Stay by Piper Scott

Author:Piper Scott [Scott, Piper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lovelight Press
Published: 2017-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

17

Adrian

The steady, peaceful way Gabriel drew breath as he slept should have been a comfort, but it wasn’t. Adrian’s mind turned in hopeless circles, struggling to break away from the same, vicious loop.

They were here, sleeping in the penthouse of a near stranger, because Adrian hadn’t been there to protect Gabriel when Gabriel needed him the most.

Gabriel needed him as badly as he did because he was broken from the experience he’d had after he’d run away.

He’d run away because Adrian had lashed out at him until he couldn’t take it anymore.

Every problem in his life and every obstacle he now faced was a result of his poor attitude. If there was anyone who deserved what was coming to him, it was Adrian.

But even though Adrian knew it, he’d never felt so afraid.

Tears, unwelcome and unwanted, gathered in the corners of his eyes. He rolled onto his side and tried to bring the sheets to hide his face, but Gabriel was tangled up in them, and they only reached Adrian’s nose—just close enough that he breathed in the scent of fabric softener.

And beneath that, the scent of Sterling.

A tear slid down Adrian’s cheek. He pushed the sheets away, but it was too late. Thoughts of Sterling disrupted the cyclical negativity spinning on repeat in his mind.

Sterling, who’d been nice to him even when Adrian deserved his hatred.

Sterling, who always put his pleasure first, and who’d even let Adrian indulge his sadism without batting an eyelash.

Sterling, who wanted their baby when Adrian couldn’t bear the thought of being a father.

Adrian couldn’t bear the thought of failing all over again.

Why was he always like this? Why did it always turn out so badly? After Gabriel had disappeared, Adrian had done his best to push others away. He’d cut ties with his friends and holed himself off from the world in the hopes that doing so would prevent him from hurting anyone else. But now, all he did was hurt, and he had no one to see him through the pain.

Whenever he got like this—whenever he got so low that all he could see was his suffering—he worked it out at The Shepherd. The powerful men who fell to him bore his pain. Adrian forced it on them. Anguished faces. Red, swollen nipples tortured by clamps. Skin so raw Adrian could still see his handprint even as he dressed to leave…

In the end, what had it brought him? The pain always came back. The relief was only ever temporary, and it was always bittersweet at that.

If this was going to be the rest of his life, what was the point? Gabriel had come home, and Adrian was trying his best to make things right, but the light at the end of the tunnel hadn’t been a sign of salvation—it had been warning of an oncoming train.

Gabriel would always be broken from what Adrian had done to him, and Adrian would always feel guilty for it.

Would he feel guilty for abandoning his baby, too?

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