Gabriel Takes What is His
Gabriel needed no further affirmation. Somehow, he’d gotten lucky. Fate, for once, smiled on him, and everything looked like it might work out. Gabriel hadn’t been entirely honest with Joel, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He hadn't told Joel any lies, sans the one of omission he would deal with another day. Gabriel’s mind was pulled back to the present when Joel whimpered into his ear.
He snatched Joel's mouth in another kiss as he walked them blindly down the hallway to his bedroom. He pressed Joel into the wall by the door, grinding his cock up against Joel’s as he fumbled the door open. Once inside the bedroom, Joel obediently released his legs, and slid down Gabriel's torso to stand at the foot of the bed. Gabriel wrapped his fingers around Joel's shoulders, dragging them down Joel's arms, to his hands.
Joel pressed a kiss to Gabriel's shoulder.
Then I’ll be yours.
Four fucking words out of Joel's mouth that made Gabriel feel as though his heart would explode. The pressure mounting behind his breastbone was becoming harder to ignore every day.
“Do you mean it?” Gabriel whispered, tremors of arousal and fear racking his body. Joel only offered a slight nod of his head before Gabriel pushed Joel backward onto the bed. Joel slithered up toward the headboard, and Gabriel approached on his hands and knees, easily settling himself between Joel's slender thighs.
Gabriel pressed a kiss to the delicate line of hair beneath Joel's navel as he flicked the button of his red jeans open, releasing the zipper and tugging them down, along with his briefs. As Joel kicked his pants free, Gabriel nuzzled his face into the patch of hair at the base of Joel's shaft, noting it was a light brown with a slight hint of red. He wrapped his mouth around the base of Joel's cock, sucking hard and feeling it harden further under his tongue. Joel arched his back off the bed, moaning something sounding like it might have been Gabriel's name, and Gabriel loved the sound so he repeated the action, sucking harder.
Dragging his hands down Joel's legs, he pushed his thighs apart, spreading him open. Gabriel fucked his own hard cock into the mattress, desperate to stave off his need so he could enjoy Joel in the way he wanted. He released Joel's cock from his mouth, hearing it bounce, wet and hard, against Joel's belly, then lowered himself farther, licking a long and slow strip from Joel's tender hole to the tip of his cock.
“Gabriel, fuck.” Joel let out a shaky breath.
“Let me give you what you need. Tell me what you need, please.” Gabriel had a frantic edge to his voice, feeling certain his blood would boil before he could bury himself inside his prize.
My prize.
Joel was his prize. Joel was his. He seemed to understand why Gabriel did what he had and even if he didn’t know the entire truth of it, he would accept the reality of how deeply Gabriel's affections for him ran. It was out in the open now and Gabriel was free from it, and he wanted to revel in that feeling. He whimpered, a sound tinged with delight and desire, before burying his face between Joel's cheeks, lapping at his hole with hungry strokes of his tongue.
Joel’s entire body shuddered and convulsed underneath him. Gabriel propped Joel's legs over his shoulders, freeing his hands to pin him to the bed. He fucked his tongue into Joel's hole, feeling the muscles tighten around the intrusion, then he pulled free before nipping his teeth lightly against the delicate strip of skin below Joel's balls.
“I need you, I need you so bad.” Joel could barely get the words out and Gabriel raised his gaze to see Joel's eyes, glassy with unspoken emotion.
“Then I’ll be yours,” Gabriel repeated Joel's words from earlier, pushing a finger inside of him, then adding another.
“Ugh, Gabriel, more. Please, more.” Joel pushed his body down onto Gabriel's hand and his eyes, though still glassy, were now fired with lust. Gabriel removed his fingers and leaned back onto his heels to undo the fly of his own pants. He shucked them off, kicking himself free, and pulled his shirt over his head. As Gabriel knelt between Joel’s legs, Joel reached his hands forward, fingertips delicately grazing across the skin of Gabriel's torso. Gabriel shuddered, covering Joel's body with his own, and reaching over to the nightstand to retrieve the bottle of lube and a condom.
He set the supplies on the bed beside him and leaned forward, his fingers reaching for the hem of Joel's shirt to remove it. Joel's hands flew up and landed on top of Gabriel's, stilling the movement.
“No, let me keep it on, Gabriel. I like...” Joel searched for the words, “...I like knowing.”
Gabriel rolled his head back, letting out a guttural sound of acceptance, before ripping the condom from the package and sliding it over his aching length. He popped open the lube, covering himself, and reached a slippery finger back down toward Joel's entrance, but he was stopped by hands much smaller than his own.
Joel shook his head. “Just you.”
Gabriel always intended to oblige his sweet, Little Red, so he thrust himself fully inside Joel with one quick stroke. Joel's mouth opened and a noise escaped that sounded like a cross between a cry and a moan. Gabriel had to brace himself on shaking arms until Joel was ready for more.
Joel ran a hand up the length of Gabriel's arm, feeling the hairs rise in the wake of his touch. When he reached Gabriel's shoulder, he pulled the man down, bringing him closer, and taking his lips in a fevered kiss.
Gabriel took that as the invitation it was and started to move, thrusting in and out of his prize.
Joel arched up to meet his every thrust like a wild animal, and Gabriel nipped the skin along Joel's jaw. Joel moaned an affirmation, and Gabriel could have died a happy man in that moment. Inside of Joel.
