Tied to Trouble (Gamers)

by Megan Erickson

  Fallen in a way that scared the ever-loving shit out of him.

  Owen took the condom off Chad and tossed it in the trash can, then reached over, brushing a lock of hair out of Chad’s eyes. Chad’s chest hurt at the tender look on Owen’s face as he stretched out on the bed beside him. “Hey,” Owen said.

  “Hey,” Chad answered, unable to do anything but whisper. Was this a dream? Because he wasn’t sure anyone had ever looked at him the way Owen was now.

  Owen’s hand had drifted down Chad’s face, stroking his jaw. He poked at the place he’d sucked on Chad’s neck, then his fingers coasted down, tracing Chad’s collarbone, counting his ribs, then gripping his hip, like he was accounting for Chad’s presence, that Chad was really there. Like Chad was his.

  Chad wanted to be Owen’s. He wanted Owen to be his. And that thought freaked him out. So before Owen could open his mouth and say something tender that Chad would inadvertently answer with something dumb that fucked things up, he changed the subject. “I’m going back to school,” he blurted.

  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to erase them, but he couldn’t go back now.

  Owen, to his credit, didn’t seem at all surprised by the topic of post-sex conversation. “For graphic design?”

  Chad nodded.

  “Do you have a degree now?”

  “I have about twelve credits toward a bachelor’s degree, but three of those were because I was sleeping with my econ TA.”

  Owen blinked at him, then thunked his head on Chad’s shoulder and began to laugh. “Why am I surprised anymore by what comes out of your mouth?”

  Chad wasn’t sure he’d ever laughed, other than wryly, about his failed year in college. He was laughing now. “Man, you know me. Can you imagine what I was like at eighteen? I didn’t have the concentration or drive to do anything but drink and get laid.”

  Owen braced his head on a fist, elbow on the bed. “And now?”

  Chad swallowed. “I finally know what I want to do. And I need to do it.”

  “Okay.”

  “I mean, lots of people go to college later in life.”

  Owen paused then swept a thumb across Chad’s jaw. “Are you trying to convince me or you that this is okay?”

  Chad winced. “Both?”

  “I know people in their seventies that have gone to college. You’re, what, twenty-seven? You’re hardly over the hill.”

  Chad was fidgeting with the sheet, twisting it around his fingers. Owen reached over and stilled his hands. “Talk.”

  Chad blew out a breath. “So you think it’s a good thing?”

  “I think it’s great. I’m proud of you. And Marley will be, too. Have you told her?”

  Chad shook his head. “I, uh, kinda just made the decision.” Of course, he’d been thinking on it for a hell of a lot longer than that. The desire to impress this man in bed with him, to maybe see a little bit of pride in those intelligent eyes, had been the last push he needed to take the leap.

  Something beeped, and Owen swore softly under his breath. He rolled off the bed and dug around on his floor for his phone. He was squinting and bumping into things because he didn’t have his glasses on. At one point, he tripped over a pair of jeans. Chad tried not to laugh, but Owen was hilarious, all naked and half blind. Like a newborn fawn.

  “I might not be able to see, but my hearing is perfect, so I know you’re laughing,” Owen muttered as he dug into his pants for his phone.

  Chad laughed harder.

  Owen glanced at his phone. “Oh, did you set up a photographer for the proposal? That’s why I came over here in the first place. Austin is a wreck.”

  Chad folded his hands behind his head, happy to sit and observe a naked Owen in his bedroom. “Yep, my friend Lissa.”

  Owen tapped on his phone, then dropped it onto his pants and climbed into bed. Chad had a fleeting glimpse of a mischievous grin before he was flipped onto his stomach and his ass swatted. Hard.

  Chad yelped and then kept laughing. “What was that for?”

  “That was for laughing at me.”

  He wiggled his ass. “Well, I’m still laughing. What’re you gonna do about it?”

  Owen smacked him again then flopped down on the bed beside him. “Give me about thirty minutes and you’ll see.”

  Chapter Ten

  When Chad opened his eyes, his room was dark. He was a little cold, too, except for his ass. Because two hot hands were spreading his cheeks, and then he felt the rasp of stubble in his crease and then…

  “Oh, fuck,” he groaned into his pillow as his legs were spread and a hot tongue lapped right over his hole.

