by Sierra Riley
“I didn’t, and you’ll have to believe me on that,” Briar said, gently and firmly. “And you’re right. It’s your choice. You can fuckin’ leave me—and Austin did, too, and that was also his choice to make.”
Gabriel gritted his jaw and jerked his head in a quick nod.
“Doesn’t mean it’s not gonna hurt me. Doesn’t mean it’s not a dangerous move for your career. Really dangerous. You remember how I started this agency? I didn’t start off planning to.”
Gabriel was listening now, that façade halfway down and startled out of him, just from Briar showing up without notice.
“I left my agency, started to crash, and pulled back hard into a new career change before I became a nobody. It’s your choice,” Briar nodded. “But you’re stupid for doing it.”
Gabriel jutted his chin and stepped closer. He radiated all the bravado and bluster of a twenty-two-year-old with a chip on his shoulder and a belief in himself that was stronger than anyone else could fathom.
That defiant spark that sent heat crawling through Briar, and the desire not to tame it, but to fan it.
But maybe fanning it had been a mistake all along. “You fucked up,” Briar whispered, their lips just inches apart. He didn’t reach out to him again yet. He just let the chemistry build up between them until it was unbearable.
Shit. I love him, and I’m never, ever going to be able to tell him that.
“Shut up and fuck me, if that’s what you want from me.”
“Among other things,” Briar whispered, raising a hand. He trailed one finger along Gabriel’s jaw from his chin back to his ear, his gaze fixing on Gabriel’s expression.
The way Gabriel’s lips parted, his long lashes met a few times as his eyes fluttered shut, the tip of his tongue peeked out…
Briar couldn’t resist for a second longer. He stepped close, his hand running up from Gabriel’s side to his shoulder and back down his back as he cupped his cheek and leaned in for a hard, sucking, bruising kiss.
Gabriel kissed him back with all the force of a hurricane, slamming Briar up against the wall.
Briar grabbed Gabriel’s ass with both hands now and pulled him up, up into his arms, until Gabriel hooked his ankles around his waist and he could turn him around, pinning Gabriel up against the wall. He was light, easy to hold, easy to throw around… maybe throw on the bed this time.
“Up against the wall again? You kinky bastard.”
“That’s not as kinky as I get.”
“Is that a promise?” Gabriel taunted.
Briar kissed the smart-ass words out of his mouth, sucking on his lower lip until Gabriel’s full-throated groan spilled from his lips.
Then the desk phone rang.
“Fuck,” Briar hissed out, his fingers digging into Gabriel’s ass. He turned around and walked him over to the bed, hefting him onto the bed.
Gabriel hit the bed and bounced, but he was already yanking his jeans down and off, kicking them off his ankles. “Get rid of them.”
“Working on it.” Briar picked up the phone, trying to calm his breathing down. He had to raise his voice a pitch and a bit higher, drop some of his crisp word endings, drawl his accent like he was from rural New York…
“Gabriel speaking.”
He could hear the sucked-in breath of indignation and amusement from Gabriel.
“This is the front desk calling to check in on you and your, er… b-boss… boyfriend…”
Briar imitated his giggle. “Yes. All’s fine. Thanks.”
“If you need assistance, you can just say yes now and we’ll call—”
“Nope. Definitely not.”
“Ah, right.” The employee sounded flustered now. “Have a good… afternoon, until checkout.”
“Oh, right. Babe?” Then, Briar dropped his voice, shuffled the phone to the other ear and said, “Hello? This is Briar. Can we say a late checkout today? One instead of noon?”
“I… that should be possible, yes, sir.”
“Thank you.” Briar hung up and turned to Gabriel.
Gabriel was naked, hard, and kneeling at the edge of the bed. He grabbed Briar’s lapels and yanked him in hard, until he stumbled forward, then slapped his ass. “You cheeky bastard.”
“How dare I, right?” Briar smirked. “Did I do a good job?”
“You… you…” Gabriel was almost stuttering from indignation.
Briar winked, helping Gabriel’s fumbling hands unfasten his pants first, then shrug his jacket off. By the time he hit the bed, he was just as naked, and just as hard.
