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Chapter Twenty-Two

Storm

Gabriel is pacing the living room when I wake up Sunday morning. Okay, early afternoon, whatever.

“What’s wrong?” I grumble, scratching my head as I yawn. During the week, I like to get up early to have breakfast with Gabe. Especially on the days he goes to work. On the weekends, I catch up on sleep.

“I can’t decide if I should go to dinner at my parents’ house tonight. After last week…”

“I vote don’t go.”

“Why?” he asks, following me into the kitchen, where I grab a mug to make coffee.

“Well, after the way you freaked out last week, I don’t think you should ever see them again, but I’m sure that isn’t an option.” I grab a coffee pod from the cabinet and pop it into the machine, then lean against the counter and cross my arms over my bare chest.

“It’s not.”

“So, I say don’t go today and see what happens. Do they call you because they miss you? Are they worried? Or do they not give a fuck? You need to know what people think about you before you give them your attention. Not everyone deserves it.”

I snap the cover shut on the machine and press the brew button. I turn to face Gabriel again.

“They’re my family,” he says, like that means something.

“So?”

He scoffs. “Does family mean nothing to you?”

“Not really, no.”

They’re just people that you’re biologically connected to. Emotions have nothing to do with it.

“You visit your mother every day. That means something.”

“If my mother treated me like your mother treats you, I wouldn’t.”

He shakes his head. “No, that’s not right.”

“Agree to disagree. Guess I can’t help you then.”

“Guess not,” he snaps, turning back to the living room.

He’ll have to make his own decision, since he doesn’t want to take my advice. I didn’t think he was going to in the first place, but I wanted to try. I don’t know a thing about his family, and if I’m honest, I don’t know much about him either. But with what I know and have seen, I can tell his family is not good for him. They’re toxic. Therefore, he should distance himself from them. I understand how scary that is when you don’t have anyone else, but if he wants to be happy, he needs to make a move.

I take my mug of coffee through the living room to go upstairs.

“I still think you should take me as your date to their anniversary dinner. Show them you know how to stick up for yourself,” I say as I walk by him.

“How does that show them I can stick up for myself?”

“Being a big boy. Making your own decisions.”

“That’s not even the same thing,” he grumbles.

I shrug, sipping from my mug. “Whatever then. Just trying to help.”

“You better not spill that on the hardwood!” he shouts from downstairs just as I’m closing my door.

I have a busy day today. I need to do some research on new content because I’ve barely put anything up. With Gabe agreeing to make videos with me, I thought I’d have videos up with him by now. I’m eager to do it but don’t want to be too pushy. Besides, nothing is hotter than when he comes to me late at night with an erection as hard as nails, begging for me to help him.

I’ve never gone into such depths with someone over a contract before. Of course, I’ve had them with the people I’ve made videos with before, but Gabriel is serious about his contracts.

I’m in my room for about two hours doing research on top creators for ideas on what to put out before I get too hungry to focus. I’d given some ideas to Gabriel the other day, about what we can do, and he was on board for everything. I’m not sure why I was so shocked earlier when he said he would try anything, but since he’s so eager, looking up more stuff can’t hurt. I want to see how far I can push him. And at this point, my sadistic side wants to see how far I can push him before he says no. He hasn’t even had my dick in his ass yet. Maybe we should start there. Or maybe we should start with my dick in his mouth? That’s easier.

One thing I see in common with a lot of these top male creators? Masks. It’s the in-thing, and since no one has seen Gabriel before, it’s perfect. He hadn’t mentioned being nervous about being on camera, but I’m sure he is. It’s scary at first. Regardless of what direction we take things in, using a mask isn’t a bad idea. Not with how popular it’s becoming.

Leaving my room, I head to the kitchen to find something to eat. Gabriel is nowhere to be found. As I sit and eat the burnt grilled cheese I threw together, I think of how we can make this mask thing work. In every video I watched, it was the aggressor, the dominant one, who wore the mask. That certainly isn’t Gabriel. Though I’m vers, I don’t see Gabriel being dominant in any way. Is there a way we can make this work with him wearing the mask and being the submissive one? He can’t have the mask on while he sucks me off because the good ones don’t have mouth-holes. I can fuck him with it on, but is that what people what to see? We could try and see what happens.

Though, the imagery in my head is much hotter with him standing against a wall, mask on, and me on my knees sucking him off. Yeah, that’s really hot. It’ll gain a lot of attention too. We could try that. My dick is hard as stone when I finish my food and get up to find Gabriel.

