Chapter Nineteen

I kept flashing back to being in the shower with Vihaal, when he'd done this to me for the first time. Then I came back to the present. Then I returned in my mind to the shower. My overwhelmed brain couldn't decide what was happening or where I was. But my body reacted to Gideon's tongue as if it wasn't mine to control.

Gideon spread me wide as he ate at me, using his tongue, his lips, and sometimes his whole face, in a way that defied comprehension. But it was so fucking good.

He gasped and sighed and rubbed himself against me as he drove me into a state of euphoria, while Vihaal looked on.

I grasped the edge of the bench in order to ground myself to the current moment—to keep myself from flying up, up and away—and from sliding to the floor in a boneless heap.

"Yes, that's right, Deo. Have him for fucking supper ." Vihaal's voice hovered in the air of my consciousness as I almost died on that spanking bench. I came close to losing complete control and splashing the floor with my jizz, but somehow, I held off.

"All right. Enough," Vihaal said, the words hovering just on the edge of my awareness.

Gideon didn't listen. The bliss continued as I fell into incoherent madness, gasping and almost sobbing.

"Enough!" With one word Vihaal commanded our attention.

Gideon pulled back.

"I'm sorry, Vihaal," he said as I clutched the edge of the bench, trembling and blinking, and trying to collect myself.

"You did well, Deo. He can barely stand."

I heard sounds of movement.

"Now help me," Vihaal said.

I was pulled to my feet.

"You can walk, Angel. One foot in front of the other," Vihaal encouraged.

By the time I'd realized what was happening, they'd got me to the St. Andrew's cross.

They spun me around and Gideon pinned me to keep me upright while Vihaal buckled me into the cuffs—attaching me, spread-eagled, to the contraption.

"Hold on to the grab bars," Vihaal said, and showed me the small posts that jutted out where my wrists were shackled. I wrapped my fingers around them and gazed at Vihaal. I was panting as if I'd run a race. My body was a conflagration of desire. They could have strung me up anywhere—I was a rag doll to their manipulations.

Vihaal ordered Gideon to his knees.

"Open your mouth."

I watched, rapt, as Vihaal fisted Gideon's hair to keep him still as he buried his cock in Gideon's open mouth.

"That's it," Vihaal said as he fucked Gideon's face with brutal and commanding motions. Gideon coughed and drooled but did his best to accommodate Vihaal's vigorous actions. My eyes went wide at the sight and my balls ached with desire.

After only a few moments, Vihaal went deep and groaned as he climaxed. I watched as Gideon's eyes bulged and he swallowed Vihaal's release, then gasped when Vihaal withdrew.

"Such a good slut. Such a good boy."

Gideon braced his hands on his thighs as he struggled to recover, swallowing and licking his lips while Vihaal tucked himself away.

"Well done," Vihaal said. "Now over to the bench, my dear."

"Yes, Vihaal," Gideon said, with a torrid glance at me that sent bolts of lightning up and down my spine.

I watched as Vihaal stripped off his clothes, slowly, so that Gideon and I could enjoy the reveal. Had I ever stood a chance of resisting him? I'd been a goner from the start.

Gideon climbed onto the spanking bench, his cock bobbing as he moved, and lay face down on the padded top. There was a space at his hips for his dick to hang, so that Vihaal had full access. Vihaal attached cuffs and wrapped a collar around Gideon's throat, fixing him at multiple points so that he was well restrained.

"Comfy?" Vihaal asked.

"Yes, Vihaal," Gideon sighed. "Thank you, Vihaal."

"Mmm. Don't thank me yet. I want to fucking wreck you. I'm going to drive you absolutely insane before I have you."

Gideon whimpered, comprehending the seriousness of his predicament.

"I want Angel to see how much you love being at my fucking mercy."

"I'm yours, Vihaal," Gideon murmured. "I've always been yours."

"And now there's two of you. Aren't I the lucky one?"

Vihaal looked like a god, standing there beside Gideon, making free with all of that restrained flesh. He gave Gideon a slap to the ass and Gideon thanked him for it. Then the other side. More words of gratitude.

