by Piper Scott
Are you interested in body modification, Gabriel?
Back then, Gabriel hadn’t been sure, but now? Now he had his answer. He liked body modification just fine, as long as it was on Sir.
“Rabbit,” Sir said softly. He made no move to hide his body. “Did you open the door without knocking?”
“No, Sir.” Gabriel’s voice was strained, but he did his best to speak as if the man he wanted wasn’t standing naked no more than six feet from him. Nervous, he tried to duck his head, but the collar held him in place. He could not look away. “T-the door was open. When I went to knock, it swung, and… and I’m sorry.”
“Hmm.” Sir lifted the towel and patted at his face. The towel lifted away from his groin, and Gabriel did his best not to look. He swallowed hard, allowing the posture collar to keep his gaze level. “I guess I didn’t close it. That was my fault. You don’t need to apologize.”
Sir wanted him to look at his face. His face. Not down. Not at… not at that. But he wasn’t putting the towel back down. Why wasn’t he putting the towel back down? Gabriel’s lips parted as his resolve wavered, arousal fighting his sense of duty to drive him crazy.
Was Sir doing this on purpose? There was no better test of obedience to see if Gabriel would dip his gaze than to tempt him like this. All he had to do was look down, and then…
“Are you here to ask to have your collar off, Rabbit?” Sir tucked the towel around his waist, ending Gabriel’s torment. “It’s about time, isn’t it? I’m off-schedule today.”
“Yes, Sir.” The words were like sand in Gabriel’s mouth. His cock strained against the fly of his pants, and for the first time, he regretted how tight they were. Sir had to be able to see everything. “Please, could you take it off?”
Sir’s eyes looked into his. Gabriel had been trying to get used to the feeling of meeting another man’s gaze, but despite his best attempts to acclimatize, it still sent a shiver down his spine whenever Sir looked his way. “Come here, Gabriel.”
It was rare that Sir used his name these days, and so Gabriel heeded his word. He stepped forward, crossing the bedroom floor until he stood in front of Sir. Up close, he saw the details of Sir’s tattoos—geometric patterns interlaced with feminine, floral imagery. The work was artful, photorealistic in its presentation. The colors were vibrant, and the line work was solid. Gabriel did his best not to look overly interested, but he wanted to take in every tiny detail and commit it to memory.
When he tore his gaze from Sir’s colorful arm, he noticed what he’d missed before.
His nipples.
Both of them were pierced, run through with captive bead rings. Gabriel’s cock twitched. All he could do was lift his chin and tilt his head up, hoping that Sir would take the invitation and undo the straps binding the collar to his throat. If he stayed next to Sir’s naked body much longer, he wouldn’t be able to help himself—he would be bad.
“You’ve been a good boy recently, Gabriel,” Sir whispered. His words were articulated carefully, not muddied by the low volume at which he spoke. “Such a good boy. You’ve served your punishment without complaining once. I know that the collar isn’t always comfortable. Being restricted takes getting used to.”
“Yes, Sir.” Gabriel closed his eyes. He’d hoped for an escape from Sir, but his attempt was unsuccessful—he saw Sir’s image in his mind, body still wet from the shower, tattoos radiant on his skin, piercings glinting beneath the light…
The collar tightened—Sir always tightened it just a little bit when he was undoing the straps, and Gabriel was sure it was deliberate. It was a gesture made to remind him that if he was bad, his life could be made worse. Much worse.
But Sir was merciful, and Sir was kind. The tension lessened, and when it did, the collar came partially undone. Gabriel let out a breath and did his best not to look affected. He opened his eyes, focusing on Sir’s face. Sir’s eyes were downcast, paying attention to the buckle he was working to undo. “So I was thinking, since you’ve been so good, that you should be rewarded.”
“Rewarded?” Gabriel squeaked.
“Mm. Rewarded.” The collar tightened again. The last strap fell. Sir took the collar from Gabriel’s neck, his touch delicate and thoughtful. “Here is your choice: you can either go shower and go to bed right now, then sleep as late as you want regardless of our schedule; or after your shower, you can come to watch a movie in bed with me. What is it that you want?”
