Chapter 19
Adriel
They were in the middle of it when it happened.
Adriel was on his hands and knees, the position familiar by now but the feeling of it never the same twice.
Landen was behind him, one hand gripping his hip hard enough that Adriel knew there would be marks tomorrow, the other braced on the mattress beside them.
The rhythm was different tonight. Harder than usual. Deeper. More urgent.
Each thrust punched a sound out of Adriel that he couldn't have suppressed if he'd tried.
He didn't try. He'd stopped trying to be quiet with Landen.
Stopped trying to hide what he felt, what he wanted, what his body did when Landen touched him.
The sounds came whether he wanted them to or not; moans and gasps and broken little cries that Landen seemed to collect like treasures, each one answered with a deeper thrust, a low sound of approval.
Landen was rougher tonight.
He had been on edge the entire day, a work crisis keeping him on a conference call for most of the day, and it showed.
Adriel had thought that he would probably cancel their date that evening, seeing as by the time the office had started clearing out he looked more exhausted than Adriel had ever seen him. But he didn’t.
Instead, he had attacked Adriel as soon as he had entered Landen’s apartment, not even saying hello before he had him slammed into the wall, his mouth attached to Adriel’s neck. And he hadn’t stopped since.
Adriel could feel the change; the grip of Landen’s fingers on his hip, the snap of his hips, the barely controlled sounds he was making against Adriel's shoulder. Something unleashed in him. Something that had been held back before.
Not tonight. Tonight Landen was taking what he wanted, and what he wanted was to fuck Adriel hard enough to make him forget his own name.
Adriel was close to forgetting.
His arms were shaking. His face was pressed into the pillow, turned to the side so he could breathe, so he could make the sounds that Landen loved so much.
The angle was perfect; Landen hitting that spot inside him with every thrust, sending sparks up his spine, making his cock leak against the sheets beneath him.
And then Landen's hand came down on his ass. A sharp, open-palmed crack that rang through the room and sent a shock through Adriel's entire body.
Everything stopped.
Landen stilled immediately. Buried deep inside him, breathing hard, his hand frozen where it had landed. Adriel felt the tension in Landen's body shift instantly from desire to concern; felt it in the way his grip loosened, in the way he pulled back just slightly, in the way his breathing changed.
"Shit. Adriel, are you okay?" Landen's voice was rough. "I didn't mean to…"
Adriel didn't answer right away.
His face was still pressed into the pillow.
His heart was slamming against his ribs, hard enough that he could feel it everywhere; in his chest, in his throat, in the place where Landen was still buried inside him.
The sting was blooming hot across his skin, radiating outward from where Landen's palm had landed.
He was quiet for a long moment.
Suspended between the shock of it and something else. Something underneath the shock that he didn't expect.
Because it felt good.
The realization moved through him the same way it had when Landen tied his wrists that first time; a door opening that he didn't know was there, a hunger he didn't know he had surfacing all at once, sudden and undeniable.
The sting was already fading into warmth, and the warmth was spreading, and his cock, hard, aching, leaking steadily against the sheets, twitched so sharply against his stomach that he gasped.
He liked it.
He liked it.
Adriel lifted his head from the pillow. Turned slightly, just enough that Landen could see his face.
"Do it again," Adriel said. His voice was barely above a whisper.
Timid in a way that felt almost absurd given the position they were in, given what they'd been doing, given what he was asking for.
The blush on his cheeks deepened as he heard himself say it.
He couldn't believe he'd said it. Couldn't believe he was asking for this.
Landen went very still behind him.
Adriel felt the man's grip tighten fractionally on his hip. Felt his cock throb inside him; a deep, involuntary pulse that made Adriel's breath catch. A beat of silence. Two. The room was absolutely quiet except for their breathing, ragged and uneven.
Then Landen exhaled.
The second slap was harder.
The crack of it echoed through the bedroom, sharp and loud, and Adriel moaned, loud and unguarded, the sound torn from somewhere deep in his chest. The sting was immediate, bright, shocking. And underneath it, blooming just as fast, was heat. Pleasure so intense it made his vision blur.
