The Gladiator’s Master (3 page)

“Gaidres, I would speak with you. Outside.” He turned and strode for the door, hoping his visceral reaction to the man was not obvious to one and all. Unfortunately, it most likely was.

It didn’t take long for Gaidres to catch up with him in the courtyard and the man’s eyes were cold, as they often were. “If you requested my presence to tell tales on my companions, you are wasting your breath…Dominus. I will not name those who fought.”

Caelius hadn’t expected the outright hostility in Gaidres’s voice. He had to remind himself what kind of a master Gaidres had had before him. Craxus had not been a man to inspire trust or any other good feeling. Caelius was still adjusting to being treated as the enemy here, when things were so different at his home in Caere.

“I will not ask you to do that. I am rather certain it was between Demos and Hierocles.” He could verify that with the medicus at a later time. They would bear fresh bruises and scrapes on knuckles. “I wish to know what started it.”

Gaidres set his jaw and Caelius couldn’t help but admire the man’s determination to protect those he lived with, even if there was no need. “Gaidres, I am not my uncle. I like to think of myself as a just man.” The sneer that crossed Gaidres’s lips said without words what he thought of that statement.

“If I had a taste for cruelty I would have those two whipped without finding out the reason for the fight. Or the entire barrack put on rations for not speaking up. But I have no fondness for causing pain. I am much more interested in pleasure.” He touched Gaidres’s rigid jaw. “Still so angry. Is that the only emotion that drives you, gladiator?”

Gaidres met his gaze and Caelius had to force himself not to sigh. Those blue eyes never failed to make his knees weaken. Whether they were filled with anger, hate or—as they’d been once when Caelius had spied him with Demos in the courtyard—lit with laughter. That laughter made him want to leap the balcony and tackle the man to the ground to devour him. If his gladiator was breath-stealing in fury, he was even more so in happiness.

“They fight because it is what we are bred to do, Dominus. To be angry that they do so is to be angry with a fish for swimming. It is what it does. There is little reason behind it.”

It took him several heartbeats to realize Gaidres was answering his initial question. His own mind had danced past that to fixate on the consuming desire to have this lion of a man in his bed.

“True. I suppose I did not consider that. Regardless, I have no intention of punishing anyone. You will all be returned to the
ludus
quarters in the morning. Renovations are not yet complete, but it should not cause too much of a disturbance and will be finished soon.”

Caelius had no choice. If he did not do something soon, if he could not touch this man soon, he might just go mad. He reached out a hand to Gaidres’s chest, and just like it had the other day, the heat in the man’s eyes flared. So he was not the only one who felt the want that arced between them like a thunderbolt. “I would ask another thing of you, my gladiator. I believe you know what that is.” He would have to be blind not to.

Gaidres’s jaw tightened. “I do. I am no fool.”

He brushed his fingers over Gaidres’s chest. “No, you are not. My touch, Gaidres, is it repugnant to you?”

Gaidres was silent for a moment, though his eyes said volumes, before he looked away and his jaw tightened even more. “Of course Dominus honors me with your favor.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Somehow I doubt you consider it an honor, despite the deferential words. I ask true, though. I would not have a man in my bed who is disgusted by my touch.”

Something dangerous flared in Gaidres’s eyes and he peered around the near empty courtyard. Caelius’s pulse raced faster as Gaidres leaned closer, challenge in his eyes. “I do not bend over for any man,” he growled in a low voice, no doubt so the guards wouldn’t overhear them. “Ever.”

Pure liquid need swept through Caelius in a rush that left him breathless. Most Romans would consider his tastes disgusting, but he had always preferred to be the one being fucked. He’d covered other men before and it was preferable to sex with a woman, yet it still did not satisfy the hunger inside him. He knew without a moment’s doubt that his gladiator could not only feed the hunger, he would sate it in such a way that Caelius would be unable to move when he was through. He shivered in anticipation.

“How fortunate for me, then, as I have no real desire to penetrate you.” He slid his hand into Gaidres’s tousled, golden-brown hair. Sex with Gaidres would be far different from the sex he’d had with any other lover.

Gaidres’s brows furrowed. He glanced at the guards again, his lips twisting in a cynical smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “You wish my services here, Dominus?”

As titillating as the thought of fucking outside was, he shook his head. “No. Soon though, my gladiator. I hunger for the taste of you.” He leaned in the last few inches. The sexual tension made him quake inside. “I’ll summon you tonight.”