Gabriel didn’t need to think on it. “To make you happy, Sir.”
A shudder ran down Sir’s spine, visible even to Gabriel. He held his breath, knowing if he didn’t, he’d have gasped. How was it that his words had power over a man like Sir? Could it really be that Sir was attracted to him, too?
“Then run the shower, Rabbit,” Sir whispered. He leaned close, letting his lips brush the lobe of Gabriel’s ear. “And make sure to dry your hair well. I don’t like it when my pillows are wet.”
25
Cedric
It was a mistake. The second Gabriel walked back into the bedroom from Cedric’s en suite bathroom, his torso bare and his skin beaded with water, he knew he was in over his head. Gabriel was slender in a delicate, graceful way, like a glass ballerina at the peak of her arabesque. His face was young, and with his clothes cast aside, he looked younger than ever. Cedric had given him a clean pair of his boxers to wear, and they slouched down Gabriel’s hips and flowed loosely around his thighs like he was a kid playing dress-up.
Twenty-one. Gabriel was twenty-one.
Was he really a kid? Cedric had always thought there was a world of difference between twenty-five and twenty-one, but he wasn’t so certain anymore.
Gabriel approached the bed cautiously, meeting Cedric’s gaze the whole time. When he arrived, he hesitated, then set one knee on the mattress. When Cedric didn’t correct him, he climbed up and crossed the bed on his hands and knees. Cedric’s cock couldn’t have been harder. His body was reacting like Gabriel had crawled across the bed, straddled his lap, and begged him with those innocent eyes to put his collar back on so he could make him happy.
Fuck.
That didn’t happen, thankfully, but what did come to pass was almost as bad. Gabriel settled next to Cedric on the bed and cuddled up to his side. He wiggled his hips so he could slip beneath the blankets, officially joining Cedric in bed. Bare thigh against bare thigh, Gabriel’s chest against his side, a jolt ran the length of Cedric’s body and buried itself in his balls. In an attempt to ignore it, he reached for the remote and hit play on the movie he’d pulled up on Netflix. It didn’t matter what it was. What was on the screen mattered less than who was beside him.
The way Gabriel’s omega smelled paired with Cedric’s body wash and shampoo made him want to bury his nose in the crook of Gabriel’s neck and breathe it in forever.
“Sir?” Gabriel whispered. He draped an arm lazily over Cedric’s stomach as he got comfortable, his back toward the screen.
“Yes, Rabbit?”
“How long have you had your tattoos for?” Gabriel wasn’t looking at the television at all—his eyes were on Cedric’s body. Cedric wasn’t sure if he meant to be obvious about it, or if Cedric was hyper-aware of every little thing Gabriel did, but he noticed.
“The first time ink pierced my skin, I was eighteen. I’m twenty-five now.”
“Mm.” Gabriel nuzzled against his side and cuddled a little closer. “What made you want to get them?”
Cedric was aware they were slipping toward informal conversation. The boundaries had been set when Gabriel had come to stay with him—respect was to be afforded to him at all times, and their relationship was supposed to be one of utility. Gabriel would obey Cedric and listen to his word, and in exchange, Cedric would guide him toward the best version of himself that he could be. Gabriel’s chattiness could be a sign that he was growing too comfortable with their situation, and that Cedric would have to remind him of his place, but for now, Cedric permitted him liberty. He was to be rewa
rded, after all. If Gabriel continued to be so bold once tonight was over, Cedric would step in.
“I was a kid, and I thought they’d be cool.” Cedric watched the screen, taking in the shapes and sounds, but none of the meaning behind them. “I was in high school, I had money, and I was going on to college. When I first started getting them, I was sure it was because I wanted the world to know I was tough… going from my senior year of high school where I was top of the food chain into the world at large felt like a big step. I knew I was going to be a small fish in a big sea, and I guess I was looking for validation.”
“Oh.” Was it his imagination, or were Gabriel’s fingertips brushing his hip? If his arm nudged any lower, he’d feel the erection straining against Cedric’s boxers, and then what? It wasn’t like Cedric could explain that away. “Did you start with your arm, or…?”
