The Gladiator’s Master (16 page)

Gaidres dropped a hard kiss onto his lips, leaving them tingling and wanting for a deeper taste of him. “Get the oil.” He released Caelius’s wrists and sat back with a grin. “And, Caelius, I would have you crawl to retrieve it.”

Caelius pushed up on to his hands and knees, shivering in anticipation as Gaidres’s gaze went straight to Caelius’s ass. He trembled as he began to crawl away. Gaidres’s hand came down with a rough crack on one cheek. “Never have I seen such a plump ass, Caelius.”

Caelius shot him a glance over his shoulder as he made his way on shaky knees to the bedside where the oil sat. “And you know just how much pleasure there is to be found when you’re inside of me.”

He knelt up, his fingers closing on the small bottle as Gaidres groaned behind him. Caelius looked at him again, smiling in invitation as he pulled himself up onto the bed. “Come take what’s yours, Gaidres. Make me scream as you promised.”

He couldn’t stop the constant shivers as Gaidres rose with all the grace of the lion Caelius had named him for and approached the bed. His mouth went dry as Gaidres stripped away his
subligar,
pausing beside the bed to remove his sandals before climbing onto the bed.

Gaidres reached out and snatched the oil from his hand, leaning in close, forcing him back until he sprawled across the bed, breathing hard and staring up at his lover. His power was undeniable, so potent that Caelius felt drunk with it.

“Spread your thighs for me.”

Caelius moaned and obeyed, one leg hooking high on Gaidres’s hip, holding the other close against his chest. “Please…”

Gaidres removed the stopper from the bottle and tossed it aside, smirking. Caelius felt light-headed with anticipation. His wait did not last longer than a breath before Gaidres tipped the open bottle over him, spilling the warm oil over Caelius’s stomach and groin. He gasped, arching, eyes squeezing shut as Gaidres slid his fingers through the oil, slicking them, and then down between Caelius’s spread thighs to rub his entrance and cleft.

“Gods, yes,” he breathed, hips lifting.

Gaidres pushed his fingers inside and Caelius groaned at the familiar wash of pleasure. “The gods have nothing to do with what’s between us.”

His breath caught on a rush of hope before he realized that Gaidres only meant the passion that they shared. One day, gods willing, he’d win Gaidres’s respect and then his heart.

He leaned up and nipped Gaidres’s jaw before sliding his mouth to his lover’s ear. “Gaidres.” He groaned as those wicked fingers twisted inside him and made the craving to be filled by him even stronger. “Please, Gaidres, do not make me wait any longer.”

“I do not think you’re hungry enough, Caelius.” Gaidres’s eyes glinted as he drove his fingers harder into Caelius’s ass. “Words still fall too easily from your lips.”

Caelius gasped as Gaidres found his spot and manipulated it ruthlessly. “Gaidres!” He dragged his nails down his lover’s back, smiling as Gaidres shuddered in return. “You drive me mad. Please.”

He slicked his fingers in the oil on his stomach and circled them around Gaidres’s cock. Caelius stroked, giving Gaidres a squeeze every time the man thrust with his fingers.

“Yes.” Gaidres hissed, rocking his hips into Caelius’s hand.

It was too much. It was not enough. Caelius stroked tighter, hips lifting to Gaidres’s touch. “Please…more, Gaidres, hurry.” He could not take the madness, the overwhelming need.

Gaidres seemed of the same mind, his growls rougher, thrusts deeper, and his mouth hot on Caelius’s neck. Before Caelius could plead again, Gaidres’s fingers were gone from him and he cried out with choked breath as Gaidres dropped his weight on him. The warm, blunt head of his lover’s cock nudged against him.

“Yes! Gaidres!” He arched as Gaidres thrust deep, their mutual shouts echoing off the walls. If any doubt remained among his household as to their relationship, it was surely put to rest now.

“Caelius…by the gods…”

Caelius laughed shakily, fingers digging into the strong muscles of his lover’s back. “The gods have naught to do with this, remember?”

Gaidres’s eyes narrowed and his mouth twitched. “Cease your taunting, else I’ll turn you over my knee and warm your ass rather than fuck it.”

Caelius laughed and clung to him. He loved his gladiator so, and could not help but believe that Gaidres might one day return the emotion. “Threatening me with that which I might find pleasurable will serve no purpose, my lion.”

