who was seated at the table wearing the same mock Desert MARPAT uniform he'd worn on the mission to rescue Savannah. Marc recognized it by a few stains of blood spatter that hadn't come clean.

This time, Marc needed the rescuing. There might even be more blood spatter added to Adam's MARPATs-his.

"Marc!" She nearly ran across the room after placing the plate on the table and wrapped her arms around him.

"Smells good, cara." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Marc was surprised Adam had told Karla about the upcoming scene. "My mind's made up. It's something I need to do."

"I'd hate to put you out of your home, but it's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for us, and I can't tell you how excited I am. We'd about given up hope of ever finding anything."

The house! She was talking about selling them his house, not the upcoming scene Adam had planned. It pleased him to know that, without a doubt, he'd done one thing right. "That house needs the pitter-patter of little feet and your beautiful voice singing in the hallways."

"Well, that kitchen is going to go to waste, unless Angie-" Karla's face flushed, and she looked away. "Help yourself to brownies. At least I know how the oven works here! There's way more of them than Adam needs to eat."

Marc held one up to her first. "How about you? A chef should always sample her dishes." Angelina had taught him that. And a lot of other things.

Karla patted her well-rounded stomach. "I've gained enough weight as it is. No empty calories for me."

Adam still hadn't acknowledged his arrival, so he munched on a brownie and watched as Adam continued to read the newspaper. The man seemed in no hurry to get the scene started. Marc glanced at the clock over the stove and saw he was twenty minutes early. Might as well take a seat at the table while he waited. But first he pulled out a chair for Karla. "Here, sit."

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm just going to clean up my mess a little bit."

Marc took the seat himself. His heart pounded in anticipation. Adam turned the page of the paper in silence. "The Twins don't look like they'll go the distance."

Twins?

"Adam!"

Adam glanced dumbfounded at Karla; then Marc's attention strayed to her belly. "The Minnesota Twins, Kitten."

"Oh!"

Karla flushed and turned toward the sink where she continued washing the dishes.