“I started with this piece on my wrist.” Cedric lifted his arm. His gaze parted from the television to focus on the honeycomb design that spanned six inches on his forearm, from his wrist upward. Framed behind the honeycombs, done in black and white ink, was a tree on a hill at sunset, where the horizon was light, but the sky above was darkened and speckled with stars. The honeycombs were in the foreground, done in bold lines, but the landscape was artfully expressed in pointillism. Since that piece had been made, the pieces around it had been blended in to match. Nothing on Cedric’s arm looked disjointed or out of place—he was one smooth canvas worked upon by one skillful artist.
He carried her legacy wherever he went.
“I got this done in one eight-hour session. It was my very first tattoo, and my artist told me that I was crazy. She suggested that I stop being such a macho-bravado-tough-guy and take it in two sessions, so I fired back and asked her if she wasn’t just afraid her hand would cramp up if she worked on me all day. I walked out of that session with her phone number and a fully finished tattoo, but she had the last laugh when I almost passed out three hours in.”
“Eight hours for something so small?” Gabriel asked in awe.
Cedric held his arm in place to study, examining the honeycombs on his wrist. “Yeah. When you’re passionate about something, you want to do it right. She could have rushed, but she didn’t. She took the time to invest herself in the piece, and you can still see her skill now, even all these years later. It’s faded from light exposure, and it’s going to need to be touched up in the future, but her spirit’s there, if you look closely enough.”
“You loved her,” Gabriel murmured.
One corner of Cedric’s lips twitched upward. “Do you think so, Rabbit? What led you to say that?”
“The tone of your voice.” Gabriel settled down. His hair was soft from his shower—he’d taken Cedric’s warning to heart and had dried it thoroughly before coming to bed. “And the look in your eyes when you talk about her. You said it was just one artist, right? So you must have been with her for a long, long time if that space on your wrist took eight hours.”
“I’ll have to keep in mind how perceptive you are. You’re hiding all kinds of exciting secrets from me, aren’t you?”
There was no reply.
“Her name was Brittany. She was twenty-five when I met her, and she was twenty-seven when she was taken away.”
“Taken away?”
Cedric closed his eyes. “She was killed. No one knows what happened. Police investigation revealed the cause of her death, but not the motive, or who the perpetrator was. One day she was here, full of snark and laughter, and the next she never opened her eyes again. I dropped out of school and shut down for a year before I found my way again. It was the hardest time of my life, but it made me into who I am today. It shaped me into a man who appreciates life, and who understands that pleasures are only ever temporary, so they are to be enjoyed while they last. In the end, I like to think I’m a better person for it. She taught me to be the man I am today, and I’ll always carry her with me because of it.”
This time, it wasn’t Cedric’s imagination—Gabriel’s fingers traced across his hip soothingly. Cedric didn’t open up about his past very often, but there was a promise in Gabriel’s quiet ways that he wouldn’t spread rumors or pass harsh judgment. The trust Cedric had in him extended beyond the professional—it bridged the way to his heart, and he was as cognizant of it as he was the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. The part of his mind that desired Gabriel could not be shut off.
“Not everything has to be temporary, Sir.” Gabriel’s fingertips continued to paint patterns across Cedric’s hip. “We can change that.”
Gabriel’s hand parted from Cedric’s side and found its way amongst the sheets. He lifted his torso and repositioned himself slowly, so that one of his knees rested in the space between Cedric’s legs. Cedric watched, slack-jawed, as the blankets fell away from them both, revealing the slender stretch of Gabriel’s torso and abdomen, and the way Cedric’s boxers pooled over his thighs. Gabriel settled down on his thigh and draped one arm over Cedric’s shoulder, the distance between them almost negligible. The tip of Gabriel’s nose brushed Cedric’s. All Cedric would have to do was tilt his head and they’d be kissing.
He wanted it more than he cared to admit.
The television lit Gabriel from behind, playing with the blond in his hair. His skin glowed, and despite the dim light in the room, Cedric saw the color in his cheeks. He was gorgeous. Cedric couldn’t resist him.
“I’m yours, aren’t I?” Gabriel whispered. “Sterling and Adrian gave me to you. I’m your property now, and I will never leave you. Never. All I want is to be with you, Sir. All I want is to make you happy.”
