Chapter 7 #2
He rinses the tools and sets them aside.
His hands are stained faintly with the dark of my blood.
I watch him wipe them and the sight of him bent over this practical work—no crowd, no applause, no power to be performed—makes something in me shift.
He’s brave not because he’s unafraid but because he chooses to be present where fear is thick.
I reach out without thinking and pull him down until he’s in my lap, and the motion is not exactly tender.
The habit is older than us both—domination turned into ownership.
He curses softly at the contact and then surprises me by not pulling away.
He slides an arm around my back, his hand pressed to the bandage like he won’t let it fall away.
“Why are you here?” I ask again.
He forces his eyes to mine. He hates making his face soft. He hates letting people, even me, see him unclothed of performance.
“Because you scared me,” he says finally, with the honesty that slaps me in the face. “Because I couldn’t let my master die.” Then, he’s hiding behind his wit.
It is the sort of answer that would be romantic if it were not sanded down with his habitual insolence. He leans his cheek into my collarbone and his breath is warm and steady. There’s a quietness about him in this moment that looks like fear and a kind of protection rolled together.
“You know,” I say, and the words are thin with something I rarely allow—curiosity. “You could have left and done the smart thing. Why risk it—risk yourself?”
He hums, an ungrateful sound. “Did you expect me to be the sort of man who leaves?” His mouth holds a smile that’s half defiance, half apology. He squeezes my arm and it’s a small, private rebellion.
I find his face then—close, breath warm—and tilt my head down.
The impulse to kiss him is sudden and not entirely planned.
I wonder if he feels it too. He looks up at me, eyes wide, and then closes the gap.
Our mouths meet with a need that is blunt and honest and a little raw.
It’s the sort of kiss you give when the world just tried to tear the person in front of you away and you decide, with a foolish tenderness, to stop it by force.
It deepens, heat and pressure, and a tangle of limbs and urgency.
He tastes like whiskey and cigarette smoke; I taste like the city and the night and the sharpness of survival.
It is close, and dangerous, and everything that has been deferred between us finally detonates.
We move together the way two magnets do when finally allowed to find each other.
I want it. The need is a physical thing under my sternum, stupid and human. He wants it too, it seems, with a ferocity that warms the cold around us. We push into each other with a hunger that is not polite, not polite at all, and the room condenses to the press of bodies and the sound of breath.
I push him onto my bed, ignoring the slight shift of resistance his body gives me.
Elias looks up at me, green eyes wide. “What?”
“Take your clothes off.” There is no room for question in my voice.
He responds immediately, undoing his shirt one button at a time.
I grow impatient, pulling his shirt open, metal buttons clinking on the polished hardwood.
“I liked that shirt.” Elias pouts as I drag his pants off.
I kiss every piece of exposed skin. “I’ll buy you ten more to make up for it.”
His long and lithe cock springs free of his briefs. I trace my tongue over the tip, enjoying his needy sounds.
“Lucian...”
His voice cracks on my name, like he can barely concentrate. “Do you want your reward?”
Elias’s blonde hair falls over his eyes as he nods eagerly.
I kneel to the ground, unzipping my pants. I pass my hand over my length a few times to settle myself. Elias looks down at me, a small thrill in his eyes as he unconsciously spreads his legs wider.
Fuck, does he know how pretty he looks naked in my bed? I’ll have to tell him. I’ll say to him over and over until he’s full and wet with me.
I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m rewarding him, not me. My mouth latches onto his cock, making Elias moan with pleasure.
“Fuck...”
I suck him down even deeper, pulling him to the edge of the bed by his hips. His knees thrown over my shoulders.
“Lucian, wait— Ah!” He twitches in my mouth. “Stop! Stop!”
I release him, kissing the inside of his thigh. “Never got head before?”
A blush rushes up his neck. he throws an arm over his eyes. “I’ve only ever given it.”
A wave of jealousy rolls over me as I look up at him.
“You’re not the only guy I’ve been with, asshole,” he snaps, trying to move from my grip.
“Let me make you forget the others.” My teeth sink into his thigh as I press a finger into his entrance.
Elias’s voice pings around the room, making me hope Mara doesn’t overhear. I’m sure to get a lecture once she finds out.
Elias’s hips shove himself deeper into my mouth. I groan, my voice vibrating through my chest. I can’t help but touch myself; he’s so needy. So sensitive. I could do this for him all night.
My fingers spread him wide and I debate letting my cock get a taste...
“Oh my god!” His skin is pink and hot.
I shove a third finger in, letting my teeth graze his shaft.
“Lucian I’m gonna—”
I move my mouth away, fingering the bud of nerves to overwhelm him. I kiss his thighs. “Come on me, sweetheart.”
His green eyes lock on mine. “What? Are you sure?”
I press another finger into him as an answer. He groans, one hand pinching his nipple.
His hips start moving fiercely against me.
“Yeah, use my hand.”
“Yes. Yes!” Elias’s hand pumps his cock, aiming it towards my face.
“Good boy. Come for me, make a mess of me.”
“Lucian! Yes, Lucian! Please!”
There isn’t a chance the house can’t hear Elias screaming my name for mercy. Mara is going to kill me, but at least I can die a happy man.
Elias comes with my name on his mouth. Warm cum sprays on my face and chest, dripping down to my cock.
“Look at me, sweetheart,” I demand.
Elias’s eyes all but have stars in them as he glances at me. I take my hand, wiping cum from my chest, and begin massaging my own dick. Elias’s cum makes my hand slick and warm.
“You see what you did to me?” My voice doesn’t sound like mine. “Marking your territory?”
“You told me to...” He looks away, a blush blooming on his cheeks.
“I didn’t say you could look away, Elias.” Lewd squelching sounds fill the space between us.
I rise to my feet, my orgasm threatening to take me out early. “You’re going to listen—”
But Elias isn’t listening. No, his mouth is on mine, both of his hands wrapping around my thick cock. The semen is slick between us, making my balls ache with need.
“Come on me, please.” Elias groans into my neck.
“You want to be dirty?” I grab one of his ass cheeks, roughly, making him yip.
“Yes, Lucian. Please.” Elias lies back, his beautiful skin catching in the low light. “Daddy, please.”
Blood rushes from my brain. A thrill I can’t express tears through me.
“Fuck, you’re so pretty, Elias. God—!”
Elias is littered with my cum, not even bothering to shy away.
He’s breathing hard, his body heavy against my red silk sheets.
I collapse next to him. Careful not to land on my aching side.
“Did you rip your stitches?” His fingers trace over my stomach trying to find a trace of pain.
“I’m fine, sweetheart.”
The sounds of satisfied breaths fill the room until...
“Daddy, huh?” I tease.
“Shut up!”
He smiles then, small and private, the sort of smile that says he knows he has disarmed me. The danger, the tenderness, the fear and the thread of iron between us all hold together like a taut rope in a storm. For a moment, we do nothing but breathe.
“Stay,” I say finally. It’s not a command exactly. It’s an invitation and a bargain. “Stay until morning.”