Chapter Nine
Owen gripped the cell phone tighter and ground his teeth as he concentrated on the road in front of him. “So why do I have to do this?”
Austin’s voice was a whisper. “I’m in the shed in the backyard of my house right now under the pretense of getting a lightbulb when we don’t even keep the damn lightbulbs here. This is video game night with Marley and I can’t miss it.”
“I’ll call him—”
“He told Marley earlier that he was staying in tonight, but he’s not answering my calls. Now please just go over to Chad’s and find out if he secured a photographer.”
The last thing Owen wanted to do was be alone with Chad. It’d been a long day at the office, and he wasn’t up for the verbal war he waged every time he and Chad were together. “This has to be done tonight?”
“Yes, I think he works tomorrow and I need this done—” There was a scratching sound, like he was covering the receiver, then a muffled voice. “I gotta go. Please, Owen!”
Then the line went dead.
This was fucking ridiculous. This proposal was the bane of his existence, and if he didn’t love Marley, he would have just bagged the whole thing. But he understood why something of this scale was very hard for Austin to plan himself without Marley finding out.
It was Wednesday, so if his schedule remained the same each week, it made sense Chad was home from work.
Owen gripped the steering wheel and signaled to get off the highway in the direction of Chad’s apartment. He tried to ignore the fluttering in his stomach, that nervous feeling, anxiety swarming with anticipation. He wanted to see Chad again, he really did, but he wasn’t going to admit it.
After he pulled into the parking lot of Chad’s apartment complex, he parked and sat in his car for five minutes, listening to the soft sounds of the radio. Last time he was here, he’d been hard, knowing Chad was up in his apartment waiting for him, knowing he was going to get his hands on all that skin.
And now… Well, he wasn’t sure what was waiting for him up there. What if Chad was with another man? Or a woman?
Ugh, this was ridiculous. They’d made no promises to each other. They’d hooked up a couple of times and that was it. Chad clearly had no intentions of being tied down, and no way would he put up with Owen’s boring lifestyle once the honeymoon sex faded. What would they do, sit around and read books together then feed Owen’s fish?
God, the thought of that, of holding down the adventurous, spontaneous Chad, made him cringe. He didn’t want to do that to either of them, have a go at a relationship that seemed so doomed from the start.
So he turned off his car, took a deep breath, and shored up his nerves the best he could, then walked to the door of Chad’s apartment. He knocked and waited.
And waited.
Nothing.
He pressed his ear to the door and heard the sound of music coming from within the apartment. He frowned and jiggled the doorknob, which…turned.
And opened.
It wasn’t locked.
Owen hesitated, thinking maybe he should shut the door and turn around, but the music was definitely coming from inside, and Chad had to be home if it was unlocked, right?
And why the hell hadn’t he locked his door? With a flare of irritation at Chad’s lack of personal safety, he stepped inside, gazing around the apartment, which looked just about the same as it had the last time he was there.
The music played from somewhere down the hall, and another sound was coming from the same direction. After closing the front door behind him, Owen walked slowly down the hallway. “Chad?”
No response, and he realized the other sound was running water from the shower.
He reached the door of a bedroom and peeked in. The music was coming from Chad’s laptop, which sat on a small desk beside his bed. That centaur screen saver was up, and it was an odd contrast to the pounding club music coming from the speakers.
The shower shut off, and Owen’s irritation continued to rise. This was incredibly unsafe. For Chad to be in an unlocked apartment, music blaring, shower on… Anyone could have come inside, stolen his things—hurt him, for God’s sake—and he would have been defenseless.
A shower curtain zinged open, and over the music, Owen heard Chad whistling and singing to himself.
Owen stood fuming in the middle of Chad’s bedroom, amid clothes strewn on the floor around an unmade bed, until the bathroom door opened and steam billowed out.
Chad emerged, a white towel wrapped around his waist, another in his hand, rubbing his damp hair.
And just like that, his fury shot straight to lust…and awe.
Chad was still singing to himself. Until he looked up, spotted Owen, and stopped in his tracks, his hand flying up to his chest. “Holy shit!”