His body remembered the heat of being pressed into and on Gabriel.
“How dare I be so right all the time?” Briar continued to taunt Gabriel, leaning down to kiss his chest. He tasted fresh and soapy, like he’d just gotten out of the shower.
Mmm, there was a delicious thought.
“Shut the fuck up,” Gabriel cursed, but he groaned when Briar’s tongue swiped across his nipple.
Briar sucked hard on the nub of flesh, and Gabriel’s body arched off the bed so hard a joint popped. Briar winced sympathetically, but Gabriel just shifted his leg a little and hissed a quiet, “Yes!” Briar took that as a cue to continue, and he sucked again, then flicked his tongue rapidly along one nipple, then nipped the other.
“Ow—yes—oof—yes, yes, please…”
The words spilling from Gabe’s lips were as much a surprise as a delight. Briar glowed with pleasure as he circled his tongue around the skin he’d irritated to soothe it, then sucked a few times on it, plucking it up with his lips before he moved back to the first again.
“You fucking, fucking fucker.”
“Creative,” Briar mumbled around Gabriel’s nipple, kissing up to his collarbone and then sucking hard on his neck so they could grind their cocks together and Gabriel could knead his back. Gabriel grumbled and moaned his pleasure like a cat in heat.
But Briar wasn’t going to come like this again. He wanted so much more than that.
He scooted down the bed again, kissing hard and sucking his chest, then his belly and abs, then all the way down to his hip, avoiding his cock for now.
“Not fair,” Gabriel breathed out, his voice broken with pleasure and fingers curling into Briar’s shoulders.
“I think you’ll find it’s fair.” Briar kissed along the inner thigh, all the way to just under his balls, then nosed them aside and licked his way down.
“Oh my God!”
Briar hesitated for just a second. “Have you been—”
“I’ve been tested. Unlike what you seemed to think,” Gabriel’s words dripped with annoyance, “I haven’t fucked a guy besides you since you.”
Oh. That had not been what he expected to hear.
Briar bit his smile back. “Me, too.” Then, he licked a long, slow trail down to the tight little hole that was pulsing with barely-restrained anticipation.
The kind of whimper Gabriel made in response was inhuman. “Y-Yes…!”
Briar pushed his tongue inside a little, then swirled around the sensitive nerve endings outside, flicking his tongue rapidly back and forth across it. The soapy taste was a bit disconcerting, but so much better than latex.
“P-please…” Gabriel had one hand on his mouth now and was mumbling into his palm. Briar yanked his hand away by the wrist and pinned it to the bed, wanting to hear every damn sound he caused.
Then, Briar circled his tongue around the hole a few more times before pressing his tongue inside just a little—enough to give him the hot, wet, incredibly erotic sensation. He licked a few more times, faster and harder now, then licked all the way up to his balls and lavished them with attention before trailing the tip of his tongue back down to tease so lightly over the hole.
“Briar!” Gabriel cried out, his voice so loud Briar actually had a moment of being afraid security would be called on them one way or another.
Fuck, that meant he was doing something right.
He licked harder a few times, stroking Gabr
iel’s cock lightly in his other palm to provide a mix of stimulation. Then, he pushed the wetness inside with his fingers, sliding deep into Gabriel and rubbing that already-swollen nut-sized prostate just inside him.
“Yes,” Gabriel panted breathlessly, his hips shifting and writhing against the bed. “Yes, please, yes…”
Briar licked and sucked along the shaft of Gabriel’s swollen cock, admiring the sight up close, then sucked the side of the head before pulling back. “How desperate are you?” He had an idea to work out that energy.
Gabriel’s answering groan was a growl of pure, animal need.
“Ride me.” Briar rolled onto his back, licked his palm, and stroked himself to add more lubrication.
Gabriel reached up to the backpack near the head of the unmade bed, unzipped a pocket, and pulled out lube.
“Of course you have it nearby, in case I stopped by.”
Gabriel’s cheeks were burning bright red, and he slapped Briar’s shoulder just hard enough to almost bruise.
