Page 103 of Sick Bargain

Remiel notices the shift in my eyes, and his head shakes. “No,” he says, begging. “Don’t tell me to run. I don’t want to be chased. I’m done running from you through dark tunnels.”

I’ve learned that Remiel loves fear. At first, I thought it was that stalking feeling that came with the way I hunted him. It’s not that. Remiel’s fears are mostly of himself, the unknown, and loss. Remiel fears being invisible. But he also fears unpredictability, and tonight, I’m going to be unpredictable.

“No more running,” I tell him. I grab both of his hands and bring them to cradle my head. He spreads his fingers through my hair and looks me straight in the eyes.

“I missed you.”

I needed the time away from him to learn how much I wanted him. “You aren’t free anymore, hero.”

His hands shake in my hair.

“I will never free you again. Are you sure you want to make this decision?”

He wets his lips. “Do I have a choice?”

“The illusion of one.”

He smiles. “I don’t want to be free from you. But… would you have…”

“Yes.” I drop my hands to his pants and start undoing them. “Even as Keegan, you intrigued me. That’s your question, right? Would I want you even if you hadn’t made a bargain with me?”

He nods, not paying attention to his pants. I let them drop to pool around his ankles, and he kicks them off without noticing.

“You interested me growing up, but I never learned to obsess over you until you looked straight into my eyes and didn’t back away.” I let him look now, loving that he wants to. “But I never would have gotten the chance to own you if you hadn’t made a bargain.”

“Well, at least Gregory Malone did one thing right. He chased me to Vile House that night.”

I pinch his hip and glare at him. “What’d?—”

“Yeah, yeah. No speaking other names while I’m half naked.”

My puppy is already so well-trained. I’ve used a punishment method so far, but right now, I’m going to try the reward system. I sink to my knees in front of him, eyes on his. I don’t know how to feel about it yet. His lips part in awe or shock, and his fingers tighten in my hair. I’ve never serviced him before. Briefly that night he was chained to the gate, but nothing more than that. I want to. I’m nervous to.

Remiel’s cock thickens in front of my face, and my mouth waters for the taste of it. The hitch of his breath makes everything sexier, but the blue of his eyes captures me. He’s not a man who is familiar with being pleased. He’s the one who works on demand, fixes their instruments and orders them parts. He’s the body I’ve used and abused and the mouth I’ve raped. My fingers have touched him only while drugged or scared, and the look of gratitude that mingles with nervousness is everything to me. Because he deserves it.

He chose me. And that warrants a reward.

I grab his hip with one hand and his cock with the other. Sliding it down the length of him, his foreskin pulls back toreveal a shiny tip, flushed red and weeping for me. I lean in to lick it, drawing a gasp from him. The touch of his hot flesh against my tongue ignites my blood and deepens my darkness, but nerves are still more powerful.

I’ve never done this before.

He’s going to know.

I should have fucking drugged him again.

“Krypt,” he says, fingers softening in my hair. “Look at me.”

I can’t. My face burns, and embarrassment turns me sour. I hate being mocked. I hate feeling embarrassed.

“Look at me.”

I look up, unfamiliar with being beneath someone. Not since my parents were alive. But Remiel isn’t looking down on me as if I’m nothing more than an unwanted soul. He wants every part of me, my damage, my control, my sickness, and my inexperience.

“Open.”

“Don’t fucking make demands of me, Remiel.”

“Open,” he whispers.

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