**Sexual content warning! It's not too bad it's just... tasteful. Read onto a certain point and then skip ahead to the stars if you're not down with it.

Loud Places – Jamie XX ft Romy

__________________________________________________

-

"Gabriel, where are you taking me?"

"I've planned something." He said, squeezing my hand as he led – no, dragged – me across to the other side of the beach. The boyish light to his eyes reminded me of our high school selves. "Nobody knows where we are, all of the guards are way too preoccupied to even care to look."

"But what if Zircah needs me again?"

He laughed. "They're all too drunk and hypnotised by Cassiel to even notice that you've gone."

"Don't you find the double standards up here... insulting?" I asked thinking about the way they all drank, ate and talked. Gluttony and greed seemed to be a huge influence and I hated watching every second of it.

"Of course it's insulting but what more can we personally do other than complain? Zircah enforces the rules."

"He only has power here. What about who actually wrote them? Why won't He intervene?"

Gabriel slowed and glanced at me, his smile turning to a small frown. "When has He ever?"

In a way, Gabe was right. If God intervened that meant something was definitely wrong – not that I didn't think something was wrong right now. What level of 'anarchy' did we have to be at before He did intervene?

"Is there no way to, I don't know... ask?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe there is, but when would we have the opportunity? Neither of us are exactly in God's good graces are we?" He replied. "We'll have plenty of time to discuss this with the others though. We're here."

I paused and looked toward the familiar grounds. I rolled my eyes when he uttered the three words that opened the cave doors: open, obey, provide. It was too dark to make out a lot of the areas so without question, I let the fire consume my hand. My eyes scanned over the areas of the cave. I could just about see the shapes of different items but could make out what they were.

He moved toward me with an object I realised was a candle in his hand and watched him move across the cave, lighting an array of candles on his way. I smiled at the scary amount of candles he'd clearly set up as he continued to light them and then smiled at the thick blanket opposite the fire pit.

Careful of my dress, I arranged the wood in the pit and lit it. "When did you do this?"

"Earlier this evening after your piece. Everyone was too distracted by you to notice me leave. Come to me," Without any ounce of hesitation, I took his outstretched hand. "It's just you and me here. No ears or eyes on us for the first time in over a week." His palms smoothed over my arms and smiled softly. "So if there is anything you want to say to me, say it now."

Anything?

"Yeah, anything." He chuckled.

I could say anything and for the first time no one would hear or relay it back to any of the guards or elders. "Okay." I took a deep long breath and released it as the first thing that popped into my mind spilled out of my mouth: "Alright. I absolutely, without one ounce of doubt... hate everyone."

His smile widened. "Everyone?"

"Apart from the obvious, like Fey, Brooke and Helena and Perses yeah. I have no privacy, everybody knows where I am every second of every day and I can't utter a word without it being whispered though the entire citadel. I literally boil with anger every night. I take cold showers." I released and inhaled another breath. "Axel's a big fat asshole, those Kerbuic Angels are all dicks – they are just all so up their own asses. Honestly, I'm surprised Leo isn't being a brute. I've got so much to say about Zircah that I don't even know where to star-"

Of course, he silenced whatever ramblings I was about to do with a thorough kiss. Left speechless, as one would when a man like Gabriel kissed you, I swayed toward him and pressed my palms to his chest when he gripped the back of my neck.

When the bands didn't tighten, I didn't know what came over me or more so us. The freedom was real. This wasn't a fantasy or an illusion. They were too engrossed in their party, their wine, and their sins to be bothered with what I was doing. It felt as if a weight had been truly lifted from my shoulders, even if it is for just this one night.

I ran my fingers along his chest, the feel of his skin beneath my fingers felt as if I was it were the first time. Touching him this way, feeling the familiar boil of warmth within me reminded me how long it has been. It was almost impossible to control my emotions, to control the flames inside me.

His lips burnt a trail along my neck, his teeth nipping the skin at my neck whilst his fingers dealt with the strings keeping the dress together.

Which reminded me, "Please, please be careful with the dress."

I could feel the frustration in his shaking fingers as he leaned back to eye me with a look that without a doubt meant, seriously? "How careful?"

"Although I'd love nothing more, don't rip it." I begged.

"You're testing my restraint, woman." He growled, finally managing to undo the lace and open the corset that stuck to me like a second skin. "And so is this damn dress."

"Also," I swallowed the lump of desire in my throat as his callous palms ran over my exposed back. "Um, I hate to burst this wonderful, addictive bubble but... the angelic world doesn't really strike me as a world to have birth control."