“Ow,” Briar complained, but he grinned nonetheless. It was true, then—part of him had hoped Briar would be around, if he wasn’t fucking other guys.
Maybe he felt that same itch under his skin every time they touched—the one that told him to be close in every possible way.
Gabriel squirted some into his palm and ran his hand down Briar’s shaft as he straddled him with wide, braced knees, then lowered his wet, tight hole onto and around his shaft.
Briar gasped at the feeling of impossible tightness around him, milking every inch of him from top to bottom. It was indescribable, and the way Gabriel watched him like he hated him, or loved to hate him, but not hated hated…
Like Briar got under his skin.
Briar’s heart raced. That was the feeling Gabe gave him.
But Gabriel wasn’t wasting time pulling his hips up and down, setting into a quick, heavy series of thrusts of his hips. He shoved himself down and pulled up again, over and over, sliding up and down that shaft while he leaned down and braced his arms over Briar.
Briar bit his neck and sucked, since it was right there and in desperate need of more teasing.
Gabriel grunted and growled, shifting his angle so he could fuck himself hard and fast, and Briar braced his feet on the bed while it shook with the force of each thrust.
“Yes,” Briar caught himself moaning, giving up kissing and rolling his head back as he clutched Gabriel close to him, running his nails up and down Gabriel’s back. “Fucking yes! Fuck me, baby.”
“Working… on it…” Gabriel was already tensing up in quick, almost imperceptible shivers of his muscles, one at a time, all out of order.
He was a twitching, squirming, desperate mess, and Briar couldn’t wait to fill him up with his juices and mark him as his own on some bizarre primal level. But his animal instinct was strong every damn time Gabe was around, let alone when he was deep inside him.
Just when Briar was starting to plateau close to the edge of ecstasy, Gabe’s thrusts slowed, his chest heaving for breath. “You do it.”
Briar pulled out and rolled them over in a quick, rough flip, then flipped Gabriel once again until he was face-down on the bed.
This would let him get deep, hard, and fast.
“Yes!” Gabriel moaned as Briar pushed inside again and grabbed both his shoulders, then started to fuck in and out in a quick, hard, ruthless rhythm.
Watching his cock disappear into Gabriel, watching every little ripple of pleasure through Gabriel’s thighs and back and shoulders and the way he kneaded the bed and thrust back, pushing as hard as he could to help Briar get in deep…
Shit, he’d never, ever seen something as hot.
He was going to come any second now, but Gabriel was going to beat him there. Gabriel was clenching around his length in quick, convulsive movements, and then Gabriel pressed his forehead hard into the bed and pushed up into his cock with a breathless garble of syllables and moans spilling from his lips.
Gabriel clenched hard, making it damn near impossible for Briar not to come that very second from the pure sensitivity of his swelling cock.
“Yes! Briar, yes, I love— Briar, yes…”
The words burned Briar’s ears, cutting straight through all the rest. Those two little words, not repeated any other time.
Just two, but the exact two that were plaguing him.
He pressed his forehead into Gabriel’s shoulder and wrapped his arm around Gabe’s waist, taking another few deep thrusts inside him.
Then he was hit with the same beautiful, blissful blackness burning through every inch of his body, the utter focus on his cock squirting inside Gabriel.
Inside him, like he was his.
But he wasn’t.
Ow. The thought made his chest hurt. Or maybe it was the shortness of breath, the fact that he couldn’t breathe while his hips desperately thrust and ground inside Gabriel to get as deep and hard as he could with each little pulse and squirt from his cock.
“Hnnh! Oh, fuck, that’s hot,” Gabriel breathed, his voice broken and raw as he collapsed on his front on the bed, Briar still inside him.
Briar slowly pulled out, his lips parted as he tried to gasp for breath.
That… that was the fucking hottest thing he’d ever seen.
And it came on the heels of his greatest enemy of the many people with various hate-ons for him—his ex, no less—stealing the guy he wanted from under his nose.
Oh, shit, that hurt to think about.
He scooted slowly back and rubbed his face, then collapsed on his side next to Gabriel for a second, just to catch his breath. “I still think you’re doing a goddamn stupid thing.”
