A/N: If you've read La Maison and feel some confusion at the beginning of the chapter, do me a favor and just go with it - I'll explain in a note at the end.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and welcome your thoughts, as ever.

Ellis

"Just take it. You remember the address, right?" Owen just nods sullenly, wincing as he reaches forward to accept the small wad of notes.

"It's a lot. Is he really that expensive?" I love Owen's voice. It's husky, much deeper than you'd expect from such a delicate looking guy.

"I have no idea. I don't see him, and Master François pays for mine. I just know he's the best."

"What will he be able to do though? Really?"

"I don't know. Because you won't tell me what the problem is." I'm a little frustrated at my best friend, who's keeping secrets from me. All I know is that he hasn't been his usual cheerful self lately and I want him to be happy again. I know Gray will help him.

I give Owen a hug.

"Just promise you'll go see him. He'll be able to give you perspective on what's going on, even if you won't talk to me about it. I have to run now, I'll get into trouble if I'm home late."

"Hang on, who do I ask for when I get to the office?"

"Oh! Doctor Kemholt, I guess." One more hug and I run off, trying not to break another rule. I'm only going to meet Connor at the car, but I know he has to let Master know if I take too long, even if he always looks sorry about it. I just have to hope this grabbed chat with Owen, who met me after class, hasn't taken me longer than it normally takes to get my things from my locker; I even kept my bag with me today to save that time.

"I'm not late, am I?" I'm breathless when I reach Connor, but I try to hide that, and the blush of shame, by being over exuberant. As usual, Connor just gives me a stoic look, but he admits I'm not, so I sigh relief as I clamber into the back of the car so he can drive me home. Even though I'm not grounded anymore, Master still insisted that Connor keeps taking me to and from school. The poor guy must be bored out of his mind because I only have a couple hours of lessons every day and he has to wait for me. But if he is bored I'd never know because I swear the guy only has one facial expression, and it's stern.

When I'm home I greet Leeanna, the housekeeper, and Allie, the butler, before running upstairs to get ready for the club tonight. Master said we might do a public show if I've been good, and I'm excited, because it's been too long since he showed everyone his power that way. The thought makes joyful shudders run through my body while I prep, and I have to focus really hard not to stroke myself as I contemplate what he might do to me.

When I come out of the bathroom toweling my hair I almost leap into the air at the sight of Master seated on the edge of the bed, a furious glower on his face.

"Master?" I can't help the whimper because he's definitely mad even though I don't know why.

"Forgiveness, Pet," he demands, and I drop to my knees, extending my arms toward him. "Did you take a thousand dollars from the counter?"

"Yes, Master." Damn, I'd forgotten I was meant to ask him, because I'd been trying to come up with a reason I needed it instead of just using my credit card. "I wanted to buy something."

"And what did you want to buy that you couldn't just use your card for?" See? That's why I was meant to have an excuse. My mind is blank, little rivulets of fear running through it. He won't take this well.

"A present for you, Sir." It's a bad lie. "I didn't want you to see it on the statement."

"Why? It's never been a problem before." He can tell I'm lying, I can hear it in his sardonic tone. "What did you really take it for, Pet?"

"I needed to give it to my friend. I can't tell you more Master, I'm sorry." I promised Owen, and he's seemed so very fragile lately. He's terrified of something and I won't add to that.

"You won't tell me?" He sounds like an animal and I can't help trembling. This one's going to be bad.

"Sorry, Master, but I can't."

"Go to the playroom, Pet."

He gives me twenty lashes of the whip; more and harsher than he ever has before. He didn't say how many before and I find myself praying to a god I don't believe in when he gets to nineteen, because I know I'll have to safeword if he's chosen thirty. But thankfully he hasn't, although twenty was enough that my throat is sore with screaming. He doesn't even fuck me afterward and I have a moment of fear that he might have decided I'm too much of an inconvenience for him. His aftercare doesn't feel like care, though he coats my back well with cream, but what I'm waiting for is for him to tell me I'm forgiven. So I'm upset when he doesn't and shocked when he turns to me.

"Get your things for the club. We're leaving in ten minutes."