Gaidres rolled, tugging Caelius up over him to ride him, hands rough and eyes fierce. “You are a wicked man…a whore, as you so easily admitted once.”

Caelius shuddered. “Gods, yes…for you, the most wanton of all.”

Gaidres slid his hands down Caelius’s thighs. “You look so wild and beautiful when you ride me.”

Caelius warmed inside. Gaidres had never said such things before in the midst of their pleasure. Oh, he’d mention Caelius’s tight ass or wicked nature, but nothing more tender or personal.

He drove his hips down hard and fast, reveling in the sensation of Gaidres filling him, the way his lover looked at him with raw desire on his face. “You’re the untamed one, my gladiator.” And he would always have it so.

“Your gladiator,” Gaidres rasped, driving his hips and making Caelius shudder in response. “It is
you
who are mine, Caelius…right here, right now.” Gaidres’s hands slid back up to grip Caelius’s hips hard, his eyes intent on Caelius’s face. “You are mine.”

Caelius nodded and leaned over him, trembling as Gaidres’s hands moved to caress his back and ass. “Yes…yes, Gaidres, I’m yours. Ever yours.”

Gaidres’s lips teased his jaw. His teeth nipped the tender skin of Caelius’s throat as his mouth worked its way over to Caelius’s ear. “So hot and tight, my Caelius. I dream of being inside you.”

Caelius shuddered again with a desperate whimper. Gaidres’s words would drive him more out of his mind than his lover’s considerable bed-skills. “Please…please…more.” More words, more passion, more of everything that Gaidres was willing to give him. Caelius kissed Gaidres’s chest, rubbed against him as he clenched around Gaidres’s cock. “Please don’t stop.”

“I have no intention of such.” Gaidres drove his hips up, strong arms holding Caelius against his chest.

Caelius’s eyes squeezed closed, unable to catch his breath as Gaidres sped his thrusts. He had no time to recover from one devastating thrust before another followed and stole what remained of his senses. Over and over in a never-ending cycle of mindless pleasure. It was madness what this one man could do to him, twisting him into knots inside.

Every sensation was more, almost too much. Gaidres’s rough fingertips roamed over him and Caelius nearly came at the simple brush of his thumb against the tender flesh of his inner thigh. Gaidres laughed at his visceral reaction and Caelius narrowed his eyes and raked his nails down his gladiator’s sides in retaliation.

“Wicked bitch,” Gaidres snarled and Caelius let out a breathless cry as his lover shifted them without warning, flipping Caelius onto his hands and knees and driving into him hard from behind. By the gods, the man was so strong, Caelius thrilled every time Gaidres showed that strength and took Caelius however he pleased.

“Gods yes…Gaidres, fuck me…”

Gaidres panted hard, hands bruising on Caelius’s hips. “What is it…you think…I am doing…?”

Caelius laughed and lowered his chest to the bed, rocking back to meet those hard, almost brutal thrusts. “Owning me, my gladiator…you are owning me.”

Gaidres held him captive, both with his hands and the words that continued to fall from his lips. Dirty words of possession and desire. Caelius dug his hands into the silken sheet, holding on in desperation as his cries grew louder.

“Please…please, Gaidres,” he begged with lips that had gone dry from his pleading and still Gaidres fucked him in a relentless rhythm.

Gaidres stretched out over him, the heat from his body making Caelius tremble as the tension became almost unbearable. He was so close. The need inside him screamed for release. Caelius cried out in desperation as Gaidres’s calloused hand closed around his cock. “Now, Caelius, now you will scream for me.”

And Caelius did as each hard thrust struck that spot inside him that made all thoughts but one fly away. He was Gaidres’s in every way. He screamed Gaidres’s name, begged when he found breath, between strokes.

Gaidres’s teeth nipped his ear, rough need in his lover’s voice as he whispered, “Come for me, my Caelius.”

He was helpless to do anything but obey. “Gaidres.” His orgasm tore through him with deep shudders of release. Gaidres’s cock throbbed inside him and Caelius whimpered as he felt his lover’s seed spill inside him, marking him as surely as the bruises on his hips or the scratch marks he’d left on Gaidres’s back and sides.

