It was on a Thursday. Like all the days since his birthday, it was pissing it down, and the lock wasn’t working properly. The front door finally gave after ten minutes of swearing and fighting with it, and Aled stumbled into the hall and out of the pouring rain for the last time. He didn’t care if Gabriel suddenly professed an urge to indulge in knifeplay in the middle of the main road—Aled was not going back out in that mess.
“I’m home!” he shouted, tossing his keys into the bowl and stooping to pick up the post. A thick cream-coloured envelope with a red ribbon was in the mix, and he sifted it out with a grin. Wedding invitation. “Gabriel? Did the valuers come?”
“Bedroom!”
Aled headed upstairs with the envelope to find Gabriel changing the sheets. He raised an eyebrow.
“Visitor?”
Originally, Aled had been uncomfortable with the idea of Gabriel bringing his conquests home, but he was trying to shake the habit. Wasn’t like he didn’t know what Gabriel got up to with the likes of Kevin and Greg anyway. But Gabriel usually texted him to let him know what he’d come home to find, so the sight of him fluffing pillows without a customary message threw him for a moment.
“Nah. Just had a laundry day after I got back from visiting Granddad,” Gabriel said. He tossed the last pillow into place and bounced down onto the duvet. “What’s that?”
“Wedding invitation. Did the valuers come round?” Aled asked as he ripped open the envelope.
“Yep. I left the quotes on the kitchen counter. They didn’t mean much to me.”
“Ballpark figures?”
“Between a hundred and ten and a hundred and thirty.”
“Like hell it’d get a hundred and thirty,” Aled muttered, but nodded. “That’ll do. Cover a good high-end flat, that will.”
“You want a flat?”
“Yeah. Unless you—”
“No, just surprised,” Gabriel said. “You know I don’t mind as long as I’ve got somewhere for the bike, and a nice big bed. You’ll just have to gag me more often.”
“How terrible,” Aled drawled. “Hey, check this out. Suze has addressed this to both of us.”
“So?”
“Mr A and Mr G Evans?”
Gabriel snorted. “Like hell. If we ever got hitched, you’d be a Lazarri. My last name is far better. Only decent thing my mum ever gave me.”
Aled snorted with laughter and flipped open the invitation.
Dear Aled and Gabriel,
We would be honoured if you would attend the ceremony and celebration of our marriage, to be held at 13:00 on the 2nd of May at The Grand Sea View, St Ives, Cornwall. Please RSVP confirming your attendance as soon as possible.
Much love,
Tom and Suze
“I’m guessing she wants to collect the replies,” Aled said. “Should I write something nice or abusive?”
“Abusive,” Gabriel said.
“I’ll blame you.”
“That’s fine. She won’t believe you.”
Aled wrinkled his nose.
“Can we have wedding sex?” Gabriel asked, flopping back to sprawl out on the bed.
“I was assuming that was a given.”
“I’ve always wanted to fuck a best man,” Gabriel said dreamily.
“Yeah? Why haven’t you?”
“Never get invited to weddings,” Gabriel replied. “Do you?”
“Occasionally. Work colleagues and their evening dos to prop up numbers, usually. Never been a best man.”
“Have fun.”
“If you don’t mind out, we’ll stuff you in a dress and call you a bridesmaid.”
“Too far,” Gabriel snapped.
Aled winced at the vehement tone. “Sorry.” He dropped the invite onto the bedstand and stooped to kiss Gabriel’s cheek. He was thrown another foul look but mollified it with a proper kiss on the mouth. “Hey. It’s pissing it down outside. Want to cosy up in the conservatory chair with a blanket and read?”
“Rather cosy up in the conservatory chair with a blanket and have sex.”
Aled snorted with laughter. “Well, you might have to persuade me into it. Knackered after too many meetings today.”
“Corporate life getting to you?”
“Corporate life has always gotten to me,” Aled said. He started to work at his tie, eyeing his reflection in the mirror. Even he had to admit that he looked tired. “I didn’t go into marketing because I like selling things to people.”
