Page 33 of Gambler’s Ruin (Calamity City Mafia #3)
NINETEEN
VORTEX
Connie kisses my cheek and says, “I’ll kick your ass at mini-golf.”
The present she’d given me still sits on the table: a ceramic dish with a lid for making mac and cheese in the oven, and a gift card for mini-golf with enough money on it for three people to play.
The exact amount written in permanent marker on the card makes it clear that it was intentional, and her acceptance of Seven into my dynamic, into my life, makes my mood soar.
The only thing holding it back even a little is that Seven has been distant at times, but every time I start to notice it, he dials it back. I have every intention of getting the ‘why’ out of him as soon as we’re alone, but I hadn’t been willing to push it in front of Connie.
“Seven will have beginner’s luck and crush both of us,” I say.
Seven looks between us. “What?”
Connie winks at him. “See you soon.” She leaves before Seven can ask any more questions, and I take Seven’s arm so we can head back to the elevators leading upstairs.
“Connie wants you to play mini golf with us,” I tell him, my heart feeling full at the thought of it. “It’s… a big deal, Seven.”
“So you’re happy?” he ventures, his voice more cautious than I like to hear it.
“Very much so,” I assure him. “Getting to spend time with my two favorite people will be the best.”
Seven nods, and we step into the elevator. “What even is mini golf?” he asks.
I start to explain it to him as we go up, and after I give him the basics, I add, “There’s a competition show where they play.
It’s goofy and not all that realistic because we won’t get knocked into the water for failing to get a hole in one, but it’ll show you what it’s about.
I’ll find it for you, and we can watch it together. ”
“Okay,” he says. His mood seems to be a little better by the time we depart the elevators, and I nod at the guards on duty before we enter Caleb’s suite.
Once the door is closed, Seven pauses only long enough to take off his shoes before he pounces me. One arm goes around me while his other hand goes to the back of my neck to urge me down to kiss him.
“My turn to give you your present,” he says, his voice sultry.
I pick him up, and he squeaks, then laughs as I carry him toward his bedroom. “No interruptions,” I rumble, and I close the door behind us after shooing Nacho gently out with my foot.
“None,” Seven assures me. “Caleb and Havoc will be out the rest of the day. It’s just you and me.”
I want to ask him if he’d like to talk about why he’d been off during our lunch, but I think the question will only lead to him shutting down on me. It’s awkward, but all I can do is shower him with affection instead.
I’ve been dying to have private time between the two of us for a while now. As little as I mind sharing him with Caleb — and, more grudgingly, Havoc — it’s hard to get him to slow down and simply accept what I want to give him when they’re there to spur him on.
“Good. So what do you have planned, beautiful boy?” I ask him.
“Well,” he says, drawing out the word, “I thought I’d let you worship me.”
I laugh, setting him down on the edge of the bed. “Oh, you’ll let me?” I tease.
“Mhm,” he says, but there’s a flash of uncertainty in his eyes as he gazes up at me. “If you want to, anyway.”
“I always want to,” I tell him. I see another flicker in his expression, and I firmly add, “I always want you , however that happens. I like being gentle and taking care of you, but I know sometimes you want more.”
I know that sometimes he needs more.
I wish I could give him all the roughness he yearns for, all of the dominance, but at the same time, I know he needs this too. He needs someone to treat him as gently as I want to treat him, to remind him that he’s cherished.
The button-down shirt he’s wearing matches the green of his eyes, enhancing their color, but I’m ready to see what lies beneath it. He may get self-conscious of his scars — and they might infuriate me — but it’s one of my goals to show him that they’re simply a part of him.
They’re symbolic of what he went through, and they’re a sign of his strength and resilience.
All three of us agree on that.
But I’m the only one here now, and I get to show him all over again that I think he’s beautiful despite what he thinks of them.
I unbutton the first button, leaning down to place a kiss to the hollow of his throat, then undo the next.
Instead of hurrying me along like he ordinarily does, he reaches out to touch my arm. I glance up at his expression, which is carefully guarded. I resolve to take that look off of his face as soon as I can, to leave him nothing but pleasure and confidence in the wake of my worship of him.