"You're not human anymore, Alexis." His hands pulled the dress lower, the bodice passing my hips with a little resist but only because they truly had designed it to fit around me as if it were supposed to be my second skin. "You can't get pregnant unless God decides to pass your decision onto another which hasn't ever been an option. You'd have to propose it and agree to it."

Well, I've never heard that one before. But why would I? I didn't want to pass something like this onto to someone let alone that someone being my child. "Oh right, that's okay then."

Underneath the dress I was only wearing a pair of underwear, it didn't need a bra. Gabriel's eyes ran over my legs, my stomach and paused at the exposed and hardening peaks on my breasts. I was aroused beyond control and so was he from the colourful and totally explicit thoughts racing through his head.

Remembering all of our lives together, all of the times Gabriel and I were intimate, made me realise how much different this was. I didn't feel like that teenager from eighteen anymore, the teen that thought she was probably doing everything and anything wrong. No, I knew exactly where to touch him. I knew to nibble at the corner of his neck where it connected with his shoulder. His small moan almost made me smile. Almost. I was too engrossed in where his hands were; how they curved over any inch of skin he could get his hands on.

Our lips never disconnected, even when I made a small noise of surprise when he curled his palms under my legs to lift me to him.

"I've waited a long time to touch you again, Alex." His gravelly voice beside my ear made me shiver. I wrapped my legs around every hard inch of him and he settled us on top of the blanket. At some point he'd already removed his cloak but his cotton pants were still around his hips.

Stopping my frantic hands he held them above my head with one of his and skilfully pulled at my underwear. And then his hand was between my legs, cupping me, teasing me, barely giving me a minute to comprehend how much pleasure he was emitting. I moaned beneath him, I writhed against him, I wanted nothing more than release as his fingers circled in all the right places.

"Gabriel-" I breathed, opening my eyes and willing my body to hold off, just until he was inside me that was all wanted. But damn, he wasn't making it easy.

His dark sapphire gaze captured and held mine as he removed his hand. But he did the unexpected. He placed his fingers in his mouth.

"Cruel." I said with wide eyes. "Absolutely cruel."

"And yet you love it." He grumbled releasing my hand to kick his trousers off.

I love you, but I held my tongue and hid my thoughts as well as I could. For now. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I urged him to hurry. I wanted him badly, I had ever since we embraced each other in the keep before my tribunal. Gabriel didn't waste one second of time. His mouth opened against my neck as he slowly nudged his hips between my legs and then a very prominent part of him inside me.

I inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled a moan. I was burning up and I needed to calm down. I didn't want to hurt him and judging by his restrained thrusts, I could tell he was thinking exactly the same.

"Don't you dare hold back." I murmured. "Please."

And he didn't. He held me to him, kissed me, didn't break one inch of connection as he gave me his all. Mind, body and soul connected, I released a groan and let my climax consume me. And soon enough he joined me.

Not one single band on us tightened and it further proved how no one was watching. No one knew where we were or what we were doing. It was just Gabriel and I. For the first time in a very long time, it was just the two of us.

I wished this moment lasted forever.

***

"How was graduation?"

I moved my wandering lips away from his chest with a bright smile. "Gabe, I was valedictorian."

"No way. Even after everything?"

"Even after everything. Here let me show you my speech,"

Pressing another kiss to his neck, he sat relaxed against the cave wall watching it playout albeit it was somewhat gloomy, it had its good points.

"I'm proud of you." He said. "It was a beautiful speech." He looked as if he were about to say more but he pursed his lips first. "Do you ever feel like the life before this one was nothing but a wonderful dream?" Gabriel asked me after a silent calming moment to ourselves.

Sitting up against the wall beside him and resting my head on his shoulder, I made a light humming noise as I thought carefully. "I feel like it was easier, I wouldn't compare it to a dream. I'd say it was just another world, just another life as you put it. I've had many before this one, why should it be any different?"

"Because with this life came your decision. Something that changed the very fabric of who you are."

"Are you saying I'm not... me?" I challenged poking his naked side. "Not the same little green eyed brunette from when we were seventeen?"

"Oh, that green eyed girl." Gabriel swooned. I rolled my eyes and adjusted the blanket around us. "You were never not you. Even as, who you've so cleverly named, 'the green eyed girl'. You've always had the same spark of mischief in your eye. That girl's still here." He smiled.

It was wonderful seeing Gabriel this carefree, especially since I'd come here. He almost looked like the seventeen year old boy I remembered.

