Gage fell silent, his gaze dragging heavy down Ulric’s body. Then he looked back up, and Ulric expected to see his revulsion.
But all Gage did was step forward, pulling Ulric flush against himself. Ulric’s belly bumped against Gage’s sweaty abs, their chests met when Gage leaned in—it felt like some sort of parody of Gage hugging a pregnant omega, except Ulric was just... fat.
Gage wrapped his arms tightly around Ulric. “You’re fine as you are,” Gage murmured.
“I’m fucking not—”
“Ulric.” Gage shoved his fingers into Ulric’s hair, pulling back to look into his eyes. “You’re really fine.”
That just sounded wrong. “How can you say that when you’re the most—the most damn perfect alpha around?”
Ulric fought against the tightness in his chest, he fought against the burning in his eyes. All the years of being laughed at, all the years of trying to fade into the background—they didn’t explain why Gage Frost was being nice to him.
“Ulric.” Gage cupped his face, their gazes locking together. “Listen. I don’t care about my looks, okay? And I don’t care what you look like. We can be friends.”
Ulric stared. Gage’s words sank in. Gage had said ‘friends’. And that felt like a different sort of gut-punch.
He breathed in deep, thankful that he hadn’t fallen in love with Gage. That would hurt so much more. “Okay. Okay.”
Ulric stepped away, but Gage hauled him in. Then he kissed Ulric on the cheek, a gentle, lingering touch that made Ulric’s heart skip.
“This is us being friends, right?” Gage whispered, kissing Ulric’s cheek again. “We’re good?”
Ulric’s head scorched. He wanted more of Gage’s cheek kisses. And more of his hugs. He didn’t even care that it made him seem desperate. “Yeah. Sure.”
Gage smiled, releasing him. “Are you gonna work out, or shall we continue that movie?”
Ulric tried to focus on Gage’s question. “Movie?”
“From Monday. Remember?”
The one Ulric had stopped watching when Gage had put his hand on Ulric’s cock. Gage had squeezed it and tried to tug on Ulric’s shorts, and Ulric had grown so hard, he’d thought Gage would be repulsed. Instead, Gage had volunteered to suck him off, he’d stared at Ulric’s barely-hidden erection, his gaze roving heavy along it. That memory alone stole Ulric’s breath. “Oh. Yeah, that.”
Gage could never find out how many times Ulric had jerked off to him since that night. It had only been five days, and Ulric’s cock was already sore.
Gage looked oddly at him. “Did you ever finish watching that movie?”
Ulric shook his head. “Did you?”
Gage shook his head, too, his smile rueful. “I was waiting for you so we could finish watching it together.”
Ulric’s heart tumbled. “No more popcorn.”
Gage laughed. “Or I could hold the bowl. If you grab me, that’ll be fair play.”
Ulric gulped. That was too dangerous. He didn’t only want to grab Gage—he wanted to lick him and taste him and milk him for every last drop of his come. And whatever Ulric looked like when he did that... he wasn’t sure he wanted Gage to witness it. “I’ll pass.”
“Fine.” Gage smiled, looking perfect. Ulric melted a little inside. “I’ll shower, and then we’ll continue our movie night.”
“Fine.” Ulric wrapped his discarded shirt around himself, still feeling self-conscious. Movie night sure sounded a lot better than spending hours alone at the gym. And maybe... Ulric might get to cuddle up with Gage, just a little.
That alone was enough to cheer him up.
11
The Better-Than-Sex Cook-off
“Ready?” Gage asked, cracking his knuckles.
“If you are.” O’Neil—Ulric—didn’t look too certain.
They’d discussed this last night. Early this morning, they had gone to the grocery store to get ingredients for their cook-off. They’d just gotten home, and there were still some hours to go before the visit to Phinny’s.
So, it was time for the showdown.
Except O’Neil—Ulric—looked as though he regretted agreeing to this.
Gage sidled over, nudging him gently. “What’re you worried about? The way I see it, I should be more worried about forking over the $200.”
Ulric sighed. “You’ll probably do this a lot better.”
Well, Gage had grown up learning his mom’s ribs recipe. And it was hands-down the best thing ever. He wouldn’t have suggested the bet if he wasn’t confident about winning. “We haven’t started the cook-off yet,” he said to make Ulric feel better. “For all you know, I’ll take one bite of your meat and jizz all over.”
Ulric froze, his eyes growing wide.
“Uh. I didn’t mean it that way.” Really, Gage hadn’t. “Although I did bet that this was going to be better than the best sex you’ve ever had.”
“You did.” Ulric cracked a smile. “Promise?”
“Promise.” Gage nudged him harder. “But c’mon, I’m sure your ribs are good, too. Make them good. Make me come.”
Ulric flushed a vibrant red, but he growled, “Fine.”
That thrilled Gage in a way he couldn’t explain. He knew Ulric wanted him on some level. He felt the lingering electricity between them. He wasn’t sure he wanted to reciprocate; it was dangerous.
But this friendship between them—it was nice. Last night, they’d sat together on the couch, and Ulric had cozied up against Gage’s side.
They could still be friends, right? If Gage did him a few small favors here and there? Maybe sucked his cock a few times?
As long as he stopped Ulric from doing crazy things like fall in love?
He set his ribs in a pot, added some garlic, onion, and bay leaves, and covered the ribs with water. While he brought that to a boil, Gage toasted some peppers, before soaking them in some water so their skins would peel off more easily.
Then, since the ribs had to simmer for a while, Gage stole across the kitchen to spy on Ulric’s prep. He found Ulric at the kitchen island, tenting some foil over his ribs.
“That’s basically it,” Ulric said. “Steak seasoning, and then I throw BBQ sauce on at the end.”
