Page 81 of Drag You Down
I start to scrub myself clean, not wanting to wait for Gabriel to return. The need to get clean is nearly overwhelming.
It doesn’t take long for Gabriel to return. He immediately sheds his clothing, and I carefully keep my eyes locked on the tiles of the shower floor so I don’t look at his naked body.
Even though he wants me to look, surely.
He steps into the shower with me, closing the glass door. The stall is large enough that the two of us fit easily.
Has he had other men in here, or am I the first?
“Levi. Here, let me get your… back.” Gabriel hisses sharply when he sees the state of my back. “He did this to you? Then left you there, in the dark?”
I whimper at the sharp tone and quickly shake my head. “N-no. I did it to myself. Penance,” I whisper.
For what I’d done with him.
For sleeping with a man I’ve been so sure is the Devil but has instead turned out to be my savior.
I’m sure of that now. I’ve been going back and forth about whether he’s the Devil or an angel, but I know now what he really is.
My protector.
“To yourself?” Gabriel places his hands on my shoulders, and I shudder when I feel his lips on the back of my neck. “Do you crave it?” he asks. “The pain? Because I can give you pain, Levi. But when I give it to you, it won’t cut you up. It will be beautiful, and it will set you free.”
I think of the spanking, of the way I’d felt when it had been over. It had been too pleasurable to feel like penance. Ithadbeen beautiful.
“I want it. Ineedit,” I tell him, uttering words I’ve never dared even think, let alone say aloud.
I need you.
Gabriel groans and forces me to turn around, pressing his lips against mine in a harsh, rough kiss. I wrap my arms around his back and lean into it, ignoring the pain that flares up as the warm water pelts onto my wounds.
“You need to heal first,” Gabriel says against my lips. “But I’ll give you everything you crave, boy. That’s my promise to you.”
“And what about you?” I ask, kissing him lightly, carefully. “What can I giveyou, Daddy?”
I have nothing. Nothing of my own, nothing to offer.
Nothing at all.
Gabriel smiles at me, and my breath catches.
Not the Devil at all, but truly an angel.
“Let me care for you,” he says gently. “That’s enough. Be my boy, and let me teach you everything.”
“What will you teach me?” I ask. There’s so much I want to know, so much I want to learn.
There’s so much, too, that I want to forget.
“Whatever you want to know.” Gabriel kisses my jaw, then reaches for the washcloth and soap.
I watch as he lathers up the cloth, and I shiver when he begins running it up and down my body.
I want to protest that I’ve already washed myself, but I remember what he said.
He wants to take care of me.
I want to be taken care of.