He gently nipped Gaidres’s lower lip before stepping back. The flavor left a tingling on his lips and the gladiator’s scent filled his senses. He gave the man a wicked glance before walking off. As much as he wanted to play now, there were still things that needed to be seen to before he could indulge himself.

He looked back at Gaidres before entering the villa and found the man still staring at him, his expression intent. Caelius shivered. Perhaps one or two of those matters could wait until the morrow.

“Argon. You are summoned.”

Gaidres glanced up at the guard and pushed to his feet. He didn’t say anything, nor did he meet the eyes of the others as they watched him go, no doubt knowing exactly why he’d been summoned at this late hour.

He followed the guard as a slave led them both down the long hall. He would be alone with Caelius and perhaps have a chance to kill him this night if he was unguarded. Gaidres’s heart pounded, but he did not show it, head held high as they approached Caelius’s chambers. The guard went no farther than the curtains that drew across the doorway, leaving the silent slave to take Gaidres the rest of the way inside.

Caelius waited at a small table beside the fire, head lifting as they entered. He’d bathed, and wore less formal robes of indigo trimmed in gold. Gaidres came to a halt, bowing his head in Caelius’s direction. “Dominus.” He put just enough deference in his voice not to offend and not a drop more.

Caelius closed the distance between them and Gaidres held his stare, despite knowing he ought to look down.

Caelius was a lean man who had probably never faced a battle himself, but his behavior thus far had proven that the
lanista
was no spineless noble. One slave monger was the same as the next. This one was just a bit neater, perhaps. Under the civilized surface was the same filth that invaded them all.

“Caelius.” The other man touched his fingers to Gaidres’s chest. “In my chambers I prefer my given name.”

The man began a slow walk around Gaidres’s, fingers trailing along his side, his back, and back around to his stomach. “I do not understand.” He’d never had a nobleman offer his given name for his use.

“I’m sure it’s a curious request, but I would hear my name on your lips.” His stomach tensed under Caelius’s touch. “You are wary. Do you fear me?”

Gaidres stiffened even more and he growled a warning. “I fear no man.”

He laughed. “An entirely unfeigned response. I believe you, Gaidres. You say you won’t be penetrated,” Caelius began and Gaidres’s eyes narrowed. If he thought to change his mind now, the man would have a dangerous fight on his hands and discover firsthand just how skilled a gladiator he’d inherited. “Do you penetrate or do you just enjoy the teasing games?”

Gaidres frowned, thrown by the direction of the conversation. “I’ve no issue with taking a man.” Perhaps Caelius wanted a show. Wanted to see him fuck one of the slave boys, maybe. He could do that.

Caelius smiled, eyes gleaming. “Good. I like fulfillment at the end of the teasing. Come.” He gestured, moving toward the small table where he’d been sitting. “Some wine?”

Gaidres blinked. Fulfillment? Then…But that made no sense. No Roman nobleman would allow a slave to fuck him. The sun would sooner choose not to rise.

“I do not understand.” He followed Caelius, taking the cup he offered. He seemed to be saying that often.

Caelius took a sip of his own wine and waited as Gaidres sampled his before replying. “I like to be fucked, Gaidres. Hard.”

For once he found himself speechless. “You want me…me to fuck you?”

“Yes.” A smile tugged on Caelius’s lips. “I see that I’ve shocked you. No doubt you think me odd.”

Gaidres didn’t say anything for a minute, staring at the man as if he’d grown a second head. He might as well have. “But…I am a slave.” Slaves were not given position over a nobleman, not even in bed. Especially not in bed. The rebellion in him, the Thracian who strained at the shackles of his position still to this day, said
Do it! Fuck him, own him, make him your willing puppet!
But a slave, an
animal
like a gladiator, like Gaidres, penetrating his Dominus? It was blasphemy to the Romans and cause for death. “Dominus, I…I cannot.”

Caelius’s brows furrowed and he sipped his wine thoughtfully. “You cannot or you will not?”

He tensed. “They are one and the same, Dominus. Were anyone to know…to find out…” Gaidres would find himself fed to the lions for a bit of pre-
primus
entertainment.

“Are you afraid?”

Gaidres glared at the floor, fist clenching around his glass. “I am confused.”

Caelius set down his wineglass. He cupped Gaidres’s jaw, lifting his head. “I know it must seem that way, but I do not toy with you, Gaidres.”

“Dominus—”

“Call me Caelius. If you fear others will tell tales, I assure you that the people who guard this room are very loyal to me. They’ll not say a word.”

