Gabriel's Rule (13 page)

“You’re
so tight,” he mumbled, his mouth now pressed against the side of her neck. The
pace he set was brutal but he couldn’t slow down. He’d never felt this before,
this overwhelming need to be a part of another person. Stranger still, he felt
protected in her embrace – he was nearly twice her size but she made him feel
safe, like nothing could ever touch him again.

He
was breathing harshly against her now and they were both slick with sweat. He
could feel her murmuring against his neck but he couldn’t make out the words.
But as his balls drew up tight and he sensed the end was near, he swore he
heard her whisper in his ear, “I’m going to take care of you Gabe,” and then he
was coming. He felt her body close tight around his as her vagina held his dick
in a vice like hold. His orgasm seemed endless and when it finally started to
ease he could still feel the aftershocks of her own release. He slumped against
her as they both struggled to catch their breath.

“Please
don’t leave me Riley,” he heard himself saying.

“I
won’t Gabe, not ever. I promise.”

***

“Where’s
Bella?” Riley asked as she lay across Gabe’s stomach, his slowly hardening cock
pressed against her abdomen. He was running his fingers through her hair as
they both lay in his bed, still trying to recover from their lovemaking against
the door. He’d eventually released her and she’d been afraid that he would
distance himself like last time. Even though he had come inside her, she wasn’t
sure if he was okay with it and she had watched him carefully to try to gauge
his mood. But he’d simply pulled up his pants, snatched her up in his arms and
carried her to his bed. Relief had flooded through her as he stripped his pants
off and crawled on top of her and just started kissing her. They’d made out for
several minutes and then he arranged them so that she was lying across him.

“Logan’s
watching her for me tonight.”

She
smiled at him. “Did you plan this?”

He
chuckled. “I had planned to get on my hands and knees and beg you to stay, but
once I saw you with Shane, that plan went to hell.”

A
serious frown drifted across her face. “He’s my friend, that’s it.”

“I
know that. But he’s also my friend and he knew exactly what he was doing these
past few nights when he flirted with you.”

“He
didn’t flirt with me,” she exclaimed.

“Riley,
the man knew I was watching for you when he brought you home. Didn’t you think
it was weird how he kept pressing up against you when he walked you to the
apartment?”

She
got lost in thought for a minute. “That rat bastard. He set me up.”

“He
set us both up sweetheart.” Gabe paused and brushed her hair behind her ear as
he grew serious. “But I’m glad he did because otherwise I might have lost you.”

Riley
shifted herself so she could reach his lips and kissed him. She dropped her
head on his chest and then her eyes drifted across the tattoo on his arm.
Skimming her fingers over the intricate design she asked, “What does it mean?”
She shifted her head so she was looking at him. “The tree on your back. It’s
beautiful but why that tree? It’s so old and withered.”

“Did
Shane tell you about his brother, Michael?” When she nodded he said, “That tree
is in the cemetery where he’s buried.” His hand stroked the length of her back
as he spoke. “I was there visiting once just after his funeral and I saw this
old, ugly tree and I asked one of the caretakers why they didn’t just tear the
thing down. He told me it wasn’t actually dead and that its roots ran deep
throughout the entire cemetery. It’s a reminder to me that there’s life in
everything, even when it doesn’t look like it from the outside. It’s dark and
ugly but strong and resilient.”

Riley
got it. The tree reminded him of himself, that he could be strong despite the
dark parts of his life. Resting her head on her folded arms, she laid there and
studied him for a long moment. He was so beautiful on the outside but that was
just pretty packaging. “I love who you are Gabe.” He froze at her words. “I
love how strong and kind and passionate you are. I love how stubborn and
temperamental and commanding you can be when you’re protecting someone you care
about. I love that you make me feel beautiful even when I don’t.” Pulling
herself up his body she whispered, “I love all the parts of you.” She dropped a
kiss on his beautiful mouth. “Dark and light.” Another kiss. “Strong and weak.”
Kiss. “Beautiful and ugly.”

She
slanted her lips over his and licked. He immediately opened for her and she
dipped inside to stroke his tongue. His hands closed on her arms but she lifted
her mouth and said, “Put them above your head.” Lust darkened his gaze but he
did what she said. “Leave them there. I will tie you up if I need to.” She saw
a soft smile pass over his lips as she repeated the same words he had said to
her the first night he had pleasured her on his living room couch.

Stormy,
intense dark eyes watched her as he lifted his arms above his head and clasped his
wrist with the opposite hand. She gave him another bone melting kiss to reward
him and then licked her way down his chin. He bucked underneath her when she
ran her fingers over his nipples.