Owen didn’t move, mainly because he didn’t want to step on anything that could be living under the piles of clothes and also because he was rendered speechless at the sight of Chad’s chest, still dripping with water and pinked from the heat of the shower.
Chad blinked at him, hazel eyes wide, hair sticking up in all directions. “O, what the fuck? What are you doing here?” His gaze shifted to the door in confusion. “And how the hell did you get in my apartment?”
That—Chad’s utter disregard for his own well-being—brought Owen to life. “I came over here on a mission from Austin. And you know what I found?” He stalked toward Chad, who stared at him with wide eyes. “I found your door unlocked, your music blaring, and you in the shower!”
Chad blinked. “Uh, okay?”
Owen threw an arm out. “Okay? That’s all you have to say? Anyone could have come in here! Robbed you! Hurt you!” He continued to advance on Chad, who was backing up toward his desk, that club music still pounding out of the speakers. “That’s just like you. Along with your refusal to wear a helmet when you ride that fucking death trap of yours!”
The music stopped, plunging them into silence, and all Owen heard was the drip of the shower and the mingling of their breaths. He’d walked Chad backward until Chad bumped his desk, jostling the laptop, which stopped the music.
Chad was staring at him with a bewildered expression that was slowly turning to anger. “Look,” he spat, shoving on Owen’s shoulders, but Owen planted his feet and refused to budge from his place between Chad’s knees. “I didn’t ask you to come in here and tell me how to run my life. I get that you think I’m an idiot, but I’m not your responsibility—”
“I don’t think you’re an idiot. I think you’re careless with your safety.”
“Oh, come on,” Chad scoffed. “You’re you.” He gestured at Owen’s outfit, his gaze lingering on his bow tie. “And I’m me, and it’s clear we’re never going to see eye to eye on anything, so how about you step back…”
Chad was talking, the words buzzing in his ear, but Owen wasn’t focused on them anymore, because his gaze had drifted over Chad’s shoulder and landed right on the screen of Chad’s laptop. And the background image took his breath away.
He leaned closer to get a better look. And the buzzing stopped. Chad wasn’t talking anymore. He wasn’t moving, either. Then Owen heard a muttered, “Oh, shit.”
The background was an illustrated man. A man who wore nothing but a cape, boots, and a polka-dotted green bow tie. His dick was huge and erect, standing out from a shaved groin. He wore horn-rimmed glasses and he…he looked like Owen. The words below, in matching green font said, “The Dapper Dick.”
No one could have drawn that—made that—except for Chad.
Owen couldn’t move, not when his mind was whirling, piecing together what was in front of him and what sat in the bank of his memory. The centaur screen saver was designed in the same style. Chad. It had all been Chad.
And when Owen shifted his gaze back to the man in front of him, Chad’s eyes were closed, his head bent. The towel had come unknotted at his waist and barely covered his lap.
“Chad,” he said softly.
Chad
didn’t move.
Owen reached out and ran his hand up Chad’s bare thigh and rested it on his exposed hip. “Hey, look at me, will you?”
Chad slowly lifted his head, and those hazel eyes opened, holding a little bit of caution and a little bit of defiance.
Owen knew this conversation could go bad, very bad. Hell, most of their conversations had gone horribly, horribly wrong. But those hadn’t mattered. Not at all, not like Owen understood how much this one meant.
“You drew that,” Owen said. “That superhero is…is…me.”
He waited for scorn, for Chad to scoff and tell him not to be so full of himself. But Chad wasn’t smirking. It took him a minute, but finally, he nodded once. “Yeah, it is.”
Jesus. He’d drawn him. As a fucking superhero. He’d thought about Owen enough that he took the time to create that. “You drew the centaur, too.”
Again, a long pause. “Yeah, I did.”
Owen looked around the bedroom now, taking it in with different eyes. When he’d first walked in, he’d been angry and all he had seen was the mess. But now, he took in the various printed images taped to the wall. They were all in Chad’s style, which Owen could now identify after a long career studying graphics in video games. “Wow. You’re so talented.”
Chad didn’t react for a minute, and then he scoffed, his smirk a little off. “What, surprised there’s more to me than being a flake?”