The next button comes undone with ease, and I kiss his skin again. It’s only two buttons later before I can see what’s beneath the shirt, the first of the scars — the burns, the cuts, the marks that I can’t even fathom the source of despite all my years working for the Spade Family.
I’m no stranger to violence, but I’m a stranger to this .
Before I can let it derail me, I continue to unbutton his shirt, bestowing one kiss after another as more of his skin is revealed to me. Finally, it’s completely undone, and I nudge it off of his shoulders so it falls to the bed behind him.
“You’re so beautiful,” I murmur to him, my hands going to his shoulders and my thumbs rubbing lightly along his skin. “You can’t tell me differently. Not now, not ever. I will always think you are perfect.”
Seven lets out a shaky laugh. “I’m not perfect, Daddy.”
I nearly groan as he utters the honorific, but it’s too tenuous of a moment for me to react so strongly to it. “You are to me.” I mean it. I mean every kind word I say to him, every word of praise, and one day…
One day, he’s going to believe me.
“Now shh,” I tell him, placing a kiss on his lips. “This is my present, and I say I get to call you beautiful and kiss you senseless.”
He smiles at me, and while it’s still uncertain, it seems to wipe off some of the harsher emotions he’s been displaying on and off all day. I resolve to take it all away from him, one way or another.
I begin with kisses to the smooth skin around the scars, and he relaxes slowly into my touch. When I carefully lick along one of the raised scars, he briefly tenses, but another murmur from me gets him to relax again.
By the time I’ve kissed every inch of his chest, he’s breathing heavily.
I unfasten his pants, and he lifts his hips as I remove them and his underwear from his body.
I toss them aside, then pull off the socks he’d left on, smiling as I remember the game of strip blackjack that had determined socks count as only one article of clothing.
We’ve built so many good memories with each other, and I plan on adding more and more until all he can think about is the positive when we’re together — and with any luck, when he’s alone, too.
Once he’s fully undressed, I make quick work of my own shirt, adding it to the growing pile of clothing. I nudge him down onto his back. I’m not in a hurry by any means, but I know he needs as much as I can give him.
One day, I’ll be able to lavish affection on him for hours, and he’ll accept it.
For now, I’ll settle for these stolen moments, teaching him to endure pleasure alone for longer and longer.
I’m patient, even if he isn’t, and it’s with a slight start that I find myself thinking I have the rest of my life to show him that.
It’s not something I can share with him yet.
I might be sure of my feelings for him, but I know they’d terrify him.
It’s another one of those things that I have to show him instead of tell him.
I get onto the bed next to him. I pull him into my arms, leisurely kissing him, and I can feel his erection pressing against me.
I’m doing something right, then, despite the lack of roughness or urgency he usually demands. It settles something inside of me, appealing to the part of me that wants to take care of him in any way he’ll allow.
“Daddy,” he whispers against my mouth after several minutes of those languorous kisses. “Please.”
“Please what, beautiful boy?” I rumble, stroking his hair. “Tell me what you want.”
“More?” he asks more than says, and when I pull back to look at him, he bites his lip then takes my hand in his, guiding it down to his cock.
I’m so surprised that it takes me a beat to react, but then I curl my fingers around his erection and slowly stroke him. “Is this what you want, beautiful?” I ask, kissing him again. “I can do better than this.”
“I want you to keep kissing me,” he says.
“Anything you want,” I promise, and I give him just that, kissing him again and again as my hand works around his cock. He always recovers quickly, so I’m not worried about not being able to get him to come again around my cock when I finally give in to my own desire and take him.
I can’t deny that I’m eager to feel his tight heat around me, but the fact that he’s letting me take my time with him is every bit as satisfying as the physical release.
Seven spills into my hand with a strangled sound only moments later, and I kiss him harder, giving him a taste of more without changing the pace I’ve set for us.
I bring my hand up to my mouth, and without looking away from him, I start to lick my fingers clean.
His eyes widen, confusion briefly filling his expression before he leans in to kiss me again to taste himself on my lips. My hand ends up against the sheets, smearing the rest of his cum on it.
I pull him on top of me, and he settles onto me without hesitation. His lips are back on mine before I can reach for him, and I stroke his back. I run my nails lightly along his skin, enough to get a reaction out of him, and he moans against my mouth.
