Specter's Gamble - 26. Chapter 26

Sam stopped the car in front of Desmond’s apartment building and silently looked at the assassin, waiting for him to get out.

“Thanks, kid,” Desmond said softly, and Sam blinked.

“Yeah,” he muttered, his fingers hugging the gear stick. “What are you gonna do now?” he asked suddenly, and Desmond shrugged.

“Gonna lie low for a bit,” he said. “Until I am sure everything is safe... And then I’ll get the hell out of this city,” he finished with a small smile.

“So Gabriel is going to leave as well, huh?” Sam asked.

“Why would he leave?” Desmond frowned, and Sam just looked at him for several seconds.

“Because I don’t think he’ll let you go,” he said finally, and Desmond blinked at that. “Well, I am going to leave now,” Sam sighed. “Want to go to sleep... I can finally sleep,” he added thoughtfully, and Desmond simply nodded.

“Night, kid,” he said before getting out of the car.

“Night...” Sam whispered when the assassin closed the door.

****

Rayhe finally came back at two in the morning when Desmond was about to doze off in his chair. He became alert the minute he heard a scratch of the key on the door lock, as if someone was blindly trying to find the keyhole. “That’s right,” Desmond thought. “I never replaced that light bulb...” Finally, the door opened, and Desmond heard someone walk inside the apartment. He silently made his way into the kitchen. He was pretty sure it was Rayhe, but he was silent just to be safe.

Rayhe (oh, thankfully it was him...) opened the window and lit a cigarette. Even in the dark, he looked beyond tense.

“Did he buy it?” Desmond asked in a soft voice, and Gabriel slowly turned towards him, an enormous relief reflecting on his face. He flicked his cigarette out of the window.

“Yeah,” he nodded slowly. “He bought it.”

“Good,” Desmond muttered, and Rayhe pulled him closer and buried his face in the assassin’s hair. Desmond wrapped his arms around the other man’s neck and closed his eyes.

“You gonna pay for what you did in that house,” the assassin muttered finally. Rayhe pulled away just a little and looked at him with a confused frown.

“What did I do?” he asked with puzzlement. “I thought everything went smoothly...”

“I am not talking about Salamander,” Desmond said in a low voice. “I am talking about the way you kissed me, you bastard...”

Rayhe blinked in great confusion.

“You don’t kiss someone like that when there is absolutely no time to do anything,” Desmond continued, and Rayhe’s confusion slowly started to creep away, trading places with a smile. “Do you have any idea what it did to me?”

“Oh,” Rayhe almost purred. “You mean like this...?” And he kissed the assassin the same slow, insanely arousing way as he did back at the house.

Desmond moaned and grabbed Gabriel’s hair.

“Or was it more like...” Rayhe muttered into his mouth, and then the kiss became even slower – a thing Desmond thought was not possible.

The assassin pulled away just enough to be able to mutter:

“As I said... You gonna pay for that...”

“Okay,” Rayhe agreed immediately, and then Desmond stopped talking because suddenly, Gabriel picked him up (surprised the hell out of the assassin; he knew he was on the skinny side, but he didn’t expect Rayhe to pick him up with such ease) and sat him down on the counter. Rayhe was a couple of inches taller than Desmond, so this arrangement worked out beautifully.

Gabriel kept kissing the assassin’s mouth, his tongue far away from being dominant, and it drove Desmond crazy. He felt like he could devour Rayhe right there, on the spot. Gabriel’s face was in perfect alignment with Desmond’s throat, and he took advantage of that immediately. He didn’t travel to that sensitive spot on the assassin’s neck right away as Desmond expected him to though. Instead, he placed those mind-blowing slow kisses all over the assassin’s throat but that particular area. Soon enough, Desmond was shaking with the need to feel Rayhe’s mouth on that damn spot, but Gabriel would avoid it with envious dedication.

Finally, Desmond grabbed Rayhe’s hair and all but pushed his face onto that spot on his neck that was literally throbbing with need right now. He could feel Gabriel smiling against his skin, and that smile turned him on even more (another thing he thought was not possible). When he did feel Rayhe’s mouth on his pulsating with need skin, he let out such a loud moan, it sounded like a muffled scream. “Oh, God...” he thought hazily, his eyes closed, head thrown back. “He can make me come just like this, without even pulling off my pants...”

