Page 25

CHAPTER 12

Levi squirmed impatiently as Ben drank.

The bastard was taking his sweet time with it. Long, slow sips, his eyes glinting as he watched Levi over the rim of his glass. He was lying back against a stack of pillows while a naked Levi straddled his lap, fighting the urge to rock against Ben’s erection. Ben was still in his boxers, covered in a delicious sheen of sweat. Levi wished it wasn’t from getting shot and having to carry Levi’s unconscious ass inside. He didn’t want to think about that. He wanted the world to narrow down like it did when Ben gave him orders. But for that to happen, Ben had to finish his fucking water. Was he only pretending to swallow to draw it out?

“Dude,” Levi said after several seconds had passed and that glass still wasn’t empty. “Can you get on with it? I’ll be your age by the time you’re done.”

Ben paused. Then he placed the glass on the nightstand, no coaster, because he was a fucking animal. He took Levi’s naked hips, digging in until sparks of pain made Levi gasp.

“Did you just call me dude?”

It took Levi a second to remember what Ben was referring to. Back in the bathroom, Ben had told him to call him Daddy when they did this. Which was exciting because it implied that this was a thing they did now, and not just a one-off. And of course, because Levi fucking loved calling him Daddy.

“Uh, yeah,” Levi said, too wound up to be sexy about it. Then he caught himself and adjusted his pose into something photo-worthy. “Why, are you gonna punish me for it?”

“I think you want me to,” Ben said. “Get on your hands and knees.”

Levi scrambled to obey, climbing onto his hands and knees over Ben’s lap. He presented his ass hopefully, dropping his forehead onto the mattress. He still had some leftover adrenaline from watching Ben get shot, and he wanted it gone. He opened his mouth to ask Ben if he should count, only for Ben’s palm to smack against his ass, and his question trailed off into a moan. The pain was immediate and incredible, chasing away the jittery stress that was clinging to him. Ben massaged his sore ass, and Levi arched into it.

Ben made an amused noise. “You love getting punished, huh? Is that why you talk back so much?”

“Maybe,” Levi said. Even as a kid, he loved to push people’s buttons. It got him beat up more than once, but it also got him in situations like this, which more than made up for it. He especially loved it when he knew it was a game. In a game, there were no real consequences. There was an illicit thrill in doing it without boundaries, like he’d been doing with Ben before, but that thrill could turn painful really fucking fast. Maybe it was the fact that he was now in the tail end of his twenties—no matter how Austin laughed when he said it—but he had grown to appreciate the safety of a game much more than the high highs and the low lows of real life.

But for some reason, the shaky thrill was still there. Probably just leftover from the stress of today, Levi told himself. It had nothing to do with how much he was coming to like Ben, and the implications that had on their playtime.

Ben’s hand came down a second time. Levi groaned and giggled and wriggled his ass for more. Ben, bless him, gave it to him. He slapped Levi’s ass so hard his own hand had to tingle from the impact. The pain turned Levi lax and trembling, but it still wasn’t enough.

“More,” he rasped, arching up into Ben’s big hands as they massaged his red skin. “Or can you not go any harder, old man?”

Ben laughed. Levi thought he sounded far too delighted, until he remembered why he might not be able to go any harder and sat up to stare at the bandage around Ben’s arm. It was so thick that no blood was seeping through, which was lucky. It would kill the mood if Levi got woozy before they got to the good stuff.

“I am so sorry,” Levi said, uncharacteristically earnest. But Ben was already guiding Levi’s forehead back to the mattress, stroking Levi’s scalp as he did so.

“I can still give you what you need,” Ben said, with not an ounce of the self-consciousness Levi would have if he had Ben’s injuries. Levi definitely wouldn’t be able to engage in his usual sex shenanigans if he had been shot an hour ago. Never mind a damaged knee. If Levi had that knee, he would make sure everyone knew when it was hurting. Which, although Ben rarely said anything, was all the time. Levi was oddly proud of Ben for admitting it in the bathroom. Clearly sex opened this guy up more than Levi thought.

“Oh yeah?” Levi said, eager to get to that hazy headspace he kept coming close to, only to be pulled away. “Prove it. Daddy.”

Ben muttered something that sounded a lot like “little shit.” But it sounded so fond that Levi couldn’t be hurt by it. Actually, it sounded more like a pet name than an admonishment.

Ben rubbed his knuckle over Levi’s hole. “Where’s your lube?”

“Top drawer,” Levi replied, pressing back into Ben. Ben continued to rub him, never actually pressing in like Levi wanted, as he pulled open the top drawer and started rooting around. He waited, and sure enough, Ben laughed again.

“You didn’t bring toothpaste, but you brought one… two… three dildos?”

“Places usually have toothpaste,” Levi panted. He pushed back into Ben’s hold again, only for Ben to remove his knuckle from Levi’s hole. Levi closed his eyes, listening to the slick noises of the lube Ben had obviously found. Then Ben’s fingertips slid over his hole, cold and slippery. He pushed two inside without warning, and Levi moaned into the mattress. Ben had taken him seriously when Levi told him he could take it.

“Is that what I’ve been hearing every night through the walls?” Ben asked. “I thought you were just jerking off. Were you fucking yourself?”

Levi nodded into the mattress. “Hoped if I was loud enough you’d come in and take over.”

Ben crooked his fingers inside him to hit his sweet spot. Levi cursed as pleasure coursed through him, hot and hungry. Ben shoved a third finger inside, stretching him relentlessly.

“I’m going to open you up with a toy,” Ben told him. “Which one do you want?”

Levi mentally went through the dildos he’d thrown in his suitcase on a whim five minutes before the car showed up to take him to the jet. Then he decided to fuck with Ben because that was always fun.

“The dragon one.”