by Knight,Riley
That was one advantage to doing this with his best friend. He knew Liam, he could tell when he wanted something without needing to be told out loud. So he slipped the button of his jeans free, tugging them down over Liam’s hips, very aware of the closeness of that throbbing cock the entire time.
It aroused him. It turned him on, whether it should or not. No other man ever had, but Liam was.
It took only seconds to tug Liam’s pants off, and his underwear, too, and then his best friend was naked. Naked, that is, except for the tie that he wore around his wrist. Adam’s tie.
It made Adam feel like they were linked somehow, in some very intimate way. Even more intimate than the friendship that they’d had for all this time, which was saying something.
It also made all of this feel that much more natural, in a way that Adam never would have expected. It just felt right to settle on top of Liam, both of them naked, and kiss him as his cock rubbed against his best friend’s.
There was still no talking, and that was perfect. Adam pressed his cock close, straddling Liam’s body, using the weight of gravity to pull him down more firmly against his best friend.
With that, he started to move. He might have worried about if he’d know what to do and how to do it, if he’d been thinking. Instead, he just let his instinct take over.
And yes, he definitely had instincts about this, even if it was a man he was with. Maybe it was just that it was Liam, but his body seemed to know exactly what to do, seeking out the pleasure that was just waiting for him.
The thrusts of his hips matched Liam’s exactly, like this was meant to be. Adam leaned down to kiss his best friend as he rocked against him, as his slick, hot, hard cock rubbed against Liam’s, their bodies moving in perfect rhythm.
“Liam,” Adam said, his voice low and urgent, a tone of desperation that made him barely recognize his own voice. Another hot, eager thrust against Liam’s body and Adam was coming, and for the very first time, it was undoubtedly a man other than himself that had gotten him off.
There was no time for shame, not then. Seconds later, Liam was coming, too, and there was a slippery mess between them that made Adam feel like they were linked together more than ever.
He’d acted like a teenager there, so young and eager that any sort of sexual stimulation was more than welcome. Adam had to think that there wasn’t another person on the planet, not female and certainly not male, who could still make him come that hard just by frotting against each other like that at the age of twenty-four.
It was all Liam, only Liam.
That one word, Liam’s name, stayed the only word that was spoken between them that night. Right there, just like that, with the evidence of their shared pleasure drying on them, Adam fell asleep.
He was warm and comfortable, despite the lack of a proper bed or a blanket. Somehow, that felt fine, because he had Liam there, his familiar scent mixed with the smell of their combined release in a way that was both thrilling and comforting.
Early the next morning, though, before the phone on his alarm could blare and wake even Liam, the notoriously heavy sleeper, Adam was up. Feeling as guilty as a thief, he snuck into the shower, tracked down his clothes, and was long gone before Liam had even so much as twitched an eyelash.
* * *
There hadn’t been a lot of sleep the previous night, and Adam tried to convince himself that was why he was so easily distracted while at work. In reality, it had more to do with the tight and very male body of his best friend, and the confusion that brought up.
It would be easy to decide that what had happened the previous night had been nothing more than temporary insanity, except for one simple fact. Adam wanted to do it again. And that confused him to no end.
Nothing had ever felt like that.
So it was more than lack of sleep distracting him, and deep down, he knew it. Daydreaming about other things that he could do with Liam, wondering how Liam would feel about that as well as about the things that they’d already done, his work held very little interest to him.
There was a lot of it to do, though, and Adam eventually sighed and threw himself in. There were reports to look at, paperwork to sort through, performances to evaluate.
Time after time, though, Adam’s thoughts were drawn back to Liam, to the strange new dynamic that had developed between them. What might have happened if Adam hadn’t crept out of his best friend’s house like a thief in the night?
At about lunch time, Adam’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Working in a bank branch as he was, for privacy reasons he wasn’t supposed to have his phone out, or even on, while at work. And being the top dog at the branch, there was really nowhere that he could go to keep things private. Even if he closed the door to his office, there were big windows so that everyone could see what he was doing.
Well, it was lunch time, anyway. He let his assistant know that he was going out, and the moment he was out of the office, as he always did, he felt a sense of relief fill him, like some oppressive weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.
When he was out, he tugged out his phone. Just as he’d hoped, that subtle vibration had been a text from his best friend, but he hesitated before opening it.
The truth was, he’d run away from this man this morning, and he was a little bit afraid about what Liam would say to him about that.
He should have known better. He’d been friends with Liam for far too long to think that about him. When Adam finally got brave enough to open the text, Liam didn’t even mention how Adam had taken off.
You off tomorrow? Come see me.
To Adam’s embarrassment, but not surprise, he was instantly half hard. The good news, though, was that Liam still wanted to see him, even after what had happened between them.
Nervous as he was about seeing Liam again, Adam knew that he would go. This new thing between them was calling him in a way that was irresistible. Right or wrong, gay or straight or somewhere in between, Adam had to see Liam. He had to know if what had happened between them was just a one time thing.