For several moments, neither of them moved and then Gaidres slipped out of him, dropping to the bed beside him. They stared at each other, still panting, hearts pounding and faces mere inches apart. Gaidres’s mouth was so close.

Would he go? The uncertainty was an ache deep inside him. He’d never found himself wary of speaking until Gaidres had come into his life. As they lay back on the silken bed coverings he kissed Gaidres with all of the tenderness he couldn’t hide at the moment. “Stay…please.”

“You ask much.”

Caelius brushed his fingers along Gaidres’s jaw. “I know. Stay.”

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t move, either. Gaidres held him, letting Caelius curl against him until their breathing began to even out and they both drifted into a nap.

Gaidres glanced about the bustling marketplace in Caere as Felix haggled over new ink and fine parchment. It was strange to be outside without a doctoré present and with Caelius all the way at the villa. He’d never been so unattended before.

“He will have the ink ready in a few hours.” Felix cut into his thoughts. “In the meanwhile, my stomach protests for lack of attention.”

“I saw a tavern not far from where we arrived.” Gaidres pointed in the direction and Felix’s vivid blue-green eyes lit with pleasure. Gaidres wasn’t sure what to make of Caelius’s shadow. Where one man was, the other wasn’t far behind. He hadn’t noticed it in Fidena, but it was clear in Caere, now that Gaidres was free to wander, that Felix was Caelius’s friend, as well as his scribe.

Neither said much as they retraced their steps back to the tavern and found seats at a small table near the door. As Felix wiped the table off with a cloth from his belt, Gaidres smirked. No wonder Caelius and the scribe got along so well. They were both inordinately neat.

More silence as the barmaid brought them cups of wine and bowls of hearty stew and crusty bread. Gaidres glanced up from his bowl and met the young scribe’s eyes.

“I confess I do not care to eat in silence.” He shrugged. “Too many meals taken in my cell, I suppose.”

“I can understand that.” Felix seemed to cast about for an appropriate subject. “Are you enjoying our time in Caere? Dominus is very fond of his home here.”

“I am.” It was oddly true. He enjoyed spending time with the children and training with the guards, and though they had their moments, he and Caelius had settled into a semi-comfortable pattern of sex, meals, light conversation and more sex. “I know he has missed being here. He does not care for Fidena and I think he would never return if he did not have to.”

“You see the truth in matters.” Felix studied Gaidres with a shrewd expression before he nodded without a word. Gaidres got the impression he’d been judged yet had no idea what conclusion Felix had come to. “Though I think the change has been good for him. Dominus takes care of his own, that is true, and he does not shirk what he feels is his duty, but some would argue that he spent a little too much time pursuing his own pleasures. I think his eyes have been opened to what is important to him and what isn’t.”

He shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable talking about Caelius in such a manner. Still, his curiosity had him asking, “You sound as if you’ve known him a long time.”

“Long enough. The old dominus owed my father a favor. When I came of age he had me come to live with him so I could share Caelius’s tutors. My family did not have the money to educate a youngest son, not in the manner I craved.” Felix dipped some bread into his stew and gave Gaidres a sardonic smile. “At that time Dominus was not interested in studying.”

Felix didn’t elaborate, but Gaidres had heard enough rumors of Caelius’s hedonism in the past, not to mention having personal experience, to guess at what Caelius had been interested in other than studying. He wasn’t taken to drink, or gluttony. He didn’t gamble, or harm others.

But pleasures of the flesh? There was one subject in which Caelius Laraniia excelled. Gaidres had a brief mental image of a young Caelius, all long limbs and mischievous eyes, newly discovering desires and the myriad ways to sate them. He had to bite back a groan. Now that he would have liked to have seen.

“He ran wild, did he?” Gaidres could not imagine it of the man now, but there was enough left of that reckless youth that he could imagine him. What a sight he must have been.

Felix shook his head with a quiet laugh. “His poor father. He tried, but what did he know about his son? They loved each other, of course, but neither ever quite understood the other.” Felix shrugged one slim shoulder. “It did not matter. They learned to accept each other despite their differences and Caelius learned to curb his excesses and managed not to waste his intelligence.”

He glanced down at his bowl, then back up at Felix. “He is very unusual…in other ways.” It felt disloyal to speak of Caelius so, and that in itself startled him. “Is that why? No one ever dared to set him right and he just designed his own vision of how the world ought to be?” And built it, here in Caere.

