Chapter 45
Rated E for Explicit
Levi gasped awake on something soft and warm, his fingers curling into plush fabric beneath him. His body felt weightless after the crushing violence of their last death, his limbs sinking into the softness that cradled him.
Am I on a bed?
As his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room, unfamiliar details emerged from the shadows. Crown molding traced the edges of a high ceiling. A fireplace stood against one wall, small flames dancing behind an ornate grate.
This wasn’t a hospital room but private quarters. Luxurious ones.
Movement in the corner drew his attention. A figure rose from an armchair, silhouetted against the dim firelight.
“You’re awake.” Asher’s voice was softer than usual, pitched low as if he might startle Levi.
Levi pushed himself upright. “Where are we?”
“Faine’s private suite, I think.” Asher moved closer, his features gradually becoming visible. “The building reset us here. Almost like it’s giving us...” He paused, searching for the right words. “A moment of peace before the end.”
Levi’s hand rose to his throat, his fingertips finding the now-familiar bruise that had survived another death, another reset. The mark Asher left on him in the conference room. The pressure against the tender skin sent a confusing wave of comfort through him.
Asher tracked the movement with hungry eyes. “You’re touching it. My mark.”
“It shouldn’t still be here,” Levi muttered, dropping his hand as if caught doing something shameful. “Nothing else carries over that way.”
Levi looked around, taking in more details of their surroundings.
A door in the corner stood partially open, revealing glimpses of a marble-tiled bathroom.
Medical supplies were arranged neatly on a side table.
A crystal decanter of amber liquid sat beside two glasses, untouched for decades but preserved.
It was as if the building prepared this space specifically for them.
“I kept my promise,” Asher said, drawing Levi’s attention back to him. “I found you again.”
Levi’s mouth felt dry. “I know.”
Asher remained unnervingly still, not approaching further. Not yet. His restraint was palpable, a physical force pressing against the air between them.
“I remember what I said. After the third key.”
“So do I.”
Levi rose from the bed, his legs unsteady beneath him. He expected to be grabbed the moment he stood, but Asher remained rooted in place, watching him with an almost painful intensity.
“You’re waiting,” Levi realized aloud, “for me to come to you.”
He gave a slight nod, the barest movement. “I’ve taken enough,” Asher said, the words clearly difficult for him. “This time, you choose.”
It was manipulation, Levi knew. A calculated move to make him complicit in whatever happened next.
And yet, as he took one step forward, then another, he couldn’t deny the truth in it: he was choosing this, and he had been choosing it in increments across multiple deaths and resets.
He wanted Asher, but he was still scared of him, of himself, of the desire he couldn’t fight anymore.
He stopped just out of reach. “I’ve never—” The words caught in his throat, embarrassment flooding his face with heat. “I don’t know what to do to start.”
“I know. I’ve been waiting to teach you.”
The declaration sent a shiver down Levi’s spine. “This is fucked up,” he said quietly. “You know that, right? Whatever this is between us, it’s not healthy.”
“Does that matter anymore?” Asher asked, taking his first step forward, closing the distance between them to mere inches. “In this place? After everything?”
“I guess not.”
“Then say it,” Asher demanded, still not touching him. “Say what you want.”
The humiliation was scalding. To have to voice it, to put into words the twisted need that had taken root inside him. Levi’s gaze dropped, unable to maintain eye contact through this final surrender any longer.
“I want you to touch me,” he whispered, the admission torn from somewhere deep and broken inside him. “I want...what you promised to teach me.”
Asher let out a shaky breath. “Look at me when you say it.”
Levi forced his eyes back up, meeting Asher’s gaze. Something inside him steeled itself, a sliver of defiance cutting through the shame. “I want you,” he repeated. “Now stop making me beg for it.”
Asher’s hands shot forward, gripping Levi’s waist and pulling their bodies flush together.
The kiss that followed wasn’t careful, but it wasn’t cruel.
It was possessive, pure and undiluted, Asher’s mouth claiming his with bruising force.
Levi’s hands rose to Asher’s shoulders, neither pushing away nor pulling closer.
Asher tasted of copper and heat, and underneath it all was a touch of desperation, maybe, or hunger too long denied.
Levi’s breath caught when Asher’s hand fisted in his hair, angling his head back, deepening the kiss until Levi felt himself dissolving at the edges.
Every rational thought scattered. This was madness, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, not when Asher was kissing him like he was drowning and Levi was air.