“I don’t have a choice. I’m fucked now, and you know it.”
Reputation-wise, maybe. Three weeks of drunken reveling wasn’t usually enough to destroy anyone’s career, but without a solid track record before those weeks to look back to? He was becoming a liability, and a risk to book, not a surefire bet.
Briar knew it was a mistake, but he opened his mouth anyway. “You shouldn’t have—”
“You made me this.” Gabe’s voice was low and intense, not rough and angry like he’d expected. Maybe he’d been fucked too good for that. “You made me this. You handed me the reins to this… huge thing, this career, this whole new life, and then you left me. You just pop in to see me and fuck me.”
Briar’s heart sank again, perhaps worse than the moment he’d realized what Austin was saying. He curled his fingers tightly around Gabriel’s hip and rubbed. “I didn’t realize.”
“I’ve had people to guide me. Julius, who has to look after, what, four, five of us? Make sure we’re all doing what’s best, not just me. He doesn’t have time to babysit. Vince, who handles the bigger shit. No, the only other people around are Paulo, Jon, Adam, and they’re fucking up their lives and they don’t even see it…”
Gabriel was upset now, his words choked out, and Briar was almost breathless listening to it. Tears stung the corners of his eyes. He kept his hand on Gabriel’s side, still and motionless now, just to be there.
“But they taught me what I could get away with, and I… I ran with it. You saw that I’d go that way, didn’t you?”
Yeah, it had occurred to Briar from the start. He just hadn’t thought through every consequence of it.
“But it suits you. Hans is starting to get my jobs now, isn’t he? Paulo’s taking back his turf. Everyone else is seeing a surge but me. I’m crashing. You can’t bullshit me and tell me it’s a fashion month hangover. I’ve heard what people say. It’s not hard.”
Briar let out a long, slow breath and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He slowly pushed himself to sit up, gazing down at him. “And if you think Austin will be better for you…”
“Not me,” Gabriel emphasized, his voice sharp again. He pushed himself up, too, rolling onto his back and sitting up. “All of our livelihoods.”
What’s in your head? Briar’s gaze flickered between
Gabriel’s eyes. There was something there: Jordan? Austin bad-mouthing him? Fearing just being a hookup? Fearing being more?
There were so many damn layers to the man. The thing that had intrigued him from the first moment of that perfectly composed pout was turning out to be their downfall.
“I’ll support your decision no matter what. I just want to know one thing,” Briar whispered, letting out a slow breath.
“What’s that?”
“Where can I come see you?”
It took a long minute before the meaning of his question sank in; Briar saw the moment Gabriel’s eyes shifted from confusion and thought to fear, then defiance again. Those rich blue eyes were so expressive in these private moments, even if Gabriel’s talent was half the steely expression he was trying—and failing—to put on right now.
Finally, Gabriel settled on a muttered, “I’ll text you.” He averted his gaze, slowly flopping back down.
That sounded like a get out line if he’d heard one—and said one—a thousand times. Briar pulled on his underwear, jeans, shirt. His movements were quick and efficient despite his thoughts being anything but.
They didn’t say anything else as Briar pulled his shoes on, too, and moved for the door.
He had to break the news to Julius, and to their lawyer, see what the contract break clause they’d used was. But even if it was semi-legit, Briar already knew his answer: he wasn’t going to fight this decision.
If you love something, let it go.
He paused in the doorway, the door open as he looked back into the room at the naked Gabriel sprawled across the bed.
God, he could feel the hurt radiating from him, and Briar’s own chest ached.
“Bye,” Gabriel whispered.
This wasn’t really goodbye, unless he suddenly quit modeling and moved away from New York City. Briar knew he was going to run into him in a matter of weeks, if not days.
But it was a different kind of goodbye, and Briar was beginning to feel he wasn’t going to break through the kind of shell that made a man say that after they’d grazed the surface of the truth between them.
“Bye,” Briar answered, his voice low and gravelly. He let the door swing shut, then walked down the hall to the elevator and swiped a hand across his eyes.