“That was the one area where they agreed. His father was a visionary and perhaps kept Caelius a little too sheltered. He raised him here in Caere, surrounded by people he’d known his entire life, who had been given the same care Caelius now gives them.” Felix frowned as he set aside his bowl and gestured for more wine. “He did not know much of the world outside the villa. It is one thing to hear about it from tutors or scrolls but it wasn’t real to him. All his intelligence didn’t prepare him for what life would be like after his father passed.”

The loss of his father must have been devastating. “It’s clear he took charge and made sure his people wanted for nothing.”

Felix’s gaze grew distant. “He did. I wish the old dominus could have seen it. He would have been proud. There were times when he despaired that Caelius would ever learn responsibility. Perhaps it took people depending on him to waken it in him.”

In some ways Gaidres thought that Caelius still might be a little too cosseted against the realities of life. Though perhaps coming to Fidena had shown him the world was unlikely to change, despite his efforts.

“It is why he got involved in politics, you know. His father urged him to join the military, but I think you can imagine how well that thought was received.”

He chuckled. “Caelius, a soldier? Easier I become a senator.”

“Exactly. He has a quicksilver mind and ideas only the greatest philosophers could decipher, but he has not the constitution for war. Unfortunately, as he has discovered, politics is another kind of war.” Felix pressed his lips together and reached for his cup. “No less bloody, however.”

Gaidres frowned. “Why does he not return here permanently, turn his mind to the sciences, philosophy? Why bother with Fidena and the senate at all?”

Felix lifted his brows, giving Gaidres a long look. “Do you not know the answer to that? If you know him at all, you do not need me to tell you.”

No, he didn’t need Felix to tell him why. “Doesn’t he know one man cannot change the world?”

The scribe laughed. “No, he does not, but that is only part of why he stayed. He had not decided what to do with the
ludus
and the villa in Fidena when he first went to assess the situation. He could very easily have hired others to run the
ludus
and never dirtied his hands with it.”

Gaidres frowned. “I do not understand.”

Felix rolled his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. “You are a fool, then.”

“You sound much like my friend Demos.”

There was a faint sparkle in Felix’s eyes and a twitch to his mouth. “Do I, now? Perhaps this Demos knows of what he speaks.”

Gaidres cocked his head, not quite certain what to make of Felix’s smooth tone. “He would like to think he does, but if I tell Demos that he would harp on it without end.”

“I think you and Caelius share a common trait.”

Gaidres sat back, wary with the way Felix looked at him. Curiosity won out. Beyond mutual pleasure he couldn’t think of anything he shared with Caelius. Except of course, fascination with Faustus. “And what is this trait you speak of?”

“Neither of you cares to face the truth even if others make it a point to tell you.”

Gaidres’s jaw dropped and a satisfied smile touched Felix’s mouth. “You do not know of what you speak.”

“Do I not?” Felix crossed his arms on the table and leaned in closer to Gaidres. “Caelius sees what he wants to see, a world filled with peace, where men are free to be happy. You only see a world filled with anger and hate. Neither of you wants to acknowledge that there is room for compromise. The world is neither a paradise nor an underworld. We make of it what we will.

“Caelius stayed for two reasons. One being that he would not ask another to do what he would not himself. To leave another in charge, someone who might not show the same concern toward men he was asking to die, would be repugnant to him. It would seem the worst sort of cowardice.”

“And the other?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“He stays for want and care of you.”

The scribe was daft. That was the only explanation. That, or a worse romantic than even Kerses had been. He shook his head, pacing Caelius’s chambers. Felix had not struck him as anything but pragmatic and logical. Which meant he believed what he’d said. That Caelius had stayed for him. Because he cared?

That was absurd. Caelius desired him, he knew that and would never deny it. Caelius liked him some of the time, when Gaidres wasn’t behaving like a horse’s ass. But that was not what Felix had meant.

He was still pacing, puzzling over their conversation, when a noise at the entryway of the chamber alerted him to another’s presence. Gaidres stilled, glancing up, and met smiling dark eyes. By the gods, the man smiled so much. Except for the times he didn’t, in which case Gaidres was usually at fault. Guilt stabbed him and he pushed it down, unwilling to examine it further.

“You are back.” Caelius set an armful of scrolls on the table against the wall. “Did all go well on your trip into town?”