“They
get hard like mine,” she said as she flicked them again. She dropped down to
lick one and heard him moan. His cock was pressed fully against her now. “Does
it feel good when I do this?” she asked, feigning innocence as she sucked his
nipple into her mouth.

“Yes,”
he groaned. She smiled against his skin and then moved further down. Her lips
traced the tight muscles of his abdomen. When she reached his cock, she pulled
it back from where it was pressed against his stomach and traced it carefully
with her finger.

“It’s
like silk over steel,” she observed as she trailed her finger along the thick
vein running underneath. She cupped each testicle and gently massaged them. He
sucked in a sharp breath but when her fingers landed on a patch of soft skin
under his balls he groaned. She smiled at this new discovery and looked up to
see him staring at her, his eyes now black with need.

She
moved her body so that she was between his legs and darted her tongue out to
lick one of his testicles. She gave the same attention to the other side, then
touched the tip of her tongue to that soft patch of skin. He cried out her name
but didn’t pull back. Instead he shifted his hips and legs so she had better
access. As she gripped him and shifted herself so she could get a better angle,
her fingertips accidentally brushed over his hole. She stilled when he froze
but then he muttered harshly, “Do it again.” She did and her eyes widened as a
little bit of liquid leaked out of his cock. Instinct kicked in and she moved
up to collect the drops with her tongue. His taste exploded on her tongue and
she pulled the tip of his erection into her mouth. He thrust against her
automatically and she gagged slightly and pulled back.

He
was so far gone that he didn’t notice when she used her hand to steady the base
of his erection and prevent him from pushing too far down her throat. Her
inexperience also didn’t seem to bother him as she experimented with different
types of strokes and grips. She licked him up and down once and then took him
back in her mouth. He started thrusting into her mouth urgently.

“Riley,
stop, I’m gonna come” he said hoarsely. She felt his hands in her hair trying
to pull her off but she ignored him and sucked harder. When she swallowed, he
groaned and his grip changed so that he was holding her head tight against him
as he tried to shove his cock further down her throat. Luckily, she had a good
enough grasp on his base to prevent him from gagging her again and she was able
to keep up a steady rhythm of sucking and swallowing.

Within
seconds, she heard a harsh shout and then his hot semen coated her tongue. She
swallowed instinctively which drew another cry from him as he continued to
spurt down her throat. When she felt his hands relax their grip on her head,
she gave him one final suckle and then released his softening cock. Before she
could say anything, he was dragging her up and over him, his tongue plunging
into her mouth. He pushed her back on the bed and began rubbing his cock
roughly against her clit. Even only half-hard, the stimulation was enough to
have her coming within seconds and she felt her own release coat her thighs. He
dropped his head to her chest and held her that way until she could feel his
breaths even out as he fell asleep.

Riley
knew something was wrong the instant she opened her eyes. The room was pitch
dark and the clock said it was two o clock in the morning. A chill ran through
her when she saw the empty spot beside her and a light coming underneath the
bathroom door directly across the hall from the bedroom. She hurried out of bed
and didn’t even hesitate to push the bathroom door open.

He
was sitting with his back against the shower stall, tears streaming down his
cheeks. She dropped down in front of him and touched his face. He was ice cold,
his skin clammy.

“Gabe,
what’s wrong? Talk to me,” she said, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

He
looked up at her as if just realizing she was there. “Riley?”

“It’s
me Gabe. I’m here.”

“It’s
bad Riley…really, really bad.” The agony in his voice seemed to scrape against
her skin like a live wire.

“Tell
me,” she pleaded as she dropped her hands to clasp his wrists. He shook his
head, shame burning in his eyes. “Please Gabe.”

“I
saw her. Before…before she never had a face but I saw her tonight.”

“Who?”

“I
didn’t want to Riley, you have to believe me. She kept telling me she needed
me. She told me I had to take care of her. She kept saying my name over and
over.” He suddenly pulled free of her and hunched over the toilet and threw up.
She stroked his back as he emptied the contents of his stomach over and over.
When he sat back again, she stood quickly and dumped emptied the glass holding
his toothbrush and filled it with water. She put it in his hands and helped him
take a little bit of water into his mouth so he could rinse it and spit back
into the cup.

“I
don’t know if it’s real, what I’m seeing.”

“Did
you have a nightmare tonight?” she asked gently.

He
nodded. “It’s always the same woman and she’s in my bed and she’s telling me
what to do but I didn’t understand…I didn’t know what she wanted.”

