"Karl, I wanted..." "Hush. Not yet." Karl ran light fingers over Dom's cheek, went to the cabinets. He pulled out two mugs, a pan, some herbal tea, what looked like some soup. "You need to eat something," he said. "We'll talk after you've sobered up." So he'd noticed. Of course he had. Karl didn't miss much. Hell, he didn't miss anything. So, Dom sat and watched as Karl prepared soup and tea. Ate what was put in front of him -- cream of chicken and Earl Grey. Karl's favorites. He felt better afterwards, a bit more calm, a bit more clear-headed. Ready to talk. Ready to explain. "Feel better?" Karl asked. Dom nodded, opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when Karl held up a hand. "No. Not yet. Let me guess. Orlando?" Dom had to fight back the wave of nausea at just hearing that name on Karl's lips. Please, he thought, let it not be true. "I argued with him about you and he..." "I know quite well what he did," Karl interrupted mildly, leaning a hip against a table. "And you got jealous. Thinking about your best friend and me fucking like mad in my trailer after work." It sounded so silly when Karl said it, so sordid. Of course Karl hadn't done anything. How could Dom have been so stupid? "Look, I'm sorry, it's just…" Again, Karl stopped him. "Absolutely amazing, the both of you," he mused. "Of course he's beautiful. I can appreciate that." He brushed his hand over Dom's cheek, cupped his chin. "But he's not you." Dom sighed in relief, in pleasure. And winced a little when Karl's fingers tightened. Hazel eyes flashed, seemed to burn into him. "He's not mine," Karl stated. Dom gulped, his gaze held captive. "I could handle you defying me," Karl said, never moving, never blinking, still holding onto Dom's chin with a firm grip. "You're young, rebellious, those can be dealt with. But you forgot something very elemental. Do you remember?" Dom searched, found and tried to form words, tried to speak through a constricted larynx, a terrified throat. "I belong to you?" "Not a question. A statement." Dom cleared his throat and said it again. This time, he didn't stumble. His voice was clear, strong. "I belong to you." "Much better." Frantic now, Dom tried once again to explain. "Karl, please..." "No." The hand on his chin tightened a little more, bringing tears of pain. "You're done talking." Karl's voice was still so pleasant, so low. But the anger...it pierced Dom's heart, frightened him. He would have preferred screams and shouted accusations to this quiet, controlled rage. "You made an oath. And you forgot it. Betrayed me." Mute, Dom could only stare at him, trying to will him to understand. He hadn't meant it, didn't mean it. Karl was the only important thing...the only thing that mattered. Please... "I will give you everything. Anything you want, whenever you want. All you have to do is ask." Words so soft, so honeyed, fell from Karl's lips, ensnared Dom's heart all over again. "You are everything to me. And yet you forgot." Dom shivered. Cold, Karl's eyes were so cold. Dom felt like he had during that awful, endless week of hell. "Don't leave me again. Please." The plea was out before he could stop it. Karl's beautiful features gentled, his fingers soothed. "Silly boy." The tone was almost affectionate now. "I'm never going to leave you. You're mine." He leaned in, kissed Dom softly on the lips and stole his breath. "It's time I reminded you of that." And, as he finished the last word, he jerked Dom up out of his chair, clamped his hands together with a fist. Dom allowed it, too terrified to move, to distraught to speak. "I really didn't want to have to do this," Karl said. Roughened hands tugged Dom's shirt out of his waistband, slid up his back. "It's so melodramatic, so grandiose." Karl's voice was against his ear, breath soft against his neck, callused hands raising his shirt over his head. Dom shivered as the cool air grazed bare skin. And trembled when those hands raced down his chest. Karl swiftly unbuckled his belt, slid it around Dom's wrists, wrapped them together. "But perhaps you need a grand gesture." He yanked Dom to him, kissed his eyelids closed. The gesture was whisper soft, completely at odds with Karl's actions. Dom felt a piece of cloth being tied around his eyes, snug, but not too tight, and still, he said nothing. Still, he did nothing except stand there. "You are so exquisite." Karl sliding down his jeans, boxers, socks, shoes, all off of him in seconds. Dom was naked, vulnerable, shaking with desire and fear as he tried to rein in his emotions, tried to slow his heart, tried not to tremble with yearning, tremble with dread. It was an impossible task. Soft lips on his shoulder, coarse stubble scraping his skin, touches as light as air on his body. No one else made Dom feel like this. No one else made him need like this. No one else could destroy him with a touch. And to think he'd come so close to throwing it all away. How could he have preferred anyone else's touch to Karl's, anyone else's lips? "Come on." Karl tugged on the belt and Dom stumbled. Karl caught him as he regained his footing. He allowed himself to be led...5 steps, 10, 20, around a corner, stop. His hands were yanked upward, tied to the ceiling hook. "Remember, you want this." Karl's voice in his ear, so soft, so gentle. The