Fuck.
We were so off script, I didn’t know what he wanted from me, and that was fucking terrifying. If I didn’t give him what he wanted, he might leave me like this, and I was worried that if that happened, I might not survive it.
Suddenly, he was standing between my legs again, with his hand wrapped around my throat. I moaned in ecstasy at the sharp sting of his touch.
“Listen to you, promising yourself to me like I give a fuck. You think I would give a shit if you were to fuck someone else?” he snarled, and Ishuddered but remained silent. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say, so it was safer not to say anything at all.
“I would have to care about you for that,” he spat, his words dark and cruel. I knew he had said them to hurt me, but they didn’t ring true. Even with the bleating pulse of need that was humming through my body, I could see the indecision in his eyes. The uncertainty.
Who was he trying to convince?
I rolled my hips again uncontrollably, choking on his punishing grip. Without my permission, my mouth twitched, and I immediately regretted allowing my amusement show.
Fuck, he was so goddamned delusional.
“Something funny?” Shem growled, and I arched as another hot, aching spike of need ripped through my body, causing my cock to surge and leak again.
“No, Shemhazai.”
“Then why is my desperate little slut smiling like a fool? You should be begging me to fuck you like a good pet. Not laughing at private jokes.”
“Not… your pet,” I choked, whining again as my dick spasmed in agony between us. “Youdocare about me. I know you do,” I hissed, meeting his smoldering green eyes.
I didn’t know what version of our game we were playing, but this felt important. If he left me here to go insane with need, then so fucking be it. He needed me to see through his bullshit right now. I knew he did on some deep, instinctual level.
Maybe no one ever had before.
Maybe that’s why he was looking at me with what looked like angry tears in his eyes.
“And even if you don’t care about me, I care aboutyou,” I rasped.
Something crumbled on his face, and we stared at each other for a long moment, my naked, sweat-slicked body still rolling uncontrollably beneath his punishing grip. The only part of him that was touching me was his hand around my throat, and every single ounce of my focus wasright there.
Even the punishing need in my cock wasn’t strong enough to pull my focus away from that one small place of contact.
“Say that again,” he rumbled finally, and I nearlysighed with relief.
“I care about you.” Despite the tightness in my throat, my words came out soft and quiet. Even to me, they sounded like a confession.
His gaze bounced back and forth between my eyes as the words hung ominously between us. I forced down a desperate whine as my cock throbbed again.
We both waited to see what he would do. I watched him battle with himself, and finally, he wrapped his gloved hand around my aching dick, and I whimpered in relief as he began to stroke me.
“Again. Tell me again, Gabriel.” I think he meant for it to sound threatening, but his voice was tight now, like he was trying to speak around an obstruction in his throat.
“I care about you, baby,” I murmured, my eyes rolling back in my head as he continued to play with my cock.
He slid his hand down to cup my firm balls, massaging them expertly between his fingers, and I sobbed, more hot tears spilling down my cheeks.
“You do?” he whispered. He sounded vulnerable, and his pupils were so large that my heart broke for him. He looked younger and almostinnocentin that moment, and I wished he would fucking kiss me.
“I do, Shemhazai.”
He wrapped his hand around my shaft again and began to stroke me in an even, relentless rhythm.
“Why would you care about someone who loves to hurt you so much?” he asked, leaning closer so each puff of his breath brushed against my swollen lips. I forced myself to fight the desire to close my eyes and lose myself in the mind-numbing pleasure he was rewarding me with. He needed to see that I meant it.
“You’re more than what you do to me, baby. I see you.” My voice was rough, and it broke over each syllable as I spoke.