  He was hard in a fucking instant, because Owen was working him with his lips and teeth and that skilled tongue. Chad had had one person do this to him ever, a trans woman he’d slept with a couple of times before she found “the one.”

  It had been good then, he remembered, but nothing compared to now. Owen wasn’t letting up, spearing into his ass again and again with the tip of his tongue. Chad’s hips jolted against the bed, where his cock was trapped, dragging along the sheet. His vision whited out when a finger joined that tongue, pegging his prostate again and again. He fumbled his hand down his body until he reached his cock, and after a couple of tugs, he was coming, moaning, thrusting his ass back into Owen’s face, and hoping beyond hope that Owen would do this again.

  When he lay limp, legs trembling, that tongue left him, and that finger stroked him gently. A hand came into his line of vision, grabbing a condom out of his table, and Chad did his best to lift onto his knees. He didn’t make it very far, seeing as his muscles felt like liquid. A hand settled on his hip. “Can I?” Owen’s voice said.

  “Hell, yes,” Chad muttered, knowing this would hurt a little because he was sensitive from coming, but not giving a flying fuck, not when Owen had driven him out of his mind with that tongue.

  Owen entered him carefully, but yet he still drove the breath out of Chad’s lungs. He fucked him slowly, gently, building up a rhythm until he was pounding Chad into the mattress. Chad might have felt used if it was anyone else, but not Owen, because Owen was caressing Chad’s back the whole time, whispering in his ear, telling him how good he felt, how hot he looked, how it was amazing they were this good together. Chad didn’t think he could come again, but Owen was hitting the right spot, again and again, so he came, the orgasm rolling through him, reducing him to a trembling mess. And then, right when Owen’s thrusts were at an all-time punishing pace, the other man surged forward, linked his hands with Chad’s as they gripped the sheets, and came.

  Chad curled his fingers around Owen’s, and closed his eyes. Multiple-orgasm-inducing Dapper Dick indeed. He smiled.

  Owen shifted slightly to the side so his weight didn’t crush Chad, and his cock slipped from his body. But he kept their hands linked, squeezing them in response to Chad’s grip. A nose nestled into Chad’s hair. Lips brushed the shell of his ear.

  “Stay till morning,” Chad said for the first time in his life.

  “Okay,” Owen answered.

  …

  Owen stared at the rays of sun creeping across the debris of clothes on Chad’s floor. He spotted his bow tie sticking out from underneath his pants and shirt. His shoes were tossed in the corner haphazardly.

  He waited for the anxiety or the panic or anything that would normally happen if he woke up in a bed other than his own. Naked. With a naked body beside him.

  But this was Chad’s room. He was surrounded by incredible drawings. Chad’s familiar leather jacket hung on a hook on the back of the door. And Chad was beside him, sleeping, his fist curled loosely by his head, his hair askew.

  His long dark lashes fanned out on his cheeks, and his full lips were slightly parted. Owen wondered if he could reach out and touch them, run his fingers down Chad’s spine until he reached that perfect ass.

  And then he thought, fuck it, and did just that. By the time his gaze left where his hand rested on Chad
’s ass and returned to Chad’s face, the other man was awake, those hazel eyes surprisingly alert for a Thursday morning.

  Chad swallowed. “You stayed.”

  Owen felt his brows dip. “I told you I would.”

  “Yeah, but…” Chad raised onto his elbows and rubbed his eyes. “You wouldn’t be the first person to steal out in the middle of the night to avoid an awkward morning after.”

  Owen squeezed Chad’s ass. “Is this awkward?”

  Chad laughed. “I kinda think we did it all in reverse. We’ve had enough awkward situations to last us a lifetime.”

  A lifetime. “So smooth sailing from here?”

  “I guess we deserve it, right?” Chad rolled onto his back and stretched. “Be back in a minute.”

  Chad stood and walked to the bathroom, seemingly unconcerned about his nudity. When he shut the door, Owen blew out a breath and stared at the ceiling.