It probably was, but to Adam’s surprise, he found himself open to more.
Chapter Four
Liam
Liam was absolutely the stupidest man in the entire world.
After all of the years that he’d been half in love with his best friend, why had he fallen down now? He’d said that he would always keep it a secret, sworn that he would keep it to himself, that no one else would ever know.
But Adam had seemed like he was into it, and that was where the fatal mistake had come in. He had to be more careful, or he was going to end up losing Adam completely.
Not that Adam had seemed all that adverse to what had happened. In fact, it had been the straight man on top of him, rubbing against him demandingly, and Liam, though he knew he shouldn’t, found that incredibly hot.
Glancing at the clock, Liam saw that he’d slept until almost lunchtime. He sent Adam that quick text, and when the other man confirmed that he would come over, Liam had to figure out just what he was going to do about the whole situation.
After a quick lunch, Liam sat down with his guitar and some paper and tried to work on the next song for his band. He made some good progress, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about how it had been to work this stuff out with Adam.
Those had been the best songs, in his opinion. Doing it on his own wasn’t the same, but he also had never been able to see doing it with anyone else. Maybe Adam had sold out, but he was still the only one that Liam could write with.
Groaning, Liam put down his pencil and ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. Nothing seemed to be able to get him to stop thinking about Adam, and he still didn’t know what to do about what had happened between them.
For once, the music didn’t help him to figure anything out. He stared down at the paper, and then started to smile. Or maybe, when he thought about it, it had, because the perfect idea came to mind.
The thing to do was to enlist Adam’
s help. No one had ever been able to write a song with Liam, not the way that Adam could. And what better way to show that, no matter what happened between them, they were still friends and that would always be more important than anything else?
Now that he finally had a plan, Liam found that he was able to actually start thinking about something else. Which was a good thing, because he had a band practice later and he would need to be together to deal with that.
Things hadn’t been so good with the band lately. None of the guitarists that he’d brought on board since Adam had left had lasted more than a couple of months. This current one seemed to be no different.
Having decided what to do about Adam made him confident that he could deal with other situations just as well, though, and he was actually smiling as he went off to his practice.
* * *
He wasn’t smiling when he left. Nor was he smiling for the rest of the day, or all of the night.
There wasn’t much to smile about. The meeting with the rest of the band had gone just as horribly as he could have thought. When Liam walked in, they’d all been arguing, and Yolanda, one of Liam’s oldest friends and the bassist of the group, looked particularly upset.
“Just stop it,” she said, glaring at Josh, the guitarist who was so far just as big a disaster as any of the others had been. “It’s never going to happen.”
Yolanda was a tiny woman, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t stand up for herself. Liam had always loved that about her, but he hated that she’d had to while in his band.
It had all been pretty clear. Liam hadn’t even needed to be told what had happened. Josh had hit on Yolanda once again, and once again, she’d turned him down flat.
When everyone had clearly been on her side, Josh had threatened to walk out. Which was a problem, actually, as there was no one to replace him and they had shows lined up next week.
Luckily, the situation had been defused when Liam had told them all about the woman who wanted to represent them. There had been no more talk of leaving then, and even Yolanda had forgotten her grievance in the light of the good news.
Still, it was clearly time to start trying to find another guitarist. It seemed like he was always trying to do that. If only he could convince Adam to come back, but he knew that was a dead end.
Josh had almost left on his own, and Liam had panicked. It was only when he’d heard that the band was going to get a manager that he’d decided to stay, and in retrospect, while it would be inconvenient to have Josh leave, it would be far worse to have him stay. Maybe he should have let him go.
Sighing, Liam dragged himself around in the morning, trying to wake up. By himself, he didn’t want to get out of bed until noon or so. In that way, he’d never really grown up.
But Adam was coming over, and Adam was used to waking up early. Liam wanted to be ready for him, wanted to be through with the vulnerable period there always was just after opening his eyes.
So when Adam arrived, Liam was on the couch, and he had even showered and dressed for the day. He had notes all around him, and his guitar was cradled on his lap.
He lost himself in the song making, and in a way, he knew that he could only do that because he knew that Adam was coming. That broke right through the writer’s block like nothing else.
It got to the point where he didn’t even hear the knock on the door that announced that Adam was there. The first thing he knew about it, he was actually hearing Adam’s amused, impossibly sexy voice.
“Hungry? I brought Chinese.” Liam looked up, and suddenly, he couldn’t keep the grin off of his face. “I will take your guitar from you by force, if I have to.”
There was an edge, though, to Adam’s smile. Some sort of strange restraint. Adam wouldn’t quite meet his eyes.
This was why Liam had never hit on Adam, though he’d wanted to for years and years, since they were both in school together. Somehow he’d known that it would make things awkward, and it had.
Which didn’t make the food unwelcome. It was past lunchtime, and Liam realized that he hadn’t eaten anything yet. So he put his guitar aside and they both piled plates high with food.