"Mmm. You aren't going to thank me for what I do next."

A thrill passed through me at those words.

"Gideon likes a bit of pain with his pleasure, even when he doesn't. And he has his safeword. Don't you, my dear?"

"Yes, Vihaal."

"Tell me what it is."

"Tambourine."

"Excellent. Let's get started."

Vihaal flashed me a devilish smile as he walked the short distance to the bed where he had laid out supplies. He picked up something and came toward me.

"This one's for you, Angel," he said, holding up a braided cord with a sliding bead to clasp it together. "To keep you hard and keep you from spilling too soon."

I'd never worn a cock ring, but I trusted him.

He held my gaze as he wrapped it around the base of my dick and balls, then tightened it so it was snug.

"Thank you, Vihaal," I said. It was instinctual now, my response.

Vihaal grinned and cupped my chin, then kissed me hard on the mouth, breaching me with his tongue and leaning his body against mine.

A wave of euphoria washed over me. Then Vihaal stepped back, released my chin and bent down. I had a second to think— What the fuck? —before he took the head of my cock in his mouth and swirled his tongue around it as I gasped and groaned in sudden delight.

He pulled off then, a string of saliva connecting his lower lip to my cock for a brief moment before it broke. He straightened and gave me the most incendiary look as he turned and walked away.

He picked up a paddle from the bed—a serious-looking, leather one—and positioned himself behind Gideon.

"Ready, my sweet little pain slut?"

"Yes, Vihaal. Always," Gideon murmured.

I had a good view of Gideon, and of Vihaal standing behind him. Gideon's gaze met mine as Vihaal landed the first swat. Gideon's eyes closed and he whimpered. He cried out as Vihaal landed heavy blows to his poor, sweet ass.

After several blows, it became obvious that Gideon was struggling. I tried to remember that he had a safeword that he could deploy if he wanted Vihaal to stop, but it was both difficult and hot to watch him writhing and moaning. But I knew by now that, sometimes, the struggle was the whole point. The wish to please your Dom, fighting the urge to give in to your own weaknesses.

I glanced at Vihaal, and something about his face flashed alarm.

There was blood. Blood on his face.

"V," I said. "V, you're bleeding."

Vihaal landed another blow to Gideon's flesh as bright red blood seeped from his nose, coursed over his lips, and dripped onto his bare chest.

"Fuck," Vihaal swore, dropping the paddle and moving to the bed where he grabbed a towel, and pressed it to his face. " Tarnish. Fucking Tarnish ."

I remembered that it was Vihaal's safeword. It meant that we had to stop the scene. But Gideon and I were both trussed up, and we'd need Vihaal to release us.

"V?" Gideon said, his voice sounding panicked. "Vihaal!"

"It's all right. A nosebleed. For fuck's sake."

Gideon started laughing.

"Are you all right, V?" I asked, worried.

"He gets them a lot," Gideon said. "He's fine. But we'll have to stop."

Vihaal stood, the towel pressed to his face, and walked over to me first, unfastening the wrist and ankle cuffs and helping me to get down.

"You can take off the cock ring yourself."

I stood there, fumbling with the braided cord, while Vihaal did his best to release Gideon using one hand, then went to sit on the edge of the bed.

Gideon walked over to him, his cock softening, his ass a rosy pink.

"Is it bad? Let me see."

Vihaal was pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand but moved the towel away so that Gideon could have a look. There was a lot of blood.

"Ooh, this is a bad one."

"It'll stop in a minute," Vihaal said. He gestured to the two of us. "You might as well get dressed. I'm so sorry. We were having so much fun."

"Jesus, V," I said. "Don't worry about us." My arousal had vanished at the first sight of the blood and I was happy to put my clothes on.

Gideon met my gaze and shrugged. "I'm sure Sebastian will refund us some of the fee."

"I'm not worried about the fee, for fuck's sake," Vihaal muttered. "This was not how I'd intended to spend the evening."

