44
Gabriel
Submission was not mindless.Gabriel let his head roll back, the dull pain now throbbing in his ear secondary to the feel of Sir’s lips on his neck and the way the smooth balls of his snakebite piercings grazed across his skin. To give himself to a man did not mean to turn his brain off, and to allow another to own him did not mean that he was no longer in control of himself. The power Gabriel lost, he entrusted to a man he knew would give back to him a thousandfold morepleasurable.
The choice was his when it had never been before, and Gabriel would never have it any other wayagain.
Fabric trailed across Gabriel’s cheek, and he didn’t realize until it passed over the bridge of his nose what it was—Sir had brought out a silk scarf, and he secured that scarf over Gabriel’s eyes to deprive him of his vision. Gabriel let out a puff of air and squirmed, his body made more sensitive as his sight was takenfromhim.
“Sir?” hegasped.
Sir chuckled and kissed him, and the kiss was fire. Gabriel gasped into his mouth and returned Sir’s passion with his own. Each touch was now a surprise, and Gabriel’s body reacted to them that much more stronglyforit.
Sir’s teeth grazed along his neck, the promise of pain never far, but the delivery of pleasure constant. Gabriel took in a needy breath, and as he did, Sir bit down. The flat tips of his teeth pinched Gabriel’s skin, and he tugged, but even as Gabriel cried out in surprise, he lifted his hips to seek friction againstSir’sbody.
In deprivation, he foundbliss.
Sir’s hips met his, and their rhythm forced Gabriel back down against the bed. The steady rise and fall stole Gabriel’s senses, and he invested his trust in Sir to direct his pleasure. No matter what happened, Gabriel was readyforit.
“If I push you too far, and if you want me to stop, I need you to tell me.” Sir’s command ghosted across Gabriel’s neck. “One word is all it takes. I want you to repeat it.Revoke.”
“Revoke.” Gabriel’s mouth worked independently of his head, and the word tumbled from his lips. “Revoke.”
“That’s all. One word and I stop. Your command over me is absolute, Gabriel. Everything I am isyours.”
Power. Once, he’d signed it away to a man who’d misused it—who’d told him that everything about him was worthless, and that he was lucky to have found someone to take care of him. Now, Gabriel knew better. Sir took his power, too, but what he left in its place was distilled and potent. Even as he nipped and commanded, he made Gabriel the god of his world—one he made offerings to in sensation, both pleasureandpain.
Now that he understood it, Gabriel would bebenevolent.
Sir nipped again, the pain sharper this time. It radiated through Gabriel’s neck in hot shockwaves of sensation, and he squirmed in an attempt to end the feeling—but Sir’s offering wasn’t complete. With a growl, Sir collected his wrists and pinned them over his head with a single hand. The other found the hem of Gabriel’s shirt and ran up over his stomach. Compared to Gabriel’s skin, Sir’s fingers were cold, and the contrast made Gabriel tremble indelight.
Another unexpected nip. Another lofty peak of pain. The world was dark, and all Gabriel could do was trust that Sir wouldn’t steer himwrong.
He trusted Sir with all hisheart.
A kiss. A nip. A hand pulling his hair. Pleasure and pain stacked one atop the other until Gabriel struggled to tell the difference between them. What pain he did feel was beginning to build toward something different—a state of being that made Gabriel’s toes curl and sent his heartracing.
“All of this for you,” Sir promised, his words a secret only Gabriel’s skin knew. “Let me make you feel like you deserve to feel. Let me prove to you that pain isworthwhile.”
He was broken, brittle plastic snapped in ways that could never be slotted back together again. For so long, he’d denied it, but the truth had finally set in, and Gabriel embraced it. As pain washed over him, his body took it and transformed it. Rippling heat lost its scorching touch, and as it did, Gabriel vibratedtoit.
Throbbing.
Swelling.
Expanding.
For that moment of time, driven into another headspace by Sir’s worship, he was aware of every inch of himself in ways he’d never beenbefore.
“Sir,” Gabriel rasped. His voice was foreign to him, like his vocal cords had been rearranged since he’d lastspoken. “Sir!”
The hand beneath Sir’s shirt found his nipple, and Gabriel was shocked at how it stood erect. Flushed with blood and vulnerable, heknewit should have stung when Sir pinched it and pulled, but there was no pain. The pulsing pleasure he felt in his neck was mimicked in his nipple, and it washed through his chest and left him desperateformore.
It was only when Sir’s hips pressed into him again that Gabriel realized he was hard. The throbbing wasn’t only coming from his chest and neck—it came from his groin as well. Arousal spiraled through him, leaving him in a heightened state of numbness. Every touch spread across him like menthol, tingling, cooling, andaddictive.
“Sir,” Gabriel gasped. He rolled his head to the side and buried his face against his arm. Each breath he took came too quickly, and he couldn’t regulatethem. “Sir!”
They weren’t having sex—they weren’t even nude. All Sir did was nip, lick, and pinch, and yet Gabriel had never felt so good. His hips pushed upward to seek friction against Sir’s body, and Sir rewarded him by thrusting down and pushing him into thebedding.