When they broke apart, both breathing heavily, Asher reached into his pocket and withdrew a small plastic bottle, holding it up between them. It took Levi a moment to realize he was looking at a small bottle of lube.
“Where did you find that?” Levi asked, bewildered. “How long have you had that in your pocket?”
“The staff lockers,” Asher replied, something like pride in his voice.
“That’s...” Disturbing. Flattering. Terrifying. Hilarious? He couldn’t settle on which.
“I’ve been patient.” Asher kissed his cheek and set the bottle on the nightstand before returning his attention to Levi. His hands explored with deliberate slowness, each touch was possessive yet oddly reverent, alternating between gentle caresses and firm pressure that bordered on painful.
Levi’s breath hitched as Asher’s fingers slipped beneath his shirt, skating across his bare skin. “Your heart’s racing,” Asher’s palm flattened against Levi’s chest. “Are you afraid?”
“Yes,” Levi admitted.
He was fucking terrified. Which Asher was he going to get? Sweet, caring Asher, who comforted him through teary breakdowns that he sometimes caused? Or cruel, violent Asher, who had no qualms about hurting him? The uncertainty twisted in his gut.
“Good,” Asher whispered, voice thick with satisfaction. “I like the way fear looks on you. It makes your eyes shine.”
He guided Levi backward until his legs hit the edge of the bed.
With gentle pressure, he pushed Levi down onto the mattress, the soft give of the sheets contrasting sharply with the unyielding weight of Asher’s body as he straddled him.
Asher kissed along his jaw, each press of his lips sending sparks skittering down his neck.
Levi’s hands trembled as they reached for the hem of his shirt, his fingers clumsy and uncoordinated.
“Let me,” Asher murmured, catching Levi’s wrists. “You’re shaking too much.” His voice was a low rumble, laced with hunger, as if Levi’s vulnerability was a delicacy he intended to savor.
Asher’s fingers hooked under the hem, dragging it upward with agonizing slowness, exposing Levi’s abdomen inch by inch.
The fabric whispered against his skin as it peeled away, cool air rushing in to replace it, raising goosebumps that Asher immediately chased with his fingertips.
He traced the curve of Levi’s ribs, the dip of his navel, as if committing every contour to memory.
“God, look at you,” Asher said, his voice hushed with awe as he finally pulled the shirt over Levi’s head and tossed it aside. His thumb circled a nipple that hardened under the attention, drawing a soft gasp from Levi.
Asher’s hands slid down to unbutton Levi’s pants with that same deliberate care, his knuckles brushing against Levi’s hip in a way that sent electric jolts through him. He tugged them down, exposing Levi’s thighs.
Each newly exposed section of skin received immediate attention—fingers tracing lazy patterns that left trails of fire, lips following with hot, open-mouthed kisses that made Levi’s toes curl.
Occasionally, teeth tested the boundary between pleasure and pain, nipping at the sensitive flesh of his inner thigh just hard enough to draw a gasp and a tiny bloom of red that Asher soothed with his tongue.
“So sensitive, so untouched. You’ve been hiding this from me all this time?” His tone was almost accusatory, laced with the thrill of discovery, as he finally stripped away the last barriers.
Levi felt utterly laid bare, his body a canvas for Asher’s obsession; every inch revealed was met with that intense, mismatched gaze, devouring him, as if Asher had waited lifetimes to unveil and claim this territory.
It felt like being flayed open, every scar, every freckle, every trembling inch on display for Asher’s insatiable hunger.
“You’re exquisite,” Asher said, voice rough with emotion, one hand trailing down Levi’s side from his shoulder to his hip. “Every curve, every line, so perfectly made for me. I’ve dreamed of this moment, Levi, of seeing you like this. No one else will ever have this view.”
Levi turned his face away, eyes squeezing shut against the intensity of that gaze, cheeks burning with a mix of shame, fear, and an intense arousal that made his stomach clench.
“Look at me,” Asher commanded, fingers gripping Levi’s chin and forcing his head back, the pressure firm enough to leave faint imprints. “I want to see your eyes. Every reaction. I’ve earned that much.”
Levi forced himself to obey, meeting Asher’s gaze as his hands resumed their exploration. The touch was different now—more deliberate, more focused, palms sliding over bare skin with a possessiveness that bordered on worship.
“You’re so responsive,” Asher praised, voice tight with restraint, his breath hot against Levi’s ear. “So perfect.”