  When he’d woken Chad up last night with his lips on his ass, he’d been as surprised as Chad. He’d done it once. One time. For Tyler. He didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t his favorite thing to do. But with Chad, he’d wanted that. He’d wanted his mouth on him, claiming him. He wanted Chad squirming beneath him. And he wanted to do it again. He wanted his mouth everywhere on Chad, doing everything he could.

  Last night had been everything he hadn’t expected. Walking in here fired up, only to find Chad was a talented designer. That he had a vulnerability to him and a dream and a past. Chad was far from two-dimensional. He was multifaceted, and Owen wanted to get to know every single part of him.

  So not only did he want more of Chad in bed, he wanted more of Chad out of bed, too.

  And that was the biggest surprise of all.

  When Chad walked out of the bathroom, his hair grooved from his fingers, Owen pointed to the laptop on the desk. “Show me what else you got.”

  Chad stopped in his tracks. “What?”

  Owen sat up and placed a pillow on the headboard so he could recline against it. “Show me what else you’ve drawn. I want to see.”

  Chad didn’t move, his eyes wide.

  Owen threw up his hands. “I had my tongue in your ass last night and you won’t show me your designs?”

  Chad stomped his foot. “Showing you what’s on there”—he pointed to his laptop—“makes me feel more naked than when I’m standing here like this!” His voice rose at the end, and then he clacked his teeth shut, as if he was surprised by his outburst.

  Owen was surprised, too. “Oh, wow. Okay. Well, I appreciate the honesty, then. If you aren’t ready to show me, that’s fine.” And it was. He didn’t want to push Chad.

  But Chad was marching over to his laptop. “Of course I’ll show you. Don’t be stupid. You just surprised me.”

  “In a bad way or good way?” Owen asked as Chad plopped beside him on the bed with his laptop on his lap.

  Chad kept his eyes on his screen as it booted up, but his smile told it all. “Good way.”

  He opened up Dropbox and selected a file labeled “BadAssArt.” Owen laughed at that, and Chad grinned, then slid the laptop onto Owen’s lap so he could check out the files.

  He flipped through them, admiring Chad’s style. It wasn’t all hard edges and angles, but it wasn’t soft, either. He drew realistically yet embellished. He was incredibly talented. “So how did you learn?”

  “Books. Internet forums. Stuff like that.”

  “That’s hard to do.” Owen squinted at a female version of the screen saver centaur.

  “I don’t know. Hands-on experience is best anyway, right? So I played around and figured out how to do stuff.”

  A memory hit Owen, and he looked up. “Hey, that book on your bookshelf. Quark for Dummies.”

  Chad’s cheeks colored.

  Owen twisted at the waist. “That was you, wasn’t it? You put that book in the wrong place. Why did you do that?”

  Chad took his computer back from Owen and shut the lid. “I don’t know, it was stupid, but I didn’t want you to know. Know about me.”

  Owen should have been hurt, but he hadn’t wanted Chad to know much about him at the time, either. He hadn’t even told Chad he knew who he was.

  “So I hid the book when I saw it was you and then went back later and got it.”

  Owen didn’t apologize, because they’d both been assholes when they first met. He watched as Chad placed the laptop on the bedside table. “Well, thanks for showing me now. I really loved looking at your work.” He floundered, wanting to encourage Chad. “So where are you attending?”

  Chad stared out his window. “Uh, well, not sure yet. I need to apply but most likely William Penn.”

  That was their local state school, which was close enough Chad could commute. “I know some faculty there, actually—”

  Chad looked at him askance, then pushed him gently on the shoulder. “What’re ya gonna do, O, huh? Go in there and be like, ‘please don’t fail my boyfriend.’”

  Owen was impressed with himself that he didn’t even flinch at the term “boyfriend.”

  “I wasn’t going to say that.”

  Chad rolled his eyes. “I think I can take care of myself.”

  “I was just trying to help,” Owen muttered.

  Chad’s expression sobered, and his eyes hardened slightly. “Look, I appreciate it. But for real, I can handle school myself. I want to handle it myself. I need you to understand that.”

  Owen swallowed, recognizing this moment for what it was—a time when Chad was actually serious about something. He smiled to show no hard feelings. “Okay, I understand.”