Riley
froze as understanding sunk in. Bile rose in her own throat but she swallowed
it back down.

“Did
a woman hurt you Gabe?”

He
nodded again and dropped his head in his hands. His breathing was harsh and
strangled.

“Do
you remember how old you were?” She stroked his arms to try and get some warmth
in them.

“Thirteen,
maybe fourteen.”

“It’s
okay Gabe, you’re safe now.”

“I
tried to stop her after the first time but she kept coming back and begging me
to take care of her.” He started sobbing. “Oh my God, what did I do?” he
shouted. “What did I do?” He began hitting himself in the head.

She
grabbed his face between her hands. “Gabe, stop, listen to me.” When he didn’t
stop she screamed at him, “Gabe, I need you to come back to me!” He finally
stopped and dropped his hands.

“I’m
sorry Riley, I thought I could be what you needed me to be.”

“You
are Gabe. You’re everything I need.” She folded him in her arms and he clung
tightly to her. Exhaustion seemed to overtake him and he lowered himself so
that his head rested against her abdomen, his arms gripping her waist.

“Maybe
it wasn’t real. Maybe it’s just a bad dream,” he whispered.

“Maybe,”
she said as she stroked his hair, but she knew it wasn’t. Tears streamed down
her face as she realized that the man she had fallen so deeply in love with had
been raped by his own mother.

***

Gabe
stared at the framed degrees on the wall. There were a bunch of plaques on the
wall too. It meant the doctor was probably smart. He looked at the schools on
the degrees and realized they were ivy-league universities. That was worse
because it meant the guy was really smart and that what he had told Gabe was
probably true. The door opened from somewhere behind him and he smelled
peaches. When she sat down beside him on the stiff couch and took his hand in
her own, he smiled.

“Did
you know you smell like peaches?”

She
chuckled and shook her head. “I didn’t know that. Do you at least like
peaches?” He smiled and nodded. She stroked his fingers with her thumb. “Dr.
Henderson thought you might want to talk to me so he said we could use his
office for a while.” Her voice was soft, gentle. There was no censure in her
tone, no condemnation.

She’d
stayed with him on that cold bathroom floor for at least an hour, maybe more,
and had whispered how much she loved him over and over again. Eventually she
had coaxed him back to his bed. He’d been so cold, but she’d wrapped herself
around him until he’d drifted off to sleep. When he woke, she was laying on top
of him as if protecting his body from some unnamed foe. He’d stayed in bed as
she made some phone calls and when she asked him to come and talk to someone
he’d said yes. He would do anything for her.

“I
didn’t tell you how much I loved what you did to me last night.” She blushed
prettily when she realized what he was referring to.

“I’d
never done that before,” she confessed.

“I’d
never had it done to me before,” he responded. “I love you Riley. I meant to
tell you that last night but you distracted me,” he said as he smiled. He
watched as she swiped at a stray tear.

“I
love you too Gabe.”

He
pulled their joined hands on his lap and she snuggled against his shoulder.
“Dr. Henderson doesn’t think I’m imagining it,” he said quietly. Her hand
tightened in his but she let him continue. “The…the woman in my dream always
called me Gabriel. My…” he ground to a halt but then finally forced out the
next words. “My mom’s the only one who ever called me that when I was growing
up.” He let out a harsh sob and felt Riley sit up and kiss him on the forehead.

“She
was always high when it happened so in my head it wasn’t really her. Dr.
Henderson says I repressed the memories to protect myself when I was younger
but something triggered them.”

“Like
me?” she said carefully. When he felt her tense up, he tightened his hold on
her.

“Or
her showing up. It’s not important,” he said, his eyes firmly on hers. He
wasn’t going to let Riley blame herself for this. “It was just a matter of
time. The way I was with all those women, the way I acted afterwards, it’s all
tied to being…” He searched for the right words.

“Raped,”
Riley said softly but the word was so ugly that it felt like she had screamed
it. He had yet to say the word out loud even though Dr. Henderson had said
that’s what it was.

“I
should have been able to stop it,” he said in a hushed tone.

“Gabe,
if the roles had been different, if it had been a father and his daughter,
would you have expected her to stop it?”

“No,”
he admitted.

“Then
why is it different for you?”

He
shook his head. He didn’t have an answer. “Dr. Henderson wants me to come see
him for a while so I can straighten some stuff out in my head.”

She
nodded and put her hand on the back of his neck. She rested her forehead
against his cheek.

“I
told you it wouldn’t be easy to be with me,” he finally said.

“Oh
Gabe, being with you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”