"He always gets grumpy when he has a nosebleed. So this is normal," Gideon advised as we got dressed.

"Particularly when it interrupts something important," Vihaal said.

"Hey, it was fun while it lasted. We can pick it up again sometime," I said.

Vihaal grunted.

A sudden thought gripped me. "What if Vihaal had keeled over unconscious? How would we have gotten free?"

Gideon glanced over. "Well, someone would have come to check once our hour was up, if we hadn't returned the key."

So we'd have been stuck until then. Thank God that hadn't happened.

We finished dressing and brought Vihaal's clothes to the bed.

"Is it stopping?" Gideon asked.

Vihaal lifted the towel, and more blood dripped down.

"Shit," I said. It didn't look good.

"It usually stops by now. Doesn't it?" Gideon said, gazing at Vihaal with some concern.

"This does seem rather excessive. But I'm sure it will stop."

"Maybe we should get you dressed," I suggested.

"Fine," Vihaal said, strangely pliant. "How's your ass, Gideon? Did I go too hard?"

"No, it's just fine. And don't try to distract me."

Gideon and I glanced at each other. He was obviously worried about Vihaal. But nosebleeds were so common. I was sure the bleeding would stop soon, maybe by the time Vihaal was dressed.

It didn't.

"V, I think we need to go to Emergency," Gideon said. The towel was almost completely soaked with blood at this point. Gideon took it from Vihaal and passed him another.

"Don't be ridiculous," Vihaal said, pressing the fresh towel to his face, but not before a splash of blood landed on his white shirt. "I'm fine."

Gideon threw me a look, then took a clean corner of the saturated towel between his thumb and forefinger.

"This has never happened before," he said, spreading it open.

"It's fine."

"We need to go," Gideon said.

"It's more likely to stop if I stay still."

"It's not stopping . We need to go to the ER." Gideon turned to me. "Back me up on this."

"Vihaal, I think Gideon is right," I said.

"I think you're both overreacting."

"Vihaal. Please," Gideon said. "If you don't come with us this minute, I'm calling nine-one-one and you'll have that humiliation to add to everything else."

"So fucking embarrassing." Vihaal looked at me, then at Gideon, then rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Good," Gideon said. "Let's go."

Gideon and I led Vihaal, still holding a bloody towel to his face, through the gaming parlor to the bar. Sebastian's face, when he saw us, went white.

"Jesus Christ. Did one of your subs rebel and punch you in the face, Vihaal?" he asked, coming out from behind the counter. There were gasps as other people saw us.

"It's a nosebleed," Vihaal muttered. "Bad one."

"We're taking him to the ER," I said. I handed Sebastian the key. "There may be some blood on the floor. He's already soaked one towel."

Sebastian's face paled further. "Oh shit."

"Sorry," Vihaal said.

"No, no, it's fine. Can I help in any way? An ambulance?"

Vihaal started to shake his head.

"Stay still!" Gideon said.

"No ambulance," Vihaal grunted. "For fuck's sake."

"We're driving him," I said. "But thanks."

We settled Vihaal into the passenger seat.

"I can put on my own fucking seatbelt," he said when I tried to do it for him.

"Fine," I said, irritation replacing my fear.

"Just start the car. I've got the fob in my pocket."

Gideon pressed the start button and Vihaal's precious Audi roared to life.

"For God's sake, drive carefully. If you damage this car I'll—"

"You'll what, V? Paddle me within an inch of my life?" Gideon snapped.

I grinned from the back seat. What on Earth did you threaten a pain slut with, I wondered.

"I'll ignore you for two days," Vihaal mumbled. "How about that?"

Ah.

"Empty threat. You never could," Gideon stated.

"Try me." Vihaal's voice sounded strange, with the towel pressed to his nose.

"Do you think V could ignore me for two hours , Angel? Let alone two days ?"

"Not a chance," I said. "No way."

"Well, isn't this nice. Now there's two of you."

"Yes," Gideon said. "Thank God you're here, Angel. I don't know if I'd have been able to convince him on my own."

