Ben pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor. “Fuck me.”

Instead of replying, Dante grabbed his face. Held it still so Ben couldn’t look away. “Wherever the fuck you went back there, you’re good now. You’re safe.”

There was a part of him that wanted to drop to his knees and thank Dante—thank him for seeing Ben and for telling him he was okay, when he clearly wasn’t. For not looking down on him for it, but the other part? That wanted to rebel. To fight because he was fucking tired of being weak. He didn’t want this man to see him that way.

It didn’t matter if Dante was broken as well. He could control it. Not like Ben.

“Are you going to fuck me or do I have to go find it somewhere else?”

Dante’s jaw tightened. His eyes were hard on Ben, pinning him to place. Damned if Ben didn’t want that look—the anger, the jealousy, the possession.

“Take your clothes off. Start a shower but don’t get in until I’m there.”

Ben didn’t even consider rebelling against the order. He knew how it went by now. Dante told him what to do and Ben was rewarded for it. He was brought back to Earth. His mind cleared and his body pleasured. His jaw hurt, it was so tight. If there was ever a moment he needed what Dante could give him, it was right now.

Dante went to his room and closed the door behind him. Ben kicked out of his jeans and underwear before heading to the bathroom. His body shook but he ignored it. Was it still this afternoon setting fire to his veins? Or was it desire?

He turned on the faucets and then stood in the small bathroom waiting for Dante. His cock rose, long and hard and ready.

He waited.

The bathroom started to fill with steam and he still waited.

Everything inside him wanted to go find his lover, to drag him to that bathroom so they could fuck everything else away, yet Ben waited.

It was the only way to get what he wanted.

And he wanted Dante. Wanted Dante this way. With the other man in control of them both.

Finally he heard the bedroom door open. Dante was already naked when he walked in, his long, tight, dark body on full display for Ben.

Dante stood in the doorway without moving. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. His eyes were different, an expression in them that Ben didn’t recognize.

“Get in.” Dante nodded toward the shower.

“I—“

“Get in,” Dante said again, no room for discussion in his voice.  There was a distance there, a distance he hadn’t heard since the first time they spoke.

This was what Ben wanted.

What he needed.

He turned to the small shower, and got in.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

There would hardly be enough room for the two of them in Dante’s shower, yet he still stepped in behind Ben.

“Keep your back to me,” Dante said as he wrapped his arms around Ben from behind, and ran a hand down his stomach.

“I don’t like to see it,” Dante added.

Ben’s body stiffened. “See what?” Yeah, he knew Dante never looked him in the eyes when they fucked but this had the potential to have a whole different meaning.

Dante let out a heavy breath that danced along the back of Ben’s neck. “Your pain. You being hurt.” He cupped Ben’s balls. His teeth skimmed Ben’s neck, and damned if Ben didn’t lean into him and gladly let Dante help hold him up.

“I want it gone, and that makes me feel the need to run.”

Yeah, Ben too. Still, he tried to turn but Dante’s grip on his sack tightened, making him stay still.

“I didn’t tell you to turn around. This is what you wanted, right? Me in command.”

“Yes,” Ben hissed out.

Ben waited for Dante to push him against the wall and fuck him. For him to get down on his knees and blow him, or to make Ben blow Dante. He did none of those things. Instead Dante grabbed the soap and lathered his hands.

Ben closed his eyes and focused on breathing while Dante washed Ben’s body. He started with Ben’s dick, then his balls and stomach and chest.

Ben flattened his hands against the wall, water spraying his face as Dante washed him. It was as though the water found a way to clear out the dense fog in his brain and pull him back to Earth.

Dante shuffled behind him, probably trying to figure out how to kneel in the small space. Rough, soapy hands massaged his thighs, calves and then up the back of his legs.

“Spread them.”

That was an easy command he readily obeyed. He spread his legs and then there was another texture, a sponge, tracing the crack of his ass. Ben shivered. Wanted more, a tongue, a finger or something but almost as quickly as it started, Dante was gone.