Dom reached out a hand, still unsure if this was another dream to torture him. Encountered hard flesh, soft skin, the light hairs on Karl's arm. He let out a shaky breath, too swamped with relief to say anything. He scooted the small distance between them, tangled his legs with Karl's, laid his hand on that bare chest. He leaned in, listened to Karl's heartbeat, felt those strong arms cradle him, felt a light kiss on the top of his head. "I missed you." It was the understatement of Dom's life. "And I you." Karl's voice was gentle, rumbled delightfully in his chest. "But it was important." "What was?" "That you learn. True acceptance of responsibility is also learning from mistakes." Dom lifted his head. Anger was starting to come back to him now. It was such a relief to feel it again. "Don't you ever play fucking God with my life again, Karl. I don't even know what I did. But I know what you did was low." "Not low. Necessary." Karl caught Dom's arm when he would have rolled out of the bed in disgust. He found himself flat on his back, Karl over him, trapping him. "I'm not begging you to let me go again." "I wasn't expecting you to," Karl replied, and ran a feather-light touch across Dom's cheek. "Don't you know how much it hurt me to turn away?" Dom willed himself not to feel anything, not to give in again to that alluring voice, that velvet touch. "All I know is that you left me." "I left us both. You had to be ready. You had to come to me." "Why?" The one word was full of anguish, confusion, hurt. "I don't ever want you to say to me later that this wasn't something you wanted. You have to be sure." "I already told you I was sure." "And you lied to us both." Alright, yeah, he had. He'd thought he'd known need, known want. But that was before last week. "I don't ever want to live through that again," he said aloud. "I hope you never have to." Karl's hand trailed down over Dom's chest, ensnared a flat nipple, teased the puckered flesh. Dom sucked in his breath. Karl had never touched him like that before. "Let me make it up to you," Karl whispered, soft breath tickling Dom's ear. Dom writhed against the cotton sheets, already hard. "Let me pleasure you. Let me pleasure us both." Was there a person alive that could resist such a request? If there was, they were a helluva lot stronger than Dom. He would have forgiven Karl anything, anything at all, as long as Karl never stopped touching him. "Please..." He begged, when he'd sworn he never would beg again. "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." Karl's hand was on Dom's throbbing cock before the words had left his lips. And once again, he was devoured, seared, consumed. Karl's mouth, his hands, seemed to be everywhere at once. Possessive fingers raced over needy flesh, lingered over every sensitive spot until all that existed was pleasure. Hungry lips obliterated pain and emptiness and despair, filled him with fierce want, with a craving unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Dom threaded his fingers through that dark hair, tried to give back, tried to reciprocate, but Karl just grabbed his hands and shoved them above his head. "No." The word was soft, resolute. "Let me. Just lie back." Dom curled his fingers around the posts on the headboard, tried to relax. It was impossible. Karl was making him burn too much, need too much, want too much. He clenched his hands into tight fists around the posts when Karl closed his hot mouth over a pouting nipple, bit his tongue in a choked moan when Karl moved his hand up and down Dom's straining cock. Christ, he couldn't take this, couldn't breathe, tried to suck in air, tried to slow his heart...and then Karl's mouth was over his cock, surrounding him, enveloping him, moving on him, with tight lips and a soft tongue... "Fuck. Christ. OhGodohGod..." He wasn't even aware he was speaking, that he was digging his nails so hard into his hands he was bleeding. The orgasm ripped through him, shattered him, left him spent, left him weak. He felt broken, yet whole, different, newly reborn. Karl moved up, cradled him again when he started shaking with aftershocks, wiped away tears Dom hadn't known he'd been shedding. Dom moved his hands from the headboard, grabbed Karl's waist, still sinking, still spinning. Gradually, his heart rate approached something close to normal. He could take a deep breath, could stop crying. "I'm sorry," he began, and was stilled by Karl's finger across his lips. "Stop apologizing to me." "I'm..." Dom stopped, laughed. He'd been about to do it again. "Thank you," he said instead. It was totally inadequate, but it was the best he could do. He only hoped Karl heard the sincerity in the simple words. Karl kissed the top of his head again, gentled his still roving hands. Dom snuggled in closer, already sleepy again, still drained from the past week, the past hour. He could barely hear Karl's voice as he drifted off to sleep, couldn't make out the words, didn't see those eyes gaze down at him with something that almost looked like love. "You belong to me. I take care of my things. I will always take care of you." Onto Part Ten
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