Chapter 26
Gabriella
Hours later, I was still staring at the ceiling.
The shower hadn’t helped in the slightest. If anything, I was hotter and more bothered than I had been to start with.
I didn’t want to go downstairs and risk running into Vienna again. As much as I was learning to get along with Rachel, I couldn’t handle her and Dante this evening, and I wasn’t really close enough to anyone else to just strike up a conversation with them.
I’d decided that the best course of action was to get an early night, wake up tomorrow with a clear mind and start fresh.
What a stupid fucking idea that had been.
Sleep was the farthest thing from my mind, and no matter what I did, nothing helped.
I’d tried counting sheep—hadn’t worked. I’d counted backwards from one hundred, only to grow frustrated with myself when I got confused. Which made me think of Vienna and how he’d have made a big joke about it.
To try ridding myself of thoughts of that big brute, I’d tried thinking of Nico.
Dangerous, I know.
But I was out to cause myself pain, if only to get my hormones under control.
It hadn’t worked. Instead, I’d just imagined all the various ways Vienna would murder him once he’d found him. And then was slightly disgusted with myself for being turned on by that.
By the time the clock showed two AM, I knew I was deluding myself if I thought sleep was at all possible tonight.
So, climbing out of bed, I decided to do the one thing my mother had always done for us when we had trouble sleeping after my dad died.
Hot chocolate, a splash of cinnamon, and plenty of Bailey’s Irish cream. I already knew the bar downstairs had all of that, and I’d seen hot chocolate in the cupboards earlier.
With a spring in my step and a plan in mind, I climbed down the stairs, humming to myself as I did so, my mouth practically watering already at the thought of my late-night treat.
In fact, I was so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn’t hear what was happening in the bar until it was too late.
As I entered the archway, I saw them before I heard them, and I just about had time to smother my gasp before I shot backwards, leaning against the wall, my chest pounding and my skin flaming.
It seems like I wasn’t the only one engaging in late-night treats. But Rachel and Dante’s were definitely of a different variety.
“Fuck, Rachel,” Dante groaned, and I couldn’t stop myself from peeking around the corner of the archway.
I knew it was wrong. I knew it was incredibly intrusive and violating to be spying on them like this, but I was unable to resist.
Rachel was on her knees, her hands tied behind her back, and Dante was thrusting into her mouth, controlling the speed completely.
She had her head tipped back, her throat exposed, and Dante was relentless as he pounded into her. I could hear the wet sounds as spit pooled and dripped from her lips, but she took him like a pro, even if she did choke and splutter when he hit the back of her throat.
“The noises your throat makes are fucking insane,” Dante grunted, grabbing hold of her neck and squeezing. “That’s it, Rachel. Take me deeper. I want to feel my cock in your throat. Show me what a good girl you can be.”
With my skin flaming, the same arousal that had plagued me all night came rushing back to the surface. I watched with heavy breathing as Dante slammed himself down her throat and then stayed in place.
Rachel’s eyes flew wide, but I saw her jaw slacken, and knew she was accommodating him—that this wasn’t something new, but rather something they did often.
And then Dante pinched her nose, cutting off her breathing completely.
I watched with a rising sense of panic as Rachel’s face grew redder, and her entire body started trembling. She was panicking, and Dante wasn’t relenting.
Her hands hit his thighs, tears streaming down her face, but he just wiped them away with his thumb and brushed her hair from her sweaty forehead.
“Relax, Rachel,” Dante murmured, stroking her cheek. Her throat bobbed, and she choked around his cock. “You can take it, darling. Relax your throat and be a good girl.”
She preened under his praise, her body relaxing a split second before Dante pulled his cock out of her mouth and grabbed her by the neck. Rachel gave him the most lust-filled look I had ever seen in my life, and then he hauled her to her feet by her throat and pulled her against his body.
“You did so fucking good,” he breathed, licking along the length of her neck.
And then he lifted her onto the bar and pushed her skirt up her hips and sank to his knees in front of her.
“Yes, Dante,” she whimpered, her hands clutching at his hair as her head tipped back.
She trusted him completely, and even though her voice sounded hoarse, she was now reaping the rewards of her hard work.
Fucking hell, what would that feel like?
I could barely remember.
Vienna and I had always had a trusting sex life. We’d pushed each other to our limits and had fun experimenting. But the only experience I’d had with being dominating like that was with Nico, and it was very much against my will.
What must it feel like to have that sort of sex life, knowing that the person ravaging your mouth was doing it because it not only caused them pleasure, but also you?
I’d seen the way Rachel looked at him. She got off from that as much as he did.
And judging by the loud moans leaving her right now as Dante ate her out, she was being handsomely rewarded for it.
I turned then, giving them the privacy I should have given them from the very start, only to smack into a solid wall of muscle—a solid wall of muscle that was very familiar, and definitely shouldn’t have been here.
“Vienna,” I gasped, stumbling back.
His hand shot out to steady me, pulling me away from the open archway and spinning me until I was against the wall.
“Spying, princess?” he murmured, staring at me with a look I couldn’t decipher.
“No, I—”
“Fuck, Dante!” Rachel screamed. My cheeks flamed and my thighs tensed as her moans rang out, her screams full of pleasure. “I’m cumming, I’m cumming! God, yes!”