“I don’t think you’re an idiot, or a flake, or any other word you want to put in my mouth. I think you’re a…” He searched for the word he wanted, but there really wasn’t one to describe Chad, nothing to pin him down, because as he was learning, there were a whole lot of layers to the man in front of him.
Chad was waiting for Owen to say something, so Owen licked his lips and plunged ahead. “You’re incredibly infuriating yet endearing, spontaneous, and often careless of your own well-being.” That earned him an eye roll, but Chad’s face was flushed, his eyes shining. “You’re a lot of things. And whoever reduces you to one word isn’t worth your time.”
…
Chad had spent his whole life being reduced to one word by anyone who wanted to fit him into a box.
But here was Owen, standing in front of him, blue eyes wide behind horn-rimmed glasses, navy blue bow tie around his neck, hand on Chad’s naked hip, telling him that he couldn’t be summed up. That he was more.
Chad hadn’t realized how much he wanted to be more.
He grabbed that blond hair and crushed his lips to Owen’s. With his ass on the edge of the desk, he wrapped his legs around Owen, pulling him into the vee of his thighs. He felt the towel slip away, and then it was Owen’s hard, khaki-covered cock rubbing against Chad’s naked one. It took everything in him not to rut like a maniac.
He slid his lips down Owen’s jaw, his throat, sucking on the skin as he went. Owen was moaning above him, thrusting gently against Chad, and he welcomed it, this side of Owen that he unleashed once he got Chad naked.
Owen pressed forward, so Chad was forced to lie back on his desk. Something crashed and something else fell on the floor and rolled under his bed, but he didn’t care, not when Owen was groaning into his mouth and stroking Chad’s cock.
Okay, well, maybe he minded a little, because something sharp was digging into his ass.
“Bed,” he managed to say despite his brain currently residing somewhere in his dick.
Owen paused, and his breath fanned out along Chad’s neck. “What?”
“I like a cock up my ass, not”—he reached under him and pulled out a blister pack of markers—“a set of fine-print Sharpies.”
Owen stared at him, blinking, then burst into laughter. Chad took that opportunity to get the upper hand. He shoved Owen until he fell onto the bed on his back, still laughing. Chad crawled on top of him and straddled his waist. “Ah, now that’s better. Isn’t my bed comfy?”
Owen eyes were full of humor. “I think I’d be more comfortable naked.”
That rendered Chad speechless for a minute until he threw back his head and roared. “Man, you act all uptight and dry, and then you whip out funnies every once in a while. I dig it.”
Owen smiled. “I’m glad.”
“Good, now get naked.”
He rolled to the side while Owen undressed. He took too long, so Chad had to help, and less than a minute later, they were both sitting in the bed, on their knees, staring at each other. Owen had taken his glasses off, placing them carefully on the desk.
His face looked…different. Younger. His eyes were bluer. His blond lashes more visible. Chad had always felt an insane attraction to the guy, but now he took the time to appreciate Owen was, in fact, a good-looking guy. His skin was pale and spattered with freckles across his shoulders. He wasn’t heavily muscled, but he was slender and toned. Chad especially loved the way several blond strands escaped his slick part and caught in his pale lashes. The guy just did it for him.
Chad kissed Owen, pushing him onto his back so he could climb over him. They took their time now, knowing they were finally coming together in a place that wasn’t public. There was no need to rush, so he focused on the delicate bones of Owen’s collarbone, on his hardened nipples, on his flat stomach and navel.
Owen sucked in a breath and gripped the sheets as Chad traveled down his body to take a taste of the precome dripping from his cock.
Chad stroked him, appreciating the look of that big dick as it popped in and out of his fist. He glanced up at Owen, who had propped himself up on his elbows to gaze down his body. Chad brought his other hand lower, to fondle Owen’s balls. There was a hesitation, then Owen let his legs fall open.
“You ever bottom?” Chad asked. While he preferred to bottom, he was versatile. And right now, he was hard as hell thinking about fucking Owen.
Owen’s chest rose and fell, and then he licked his lips. “Sometimes.”
