Deviations: Discipline

Deviations: Discipline
Chris Owen and Jodi Payne
Torquere Press
ISBN: 1603700129
Fiction, Erotica
Reviewed by Jean Roberta

This e-novel is the third volume in a planned series of four novels named "Deviations" which charts the progress of the relationship between Tobias, veterinarian and gay-male Dominant, and Noah, police officer and submissive. This novel should really be read after the first two: Submission and Domination.
In Discipline, the triangular relationship of Tobias, Noah and Tobias' ex-boy Phantom (who is attracted to Noah and vice versa) continues to develop. In the first few chapters, the reader learns that Noah and Phantom have established a routine of spending time together after a three-way scene with their Master, Tobias. Phantom is in therapy with a counselor to deal with the abuse he survived while growing up, and he is being guided by Bradford, Tobias's mentor. Phantom's way of dealing with insecurity is to seduce any man who shows him kindness.
Noah, with the best intentions of being a good boy to Tobias and a good friend to "Phan," feels confused. Would Tobias want to take Phantom back if he were emotionally healthier? Is Phantom trying to use Noah to reach Tobias? Phantom admits that he is not doing well, and Noah talks to Tobias about this. In a kind of informal case conference involving all the interested players, Tobias must deal with his own guilt and ongoing concern for Phantom, which must be balanced with his love for Noah and his unwillingness to let him feel neglected or undervalued.
Unflinching honesty is a quality that Tobias expects from himself and everyone he deals with, but as Phantom admits, he finds it very hard to tell the whole truth even to himself. Tobias encourages Noah to continue spending time with Phantom because Noah's company seems to be good for him, but he forbids Noah to have sex with Phantom after Noah admits that he is tempted to complicate their relationship this way.
Tobias encourages Bradford to assign household duties to Phantom to fulfill his submissive nature and give his life some structure. Then Tobias focuses his attention on Noah to assure him that he is loved and appreciated.
Trying to rush back to his farm during rush hour with a raging hard-on, Tobias is pulled over by Noah, a cop on duty with his partner Carol. Noah forces Tobias out of his car and seizes the opportunity to pat him down. Carol is let in on the joke when she examines Tobias's registration and recognizes him as Noah's lover. "Your ass is so mine," growls Tobias. He orders Noah to come to Tobias's place for punishment in his uniform as soon as he is off-duty.
Tobias makes it clear that he is attracted to Noah in his police uniform and even likes to be topped occasionally. He is concerned about Noah's reaction, but Noah makes it clear that he loves to serve Tobias in any way he requires, even by doing things which have traditionally indicated dominance. As Phantom comments in one of his conversations with Noah, "We've got our kinks. Our sexual identities don't fit into nice little boxes." The relationships among the major characters are shown to be subtler and more complex than most relationships in formula porn or romance novels.
As Tobias tells Bradford, he wants to take Noah to Paris for a kind of honeymoon when they are due to renegotiate their contract. Tobias wants to make some big changes, and the biggest is that he wants Noah to live with him. Neither Tobias nor Bradford takes this move lightly. Although Tobias collared Noah in a ceremony at the end of the second volume in the series, they have not discussed cohabitation before. Bradford congratulates Tobias on coming this far in his relationship, but Bradford knows that a Dominant-submissive relationship which works very well in specific scenes can fall apart if it is expanded into a full-time living arrangement before both players are ready.
While Tobias is still considering the changes he will have to make if Noah becomes his live-in lover, his beloved housekeeper, Mrs. Miller, dies peacefully in her eighties. Tobias was orphaned as a young man, and Mrs. Miller has been a mother-figure to him since then, as well as a source of comfort and housekeeping advice to his "boys," Phantom and then Noah. No one knows how much Mrs. Miller understood of Tobias' lifestyle, but everyone who knew her noticed that she was accepting and non-judgmental.
Tobias and Noah are reminded that no one lives forever, and that loved ones need to be valued in the present. Their trip to Paris in a private plane is an escape from grief and from everyday life, and a chance to focus on each other. Tobias takes Noah to a club for leather gentlemen like the one where they first met, where Noah is shown off to Tobias' old friends, a group of Dominant men who appreciate healthy male flesh and impeccably submissive behavior.
The sex continues to be intense and sometimes surprising as Tobias and Noah learn to incorporate spontaneous fantasies into their sex life. Both men seem to respond to each other like dancers who instinctively know each other's moves, but this does not mean that the negotiation for their new contract runs smoothly. Does Tobias plan to take care of Noah for the rest of his life, and is this the deal that Noah wants? You have to read the novel to find out.
This novel is somewhat less dramatic than the first two, but the slower pace enables the reader to study the twists and turns of a BDSM relationship close up. For those who have followed the saga so far, all the characters have come to seem like old friends. This novel series is addictive.