"Do you remember our first day of senior year?" He asked.

I lifted my eyes from his mark to meet his lowered gaze. "How can I forget? You stepped out of that Camaro like you were about to walk down a catwalk."

"The day you decided to nudge me on why I was wearing a long sleeve in eighty degrees."

"Oh yeah. You came over and I felt your mark and it was the first time I heard your thoughts. Almost three years ago now. It's crazy... but can I ask you something a little crazier?"

"Hit me."

"Well, I never thought about it until I was rereading that book you wrote, the one I found in the library when I was seventeen. The one where you talked about Enoch. Word for word I could recite what you wrote," I cleared my throat and began: "Only demons of the fallen rank can ascend. To do so they must earn back the favour of God which can normally be done by acts of kindness that add up to repent their sin. Unless an angel falls for the reason of love, they must atone their sins against God. And then I read on and I saw something about when I reincarnate it's always with a watcher and a human. So long story short is my dad or mom, my birth parents from when I was human... a... well, watcher?"

Gabriel grinned. "No. But yes."

"Explain."

"Your father's grandfather was half. So he only has a little bit in his genes, it was enough for you to be born from him. And no, he doesn't know. Otherwise he would have caught on to what was going on with you years before you told your family what you were."

"Wow." I sighed. "Think he knows now?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe. Your grandfather may have told him now that angels have exposed themselves."

"Hm... Here's another memory for you."

"Hit me again."

"Do you remember that Christmas when we all went to that bar-"

"You mean when Maryanne and Tristan took you to the bar without telling me and I followed you?"

I shrugged a shoulder and smiled. "Same thing. We danced all night."

"I remember." Gabriel wrapped his arm around my shoulders and buried a kiss to the side of my head.

"It was the night I found out about the loophole too." I murmured quietly.

We grew silent all of a sudden the realisation that if I hadn't have released him in the first place we wouldn't even be-

"Don't go down that road, Lexie" He interrupted my thoughts, his fingers caressing the skin on the nape of my neck. "Because you know it's not true."

It was, I thought but thankfully hid away from him. I started tracing my fingers along his mark, more and more memories overcrowding my mind. All happier than the last.

Growing silent once more, I stood. Naked or not in front of him I didn't care. But remembering things, remembering who we were before made me feel too exposed. I hadn't felt this exposed in a long time. Not even with Cameron. It was different with him, it was always different.

I felt his presence behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at him and he said, "Do you want to go for a swim?"

"Out there? In the open? What if somebody sees...?"

Instead of answering, he led me out of the cave. His hand firmly around mine – both of us still completely butt naked. I glanced around frantically, trying to tug my hand back with a fierce blush. "Gabriel-"

"You've never lived in fear before," He said. "Why start now?"

**

Although time was moving beautifully slow and Gabriel and I didn't spend one minute sleeping, I could feel the atmosphere at the citadel dissipating. The party was ending. It had been hours and hours. Which meant the eyes would be back at the watch towers and the guards – namely, Axel – would be back on alert soon.

Gabe tightened the strings of my dress before turning me to face him. When he placed my crown back on top of my head, it felt like it burst our private bubble. He didn't need to say anything. His sadness matched mine. We didn't want this night to come to an end. It won't be the same as this every again at least not for a long while.

We flew back together - the sky still as dark as when we'd left - very stealthily into the gardens away from the Keep. Hand in hand we snuck back through the halls like a couple of teenagers out past curfew. The halls were still empty, thankfully but we could hear the voices exiting the Keep. And thankfully, my room was right here.

"Go," I said, stopping him from coming in.

He smirked and pulled me to him. "No."

"You want Fey to walk in on you sleeping in my room? She'll be looking for me."

"She can look all she wants but I'm sleeping here with you tonight." He stated. "Now, in. I'm sure you're as exhausted as I am."

Once again, Gabriel helped me out of my dress but not with as much urgency as earlier. He grazed his lips over my shoulders when it dropped to a heavy pool at my feet. I slid underneath the cloud like sheets with a satisfied sigh and watched him as he remove his cloak. Him completely naked once more and me only wearing my underwear he joined me, pulling me into him and curling around me.

The bands had yet to tighten but I had a feeling it wouldn't be too long.

As I started to drift asleep I felt his fingers run through my hair and heard him say, "I do love you, Alexis. You don't ever have to hide your thoughts from me. Especially something like that."

With a slight nod I allowed myself to fully fall into a deep slumber. And when I woke up, Gabriel was gone. And sitting in the corner of the room was Zircah.

_________________________________