“Yes, Dominus. Felix found all he needed.”

“Good. He gets in a terrible state when he cannot find the supplies he requires.”

Gaidres hesitated, part of him curious, the other part saying he’d be a fool to tell his dominus they’d been discussing him. But part of him could not resist the urge to know more. “You have been friends a long time, or so he said.” Best to start with something mundane to test whether Caelius would take offense or not.

Caelius chuckled ruefully. “Felix is not one to say that he despised me almost immediately or that it lasted for many a year before we became friends. He is a good man. I value both his counsel and his friendship.”

He relaxed when Caelius’s amused expression did not falter. He did not seem to mind that they’d been discussing him. “He did not give indication that he hated you.”

“He wouldn’t. He is much too circumspect for that.” Caelius stacked the scrolls. “I did not value what he wanted so dearly. He craved learning the way others crave fine wine, and my tutors bored me. He thought me spoiled, and he was right. I was that and more.”

Caelius turned away from the table and gave Gaidres a penetrating look. “What else did he tell you?”

Gaidres shifted guiltily and went to pour them both a goblet of wine to cover his reaction. “He seems to hold you in high regard now. We meant no disrespect, Dominus.”

Caelius took the wine with an impatient sound. “Men who fear tongues wagging fear to face the truth about themselves. I care not that you talked about me. I trust Felix and I trust you, Gaidres. I have earned Felix’s respect, though it took a long time. I feared after my father died that he would desert me and move on elsewhere. He owed my father, not me, but for some reason I was able to convince him to stay.”

Caelius trailed off, his face thoughtful as he sipped his wine and Gaidres wondered what serious thoughts the other man was contemplating. “I hope I have earned your respect, Gaidres, and that you don’t give it to me just because I am dominus here.”

He was of two minds about that subject. On the one hand, yes, he respected Caelius’s care for his household. Yet on the other, he could not ignore that it was men like Caelius, so unaware of the harsh reality of the world outside their self-built palaces, who caused devastation wherever they went.

“I do not give any man that which he does not deserve,” Gaidres said, though he knew that was not the answer Caelius likely wanted. “I have great respect for the care you show those who rely on you.”

“Gratitude.” Caelius sighed and looked like he might say more, then stopped, seeming to change his mind. “How was it in the market? Someone or another often has need of an escort into town. I would not send you, however, if it was not something you would favor. But if you would like…” He let the question trail off.

Gaidres’s brows furrowed. “It was strange. It had been years since last I went anywhere without a heavy guard or chains.” He thought about it and then shrugged. “I would sooner stay here and teach the little ones or train.”

“They are fond of you.”

“And I, them.”

Gaidres set down his goblet and reached for Caelius’s hand. It was smooth, not the hand of a man who worked hard. There were no calluses and scars like there were on his. Still, after coming to Caere, seeing Caelius most of the day instead of only when he called for him, he’d discovered that Caelius worked as hard as anyone else in the household to make sure everyone had what they needed. He was a bit blind to life perhaps, but he was neither lazy nor thoughtless. He let that soft hand go.

“What deep thoughts occupy your mind, my gladiator?” Caelius stepped closer to him with a curious light in his dark eyes.

Gaidres grinned at him and shook his head. He’d had enough of deep thoughts today. “Felix also told me of the havoc you caused here when you were young.”

He watched, delighted, as Caelius’s eyes widened and his cheeks became a trifle pink. “Did he? I am sure there were far more interesting things to discuss than my escapades. It is a wonder my father did not have me beaten.”

Gaidres chuckled as Caelius looked away from him. Here was a new side to the other man. “Surely you could not have been as bad as he claimed. Not that he went into any great detail.”

Caelius winced a little, casting him a sheepish, smiling look out of the corner of his eye. “I do not think he needed to…what did he say?” He looked as if half of him wanted to know while the other half was afraid to ask. It was the most amusing thing Gaidres had experienced in some time.

He crossed his arms over his chest, intending on enjoying this to the fullest. “Oh, he did not say much. He did, however, imply a great deal.” Gaidres laughed at Caelius’s expression and moved to stand in front of him. “Were you truly so wild a lad?”

Caelius shoved him, which only made Gaidres laugh more. “I am going to kill him, you know. And the fault will lie at your feet.”