“I don’t even know what you sell,” Gabriel said.
“Whatever the customer wants us to sell. Usually legal and accountancy services.”
“Sounds thrilling,” Gabriel drawled. “At least selling gym memberships I get to slag off people’s husbands with them.”
“And ogle naked men.”
“Can do that whenever I want,” Gabriel said, pointedly rolling over and propping his chin on his hand to watch Aled take off his shirt. Aled smirked and did a little hip shimmy before unbuckling his belt. So what if it was more of a belly dance than a sexy slide? It was nice to be appreciated sometimes. Aled wasn’t an idiot—he knew full well that he’d caught Gabriel’s attention by being an exciting fuck and held it by being good company otherwise. He’d been the same with his ex-wife, and indeed anybody else who’d ever looked his way. Nobody had ever hit on him for being handsome. He wasn’t physically anything to write home about. But he didn’t have to be, and he proved it by rolling Gabriel over by the shoulders, running both palms flat down that long, sleek belly, and straight into his underwear.
“Make yourself useful, then,” he said.
Aled preferred to get a blow job in a power grab, and to give one with Gabriel chained to the headboard and his legs held painfully wide. But sixty-nining was good too, and he didn’t feel the need to play. His own climax was mild and relatively unimportant. Gabriel’s was a shudder and a sigh and Aled cleaned his tongue off by leaving wet kisses from hip to hairline before stepping away from the bed again and flicking Gabriel’s shirt back down with a lazy movement of the wrist.
“How about that cuddle in the conservatory, then?”
“Mm, okay.”
He took his tablet and sent instructions to commence a house sale to his chosen solicitor while Gabriel made a couple of brews. The rain was drumming on the roof in a hypnotic fashion, and Aled wasn’t too surprised when Gabriel climbed into the chair next to him, draped himself over Aled’s lap in an artful manner and promptly fell asleep. Aled just sat and stroked a bare foot and went flat-shopping online.
The truth was, he didn’t want a flat. Not long term. But the house was increasingly feeling like a relic from a life he didn’t recognise anymore. A time when he’d been someone’s husband, and all their quirks and kinks had been invisible and under the surface. There had never been anything on display, like the locks on the outside of the spare room door or the alarm cord in the bathroom that served as a safeword. Gabriel had been the first to raise the idea of getting their own place, but it had grown on Aled.
But he wanted another flat.
Because the fact was that his best friend was moving away. Suze had been a cornerstone of Aled’s life for as long as he could remember. His home had always been where Suze was. He had keys to her house, and she to his. They’d lived together in university. They’d been on holidays together before he got married. Even when Melissa had been uncomfortable with how close he was to Suze, he’d never listened.
He wasn’t sure that—with Suze going away—he would retain an attachment to Wakefield without her. The only other thing that he breathed for here was Gabriel. And Gabriel—
Even six months ago, Aled would have laughed at the idea of Gabriel moving half the country to stay with him, but it felt less ridiculous now. Maybe he would. Maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe they could work something out, some kind of halfway compromise like Birmingham or Bristol.
But if they had a flat, then they could transfer it into a buy-to-let mortgage and rent it out rather than go thro
ugh the whole rigmarole of selling up and buying again. Get on the rental property ladder and start building up his investments. After all, Aled didn’t want to have to work forever, and Gabriel—much as he was the best thing to walk into Aled’s life since his wife had walked out of it—was not exactly a financially wise option. Mopping floors and scanning key fobs at the gym didn’t pay many bills.
Aled squeezed the foot captured in his hand and smiled at the floorplan of a nice new-build out by the hospital.
A spacious flat for the time being.
They could work on another house some other time.
* * * *
Gabriel materialised in the kitchen halfway through Aled’s prep and took over chopping the tomatoes without a word.
“Hello to you too,” Aled said, and kissed the side of his head as he shifted around to get to the pans. The kitchen really was too small for both of them to work in it, but he liked the closeness when the weather was so dark and foul outside. “Kevin rang while you were napping.”