That was possibly true. It would mean Caelius’s fall from power no doubt, perhaps even worse. And if Caelius fell, those he protected would be vulnerable, too.

The man claimed not to be toying with him. Gaidres wanted to spit it back in his face. It was all these Romans did. Toy with him and others like him for their own sick amusement. Still, what could he do? He’d protested, but Caelius had made it clear what he wanted and his determination to have it. To continue to resist was to court death.

“As you wish, Dominus.”

Before he could try to come up with some other way to avoid it, he stepped forward, one arm sliding around to pull Caelius closer.

Gaidres kept waiting for guards to rush in, pull him off and cut his cock from his body, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Caelius shuddered, slid his arms around Gaidres’s neck and kissed him.

Underneath the bruised pride and the worry that he was going to end up dying not in the arena or for killing a Roman, but for fucking one, was the realization that Caelius tasted good. Like the fine wine he’d had, and a subtle spice underneath Gaidres didn’t recognize. He smelled delicious, his skin soft. Well, it wouldn’t be a hardship to rise to the situation.

Caelius had begun to think that Gaidres would rather be sent back than play, but then the gladiator began to kiss him in return. Caelius pressed against his hard body as Gaidres’s tongue sank into his mouth. Caelius speared his fingers through the man’s thick, shaggy hair.

By the gods, Gaidres could kiss, and the scrape of his unshaven jaw against Caelius’s smooth one made him tremble. Their tongues tangled and when they parted, Caelius’s breath was unsteady. He met Gaidres’s eyes and shivered. They gleamed with…dominance. No man had looked at him in quite that way before.

He slid his hands down Gaidres’s powerful arms. Caelius wanted to see him naked again and be naked before him. He wanted to get on his knees and take Gaidres’s cock into his mouth, taste him until the other man was wild to take him.

Not breaking their gaze, feeling deliciously light-headed with desire, Caelius took a step back and slipped out of his robe, letting the fabric pool around his feet. Gaidres’s eyes raked over his nakedness, almost as powerful as a touch. Caelius’s mouth went dry.

“I crave your hands on me,” he whispered. “I’ve thought of nothing else.”

Gaidres stared at him, almost as if he were stunned for a moment. Then he growled and strode forward, his expression fierce.

He would be taking a lion to his bed indeed. Rough and wild. Caelius backed up a bit, stumbling and ending up with his back against the wall, panting as Gaidres crowded close against him, caging him.

“Gaidres…” He attempted to soothe, though his voice was shaky. The idea of being fucked with all that intensity made him want to drop to his knees and offer himself up like the proverbial sacrifice. Gaidres was like no other man he’d been attracted to before.

Gaidres didn’t pay his whisper any mind. One arm snaked around Caelius’s waist and hauled him close, mouth claiming his again with a snarl as Gaidres’s free hand slid down and gripped Caelius’s bare thigh. He lifted it against his hip as his tongue gave Caelius a taste of the fucking he’d asked for.

He clung to Gaidres, trapped between his hard body and the wall, and that was all that kept him upright. Gaidres’s kiss woke a hunger inside him that he’d never known before. This was the craving that kept him searching for new lovers, a need that had never been answered.

With trembling fingers he undid the laces of Gaidres’s tunic and the man stopped ravaging his mouth just long enough to allow him to pull it off before taking his lips again. Caelius moaned, melting into the demand as he explored Gaidres’s back and shoulders with his hands. The gladiator’s skin felt hot, like expensive silk left in the sun.

This was a dangerous idea, but he wouldn’t stop now for all the coin in the Republic. Gaidres was trapped but not broken, and all the more dangerous for it. Fingers dug into his thigh hard enough to mark and Caelius shivered. He made short work of the cloth wound around Gaidres’s hips, then gasped as he felt the man’s rigid cock against his own. He circled his hips against it and gave a needy little whimper.

Gaidres growled and caught Caelius’s hands, jerking them above his head to pin them to the wall. Gaidres’s hips rocked against him as the kiss broke and their eyes locked.

“Is this what you wanted?” Gaidres shoved one thigh between Caelius’s to grind against his cock.

Caelius nodded, his lips stinging. “Yes.”

Gaidres smirked, releasing his wrists and catching his thighs this time, lifting him off his feet and pinning him to the wall, both hands under his ass to hold him up. “Then you shall have it…
Dominus.
” Two fingers slid inward and rubbed his entrance.

