Deliver Us (12 page)

Once it’s back inside, Gabriel steps away again and just watches him for a full ten minutes.

By the end, Darrek’s covered in a thick, fresh layer of sweat, and close to hyperventilating again. The ginger is pulled quickly free and the blindfold and tape removed. Darrek doesn’t seem to see him though, and when the wrist cuffs are unlocked, he falls to his knees, cupping himself and curling forward.

He’s gasping for air, and doesn’t look up as he asks in a meek, wrecked, hoarse voice, “May I... may I come, sir?”

“You may, slave.”

Darrek half-sighs, half-moans and straightens up, quickly jerking himself off, needing to relieve the aching hard-on. It doesn’t take long. After he’s unloaded onto his fist and stomach, he collapses forward once more and goes back to cupping himself.

“Come on, Dare, let’s get you cleaned up,” Gabriel smiles.

“He can’t drive himself home; he’s still too woozy and shit. I’m going to drop him and come back,” Gabriel tells Ben. “I don’t have another appointment for an hour and a half anyway.”

“Are you two
dating
now?!” Ben gushes.

“Maybe. Shut up,” Gabriel scowls.

“You can’t date your sub.”

“Says who?”

“Me. Sam. Trace.
The world
.”

“Fuck you. I’ll be back.” Gabriel grabs his keys and heads out of the back office to get Darrek.

“You’re pouting.”

“Yeah, I’m pouting. My butt is on fire, not to mention the inside of my penis. I want to take a bath in milk or something,” he complains, curled up in a ball in the passenger seat of Gabriel’s SUV. After a pause he asks, “That wouldn’t help, would it?”

Gabriel laughs and says, “I don’t know, man. Might be worth a try. I’ll drop your truck off later, okay? When Trace and I get off we’ll swing by with it.”

“So, I think I was very tolerant of the ‘creativity’ today. I think that means I get a
date
with you,” he says, glancing sideways at Gabriel as they drive down his street and approach his house.

“Oh really? Is that what you think?” Gabriel teases.

“Yes. I think I’ve earned that much, at least. Possibly several thousand sexual favors as well,” he continues to pout.

“Yeah? I don’t think so. I saw how much that turned you on. You can’t honestly tell me you didn’t relish every single second of what I did to you today,” he says as he pulls into the driveway and cuts the engine.

Darrek gives him an evasive little sideways glance and doesn’t respond.

“Is that how we’re going to play it?” Gabriel asks. In a flash he’s over the center console and straddling Darrek’s lap in the passenger seat. He grinds down, rubbing his ass hard enough to hurt on Darrek’s sore cock, a wicked smile in his eyes, lips parted and soft as he looks down his nose at Darrek.

“Okay! Yes! Yes, I liked everything.
Everything
. You were right, the pain was good. Really fucking good. I’d do anything for you, Master. Anything...” Darrek moans.

After a second, when Gabriel doesn’t leave, and just stays where he is, breathing and watching him, Darrek dares to slip his hand under Gabriel’s shirt and rub over smooth skin and the ripples of his abdominal muscles. Then his hands stroke around back his waist and down over the curve of Gabriel’s ass, squeezing the firm muscle.

“God, you’re beautiful. I’d do anything for you. Anything,” Darrek admits. Their lips almost touch and Darrek chases Gabriel’s mouth, wanting to kiss him, but Gabriel just pushes him back against the seat with a hand gripped lightly around Darrek’s neck, just under his jaw.

“What? Gabe...?”

“Shh...” Gabriel purrs, unsmiling and intent.

He tenses his thigh muscles and rears up, starting to work himself on Darrek’s lap in a steady, easy rhythm. He grinds and moves in small circles on Darrek’s crotch, his ass perfectly outlined in his jeans, pulled tight with the way he’s sitting. Darrek’s hands are still on him, and Darrek pushes his cock up against Gabriel on every thrust he makes down onto Darrek’s tented pants.

It feels so real, like Darrek is really fucking him, the only thing separating them insignificant layers of clothing, as Gabriel moves in little dips and figure eights with his narrow hips. He’s graceful and gorgeous, breathtaking.

Transfixed, Darrek watches, searching Gabriel’s haunted eyes, knowing his desire and lust must be painted clearly on his own face. Darrek attempts to lean forward again, wanting to kiss him, but Gabriel’s hand tightens more on his throat.

“Please. Please let me,” he pleads softly. “Don’t you trust me?”

Gabriel stops moving. His hand falls away from Darrek’s neck.

“Oh my god. You
don’t
. You don’t
trust
me,” Darrek frowns, looking hurt.

“Darrek... I want to. I want to trust you. That’s a lot more than anyone’s gotten from me in a long time. Just... give me some time. Please?”

He can see that Darrek wants to escape since his feelings have been bruised, but Gabriel doesn’t allow it, and stays firmly seated on his lap.

“Let’s have our date,” Gabriel says. “Tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up. And then we’ll... we’ll go from there.”

“You asked me the other day if I’m troubled. You asked me if that’s why I came to you,” Darrek asks in a whisper, running his hands gently over Gabriel’s back. “Are
you
troubled, Gabriel?”

Gabriel smiles, finally, but it’s full of pain.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m troubled.”

His crystal-clear, shining eyes appear to be a richer blue in the shadowy light. They fall closed, and he seems so far away, even though he’s sitting right there.

“Do you still want me? Even if... even if I’m really messed up?” Gabriel asks. It’s the first time he’s seemed fragile to Darrek, and terrifyingly so. “Tell me now if you don’t. If it’s... a problem.”

Darrek pushes forward and claims Gabriel’s lips in a kiss.