That was not Rayhe’s intention, however. He didn’t attack Desmond’s neck with his usual gusto; instead, he eased up on nibbling and simply licked the assassin’s skin, lightly sucking on a random region occasionally. Desmond impatiently kicked off his boots, but Gabriel took his sweet time before unbuttoning the assassin’s shirt, let alone his pants. After what seemed an excruciating eternity, Desmond had a very hazy thought. “He wants me to beg,” he thought in astonishment. “That’s what he wants... He wants me to beg... He is waiting for the moment when I can’t take it anymore... He wants me to beg...”

Okay, Desmond was perfectly aware of the fact that he did beg him before. (“No, don’t... Don’t stop... No... Please...”), but he would be damned if he did it now. Before was different; Rayhe didn’t expect Desmond to beg before – it just happened, and those times (“Don’t... Oh, God, yes...! Oh, just... Just let me...”) didn’t bother him. This, however, was different. This was a game of wills. “I am not going to beg,” Desmond thought, his eyes rolling all the way back into his head, when Rayhe sucked on that spot on his neck for a little bit too long. “I am not going to beg,” he thought stubbornly. “I don’t care if I end up coming in my pants (that was a very good possibility)... I am not going to beg...”

Gabriel used his tongue and teeth in most unimaginable ways, but Desmond would only moan nonstop (he would stop that as well if he could; there was no possible way though), and he wouldn’t say anything; well, nothing that could resemble the normal human speech anyway. The ‘Aah’s and ‘Ooh’s didn’t qualify as actual words, so Desmond didn’t care about those.

Finally, when Desmond couldn't care less about begging (that moment had actually arrived), Gabriel started unbuttoning his pants, which Desmond took as a good sign. He managed to swallow the words that were dancing on the tip of his tongue, and ‘Oh, please’ transformed into ‘Ohhh...’ rather smoothly.

“God, Des...” Rayhe whispered into the assassin’s mouth, his hands busy with Desmond’s pants. “God, you taste amazing...”

“This will not make me beg,” Desmond muttered, and Gabriel let out a short, disbelieving laughter that immediately rolled down Desmond’s throat.

“Beg?” Rayhe repeated. “I wasn't trying to make you beg...”

“You are a shitty liar, Rayhe...” Desmond murmured, and Gabriel laughed again.

“Fine,” he whispered and pulled away from Desmond’s mouth. “You win,” and he nibbled on the assassin’s earlobe.

The pants had finally surrendered and slid off Desmond’s hips. Rayhe pulled the assassin slightly forward after removing the pants completely and throwing them on the floor, and pushed apart his knees. Desmond wrapped his legs around Gabriel’s waist and said in a low, almost dangerous voice:

“Don’t even think of pulling the same trick on me again... If you think that you can make me beg by stopping me from coming...”

“I wasn’t going to,” Rayhe muttered, and this time, Desmond knew he wasn’t lying. “That would be playing dirty...”

He started kissing the assassin’s mouth again, his tongue slowly regaining its dominance, his eyes closed.

“Open your eyes,” Desmond muttered after he slightly pulled away. “Open your eyes... I want to see them.”

Gabriel obediently opened his eyes and stared into assassin’s green ones. Kissing with his eyes open felt different. It was like dreaming awake. Rayhe loved it. Desmond let out a surprised shriek when Gabriel entered him suddenly. Rayhe stood still for several minutes, letting Desmond’s body to adjust around his.

“Move,” the assassin said finally in a strained voice, and this time, he didn’t have to repeat himself.

Rayhe moved slowly, trying to find the right angle. He grinned when Desmond’s head flew back and he breathed:

“Oh, God, yes...!”

Gabriel wrapped his hand around Desmond’s weeping length, and the assassin immediately spat:

“Don’t!”

Rayhe’s fingers relaxed and his hand slid onto the small of Desmond’s back. He wanted to stretch this out for as long as he possibly could, but his body had the mind of its own, it seemed, because his hips started to pick up speed despite Gabriel’s efforts to slow down. Desmond locked his fingers on the back of Rayhe’s neck, his breathing short and raspy, his hips jerking almost violently, his eyes locked on Rayhe’s, moans becoming louder and louder.

“Des...” Gabriel almost whimpered, his voice pleading somehow. “Oh God, Des...”

Desmond’s eyes rolled back and he bit his lip, his teeth gleaming white in the darkness of the kitchen.