He had been about to request that Gaidres use his given name again, but the touch of fingers against his entrance drove everything else from his mind. “Gaidres.” He moaned as they pushed inside him, aching without the aid of the oil he’d set beside the bed.

At this point he wasn’t sure they’d even make it to the bed. He’d never been taken against a wall before. No one had ever dared. But he sensed that Gaidres would dare much, much more if it suited him. Those fingers twisted inside him, as mocking as the expression on Gaidres’s face.

“And you wanted this?” Gaidres rasped, thrusting his fingers hard into him and Caelius jolted, crying out.

“Yes, yes…please.” Caelius had never said “please” before and he’d never whimpered, but then this was the first time he’d had a man such as this. It was almost enough to make him find his release on the spot.

Gaidres twisted his fingers again, bending his head to slide his open mouth against Caelius’s chest to his nipple, sucking it between his teeth as he fucked him with his fingers. Caelius cried out, squirming against the wall, his long legs clutched tight around Gaidres’s waist.

“Oil…by the bed.” Caelius gestured, gasping as Gaidres’s teeth scraped his nipple.

Gaidres lifted his head, turning to glance over his shoulder and his eyes gleamed as he saw the small crystal vial by the bed. He lowered Caelius back to his feet, then turned him to face the wall, one hand hard on his nape as the other rubbed between the cleft of his ass.

“Stay,” he commanded in a harsh growl and Caelius heard him stride for the bed to snatch the vial up.

Caelius didn’t move except for the trembles racing through his body, one after another. He could almost still feel Gaidres’s hand on his neck, demanding obedience. He’d never had the desire to obey until Gaidres came into his life with his fierce eyes and rough hands. To be truthful, Gaidres hadn’t asked and he was powerless to disobey even if he’d been inclined to.

Then Gaidres was back, his hand once again settling on Caelius’s neck, his breath harsh. Caelius whimpered as a foot hooked his ankle, shoving his legs wider apart. He pressed his forehead against the cool wall, hands coming up to brace himself.

He heard the clink of the vial being opened and moaned. Gaidres was going to fuck him right here against the wall. His breath stuttered and Caelius arched his back, offering up his ass as much as he could on trembling legs. “Gaidres…Gods, yes.”

His cock was so hard that it brushed against his stomach, but he didn’t dare let one hand down to touch himself. He might just fall over.

Gaidres pressed against him, lips nudging his cheek until Caelius turned his, offering his mouth. Gaidres took it, tongue sinking inside as he surged two fingers deep into Caelius’s ass, slicking him with the oil and preparing him for his cock.

He shouted into Gaidres’s mouth, his body bucking under the hard penetration. Then Gaidres’s hand slid from Caelius’s nape, down to grip his waist, holding him still, holding him prisoner, as Gaidres thrust his fingers hard, over and over.

Each thrust sent Caelius into near-delirium, until finally he tore his mouth free and met Gaidres’s piercing eyes. “Fuck me…please, Gaidres, fuck me.”

Gaidres snarled, the animal sound making Caelius’s cock ache as the man’s fingers slipped free. The head of his cock slid between Caelius’s cheeks. “As you wish,
Dominus.
” His lips twisted in a sardonic smile as he drove his hips forward and sank his cock into Caelius’s willing body.

Caelius cried out, grateful that those who could overhear would stay silent about it, because he didn’t want to hold anything back. He wasn’t even sure if he could.

“Gaidres.” He moaned as the man’s cock eased from his body, only to cry out again as it surged once more inside him.

Gaidres’s hands were hard on Caelius’s hips, keeping him where he wanted him. Teeth scraped against Caelius’s neck and Gaidres’s stubble scored his skin, only to be soothed by his tongue in turn. Caelius couldn’t draw a full breath as urgent need turned him inside out.

“Oh gods…oh gods.” He gasped, clenching around Gaidres’s cock. He shifted his weight to one hand, desperate to touch him even though the other man was pressed against his back. He wanted more. He reached around him, fingers curling against the nape of Gaidres’s neck, sinking his fingers into the other man’s hair. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Caelius turned his head and moaned as Gaidres took his mouth again. He could kiss Gaidres all night, be fucked by him…touch him. It was a madness inside him.

Gaidres plunged his tongue into Caelius’s mouth in the same way his cock plunged into Caelius’s ass. His pace was fast, fingers hard where they gripped Caelius. Gaidres snapped his hips harder and then turned with him, bearing them both to the floor where he bent Caelius forward on his knees and fucked him as Caelius had craved.