“Of course I want you. I’m
yours
, remember? We’re all messed-up. We’re all in pain. It’s not going to scare me off if you have issues. It just makes you human,” Darrek assures him. “I can handle human.”

“So, it’s a date?” Gabriel smiles, and this time it’s tinged with hope.

“It’s a date,” Darrek agrees.

Kyle walks out the side door of Darrek’s garage, belt sander in hand. He’s pulling his car keys from his pocket when he freezes after seeing what’s currently happening in the driveway.

It’s Darrek, and he’s with someone, another
man
whom Kyle doesn’t recognize at first. They’re standing by the side of a black SUV, and kissing. The sight of Darrek with another man’s tongue evidently shoved so far back in his throat—to the point where Kyle is amazed that he’s even managing to breathe—is the cause for his initial shock. Never having hinted before that he’s even been slightly attracted to another man, it’s perplexing enough, but when Kyle sees that it’s
Gabriel Hunter
that is kissing his best friend, it makes it even worse.

“Holy fucking shit on a stick,” he mutters, nearly dropping the belt sander.

The next thing to hit him is a powerful surge of protectiveness for Darrek, knowing the type of guy that Gabriel is, the cold-hearted bastard that he’s always been during Kyle’s sessions with Ben.

At first when Gabriel was only handling the photography and technical aspects of the videos and webcasts that he’d been doing for almost half-a-year now as Ben’s slave, Kyle had been fairly indifferent to him. It was when Gabriel started to assist once in a while with the torture that Kyle felt he saw who Gabriel
really
was, the sick pleasure he got out of dominating people, the blank, angry look in his eyes while he did it, like he was getting off on other people’s misery.

Kyle gets a different vibe from Ben, which is why he’s been so devoted to him. Ben always takes care of him, knows what he needs and rewards him greatly for being obedient. And even when Ben is causing him blissfully intense pain and pleasure, he always sees the intent clearly shining in Ben’s eyes, the attention that he pays to his slaves, his respect for their boundaries, and the deep, unspoken affection he has for them. Kyle has heard that Gabriel’s personal limits and the extent of what he does with his submissives is usually more restrained than with Ben or Trace, but it doesn’t even seem to matter in the long run, not when Gabriel seems like such a spiteful, heartless bastard while he’s doing it.

Gabriel breaks the kiss and says something quietly to Darrek that Kyle can’t hear. Then he gets back in the vehicle and drives away.

When Darrek turns and starts to head to the house, Kyle sees immediately his exaggerated limp, his sickly pallor and the tightness in his expression, speaking clearly of his underlying torment and discomfort. Kyle runs over to him.

“Dare! Dare, are you alright man?” he asks, honestly concerned, setting the tool in his hand aside so that his hands are free to help Darrek up the few steps leading to his front door. Kyle knows what it means, that Darrek has gone to see Gabriel for his professional services. That’s not what bothers him. Hell, Kyle’s been actively encouraging him to call and do it for the release he knows it could provide him. Gabriel is not who Kyle expected Diadem to pair Darrek with, but it’s not Kyle’s call to make. That’s not what bothers him either. It’s the fact that Gabriel was
kissing
him, that Gabriel
brought Darrek home
. It means that things have gotten mixed up, that lines have been crossed, and Kyle doesn’t like it one bit.

Darrek freezes when he sees Kyle, guilt washing over his expression at being caught by his best friend in the world, standing in front of his house locking lips with another dude. It doesn’t last long. Without any more fight or strength left in him, Darrek sighs heavily, deflating. “Um, Look. I’m really not up for company, man. You borrowing the sander?”

“Yeah... the sander,” Kyle says distractedly. “Dare, did you call that number? Did you...?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Kyle. Not right now. I just... I just want to go inside and
rest
. I don’t feel so hot...” he mutters, and then blushes when he realizes what he said.

“I’m not... I just want to help. Here, let me get the door open,” Kyle says, grabbing the keys from Darrek and using a firm grip on his friend’s elbow to get him up the steps and inside. “Sit the hell down. What do you need? What can I do?”

Kyle shuts the door behind them then goes to the kitchen to get a beer or three for Darrek, knowing from personal experience that he’s going to need them. He returns with them and sets the bottles on the table near where Darrek is lying carefully down on the couch.

“I just need rest. I’m cool. You don’t have to be my nurse, dude,” Darrek mutters, shifting with a grimace.

After a brief but admittedly intensely psychotic urge to brush the hair out of Darrek’s eyes, to kiss his pouting mouth, Kyle instead hands Darrek the TV remote. Worrying at his lower lip, Kyle runs a hand back through his hair, saying, “You look like shit. I’m just... worried about you. Who was that guy that I saw you with? I saw you two kissing, Darrek. Since when do you kiss
guys
?”

“I don’t need your permission to live my life,” Darrek tells him defensively, unable to meet Kyle’s searching gaze.

“I’m not judging! I’m not! I swear. It’s just kind of new for you, to say the least. Are you... are you, like,
dating
him?”

Darrek turns away and turns on the television.

“Kind of. Yeah,” he mutters, flipping through channels rapidly before throwing the remote aside and rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Fine. I, I like him. He likes me. It’s not... it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he’s a
guy
, it’s just... it’s about how we
are
together. I don’t go around kissing guys. I just kiss Gabriel.”

“His name is Gabriel?” Kyle asks quietly.

“Yeah.”

“And you like him.”

“Yeah.”

“Is he a douchebag?”

“Do you think I’d like him if he were a douchebag?”

“Well, you like me. I can be a douchebag sometimes,” Kyle allows.

“I don’t like you the way that I like Gabriel. And neither of you are douchebags. He’s... he just gets me. Look, I’m not really comfortable talking about this with you.”