“Look... at me...” Rayhe breathed, and Desmond forced his eyes to return from the back of his skull. “Look at... me...” Gabriel panted. “I want to see your eyes... when you... Oh, God...”

Desmond’s legs locked tighter around Rayhe’s waist, and his fingers dug deeper into the back of the other man’s neck. His breathing was now coming out with small, whimpering sounds, his mouth hanging open, eyelids fluttering like crazy.

“I...” was all he said before his body convulsed violently and he howled as he climaxed hard.

Gabriel didn’t need him to say anything -- he saw it in his eyes. He knew that Desmond was about to fly over the edge -- he saw it in his eyes. That look, his eyes, his mad howl, and all the contractions made Rayhe practically explode. He had no idea how he was able to keep his eyes locked on Desmond’s -- it felt like Desmond’s hazy green orbs were two magnets, and Gabriel couldn’t even shift his gaze, let alone close his eyes.

Desmond’s hips jerked harder when he felt Rayhe erupt deep inside him, as if those spasms and Gabriel’s shaking body made him see stars again. They didn’t, but Desmond was riding out his climax longer than usual, as if those spasms prolonged it somehow. Both of them shook and shuddered for what felt like ever, in complete silence, which was interrupted only by their whimpering and small sobs that were their breaths now. Finally, Desmond’s legs relaxed and slid off Rayhe’s waist. He dropped his head onto Gabriel’s shoulder, his body limp, breathing shallow.

Rayhe wrapped his arms tighter around Desmond, his fingers slowly caressing the assassin’s shoulder blade. He was deeply inhaling Desmond’s scent, his eyes finally closed; he loved the way the assassin’s hair smelled.

“Well,” Desmond muttered into Rayhe’s shoulder. “The counter is a mess now...”

Gabriel laughed at that.

“We’ll clean it later,” he said. “Stay with me,” he said suddenly, and Desmond slowly raised his head. “Stay with me,” Gabriel repeated in a softer voice, his eyes locked on Desmond’s once again.

“Until everything calms down?” Desmond said slowly. “Until I can get out of the city? I was planning on that...”

“No,” Gabriel interrupted him. “Stay with me... Like a...” he hesitated for a second. “Like a mate,” he finished in a smaller voice. “I meant what I said back in that house... It wasn’t a part of acting... I meant it...”

Desmond stared at him without blinking. Stay with him? “I can’t,” he thought. “I can’t because of what I do, because of everything... I’ll end up hurting him and maybe even getting him killed... I can’t... Because there is a chance I might fail... I can’t fail...”

“I am afraid to fail...” he muttered out loud and his eyes immediately became wide, as if he couldn’t believe he just said that.

“Sometimes a failure is inevitable,” Gabriel said softly. “And sometimes, it’s even necessary... Nevertheless, no matter what happens, you won’t fail me... You can’t fail me... Stay with me...”

“What I do...” Desmond muttered. “My lifestyle, my work...”

“Specter is dead,” Rayhe interrupted him.

“Phantom isn’t,” Desmond said, and Gabriel didn’t need to ask him if Phantom was his other alias.

“Specter is dead,” Rayhe repeated and ran his fingertips over Desmond’s face. “Killing people is not the only thing you are good at...” he whispered. “A clean slate wasn’t just for me... It could be for you as well... We will leave this city and never come back. We will go somewhere far away from this place... Somewhere we could start over again... Stay with me... Will you stay with me?”

“No,” Desmond thought. “I can’t... A clean slate is not for someone like me... A tiger doesn’t change his stripes... I can’t stay with you, I can’t risk your life... No, Rayhe, I will not stay with you... No...”

“Yes,” he whispered and closed his eyes in defeat.

Gabriel gently grabbed his chin and slightly lifted up his head. Desmond opened his eyes, and Rayhe kissed his mouth slowly and very carefully. Desmond kissed him back, his breath hitched in his throat. “Yes,” he thought, and now it made him feel unbelievably good. “Yes,” he thought again, and it made his hands to creep up towards Gabriel’s hair. That damn soft hair...

“Yes...” he whispered into Rayhe’s mouth, and shivered when Gabriel’s tongue ran across his lips in a slow up-and-down motion.

“I love you,” Rayhe said softly.

“Yes,” Desmond whispered again, and Gabriel knew what he meant.