Chapter 33: What’s A God To A Non-Believer?
ADRIEN’S POV
Orion is full of shit.
I know he’s planning something. I know there’s something wrong somewhere. But I can’t do anything. I have no face or power anywhere, much less in the underworld.
He expects me to believe that there would be five groups suicidal enough to go after a person The Basilisk has claimed as his? I might be petty, but I’m not a fool.
This is a plot. He wants me to willingly come to him. It’s an open scheme. I know it, and he knows that I know it, but because I can’t do anything about it, I’m already trapped.
But I can’t lose. I refuse to lose.
Orion wants me to willingly come to him. He wants me to break so he keeps me by his side, but what if I come to him without breaking?
I ran away at seventeen. I’ve seen many things and met even more people, I know enough to know how to give what is the most important thing to me without giving up my soul.
How else was I supposed to survive? How else was I supposed to eat and find a place to sleep?
When you run away from everything, no one tells you how hard it is to find something to eat. No one tells you how horrible it is to sleep in playgrounds, under swings or slides, because the rain won’t stop falling.
And when that moderately rich man who’s almost nine years older than you decides to give you a hand, no one tells you exactly what that means.
You learn it yourself. The hard way.
If Orion wants a person who knows how to stoke his interest and takes his shit without making a sound, he won’t find anyone better than me. Maybe he’ll finally learn that I’m not the same boy who left all those years ago.
My landlord’s family saved me. My hairstylist taught me how to love my appearance again. The grocer always sneaked me extra fruit and vegetables, even when I only had money to buy a single cabbage.
I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to any one of these people. It’d be better for me to die instead.
So when Marcella and Luca leave to check the condition of the club, and Niko leaves the room to go to god-knows-where, leaving me alone with Orion.
I make my move.
"What is it now, Duckling?" He asks, his smirk as smug and knowing as ever. "Don’t tell me it’s because I didn’t say that I’d protect you? Are you here to beg me for help?"
He probably knows everything. He knows what I’m thinking and he knows what I’m going to do, but he wants to have his fun while humiliating me.
It’s a pity that I don’t give a shit. I’ve been humiliated by men like him more times than I can care to count. Frankly, humiliation is all I expect from people like him.
And I have never been proven wrong.
I round his desk slowly, not breaking eye contact. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I have to burn this moment into my skull, to remember exactly what I’ve chosen to do.
"Is this an assassination attempt?" He asks, eyes bright with manic energy. "Are you finally going to act on all your murderous thoughts?"
His glee is palpable. It’s nauseating. "And you waited for everyone else to leave so we could have our moment...I’m touched, Duckling."
He swivels his chair around to face me. He’s having fun, and he’ll be having even more fun soon. After all, he’s the one who’s going to benefit from everything.
He’s always going to be the one to benefit.
"I’m not going to beg you."
"Oh?" He raises a brow smoothly. "Then what was the reason for that heart-pounding catwalk?"
Fucking bastard.
"I’m not going to beg you...because I’ll rather give you something else in exchange."
Swallowing down any troublesome emotions and smoothening my features to one of blank passivity, I sink to my knees between Orion’s legs.
I hate this. I hate him. I hate myself.
I hate how tall he is. I hate the way it makes me feel like he’s looking down on me even more. I hate that I have to do this so the only people who have ever treated me like a person can stay away from harm.
And most of all, I hate that I’m the one who initiated this first.
"What are you doing?" His voice sounds low.
He’s not manic anymore, he just feels flat.
"I’m giving you what you want in exchange," I respond, not taking my eyes off my task to look at him.
Then I reach forward and run a hand down his crotch. And my hand keeps going down, and down, and...fuck, that is going to tear my lips apart.
That is definitely not normal.
"I know I asked before, but I’ll do you a favour and ask again, what the hell are you doing, Adrien?" He asks again, voice tight and heavy with arousal probably.
Instead of wasting my time playing riddles with him, I lean forward and press my lips to his clothed dick. It’s warm. The twitch it gives when my lips touch it shows how aroused he is.
I stick out my tongue and lick from clothed base to tip. Orion’s fingers curl into the arms of his chair. I think I just heard metal creaking.
"Adrien..." He groans.
That means I’m doing something right. Of course I am. This is the one thing I can say I’m experienced in, as shameful as it sounds.
I trail open-mouth kisses down his length, making sure to take my time to worship him the way his superiority complex probably demands.
The chair creaks again, but Orion makes no more noises. I guess I have to work for it then. If I’m going to exchange something with him, it has to be worth the effort on his part.
Doubling down on my efforts, I reach for the buckle of his belt...but then his hand comes down on mine. It’s a grip so tight, it cuts the blood flow to my wrist immediately.
I glare up at him in annoyance. Why does he have to make this so difficult for me? I’m giving him what he wants, yet he still has to be a fucking bastard about it.
"What are you— "
"Is that not the question I’ve been asking you too?" His pupils are like pinpricks. The black of his eyes seems to have swallowed them.
His eyes are like voids of rage. It’s terrifying.
"W-What?" I can’t stop my voice from shaking. "I’m just d-doing what you want, Orion."
His grip tightens. It hurts. Any more and he’ll snap my wrist.
"And when did I tell you that I wanted you to get on your knees and suck me off?" His voice isn’t rising, it’s calm and even. And that is what sends me over the edge.
I’m scared.
"You’re always t-talking about how you want me on m-my knees," I respond shakily, "I was just doing what you w-wanted so you’ll help me."
His grip tightens even more, I double over with a groan of pain, still too afraid to even attempt to pull his hand off mine.
"I wanted you to beg me on your knees, not to please me sexually. All those times you spent stalking me when we were younger, did you ever see me accept sexual exchanges from anyone?"
He sounds disgusted.
"I n-never stalked you— "
"Do not test me right now, Adrien." He rises to his feet, pulling me up by the wrist with him. "Or do you think I wouldn’t do it? Do you think I won’t accept what you’re offering and take even more from you?"
I’ve never forgotten how large Orion is physically, both in height and size. And I’ll definitely never be able to forget how my own growth was stunted because I was too poor to purchase any basic sustenance at one point in my life.
But now, as he’s towering over me, eyes smoldering with fury, I’m reminded of how small I am in his presence. I’m reminded of how easy it is for him to physically hurt me.
And I’m bloody terrified.
"I-If you want to take it, then t-take it." I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. "But j-just remember that I o-offered it first because that is what I thought you wanted."
He lifts his hand, and I shut my eyes immediately. I’ve already played these games once before. With my father. I know better than to keep my eyes open for the first hit.
And the difference is that my father was an untrained man with a lot of anger, Orion is a trained man, larger than my father could ever hope to be, with a rage directed at me.
I’ll just keep my eyes closed and hope I wake up at a hospital instead of a morgue.
But instead of the physically wrecking hit I’m expecting, a finger brushes across the underside of my eyes. Something wet slides across my face.
"You’re crying...?"