“Gabe!” I shout, searching through the house. I knock on his bedroom door, but he isn’t there. I check the bathrooms and the office. Not there. His car is here, so he can’t be far… I check the last place I can think of—the backyard. I find him lounging in one of the chairs, reading a book. He really is such a peaceful person. The guy just needs someone to understand him and let him live his life how he wants. Why is that so hard for people to do?

“Hey,” I say, getting his attention as I stop in front of him.

“Hey,” he answers, putting the bookmark on the page he was reading and closing his book. “Everything okay?”

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay…” He sits up, throwing his legs off the edge of the chair, brow furrowed.

“What do you think about wearing a mask?” I ask.

“Like a medical face mask?” he asks with a frown.

“No,” I say firmly. “Like a scary mask. Something from Halloween. You know, ghost face or Mike Myers. Jason even.”

“Are you talking in everyday life or…”

“For the videos, Gabe. Come on, focus.” I clap my hands.

“Right, sorry.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I have a headache.”

“You know what cures headaches?” I ask, waggling my brows.

“Acetaminophen?” he says.

I groan. “Forget it. So, about the mask?”

He chews on the inside of his lip, eyes going a little hazy as he thinks it over. He finally says, “I need details.”

I explain what I found and my idea of him wearing the mask and how we would have to pick positions.

“What’s vers?” he asks.

“Versatile. Means I enjoy topping and bottoming.”

“Oh… okay. So we need labels for that?” He scratches his head, combing his fingers through his curls to pull them away from his face.

“Well, no. We don’t need labels for that, or for anything, but typically in a sexual relationship, each person is comfortable in a certain position, regardless of sex or sexual orientation.”

“But for the sake of the videos and the mask-wearing, it should be designated to one person?”

He’s smart. Catches on quickly.

“It would make the most sense, yes. And we could try it however you want, but what’s selling right now is dominant men in masks.”

He chews on his lip, staring at something over my shoulder for a moment before nodding.

“I can do that.”

“Excuse me?”

“I can do that. I can wear a mask and be dominant.”

I huff out a laugh. “No offense, Gabe, but I don’t think you have a dominant bone in your body.”

He turns to face me more. “Storm, when I was a child, I was terrified of Halloween. For years, I refused to even go to the stores during that time, and any time I had to leave the house was hell. We lived in an area where everyone decorated, and I heard complaints from my brothers for years because we couldn’t decorate because I was afraid.”

“Okay,” I say carefully.

“Until one year, I dressed up as Batman. And you know what happened?”

“You saved Gotham?” I ask.

“No, Storm. Gotham isn’t a real place. But I did go trick or treating. Want to know why?”

I go out on a limb and say, “Because you were Batman?”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t get it,” I admit.

“Batman isn’t afraid of anything, and when I put that costume on, I felt like him. I could be him. It was easy to hide behind the mask. You know, kind of like how Bruce seems like a meek billionaire until he’s Batman and then he’s kicking ass.”

I watch him carefully. “So what you’re telling me is when you put on a mask, you become someone else?”

“Yes, Storm. That’s what I’m saying.”

“That sounds like an identity crisis.”

He narrows his eyes at me, and I hold in the laughter.

“You’re making fun of me.” He shakes his head and grabs his book, but I pull it from his hand, unable to hold in the laugh.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it!”

“Don’t be mean,” he pouts and I hand him his book back.

“I’m sorry, seriously. Look, if you think you can do this, we can try it, okay?”

“Sure, fine,” he grumbles, getting comfortable in his chair again.

“I trust you if you say you can handle it.”

“Okay, but aren’t there laws around using famous masks?” he asks.

“Huh?”

“Aren’t those masks copyrighted or something? We can’t make money from them.”

“I’m… not sure. Other people do it.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, Storm.” Gabe shakes his head, opening up his book.

I don’t understand this guy. He’s so… strange. I think I’ve got him figured out, and then bam! I don’t. I swear I knew exactly who he was when I moved in, and then his parents pissed him off and now… now I have no idea who the hell he is.

“If this doesn’t work out, we’re going to have to try something else.”

“Fine by me.”

“Something else as in you’re sucking my dick.”

He freezes, his body going stiff. His eyes slowly look up to mine. He gives me a little smirk that nearly knocks me on my feet, but it’s his words that have me breathless.

“I planned on doing that anyway.”

Who the hell are you, and what did you do with Gabriel?