God, was this really happening? Cedric took in a staggered breath and tried to regain control of the situation, but Gabriel was a siren, and he was a sailor lost at sea. His arms found their way around Gabriel’s waist, and he held him in place loosely.
Perfectly submissive. Perfectly behaved.
What was he doing not making Gabriel his? The invitation was there. They both wanted it.
They both wanted each other.
Cedric shuddered. His arms tightened, and he pulled Gabriel closer.
“So let’s make something permanent together,” Gabriel whispered. He tilted his head, and the tip of his nose traced the length of Cedric’s as he brought their lips closer. “All you need to do is take me. All you need to do is use my body like you deserve to use it. I want to give you permanence, Sir. I want to take away your pain.”
After all these years, there was still hurt in him, locked away in such a dark place that Cedric never visited it. Gabriel was his flashlight, illuminating the cracks and spaces he’d tried so hard to patch up over the last five years, and whose presence he preferred to deny. In this little, unassuming omega, Cedric had found someone who made him want to unlock the prison in his soul and set his hurt free. If Gabriel was his—truly his—then what did it matter if he gave in to what he wanted? If Cedric never left Gabriel, if he vowed to stay in order to make sure Gabriel recovered, then what did it matter if they had sex? Who was Cedric to stand in the way of love?
Was it love?
Gabriel’s lips brushed his shyly, and Cedric found himself returning his affection. It may not have been love, but it was the beginning of something great—something Cedric wanted to encourage. His hands slid down from where they rested behind Gabriel’s back to find the rounds of his ass, and he lifted Gabriel until he straddled his lap completely.
His submissive. His omega. His lover.
His.
26
Gabriel
They were kissing. Gabriel’s lips brushed against Sir’s, and Sir’s lips brushed against his, and that meant they were kissing.
Gabriel’s soul sang.
Stripped down to their boxers, arms tangled around each other, lips brushing, it was the sweetest encounter Gabriel had ever known. He shifted his hips to rub himself against Sir’s prominent erection, and the tiny gasp Sir rewarded him with was worth the risk, so Gabriel did it
again. He wasn’t in heat, so he wouldn’t conceive, but if Sir would have sex with him tonight, it meant that he would have sex with him again. When Gabriel did go into heat, Sir would take care of it for him. He’d knot his ass over and over until the heat was gone and his body was his own again.
And then, Gabriel would give Sir permanence.
A relationship. A baby. A family.
They would have it all.
It was all Gabriel had ever wanted, and he hoped it was what Sir wanted, too.
Sir’s lips parted, and they met Gabriel’s with more intensity than before. The kiss became real, and Gabriel had to hold back from laughing with delight. Excitement exploded like fireworks in his chest, sporadic, but intense. Each burst made him want more, and he sweetened the kiss like he’d never been allowed to do in The White Lotus. No john he’d been with had ever wanted to kiss, and Garrison had told him his lips were too pretty not to see wrapped around his cock, but Sir? Sir wanted to taste him. He wanted to know how soft Gabriel’s lips could be, and he wanted Gabriel to know what he felt like, too.
The way the smooth balls of Cedric’s piercing rubbed against him, moving every time Cedric opened his mouth to revisit the kiss again, made it the sweetest kiss he’d ever had. Firm, but affectionate. Exploratory, but confident. Giving, and yet demonstrative of how they wanted to be treated.
Gabriel would never forget.
Sir’s hands squeezed his ass, but they treated him with tenderness instead of greed. Gabriel knew the difference. To Sir, he wasn’t a toy to be taken advantage of. He was an omega, and he always would be, but he was of value to Sir. For as long as Gabriel lived, he hoped that would never change.
Sir’s hands guided him up, then pushed him back onto his lap. Gabriel followed his lead, grinding himself against Sir’s cock through the boxers that separated them. His own cock was rock hard, pushing against the buttoned flap of the boxers he’d been given. How long would it be until Sir repositioned them and stripped Gabriel of his clothes? From there, all they needed was some lube, and they could truly be together. They could practice making a family until Gabriel’s heat arrived.