Thankfully, we only have a few feet to travel to the club and there's an internal door. Although I usually get ready with the other subs because it's the only chance I have to spend time with my friends, especially lately, I'm glad I can just walk over in my shorts tonight. I'm embarrassed about the marks on my back, because everyone will know I've been punished, but I can't possibly wear a shirt as my skin stings just with air on it.

When we get to the club, I wait outside our playroom while Master gets some things and we go to the VIP area. I still don't know what I'm expecting but it isn't for Master to instruct me to strip when we reach it. My eyes are down, but a couple of other Doms are there already and I'm thankful I can't see their faces when Master tells me this is the next stage of my punishment. It isn't like I haven't been naked in front of them before, but it's always been when delicious things were happening to my body, or when I was pleasing my Master. He's the opposite of pleased right now and I can feel the shame coursing through my body, making me lightheaded as I remove my boots and shorts and drop into waiting as instructed.

I keep my eyes down as he crouches next to me, fixing cuffs to my wrists and ankles, before guiding my hands behind me and cuffing the former to the latter. I know that's not the end, because the position isn't a problem, so I'm unsurprised when he tells me to raise my butt off my calves, where it's resting.

"You will hold this position for as long as I determine, Pet, and no other part of your body may touch." He then sits back on the leather couch and I focus on maintaining my position, thankful for my morning Pilates, which has given me excellent core control and at least leaves me with a fighting chance to not let my Master down again.

I don't know how long I'm like that, utterly zoning out until I'm almost in a trance, only having the vaguest awareness of people arriving and a flogging scene on the small stage. I can tell my muscles are stiffening and will hurt a lot when I move, but at the moment it's almost like they have melded to hold me in position. That is until I hear a tone I hadn't expected.

I haven't seen Gray in months and, even though I sent Owen to speak to him, I wasn't expecting him in the club tonight. He's Master's best friend and undoubtedly a big reason why our relationship traversed beyond the heady early days of simple hardcore fucking. Master is strong and Dominant, and a total demon in bed, but he always seemed a little cold and reserved too. Back then I wasn't sure about this big handsome protective man who also terrified me just a little. But when I saw him interacting with Gray, and with Master Landon too, and saw that he could be fun and loving, it helped me see it was worth finding that part of him for myself. And I did. Back then, anyway, but I've started to wonder if that person has retreated permanently.

Gray's voice now, which I haven't heard in too long, brings me out of my self-imposed daze and I start to feel the physical pain, and the mental pain that I've been blocking so well until now. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I won't let them fall, because my Master deserves a strong submissive who can deal with what he knows is right. I can't hear Gray's words, but he sounds angry, and I wonder if Master has told him what I did and he's mad at me. I can't dwell on it, because suddenly Master is there, carefully lowering me to rest on my calves, though it's all I can do not to scream at the pain in the movement, unfastening my bonds and lifting me onto his lap, rubbing my joints firmly. It's agony, but I can deal with it because the warmth I get from the tender care he's showing me overrides that, and when he whispers into my ear that I did a good job and I'm forgiven I bury my face into his neck, the scent of him filling my nostrils, and let my eyes close with the peace I'm feeling.

I come to, I don't know how long later, on the bed in the playroom. I can hear water running and smell the sweet honeyed scent of my favorite bath bubbles traveling with the steam from the bathroom. I shift, still feeling sharp pains in my muscles, unable to hold in a whimper, and Master comes out of the bathroom, smiling at me but with a strange light in his eyes that isn't happy, but it doesn't seem angry either.

"Come and have a bath, Pet, it will help your sore muscles."

"Yes, Master." I try to stand, but when he sees me struggling he swoops in, easily lifting me and placing me in the delightfully thick bubbles. I hear him moving around in the playroom as I relax in the warm water, which feels incredible against my muscles, even if it stings my back.

Master comes back and helps me climb out, drying me carefully with a fluffy towel and applying more cream but not saying anything. He still has that look, and I'm feeling a sense of impending doom, but for what, I don't know. He puts my shorts on and tells me to jump up, so I cling to him while he carries me down the back stairs and through our own doorway, finally laying me on our own comfortable bed.

I'm pleased that my proximity to him has made him hard, and try and keep him with me as he lays me down. He pulls back, stroking my thigh as he looks down at me.

"You look tired, Pet, go to sleep."