Even though I was worried about Vihaal and all the blood, which terrified me in a visceral way, Gideon's words hit in a place I'd ignored for a very long time.

Gideon stole glances at Vihaal as he drove.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Gideon. I'd rather not end up in a car crash."

"Oh, ha ha. This is what happens when you pick your nose."

I looked at Vihaal, who gave Gideon a steely stare.

"Slander doesn't look good on you, sweetheart. You know I don't do that."

"Okay, fine. But how come you get nosebleeds so often?"

Vihaal sighed and shrugged. "Who knows? I've never had one this bad."

"Well, at least you admit that this one's unusual," Gideon said.

We were close to the hospital now and I started to feel better about everything.

"I don't know if it's going to the ER bad," Vihaal mumbled.

"Well, we're fucking here now. I'm going to pull up to the Emergency entrance. Angel, can you help Vihaal in and I'll park and come find you?"

"Yep. Got it," I said, trying to remember the last time I'd had to bring anyone to the ER.

"You'll need the fob," Vihaal said, searching in his coat pocket while Gideon drove onto the hospital grounds and found the ER drop off. "Here."

"Thank you," Gideon said.

He pulled up to the curb and I got out, then helped Vihaal out of the passenger seat. I moved to take Vihaal's elbow.

"Angel, you don't have to lead me. I'm not fucking blind."

A flash of anger flared. "Excuse me? I'm just trying to help."

His eyes widened and softened above the bloody towel. "I'm so sorry. I'm…not very good at accepting help."

"You don't say?" I replied dryly.

"I know you had something else in mind for tonight."

"Vihaal, don't worry about it," I said.

There was a nurse at Reception who took one look at Vihaal, then glanced at me.

"Nose injury?"

"Nosebleed," Vihaal said as I shook my head. "It won't stop."

"Okay. I'm going to need you to fill out this form, please."

"Can we get a fresh towel or something, please?" I asked. "This one's going to start dripping soon."

She acknowledged the bloodied towel in Vihaal's hand with professional detachment. "I'll have somebody bring one. Please take a seat and fill out the form."

I took the clipboard and pen from her and found two empty seats in the corner, where we could still be seen.

"Can you do it and I'll dictate?" Vihaal asked.

"Of course."

He spelled his last name for me, then helped me fill in the rest of the form. By the time we'd finished, Gideon had found us.

"They didn't give him a fresh towel?"

"I asked for one. She said they would."

Gideon rolled his eyes and held his hand out for the clipboard. "Here, I'll take that to Reception."

I handed it to him, with the pen.

When he returned, he was carrying a clean towel.

"Got one. Had to promise to give her my firstborn child, but…that shouldn't be an issue." He winked and passed it to me, then held his hand out for the bloodied one.

When Vihaal pulled the soaked towel away from his face, blood was still trickling out of his nose. I passed him the clean one.

"Thank you."

"I think it might be slowing down," I said.

"Then we can leave?" Vihaal asked, his eyes hopeful.

It was strange seeing him so pliant and vulnerable, and amusing to watch him follow Gideon's directions, in a complete turn-around from the usual circumstances.

"No way. You need to be seen," Gideon stated. "I'm not getting you all the way home and then having to come back."

Gideon held the bloody towel gingerly between his fingers and grimaced, then turned to me.

"Do you think Sebastian wants this back?"

I shook my head. "Doubt it."

I pointed in the direction of a biohazard waste receptacle.

"Ah. Yeah, that's a better idea," he said, heading over.

Gideon returned. "I should have asked her for some gloves. I'm going to go wash my hands."

"Bathroom's over there," I said, showing him.

"Wow, you're pretty good in a crisis, Angel," Gideon said, grinning at Vihaal. "I guess we should keep him."

"I guess we should," Vihaal said, in a shockingly affectionate way for someone holding a towel against their bleeding face.

He reached for my hand and I gave it.

"I'm glad you're here," he said, as Gideon made his way to the washroom.