Stressed didn’t even begin to cover it. Cade was trying to freelance with three different websites, each of them looking for several articles a week. His girlfriend was threatening to break it off with him if they weren’t engaged by the end of the month. One of his bosses still hadn’t cut him a check for his last article, and he needed that to make sure the bills were paid. So yeah, stressed didn’t even begin to cover it, and he wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to work his way out of the corner he found himself in. Hell, he’d even started smoking just to keep away the terror and crying spells he’d drifted into over the course of the week.

Then he heard the knock at the door to his apartment, and nearly jumped out of his chair. Who in the hell could that be? He walked over to the door and opened it up, and he found a large squat box sitting outside his apartment wrapped in plain brown paper, and no one else in the hallway who might have delivered it. He brought it inside and unwrapped it, revealing a large box with two beautiful leather boots inside.

He pulled them out, the leather cool and soft against his hand, he felt himself calm down immediately. The voices and shouts of his bosses and girlfriends disappeared from his mind, and he heard the silence in the room, and let out a sigh. He slipped off his shoes and started to pull one of the boots on, but stopped himself. These weren’t meant for him to wear, he realized, they were meant for him to receive sure…but…but not to wear. He set them down on the coffee table, but as soon as they left his hands the voices came back, and he grabbed them again, but it wasn’t enough.

There had to be someone to fill these boots, he realized. Someone who could make all of this go away. Someone he…someone he could serve. Someone who could care for him and give him peace. Then, he was licking the leather and shuddering as he came in his pants for the first time of many in the night, and the next night, he brought the boots with him to a leather bar and set them on a stool, and kneeled in front of them, head bowed. He’d sold his things and abandoned his lease. He’d given away his clothes and opted for a set of leather gear and a collar, and so he waited. Waited for someone worthy of his service to step into them. All he had to do was wait.