Page 119 of A Thousand Cuts

“Worry?” Fix asked, eyes still wet. “Liam…I’ll worry about you all the time one way or another. I’ll always be on the lookout for you. Always be guarding you against everything. Not because Ihave to. Not because you’re helpless or a burden. But because I’m your daddy and I love you. Liam, I love you.”

Time froze. Something gooey and warm spread from the top of Liam’s head to the tips of his toes.

“You…you love me?” he asked, unable to keep the mix of disbelief and hope from his voice.

“Is that so surprising to you?” Fix choked on a chuckle as more tears slipped down his cheeks and disappeared into his beard. “Have I done such a poor job showing you how special you are?”

“No.” Liam shook his head. “I’ve just…never been loved before. I didn’t know… I didn’t realize…”

He held Fix’s gaze, watched his eyes shift and change as they took him in. They flayed him open. Tore through him like a thunderstorm and left him feeling raw and exposed.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and Fix shook his head.

“It was my fault,” he said and Liam recoiled, horrified by the words.

“No, Fix…”

“I should have made it clear,” he said. “From the moment I knew what I felt I should have just told you. I thought it was too soon.”

“When?” Liam asked, and Fix let out another self-deprecating laugh.

“Probably from the moment I met you,” he said. “But for sure from that day you called me and said you needed me. You’re under my skin, Liam. I should have shown you. I will show you.”

The words were hard to understand.

“You still want me?”

Fix’s eyes darkened and Liam’s breath hitched. This wasn’t anger. Or fear. Not anymore.

“Do you have a safeword, Liam?” he asked in lieu of a response.

Liam frowned. “N-no. Why?”

“Pick one,” Fix said, pushing himself off the armrests of the chair and standing up. “Now.”

“I…”

“Pick. One.” Fix said, emphasizing each word so hard Liam’s brain froze for a moment.

“Um…omelet,” he said, and Fix nodded, stepping back.

“Stand up,” he ordered.

Liam pushed himself out of the armchair, unsteady on his feet as he tried to figure out what was happening. “Fix…”

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Fix said, reaching out and digging his fingers into Liam’s hair. He clenched his fist around silky strands and yanked until Liam was looking up at him. “You’ll strip and get on the bed for Daddy. I’m gonna show you exactly how much I want you, and it’ll last however long I feel like it should last. However long I feel like it takes you to understand what you mean to me. I’m gonna own you, honey. I’m gonna use you. And the only way I’ll stop is if you safeword. Or black out from pleasure. Do you understand?”

Liam felt himself harden the moment Fix started talking. The pain in his scalp, Fix’s scent in his nose, the promises in that gruff, deep voice… He was near delirious and Fix hadn’t even done anything yet.

“I asked you a question, Liam,” Fix said.

Liam tried. He really did try to respond, but all he saw were Fix’s hands on him. The bitemarks and the ache he’d leave on his body, and he couldn’t… There were no words.

He nodded.

“I need to hear you,” Fix said. “I need to know you want this.”

“I do,” Liam croaked out, almost blind with desire. “Daddy, I do, please…”