  Chad’s face lightened, and he stood up beside the bed. “So, want some coffee?”

  Owen looked at the clock and groaned. “I need to get to work.”

  Chad’s face fell. “What? Work?”

  “Yeah, that thing that pays my bills?”

  Chad chewed on his lip, and Owen wasn’t so sure he liked the sparkle in his eye. And he was sure when Chad blurted, “Call out.”

  “Chad—”

  “Call out sick. Come on. One day. Spend it here with me. We’ll eat food and watch movies and maybe some porn and do a lot of cuddling and maybe more of that tonguing.” He waggled his eyebrows and somehow, Owen’s dick began to harden.

  No. Bad dick. He had work. But Chad was standing in front of him, looking delicious and so tempting. And…

  Chad leaned a fist on the bed and gently pulled the sheet off Owen’s lap, his tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth. Owen growled with frustration when Chad whooped in triumph. “See? The Dapper Dick likes that idea.”

  “Do not call me that—”

  “Just one little phone call. Have you ever called out of work?”

  “Of course I’ve called out sick before.” Once, when he got poison ivy so bad, his whole face swelled up.

  Chad raised his eyebrows.

  “I don’t make it a habit—”

  “Just once.” Chad was pleading now. “We’ll stay here all day. No one will know. Just me and you, figuring out if we have anything in common other than what we do when we’re naked.”

  Chad could have said a lot of things, a whole lot of things, and Owen still would have gotten up and gotten dressed and arrived at work on time.

  But last night—well, last night, overnight, and again this morning—he’d begun to wonder what it would be like to have Chad in his life for more than just an orgasm. He wasn’t hardwired for casual sex, anyway. Never really had been. And every time Chad smirked at him, every time he made Owen laugh, Owen wanted more of it. Just…more.

  And as Chad crawled onto the bed on all fours and pressed his lips to Owen’s, Owen knew he was going to give in. He was going to call in sick to his beloved job and stay in Chad’s apartment. His boss’s little brother’s apartment. He was going to find out how Chad liked his eggs and what movies he watched and what music made him dance.

  He was going to find out if there was any way the high-flying Chad could find anyth
ing worth keeping in the grounded Owen.

  So when Chad pulled back with a hopeful expression, Owen licked his lips and nodded. “Okay.”

  Chad’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Do you have to look so surprised?”

  “Well, come on, you’re, like, Mr. I Love My Job. You must really want to get laid.”

  Owen cupped Chad’s face, brushing his thumbs along the stubble. “No, I want to get to know you. You, and not what you sound like when you come. I already know that pretty damn well. So, for today, I think we should put a moratorium on orgasms.”

  Chad blinked. “Don’t think you can use big words around me and I won’t know what they mean.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “How long will this moratorium last?” Chad demanded.

  Owen glanced at the clock, which read seven thirty. “Um, until one?”

  Chad followed his gaze to the clock and hung his head. “You gotta be kidding me.”

  “Look, if you—”

  “No, shut up.” Chad placed his hand over Owen’s mouth. Owen licked it. Chad glared, then huffed out a breath. “It’s a good idea. But you gotta put on some fucking pants if I’m making it to one without you fucking me.”

  Owen was instantly hard. “Can you not talk about fucking when we’re trying not to fuck?”

  Chad smiled, and it was a little evil. “I might have to wear a bow tie around today.”

  “Chad!”

  He hopped off the bed, looking all too cheerful for someone with an erection and no hope of getting off any time soon. “So, coffee?”

  Five minutes later, they stood in Chad’s kitchen. Chad wore a pair of sweatpants, and he’d let Owen borrow another pair and a T-shirt.

  And they were holding matching bow tie mugs.

  Owen sipped his coffee and shot Chad a death glare over the rim. “Seriously with these mugs.”

  “They were on sale.”

  “Where do you even find something like this?”

  “By searching bow tie mugs sale in Google. The internet is amazing.”

  Owen ignored that remark. “This is pretty good coffee, by the way.” He’d noticed he had the same coffeemaker as Chad, one with a built-in bean grinder. Chad had actually sung, “Grind it”—to the tune of “Push It”—while the coffee was brewing. Owen had found it endearing.