words sent a wave of nostalgia washing over Dom. He remembered that first time...their first true encounter in that pristine kitchen. And again in a darkened bedroom with Karl's practiced hands on his skin. He'd wanted whatever Karl had given him then, wanted whatever Karl would give him now. Whatever it took, as long as Karl never left him again, as long as Dom wasn't alone. "I want this," Dom said, obediently. And it was the absolute truth. One last caress on Dom's cheek, then nothing. "Karl?" No answer. Only the sound of Dom's own breathing -- unsteady, raw. He tugged on his bindings, but they held secure, held firm. He tried to listen for footsteps, a voice, anything that might let him know where he was, where Karl was. No...Karl wouldn't leave him again. He had promised. "Karl?" Dom raised his voice, panicked, uncertain. He tried to open his eyes, hoped to see some shadow through the cloth. And saw only black...no light of any kind. He was alone in the dark. He couldn't be alone. He didn't want to be alone. When he was alone, he thought too much, ached too much. Karl had promised he wouldn't be alone anymore. Dom began to lose concept of time. His arms hurt past the point of pain, his shoulders screamed in protest whenever he tried to stretch them. He stood there and waited...terrified, afraid, lost. No, not lost. He wasn't lost. Karl would never let him go, never leave him. Dom's shallow breath became more rapid, his body shaking with fear. No, Karl would never leave him. He had to hold onto that thought. Please, Karl...where are you? Come back. "Karl?" Such a small sound. Would Karl even hear him? Dom needed to speak up, but couldn't force anything else past the lump in his throat. Had Karl forgotten he was here? Dom heard it a split second before he felt it -- a slight hiss in the air, then pain exploded across his lower back. Too stunned to cry out, too shocked to move. Oh God. Christ. Yes, finally...Karl. He wasn't alone anymore. Another hiss, another sharp pain, this time slightly lower. He whimpered...pain and pleasure warred inside him. His back throbbed. His skin burned. His body ached with lust and fear. "Is this what you wanted?" Dom jumped at the voice in his ear. He hadn't heard Karl move, never felt his presence. Dom licked dry lips and forced words past the searing pain, past the need for more. "What do you mean?" "Something terrifying. Something shocking. Something punishing." Karl's voice -- so sexy, so low -- murmured from behind him. Dom arched into the sound, ignoring the spasm in his back. "Did you want me to brand you?" Branded. Ownership. God. Yes. He would agree to anything as long as Karl never left him again. "You don't..." Dom stuttered, stopped and tried again. "You don't need to do this to brand me." "Don't I?" A kiss on Dom's shoulder, soothing fingers on his aching back. And Dom forgot about the pain, forgot about the punishment. He felt only the bliss of Karl around him, near him. "I already belong to you." Lips brushed against the whorl of his ear. "I don't believe you." Oh God. No. Dom started trembling again...no, he had to believe it. He had to. "Let me prove it to you." "And what would you do for me?" That disembodied voice could lure angels to taint themselves with sin. And Dom was far from an angel. "Anything." "And who owns you, Dominic?" Ah yes, he knew the answer to this one. "You do." Tongue between his shoulder blades, hand on his dick. "Tell me." "You own me." And then he was set loose, falling, Karl's hands bracing him as he dropped to his hands and knees on the carpet, wincing as blood rushed back into his arms. And then Karl was behind him, pushing into him, sliding in slick with lotion, filling him so completely that he almost wept from the joy of it. One of Karl's hands tangled in his hair, the other was on his hip, chest pressed against his back, cock buried deep inside him. "Tell me." Perfect strokes -- long and deep and hard -- claimed him. Soft words wrecked his control. Dom couldn't feel the pain anymore, couldn't feel the emptiness. He was whole, he was home. "I'm yours," Dom gasped, moving in time with Karl -- finding the perfect rhythm. Ah yes, they were one, moved as one...bodies, souls, everything. "Again." Lips on his back, kissing, caressing. "I am yours." Stroke after stroke filled him, completed him. He pushed back, rocking, moving, needing only the feel of Karl's cock inside him to make him whole, make him come. "Yours forever," he moaned -- a promise, a vow. Faster, faster, endless pleasure like waves washed over him, through him. "Only yours." And then he was coming and Karl was coming with him, in him...and it felt so good, so right. So unbelievably right. He collapsed onto the floor and Karl stayed with him, cradled him, held him against that solid chest. "Only you," Dom told him, turning, lifting his hand to touch that beloved face, trace those lovely cheekbones. Fingers swiftly untied Dom's blindfold, let it flutter to the floor. He could feel Karl smile, was crushed against the other man in a fierce hug. Home -- he was home. And those strong arms around him gave him the courage to say words he'd never said to anyone else. "I love you." A kiss in his hair, a slight tightening of arms around him. "I know." He wasn't alone anymore. Onto Part Fourteen
|