Around the cornerfrom the hallway was Sterling’s living room. Dark wood paired with luxurious leather and strategically placed track lighting to create a space both masculine and tastefully brooding. Gabriel led Cedric to one of the leather couches before letting go of his hand. Gabriel sat on the couch, knees together and elbows tucked in. The attempt to make himself as small as possible worked—pressed into the arm of the couch like he was, he was barelythere.
Adrian, who’d followed along behind them, took the spot right next to Gabriel. Sterling stood not all that far behind Cedric, rocking his daughter slowly in one arm. It looked like this was how the conversation was going to go. Cedric didn’t mind—in fact, he was grateful. Sitting next to Gabriel would have proved too great a distraction, and right now, he needed to keep his head inthegame.
Cedric opened his mouth to speak, but as he did, Gabriel surprised him by taking initiative. “Why are you doing thistome?”
The question wasn’t directed at him, but the content was. Cedric would not stand by and allow his image to be negatively impacted by false understandings. “I’m not doing anything to you. I won’t do anything until I know that you wantthis,too.”
Gabriel and Adrian looked at him in unison. Two sets of eyes, blue and gray, searched his face for different things. Adrian looked for motive, his lips tight with distrust and his eyes narrowed with suspicion. But Gabriel? Gabriel looked at him in confusion, like the thought that he could turn Cedric down had never crossed his mind before. The confusion was brief, and it blipped out of existence the second Gabriel ducked his head and crossed his arms over his stomach like he was sick. Cedric wished he could have held that gaze a littlelonger.
“Cedric is here to take care of you, Gabriel. He can provide you with the care that you need.” Sterling spoke with calm conviction. “Now that you’ve left Stonecrest, you need structure that Adrian and I can’t hope to provide you with. You need a caretaker—someone who will see to it that your needs are met, and who will encourage you to live your life to its fullest potential. Cedric will help you if you let him. The choice, ultimately, belongstoyou.”
Gabriel stared at his lap. Eventually, he uncrossed his arms and ran his hands nervously down his thighs. Then, with a tiny sigh that sounded loud in the silence of the room, he looked up at Sterling. The emotion in Gabriel’s eyes was muted, as if he wasn’t thereanymore. “…Okay.”
It wasn’t right. Consent didn’t work like that. Cedric looked between Gabriel and Sterling, judging the dynamic between them. He didn’t know much about Gabriel’s past—just that he’d gone missing during the summer after Cedric had graduated—but by that point, Cedric was already college-bound, and he’d fallen out of touch with his old group of friends. Now he wished he’d looked into what had happened that summer instead of letting it fall by thewayside.
What was going on in Gabriel’s head? What experiences had shaped him into the timid young man who tried his best to meld with the couch and disappear? The confusion in Gabriel’s eyes when Cedric had been kind toward him was abnormal. No person should have to think that others were out to hurt him first and foremost. The world was a dark place, but it wasn’t that cruel. Cedric had seen suffering, but even when life had taken what he held closest to his heart, he still hadn’t lost faith inothers.
Not likeGabrielhad.
The tiny “okay” that Gabriel had given Sterling wasn’t good enough for him. If Cedric was going to do this job, he needed to know that he was doing it right—and that meant that he needed an answer from Gabriel directly, no matter how timidGabrielwas.
Determination clenched in Cedric’s chest, as cautious as it was concerned. It rounded itself off with softness, seeping through his core and rushing through his veins. It swelled with urgency, ballooning until he couldn’t ignore it anymore. It pushed him to take action, and sohedid.
Propelled by instinct, he closed the short distance between himself and Gabriel. All eyes turned to him, but Gabriel’s were the only ones thatmattered.
Cedric dropped to a knee at Gabriel’s feet, careful not to touch him. The tension in the room rose, but Gabriel’s stunned wide eyes grounded Cedric in the moment. There was nothing holding Cedric back any longer—not even the startling attraction he felt for Gabriel made a difference anymore. No one else could tell him what he needed to know. If he didn’t take initiative, there would be noresolution.
His omega would consent to the treatment he was about to receive. Cedric would not have it anyotherway.
“Gabriel.” Cedric’s voice did not waver. He let the utterance hang between them, hoping it would drag Gabriel down from his panic like an anchor through open water. “I need you to understand that everything I do, I do out of respect for you. If you don’t want this—if you don’t think it’s right, or if you feel like you’re being taken advantage of—we will call it off right now, no questions asked. I need to know that I’m doing this foryou,not foranyoneelse.”
Gabriel’s eyes stayed on him, lidded now instead of wide with shock. He bit down on his bottom lip and shifted his thighs. “Forme,Sir?”
“For you,” Cedric promised. He refused to look away. “All for you, Gabriel. Every last action, and everylastword.”
No one moved. No one spoke. The air between them sizzled—Cedric couldn’t deny it any more than he could deny the air he breathed. Gabriel may have been a job, but Cedric meanteveryword.
It didn’t come down to attraction. It didn’t come down to how fast his heart beat, or how hard his dick was. It was a matter of making sure that a young man who didn’t seem to have much agency got the care hedeserved.
“I…” Gabriel looked nervously off to the side, then stared at his thighs again. Cedric could still see the blues of his irises through his lashes. “I… need to think, is that… is thatokay,Sir?”
“Yes.” Cedric did not move from where he knelt. Since Gabriel did not feel comfortable, he would keep a lower, submissive position in order to boost his confidence. Whatever answer he received, he needed it to be said out of sincerity, not out of fear. “It’s a big decision to make. You can takeyourtime.”
“Thank you.” Gabriel’s voice was so small that it was barely there, but with a single flick of his eyes, he stole a glance at Cedric that made Cedric’s heart skip a beat. “I need to… I need to go thinkalone,okay?”
“Of course.” Reality was restored, and Cedric realized they weren’t alone in the room—Sterling stood behind him, a silent, protective force, and Adrian sat next to Gabriel on the couch, his expression unreadable. This was their penthouse, Cedric remembered. They had the final say. “As long as it’s fine with Sterling andAdrian.”
“It’s more than fine.” Sterling’s footsteps approached, and Cedric felt the air move behind him as Sterling stood close. “Think about your options, Gabriel. If this isn’t the path you want, then wewillfind anotherforyou.”
Gabriel said nothing, but he nodded. Careful not to step on Cedric, he picked himself up from the couch with cat-like grace from the couch and slunk toward the far hallway. Cedric rose from the floor and watched him go, uncertain how to feel. He’d put himself on the line standing up for Gabriel like that, but was it worth it? Gabriel didn’t make the answerobvious.
A door shut down the hall, breaking the tension. Cedric exhaled slowly. What was done, was done. The decision was in Gabriel’s hands now, and all Cedric could do was trust he’d make the choice truest to hisheart.
6
Gabriel
There wasno space in the house for him anymore—no place with a door that could close and lock like Gabriel wanted—so he fled to the bathroom. The door clicked into place behind him, and he twisted the lock shut before anyone could tell him to come out and quit beingsobad.