"Please Master," I can't keep the whine out of my voice, "let me." I gesture to the straining front of his pants. He seems to think for a moment, then gives a brief nod. It's not the joyful acquiescence I would hope for, but I'll take what I can get.

I wriggle my shorts off and move until I'm in front of him, crouched on my knees while he stands at the end of the bed. I lower my face until it's level with his covered cock, leaving my ass high, because I know he loves the view. I smell the rich leather of his pants first, embracing the scent of my Dom, kissing his happy trail as I unbutton them, letting his thick monster bounce free and the moist tip to hit my chin. I can't help the murmur of delight as I bury my face directly against his crotch, which smells like the sea, and leather, and his own heady musk, before I lick around his heavy balls, full of his cream. We haven't been having sex often lately; except for the odd punishment fuck, and I hope he's been missing me. It feels like he has as he groans when I suck his balls into my mouth; first one, then the other, as it's impossible to get both in at once when they're this full.

"Suck me, Pet," he demands, and I happily comply, taking his huge mushroom head into my mouth. I know my time in control is limited, so I focus on slathering his length with plenty of saliva, making it wet and sloppy and paying delicate attention to the sensitive areas around the head.

I know the moment when he wrests back control from whatever demons are holding him back because he swears, taking hold of my face and thrusting himself into me, owning me in the way that sends shiver across my overheated skin as I make sure to gag a little, just the way he likes it. When he explodes in my mouth I guzzle it down like a man lost in the desert, making sure not to waste a drop and carefully licking him clean.

"Thank you, Pet," he bends to kiss me, sweetly, deeply, owning my mouth all over again while I make sure not to move from my presenting position. This isn't over for me. Sure, I got punished, but the punishment is over so now it's time for the fun stuff that used to define us and that's been missing lately. "Lay down, Pet," he tells me and I hurry to obey, aching for some of his rough but loving treatment.

He climbs over me, using his strong arms to hold himself up, pushing his thighs between my legs to spread me wide for him.

"Do you want this, Ellis?" he asks and I start, confused.

"Master? Yes, I want you, I want you inside me. Please, Master, use me." He groans again, reaching for the lube on the nightstand, flicking the lid and sliding his fingers over my eager pucker until I'm moaning, wanting more, and he finally breaches me, sliding two fingers deep inside, stretching me out for him. I'm arching and writhing at how incredible he feels working inside my body, how his expert fingers find my nerves so perfectly. My eyes are closed, but they snap open in confusion when he stops. He's looking down at me with such a gaze of adoration that I gasp at the intensity of it.

"You're so, so beautiful, Ellis," he murmurs and, strangely, I don't like it. I've wished he would use my name for weeks and months now, but this...this feels horribly like a goodbye of sorts, the way he stares like I'm something precious but lost. He lowers himself to kiss me, and it's gentle, as he withdraws his fingers and I feel the head of his cock there instead, sliding gently past the taut ring of muscle, making him moan into my mouth.

He rotates his hips, working me forcefully but smoothly, gentle in his pace. I buck against him, wanting it harder, rougher, wanting my Master, my Dom, to show me he owns me, whimpering in frustration as he keeps going with gentle lovemaking instead. For some reason – those strange words, that strange light in his eye – I don't feel I can demand more, so I cling to his arms instead, putting all the passion into heated, hinting kisses. We come hard, together in harmony, but I'm still left with a feeling of bereavement. 

A/N: So, I've mentioned in a few places that the final, published, version of La Maison (Colors) is quite different in some places to the version that's on Wattpad. One of the areas is Owen, and how his character is approached - he takes a much larger place earlier on in the published version. A significant change is that it is Owen (not Gabe) who goes to Gray's office looking for therapy (and for different reasons), so it's Owen that Ellis gives the money to - as reflected here.

As for the punishment scene at the club - that is largely recognizable from the original version - I enjoyed showing it from Ellis' viewpoint, though, if you remember Gray's reaction to the sight, Ellis' thoughts are heartbreaking.

If it's made you intrigued about the final version of La Maison Colors, keep your eyes out for my messages - when I've finished this one and it's ready for publishing, I will be putting Colors out for free for a period (or, in the meantime, you can search for it on Amazon using B07YPY9VHD).