Chad waited, but Owen didn’t elaborate. Chad bent down and sucked the head of Owen’s dick in his mouth. Owen moaned. Chad pulled off, and their gazes met again. “Would you bottom for me?”
He didn’t know what Owen would say, but he didn’t expect him to smirk a little. “Not surprised you asked, since you top from the bottom anyway.”
“I do not!” Chad protested.
Owen raised his eyebrows.
Chad squinted. “Okay, maybe a little.”
Owen reached down and tugged on Chad’s hair, so he rose up and blanketed the man’s body with his own. Owen pressed a kiss to Chad’s jaw. “Yeah, I want to bottom for you.”
Chad had thought he was hard before, that was nothing compared to now. He let his head drop on Owen’s shoulder, and he moaned as he ground into Owen, rubbing his cock on Owen’s hip. “Fuck, give me a minute.”
Owen didn’t give him that, though, because his hand was sneaking down Chad’s back to cup his ass, and Owen’s hips were thrusting up. Chad rose with a groan and fumbled in the table beside his bed for a condom and lube.
When he retrieved the supplies, he looked down at Owen, who had spread his legs and was slowly stroking his cock. Chad fumbled with the condom. “You’re killing me.”
“Not so uptight now, am I?” Owen said.
Chad laughed. “I like you better when you’re naked.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
Chad coated his fingers with lube and pressed his lips to Owen’s as he massaged Owen’s opening. The man squirmed beneath him, and Chad fucked Owen’s mouth with his tongue in a promise of what was to come. He had two fingers in Owen and brushed once along his prostate when Owen growled. “Come on, already.”
“Hey, don’t rush me.”
Owen growled again, and Chad found himself on his back, Owen above him, lowering himself on Chad’s condom-covered cock. Owen was so hot and so fucking tight, Chad saw stars. “Jesus,” he gasped. “Who’s topping from the bottom now?”
Owen didn’t appear to be listening. Bracing himself with a palm on Chad’s abs, he began to ride him slowly
, head back, eyes closed. Chad smoothed his hands along Owen’s thighs, the fine blond hair soft on his fingers. Owen’s pale chest was flushed, his nipples hard. His mouth was open, red lips wet and swollen. “Fucking beautiful, O,” Chad said.
Owen’s head dropped, and his eyes opened, the blue so crystal clear, Chad swore he’d drown in them. “It’s been so long,” Owen said, his voice hoarse. “Forgot how good this feels.” He hesitated, then added softly on a swirl of his hips, “Or maybe it’s never felt this good.”
Chad sucked in a breath as Owen sped up the pace, his big cock bouncing with every thrust, smearing precome on both of them. Chad reached down and began to stroke Owen, loving how the man’s gaze never left his face. Talking wasn’t possible now, not with Owen’s ass milking Chad’s dick. The only sounds in the room was the increasing slapping of skin, the harsh pants of their breath, the bed squeaking as they tested the limits of the frame.
Chad was in free fall—that was the feeling in his chest, like he’d just jumped off a ledge. He didn’t know where he was landing or what he was jumping for, but the feeling was there nonetheless, this stomach-dropping euphoria. He gritted his teeth as Owen leaned down and sucked on his neck, riding him hard, his hard cocked trapped between the two of them. “Gonna come,” he murmured against Chad’s skin, and Chad couldn’t answer, didn’t even know what to say, because he was going to come, too. And he didn’t want to, because that was hitting bottom and he didn’t know what the hell was there for him. So he clung to Owen—wrapped his arms around the man’s back, raised his knees, and held on as the orgasm hit him like freight train.
He closed his eyes and arched his back as Owen’s muscles squeezed him, as every ounce of his self-preservation was drained from him. When he opened his eyes, Owen was watching him, stroking his cock, still impaled on Chad’s dick. And then he came on a shout, his release hitting Chad on the chest as he worked himself dry.
Owen fell forward, his eyes hazy, and Chad blinked through his own post-orgasm blur.
What had been waiting for him at the bottom? The knowledge that he had fallen for Owen. Fallen in a way that he hadn’t fallen for anyone.
Tied to Trouble (Gamers) Page 9