Gabriel had woken up when Aled had escaped but had simply migrated to the sofa and gone back to sleep. Aled had left him to it and stolen the phone when it started ringing.
“Am I in trouble?”
“Nah. He was going to invite you round for dinner. Judith was making carbonara.”
“Aw, I missed her special carbonara?” Gabriel whined.
“She’ll box some up for you.”
“I’m working tomorrow.”
“I can pick it up on my way home.”
That earned him a fly-by kiss on Gabriel’s way to the fridge for a couple of peppers. Aled leaned up against the oven, stirring the pot occasionally, and caught him on the way back for a proper one.
“I wanted to ask you about Kevin, actually,” Gabriel said, putting the peppers aside but then returning to Aled’s grip.
“Oh?”
“I’ve been wanting to try something for a while now and I wanted to know how you’d feel about doing it with me and Kevin.”
“Definite ‘it.’”
“Double penetration.”
Aled raised his eyebrows. “Of you, I hope.”
Aled wasn’t into taking it. He’d tried a few times with Melissa using toys, and maybe twice with other men, but it just didn’t do anything for him.
“Yeah.”
Aled blew out his cheeks and smoothed his hands down Gabriel’s arms. “Sorry,” he said. “But while I’m totally up for handing you over between us, actually getting involved with your sex with Kevin isn’t something I’m really up for.”
Gabriel sighed, but looped his arms around Aled’s neck and kissed his cheek. “Okay.”
“It’s just a bit too close quarters,” Aled said. “I like him as a person, I trust him with you in that sort of situation, but—the kind of things you like to do together, I wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
Gabriel nodded. “I get it.”
“Maybe if you roped in one of your more vanilla conquests,” Aled offered. “If I’m a little bit more in control of the situation with you and someone more straightforward than Kevin, then maybe we can work something out.”
“Okay,” Gabriel said and sidestepped to get back to the peppers. “I’ve just wanted to try it for a while. It’s just that Kevin does DP sometimes with his other subs, but the guy he partners with for it gives me the creeps. I tapped out of the one scene he was invited to.”
“What was wrong with him?”
“No idea. I just didn’t like him. Judith thinks he’s wonderful but he was a bit…I don’t know. It felt too real with him. Like even when you or Kevin are at your scariest, I know it’s not really real. I’m not really scared. But with him…yeah, it was real fear. So I tapped out. And I mean, he stopped, he stopped the minute I told him to, Kevin didn’t have to step in or anything but yeah, we don’t play. So I talked to Kevin about it but Dave’s the only guy he does that with, so it was a dead end.”
“Fair enough,” Aled said. “I mean, I think Greg’s an idiot but for one night I’d be willing to do it with him.”
“Greg wouldn’t. He’s scared of you.”
Aled blinked. “He’s never seen me.”
“He has. I showed him a picture. He used to work at the security desk in your building. Last year, maybe the year before? He said he saw you once in a slanging match with some other suit and it made his balls crawl up into his body and die.”
Aled burst out laughing. “Fucking hell. That would have been Callahan.”
“Who?”
“Absolute fuckwit who used to run Sales until he got caught stealing office supplies and sacked. I wasn’t the only one who bawled him out in public.” Aled relished the memory. It had been one of the few very pleasant parts of working there—everyone had hated Callahan, so there was no other friction when he was about. He remembered the row, too. He’d only gone toe-to-toe with him once, and his boss’s response had simply been to please refrain from swearing so much on the office floor, now where were they on the new digital campaign strategy.
“Well apparently you were terrifying and Greg refused to get involved to split it up so he got sacked too.”
“I did wonder why nobody stepped in,” Aled said, smirking. “Small world. If I’m so scary, why’s he stayed with you?”
“I showed him some text messages where I outright told you I was shagging him.”
“Fair enough,” Aled said, moving aside as Gabriel added the tomato and peppers to the pan. “Get some salad out to go with this, would you?”
“Sure.”