My hands slide down to squeeze his ass, and he’s squirming again by the time I finally roll us over so I’m on top of him.
“Hey, beautiful,” I whisper to him, gazing down into his gorgeous eyes.
“Hey, Daddy,” he whispers right back, a smile tugging onto his lips. “You know, worshiping me includes fucking me at some point.”
I chuckle, but I can take a hint. I’ll never completely get my fill of him, but I’m more settled and at ease, and I move to grab the lube from the nightstand. I hand it to him and shed my own pants and underwear, then take the bottle of lube from him so I can slick up my fingers.
When I gently start to probe at his hole, he whines, but I’m not willing to take him without any sort of prep — especially not right now as we’re sharing this.
“Hush, beautiful boy,” I tell him firmly. “You’ll take what Daddy gives you.”
Seven huffs out a laugh, but he doesn’t protest. He keeps his hips up for easy access, but he only watches me through half-lidded eyes as I concede enough to work two fingers into him instead of starting with only one.
He’d seemed to like the plug well enough, so maybe next time we plan a scene like this, he’ll want to wear one in anticipation.
The idea of him plugged up with my cum again is a nice one, and I resolve to see that happen sooner rather than later. Today, even.
“I’m going to fill you up,” I tell him as I work my fingers in and out of him. “Then I’m going to plug you up so it stays in you.”
He makes another quiet sound, quickly nodding. “Yes, Daddy,” he replies.
His eyes flutter closed as I add a third finger, pumping them shallowly in and out of him as I urge him to loosen up enough to take my cock.
“Daddy,” he whispers before long, “ please. ”
As much as I want to keep going, to tease him and test his patience even more, I really have made him wait a long time. I nod, and I lube myself up before pressing the head of my cock against his slick hole.
I inhale sharply as I start to push inside of him, and he writhes beneath me. It’s a tight fit, but I know he doesn’t mind.
I know he likes it, and that’s okay with me; it’s a part of Seven that I accept.
I keep going until I bottom out inside of him, and I gaze down at his flushed face. His cock is, as predicted, hard again, ready for me to push him over the edge a second time.
This time, I’m determined to do it with my cock alone, and I adjust my position until he’s crying out loudly enough for me to know I’ve hit his prostate.
I leisurely thrust into him, making sure to peg that spot each time, and he’s a squirming mess beneath me as he mewls and moans and whispers Daddy over and over again.
The repetition of the word, the endearment, makes it more difficult to hold back, and I stop trying when he wraps his legs around me and urges me even closer to him. I kiss him hard, then I start to fuck him more insistently. It’s going to be hard to make him come before I do, but I’m determined.
By the time he comes again, it’s all I can do to hold back. A handful of thrusts more, then I’m filling him, just like I’d promised.
I stay inside of him, feeling sweat trickle down my face and murmur, “You did so good, beautiful boy. I’m so proud of you.”
Seven doesn’t argue with me, instead searching my expression like he’s trying to determine whether I mean it. “Thank you, Daddy.”
“I enjoyed my gift,” I tell him, reluctantly pulling out of him as my cock starts to soften.
My cum seeps out of his hole, dripping down onto the bed, and I scoop it up and gently push it back inside.
It makes him moan, and I remember the promise I’d made while I’d been inside of him. “Be right back.”
He whines, but I brush a kiss against his lips before leaving the room. I find Caleb’s toy chest, picking out a small butt plug, then return to Seven before he can start to get anxious.
“Here we go,” I tell him, making sure my voice is soothing as I settle down so I can push the plug inside of him. “Now you’ll have me in you the rest of the day.”
He smiles at me, though he seems to be having a hard time keeping his eyes open now. “Okay,” he says.
“Okay, what?” I tease him.
“Okay, Daddy,” he amends. He yawns widely.
I pull him into my arms, providing the warmth and safety I know he needs, and I kiss his forehead. “Sleep, beautiful,” I tell him.
Nodding, Seven lets his eyes drift closed.
I’m bone-deep satisfied, clear headed and blissed out, and even though I wait until his breathing evens out and I know he’s asleep to rest, I drift off, too.
He’s safe.
He’ll always be safe.
He’ll always be mine.