Gabriel was a lucky man. Even with a rough start in life, he’d struggled and fought and made a name for himself, separate of his family name. Everything he owned, he’d worked for. Joel included. But Gabriel would gladly give up everything he had ever known if that was what was needed to keep Joel here, under him, around him, inside his heart. His body was heavy, overwhelmed with the weight of his affection for Joel, and he would be a fool if he went one more day without acknowledging that he yearned for his Little Red in ways he’d never anticipated. Gabriel wanted to tell Joel, needed to tell Joel, but there was so much between them already tonight, and Gabriel was terrified Joel would think better of his acceptance of him in the sober light of morning. This night might be all he would ever get and he didn't want to ruin it.
Gabriel had lied to Joel. Gabriel was still lying to Joel. And he hated a small part of himself for that. But he didn’t know how to say the remaining words. If he couldn’t exhale out a simple, I love you, how could he manage the rest?
Gabriel dropped his head against Joel's shoulder, slowing his thrusts. “Please tell me you forgive me, Joel, please. I haven’t told you all of it, but I need you to forgive me.”
Joel's arms wrapped around his back, his legs around his waist, and Joel pressed a kiss to Gabriel’s temple, but he didn’t speak. Gabriel's heart rate sped up, and he extricated himself from Joel's limbs, needing to see his face.
“Joel, please tell me you understand. Tell me what you’re thinking.” Gabriel was not above begging.
Joel nodded. “I’m thinking...” he stopped, sucking in a solidifying breath and searching out Gabriel's eyes. “I’m thinking, Gabriel, that I love you, too.”
Gabriel's entire body shook as Joel's words wrenched a violent orgasm free from his body. Joel's hand rose to his own cock, jerking it once, twice, until he found his own release, never breaking eye contact with Gabriel. Shuddering, Gabriel collapsed on top of Joel, feeling Joel's orgasm slide between their skin as he maneuvered himself to pull his cock free from Joel and discard the condom.
Gabriel rolled off Joel, and they both lay on their backs, chests heaving with the truth finally settling between them. Joel’s tentative fingers searched out Gabriel’s hand before grasping it, strong and sure. He rolled his head to the side to see Joel was already staring at him. Joel smiled, closing his eyes.
Gabriel watched Joel fall asleep, as he often did, and waited to make sure his breathing leveled out before slowly freeing his hand and sliding out of bed. He picked up the used condom, tossing it in a trash can in the bathroom, then he splashed water on his face.
Joel had told him he loved him. But only that once, in the heat of the moment. Did he mean it? Gabriel scrunched his nose at his reflection, picking at the gray hairs near his temple, and then trying to smooth the lines around his eyes. Why would Joel love him? Gabriel had done nothing but Joel's privacy, manipulating his life to get him where he wanted him, and Joel's reaction was to love him? That couldn’t be right.
Sighing, he pulled on a pair of pajama pants, padding barefoot into the living room. He sat down on the couch, next to his and Joel's cell phones. Gabriel leaned his head back against the couch and closed his eyes, and that was when he heard noise outside in the hallway.
It wasn’t anyone at his door though, it was too muffled. Maybe across the hall or down the hall.
Across the hall?
Fuck.
It was too soon. Way, way too soon.
There were raised voices he couldn’t quite make out, a door slamming, and then a violent fist pounding on his front door.
Like a prisoner heading to his execution, Gabriel stood from the couch and crossed his condo to pull the front door open, knowing full well who was on the other side. He unhooked the chain and opened the door, ready for his house of cards to finally collapse.
“Madeline,” he greeted, seeing her face-to-face for the first time in his life.
“Madeline? What? How the fuck do you know my wife, Gabriel?” Thomas interrupted, shouldering his way in front of his wife, standing toe-to-toe with his brother for the first time in over twenty years.
“Oh, I know a lot of things, Thomas,” Gabriel sighed. “Can you keep it down, though? You’re being rather loud.” Gabriel tsked, doing his best to use his body as a barricade between the hallway and his condo.
“Gabriel?” Madeline's face registered her shock. Gabriel saw Joel in her face. The shape of their eyes was the same, her hair a shade lighter than Joel's natural color. “You live here? Where the fuck is my son?”
“Mom?”
Joel's questioning voice behind Gabriel turned all three of their heads. Joel stood there, as he had earlier in the evening, with that t-shirt on, and his favorite jeans, though this time they were unbuttoned, and his hair was decidedly tousled from the sex they’d had.
Gabriel debated his next move, unsure whether he should continue using his body to keep his brother and his wife out of his home, or if he should go to Joel. He wanted more than anything to protect Joel from what was about to happen. It was Gabriel's own doing, though, and he had never hated himself more than he did in the current moment.
Joel took the choice away from him, striding across the room and coming to stand behind Gabriel, close enough that his chest grazed Gabriel's back as he breathed. Gabriel was certain he could feel the erratic pace of Joel's heart as he tried to figure out what his mom was doing there. Gabriel shouldered his frame more solidly into the open doorway in a last-ditch effort to shield Joel from the truths about to unfold.
He turned his head over his shoulder so he could see Joel clearly. “Remember earlier, how I said there were things I hadn’t told you?” Gabriel searched Joel's eyes, and all he found was a sleepy lust from their earlier pairing being quickly overshadowed with confusion and fear. Joel nodded his head, the movement barely noticeable.
Thomas barked out a laugh, breaking the tense silence before he opened his mouth to speak. “I think you should invite us in, oh brother mine.”