His cock jerked against his stomach. Leaked again, a fresh pulse of precome soaking into the sheets beneath him.
He was suddenly, vividly aware of being harder than he had ever been in his life.
Harder than he'd known it was possible to be.
His whole body felt like a live wire, every nerve ending firing at once.
"Fuck," Adriel breathed.
The word came out ragged. Stunned.
Landen groaned behind him.
"God, you're incredible," he said. And then he started to move again.
Pulled out slowly. Pushed back in hard.
Each thrust seemed to land deeper, hit harder, send new waves of pleasure through Adriel's already overwhelmed system. And punctuating it, unpredictable enough to keep him gasping, was the crack of Landen's palm against his ass.
Each slap sent a fresh jolt of stinging pleasure through him, and each jolt made everything inside him tighten.
Landen's voice came low and rough against his back.
"So good for me." A slap. Adriel cried out. "Taking it so well." Another slap, harder, and Adriel's arms buckled briefly before he caught himself. "Look at you. Fuck."
His mind was a storm.
Discovery upon discovery upon discovery.
He liked this. He liked being hit. Liked the sting of it, the heat of it, the way it made everything inside him clench and tighten and demand more.
He had never known this about himself. Never imagined it.
And now it was here, undeniable, as much a part of him as his own heartbeat.
Underneath it, shame flickered.
But the pleasure was stronger.
Every sting drowned the shame before it could take root. Every thrust pushed it further away. Every word from Landen burned through it like sunlight through fog.
Adriel was climbing toward something. He could feel it building. Each slap wound him tighter. Each thrust drove him higher. His moans had become continuous, a stream of sound he couldn't stop and didn't want to.
Landen's hand came down one final time.
Crack.
The orgasm tore through him like nothing he'd ever experienced.
His whole body seized, his back arching, his arms giving out completely, his face pressed into the pillow as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through him.
He was coming untouched, his cock pulsing against his stomach, painting the sheets beneath him with hot stripes of release.
The sound he made was barely human; a long, broken cry that seemed to go on and on.
Behind him, Landen followed. Buried deep. Groaning against his spine. His hips stuttered through it, thrust after thrust, each one sending fresh sparks through Adriel's oversensitive body. His grip on Adriel's hip was bruising. His whole body shook with the force of it.
Then stillness.
They stayed like that for a long moment. The sting on his ass was blooming hot, a reminder of what had just happened, what he'd discovered, what he'd asked for.
He had no words.
None.
Landen moved eventually. He pulled out slowly, and Adriel made a small sound at the loss. Landen's hand came to rest on his lower back, warm and steady.
"Adriel." His voice was rough. Quiet. "Hey. You with me?"
Adriel turned his head. Managed a nod.
Landen's eyes searched his face. Looking for something. Adriel didn't know what he found there. But after a moment, his expression softened. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Adriel's shoulder.
"Okay," he murmured. "Okay."
Adriel closed his eyes.
He was still trembling. Still reeling. Still trying to understand what had just happened to him, what door had opened, what part of himself he'd just met for the first time.
But underneath all of it, underneath the shock and the discovery and the overwhelming intensity, was something else.
Safety.
He had never felt safer in his life.
∞∞∞
Adriel stood naked in front of the mirror.
He'd meant to shower. Had stepped in here with that intention, still loose-limbed and buzzing from Landen's hands and mouth and the things he'd said in the dark. But he'd caught his reflection as he passed the mirror and stopped.
Now he stood in front of it and turned slightly, craning to see himself from behind.
His ass was marked.
Pink shading toward red in the shape of Landen's palm, the imprint of it clear across both cheeks.
The color was darker in some places than others, the places where Landen's hand had landed hardest, and already it was promising to deepen into bruises by morning.
He could see the edges of them, the way the skin was already shifting, becoming something that would last.
There were other marks too.
A bite on his shoulder, just at the curve where neck met bone.
Landen's mouth had been there for a long moment, teeth pressing, sucking, leaving a bruise that was already a deep, satisfying purple at the center.
The shadow of fingerprints on his hips; five points on each side, the exact shape of Landen's grip.
Evidence everywhere.
Adriel stared at them for a long moment.
He waited for something.