The silence between them got more and more awkward, and Liam sighed. What had he done? This had been the person that he was most comfortable with in the world, and it seemed like he’d ruined that.
Neither of them said anything, and the way Adam sat apart from him, stiff and a little removed, Liam figured that his best friend didn’t need to. His body language said all that needed to be said.
After the food was mostly gone, Adam, to Liam’s surprise, did turn to him, green eyes sharp and nervous.
In that moment, Liam had the sense that, whatever Adam said, he wasn’t going to like it.
“Look, about what happened …” Adam’s voice was hesitant, and Liam groaned softly. Shit. No. This couldn’t be happening.
In that moment, Liam acted only to protect their friendship. He had the sense that he knew what Adam was going to say. Something along the lines of, ‘ it can’t happen again.’ That it had been a mistake.
“What happened doesn’t have to mean anything,” Liam spoke quickly. Too quickly. He was nervous, too, just as he could tell that Adam was. Desperate to keep their friendship, he said the only thing that he could think of that he thought might have a chance.
It wasn’t true, of course. It meant something to Liam. It had meant more than anything he’d ever done with anyone before, despite the fact that it had been remarkably tame compared to what Liam did usually.
“What?” Adam asked, and he sounded like he meant it. Liam frowned, and then rushed on. He had picked the path he was on, and he intended to stick to it.
“Well, I mean, what happened, it just … Doesn’t have to mean anything,” Liam said, going for a casual, relaxed voice. Luckily, it was the sort of thing that he was good at, and came fairly naturally. “We can just pretend it never happened.”
More than anything, Liam realized, he wanted Adam to say that he didn’t want that. He wanted Adam to say that he wanted more, that he wanted to be with Liam, but what sort of fairy tale did Liam actually think was going on here?
Realistically speaking, Adam thought he was straight. The way that he’d acted, Liam had to wonder about that, but he also wasn’t here to force Adam into anything. He would hate himself forever if he did that.
“Okay,” Adam said slowly, and for just a split second, Liam was sure that he saw something in those green eyes. Something almost like hurt. But it was gone so quickly, and Liam so badly wanted Adam to feel something for him like that, that he found he had to discount it as wishful thinking. “Then what do you want to do today?”
Time to step in and turn the awkward conversation into one that was easier to deal with. Time to show Adam that their friendship was, had been, and always would be more important to him than anything else.
“Now, we write a song together,” Liam said, and luckily for them both, he just so happened to have another guitar.
Adam was surprised, but he gave in willingly, and Liam had to wonder just how much his best friend missed this while he was busy with his evil, capitalistic, soul sucking job.
The decision he’d made was the right one, Liam knew it. Backing away from Adam before Adam could hurt him was the right call. He was almost positive that Adam had been about to call things off himself.
Still, it stung.
Falling for his straight, gorgeous best friend was probably the worst decision that he’d ever made.
Chapter Five
Adam
Whatever Adam had expected, it wasn’t that.
Liam had been the one to call the whole thing off. Well, the sexual thing, at least, which was still new, and Adam knew logically should really never happen again, but he’d wanted it to.
That was what he’d been there to tell Liam. That he wanted to try more, if Liam wanted to. But Liam had made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to. Maybe it was for the best, anyway. Adam
was so new to this, and he’d never been interested in guys before.
It was probably better to just not get into it.
It had been good to be around Liam, anyway. Just like old times, in a way. From time to time, Adam picked up his guitar and played it, and it felt like a dirty little secret. He could almost picture his mom and dad asking him why he was wasting his time.
When he was with Liam, though, it felt completely natural. They’d worked on a song together, and now and then it had actually felt like Adam would be the one playing it with Liam up on stage.
Being back at work was jarring. He’d always felt a little bit like a square peg trying to go into a round hole when he was at work, and after spending so much time with Liam, that was only more true.
“Adam? Someone wants to open an account.” It was Tracy, his assistant manager, who had rapped lightly on the mostly shut door with her knuckles. Tracy, who was probably hoping Adam would be promoted because she was a shoe in for Adam’s job. That was just how it worked around here.
“So send them to one of the account managers,” Adam said tiredly. He was trying to go through endless spreadsheets, and his lack of focus wasn’t helping at all.
“He specifically asked for you,” Tracy said, her brow furrowed. “Besides, most of the account managers are busy.”
Adam sighed softly. In order to manage his team, he needed to pretty much know what they all did. Which meant that, yes, he did help out when it got busy, though he didn’t technically have to.
Still, in this case? It would be a good distraction, potentially. A distraction that he sorely needed. So he gave a nod.
“Okay. Go ahead and send him in.”
Never, not in a million years, would he have expected Josh to walk in.
Of course he and Josh knew each other. Adam went to all of the band’s performances that he could possibly make it to, and he and Josh had been introduced. While Adam was polite enough to him, though, he couldn’t help but be a little reserved around his replacement.