Dante growled in response.
“What have I fucking told you about moaning his name?” he hissed at her.
Rachel chuckled and then gasped.
I looked at Vienna, not hearing Dante’s response.
I was too caught up in the way Vienna was staring down at me.
His eyes were dilated, his breathing laboured. He scanned my face, taking in every inch of my response to what I was hearing.
And somehow that just made everything worse. I felt my nipples pebble beneath the thin top I wore, and by the way Vienna’s eyes dropped, I knew he had noticed too.
He swallowed heavily, just as the unmistakable sound of skin hitting skin filled the air, followed by Rachel’s erotic moans as she mewled her approval.
I sucked in a shaky breath, closing my eyes against the wave of arousal that ran through me. I could feel the wetness pooling between my legs, and as Vienna shuffled closer to me, the brush of his erection rubbed against my stomach.
Jesus Christ…
But then Vienna shocked the hell out of me by grabbing hold of me once more, spinning me around again until my back was against his front, and walking me forward a couple of steps until we were in the archway, able to see the scene and not just hear it.
“What do you see here, Gabriella?” he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes, allowing a shudder to run through me as his breath tickled my skin, sending a dart of desire running through me.
“I really don’t think we should be watching this, Vienna,” I breathed.
“I promise you, neither of them will mind. What do you see?”
“Your pussy is so fucking tight, Rachel,” Dante grunted. “You were fucking made for me.”
“Yes, Dante,” she panted back.
She was on her knees on one of the small tables, her ass in the air. Dante was pounding into her from behind. I watched him gather up her hair, wrapping it around his wrist and pull her body upwards until they were in a very similar position to Vienna and me.
Just a hell of a lot more enjoyable for them.
“Who do you belong to?” Dante muttered in her ear.
“Why don’t you shut up and show me?” Rachel challenged.
Dante growled back, and I almost whimpered as he threw Rachel back down and delivered slap after slap to her ass.
I’d experienced enough of those to know how much they stung, but Rachel seemed to love each and every one of them. She begged for more, begged for pain, begged for him to fuck her like he hated her.
“You see the trust she has in him?” Vienna murmured to me, his fingers stroking up and down my bare thigh, fingering around the edge of my shorts. “You see how she gives herself to him so freely?”
I nodded because I was incapable of words.
My clit was throbbing, my shorts were soaked, and all I could think about was Vienna taking me in the exact same way.
“She can do that because she knows she’s safe with him.
He’s rough with her and hurts her, because she has given him explicit permission to do so.
She can relax in the knowledge that she can revoke that permission at any time.
They have safe words. If Rachel, for whatever reason, isn’t able to talk, they have safe gestures.
It looks like Dante is dominating her and taking control, but all of the control is firmly in Rachel’s hands.
She tells him to stop, and you can bet your life on Dante pulling back immediately and taking care of her. ”
I could see that.
Even lost in the moment, I could see how Dante watched her. How he analysed every gasp and whimper, how he smoothed over the sting of his spanks. And there was no denying that Rachel was completely at ease with him, letting him take her however he wanted, trusting him so fully.
Vienna’s mouth came closer to my ear, his lips brushing my skin as he spoke.
“That’s what a real relationship looks like, Gabby.
That’s a healthy sex life. It doesn’t always have to be as frantic and violent.
It doesn’t have to be that position. But it does have to be full of trust. It does need to be with someone who cares about your pleasure more than they care about their own. ”
He didn’t need to tell me any of this. I remembered a healthy sexual relationship. I’d had one with him. But it was a nice reminder after so many years of the exact opposite.
I leaned back against him before I’d even realised what I was doing, relishing the feeling of his thick erection pressing into the bottom of my spine. I couldn’t stop my hips from grinding against him. Couldn’t stop the way my pussy throbbed in response to his dangerous groan of approval.
Then I spun around in his arms, looking up at him through my lashes.
“What I’d give to be reminded of what that feels like,” I whispered, rising up onto my tip-toes so my words brushed against his lips.
Vienna groaned again at my words, his arms circling my waist. I felt them tense and knew he wanted to haul me against him, but he was still fighting his instinct to protect me, to shield me, to give me time and space.
“Sometimes I remember,” I said. “Sometimes I remember with such vivid clarity. I remember how it felt to be choked until my vision blackened, only to be revived again and fucked to within an inch of my life. I remember how it felt to have someone worshiping my body, intent on making every inch of my skin tingle with pleasure.”
“Fuck,” Vienna groaned. “You’re killing me here, princess.”
“No,” I smirked. “If I wanted to kill you, I’d tell you how I remember what this feels like, because I used my own memories to get me through some of the worst nights.”
I kissed the corner of his mouth, pressing my chest tighter against him.
“And who do you think was in those memories, Luke?” I asked, deliberately using his real name. Deliberately making the choice to remind him of who he was. Who we were. “Who do you think the man was who did those things to me?”
He swallowed heavily, and I was unable to resist, unable to stop my tongue from tracing along his throat. “It’s always fucking you, Luke. It’s always been you. It will always be you. And that fucking kills me.”
And then I pulled away from him and walked away.
Not because I wanted to. Not because I was fleeing or scared. But simply because, for the first time in a long time, it was a choice I was allowed to make.