“So Greg is too scared to get his dick out near me, I’m guessing Chris isn’t going to be up for it and Kevin’s mate is too scary for you.”
“And I’m not doing it with a stranger,” Gabriel finished. “Do you know anyone at your club who would do it?”
“Not anymore,” Aled said. “We’d quickly find someone if we went more regularly, though.”
Gabriel hummed, but didn’t sound too enthusiastic.
“Unless you don’t want to go to the club again?” Aled asked.
“Jury’s still out. It was great, but…I don’t know. I think it’s more I expect there to be problems. You know. Different plumbing and all that.”
“Ah.”
“Guess I need to go hunt around some fetish forums and make a few friends.”
“Not Grindr?”
“Gone off it a bit, to be honest,” Gabriel said. “I’m sick of explaining how I’m a man with tits and a box. I don’t have to bother with you and Greg and Kevin and Chris. And it’s been a long time since I was on the fetish forums, but they were always less bothered.”
“Well, think on it,” Aled said and caught a hip to drag him in and kiss a shoulder. “I will ask that you let me know if you’re going to do it with two other people. You and one newcomer is fine, but you and two on your own is a bit much.”
“It won’t be that way around,” Gabriel said flatly. “I want someone who knows what he’s doing with me.”
Aled laughed and kissed the other shoulder.
“Plenty of them about,” he said. “Think on it. And I’ll do the same. And we’ll see what we can do.”
Chapter Sixteen
Gabriel had spent a sunny weekend cycling in the Cotswolds with Chris, so wasn’t too surprised to get back on Sunday evening to a deluge and road closure that took him the long way home. He was already exhausted from trying to keep up with Chris, and by the time he let himself in, he felt not just like a drowned rat, but one that had been clubbed half to death first.
“Aled!” he shouted. “Can we play?”
Silence. He huffed, checked the key bowl and figured that, despite the car on the drive, Aled had gone out. Probably drinking with Tom and Suze if he’d left the car behind. Great. And Kevin was never available on Sunday evenings and Greg wasn’t the kinky type anyway. Gabriel didn’t want sucking off. He wanted to be compressed, trapped, squeezed. Getting off would be nice, but it wasn’t mandatory.
And
there was nobody around to do it.
He went foraging instead. The takeaway menus were uninspiring. The freezer was empty. But the fridge held baked gold in the form of cake. Boxes upon boxes, all with only one or two slices each. Seven different bakeries were represented there, and Gabriel puzzled over them until he found a fruit slice with white icing like a Christmas cake and figured it out. Wedding cake samples. Obviously Aled had lost the argument about the weekend plans.
He took a slice into the living room and kicked up his feet on the sofa. He wanted a wank but felt too tired to do anything about it. He shrugged out of his clothes but didn’t get any further and moodily munched on the cake as he stared blindly at some random TV show. He couldn’t have named it if he’d been paid.
And the next thing he knew, there was a hand tipping his head back by the chin and a familiar mouth on his own.
“‘Lo.”
“Hello,” Aled said with a chuckle. “Good time in the Cotswolds?”
“Mm.”
“Want anything to eat?”
“Got cake.”
“Anything that counts as real food.”
“Cake is real food,” Gabriel said muzzily, then blinked himself properly awake. He still had half a slice, but it had gone dry and disgusting so he abandoned it on the coffee table. “Where’ve you been?”
“Just walked down to Asda.”
“In the rain?”
“Wasn’t raining when I left,” Aled said.
Gabriel twisted over on the sofa and knelt up on the cushions. Aled was still stooping against the back, leaning on his elbows, and Gabriel nudged his way between them for a close, intimate kiss.
“I want to play,” he whispered.
Aled chuckled. “You always want to play after you’ve seen Chris.”
“I’m exhausted. I wanted to be squeezed up tight until I can hardly breathe, then fucked into a coma.”
“Very romantic,” Aled drawled. “And why should I bother?”
“You can fuck me.”
The Wedding (Starting Over Book 3) Page 12