Gage rumbled, imagining that taste. “Sounds good to me.”
Ulric cheered up. He stuck the pan into the oven, before peeking at the rest of the ingredients Gage had laid out. “Yours looks complex.”
“Sometimes you need extra work for something to taste damn fucking good.” Gage winked.
“Sage advice for basically everything in the world,” Ulric said.
“Exactly.”
There wasn’t much else to do but wait while the meat cooked, so Gage opened the fridge, looking for a snack.
“Celery?” Ulric made a face when Gage pulled out the celery bundle—he hadn’t touched the vegetable at all since Gage brought it home from the store.
“It’s pretty good.” Gage broke off a couple of stalks, rinsed them, and sliced them into sticks. “Want one?”
Ulric looked at the celery like it had grown tentacles. “It’s awful.”
“It’s good for you.” Gage took a bite. “Have you tried it recently?”
“No. I just remember being forced to eat them when I was a kid.”
“Try it.” Gage waved the celery sticks at him.
“That’s too much.” Ulric looked positively ill.
“Half?” Gage bit off part of a stick. Ulric seemed to waver, so Gage bit off more, and held it out. “One bite?”
Ulric reached for it, looking as though the celery might grow teeth and bite him. But their fingers brushed, and a jolt of something whispered up Gage’s spine. Ulric sucked in a quick breath. Had he felt it, too?
“Eat it,” Gage murmured.
Ulric rolled his eyes. “You sound like you’re trying to tempt me into sin.”
Gage laughed, rolling his hips. “Yeah, baby. Eat my celery stick. Imagine if someone said that in bed.”
“Tolerable?” Gage asked.
Ulric looked at the floor, his mouth working. Was he... feeling it up with his tongue? A blush rose up Ulric’s neck. Then he chewed and swallowed. “It’s... okay, I guess.”
“Here, try another one. You might acquire a taste for it.” Gage waved a full stick at him.
“Still too much.” But Ulric looked slightly more convinced now. So Gage bit off half the stick, and handed it over.
Ulric still made a face as he ate it, but he was eating the thing. That was an improvement. Gage bit into his remaining stick, blinking when Ulric reached for that, too. Ulric hadn’t even finished his previous stick. “Here, I’ll get you more.”
Ulric seemed agreeable to that, all the way until Gage sliced them into bite-sized pieces. Ulric made a face, turning away. “No, I’ve had enough.”
“But these are tiny.” Gage was confused. “No commitment at all.”
“Nope. Enough.” Ulric bit into the sticks Gage had handed him—he ate them from the sliced ends first, crunching through them all the way to where Gage had left teeth marks in the celery. There, he paused. Their eyes met.
“Why’re you watching me?” Ulric asked.
Gage shrugged. “Just... making sure that you’re eating your veggies.”
Ulric scowled. “I’m eating them. You don’t have to watch.”
Then he stepped out of the kitchen, and it was odd that he was being defensive now.
Gage crept after Ulric, peeking around him. He found Ulric with that half-eaten celery, except he was touching the end with Gage’s teethmarks, a tiny smile on his face.
Gage froze. Oh. “You’re not falling for me, right?” he blurted.
The celery shot out of Ulric’s mouth. “What?”
“This... This thing.” Gage wriggled his finger between them both. “We’re friends. That’s it.”
“Yeah.” Ulric darted after the celery on the floor, his ears turning pink. “I just, uh.”
“It’ll pass,” Gage said. He’d had friends and girlfriends who’d had crushes on him, and he knew how things would inevitably play out. Gage always ended things before they could get too serious.
Ulric had a crush on Gage—Gage knew that. And he also felt like he was maybe taking advantage of Ulric’s generosity and feelings and everything, except... he couldn’t bring himself to step away. It wasn’t so often that Gage found someone his gut wanted to trust.
Ulric’s blushing smiles looked really good on him. He was so quietly eager to be around Gage, and Gage... hadn’t had a best friend in a long time.
That was probably why he was being this affectionate around Ulric. It wouldn’t last, though. Maybe we can pretend to be really good friends. I just need to remember that it’ll end at some point.
“Hey, let’s do something together,” Gage said.
Ulric gave him an odd look as he headed back into the kitchen. “What?”
“I don’t know. There’s still a while to go before the ribs are done.” Gage watched as Ulric rinsed off his fallen bite of celery. This time, Ulric crunched up the celery and swallowed it, and he ate the other stick he’d taken from Gage.
It would be a really odd game, getting Ulric to eat his veggies. It seemed that all Gage had to do was take a bite out of anything, and give the rest to him. But Gage wasn’t in the mood for more snacks right now.
“I know,” he said. He waited until Ulric had swallowed the last of his celery. Then he pounced, shoving Ulric bodily against the island counter.
Ulric tensed; Gage dug his fingers hard into Ulric’s ribs and tickled. Ulric froze up even more; he looked like he was struggling real hard not to react, he looked like he was on the verge of breaking out into squeals.
So Gage cheated and kissed his cheek. Ulric snorted and broke, and Gage felt the tremble of his body, he felt Ulric dissolving into helpless laughter, even as he smacked Gage’s hands away, hard. That hurt a little. But it wasn’t enough to stop Gage from returning, tickling him again.
Ulric doubled over, his face crashing against Gage’s chest, his arms going up to try and defend himself. So Gage tried harder. The worst of his tickles.
“Quit it,” Ulric gasped between his laughter, his eyes flashing, his teeth bared in a snarl. Then he reared up and shoved back at Gage, and Gage’s back hit the opposite counter.
Ulric lunged, digging his fingers into Gage’s ribs, hard enough to bruise. Gage wasn’t ticklish. But because he wasn’t distracted, he saw the sudden ferocity in Ulric’s eyes. The dangerous gleam, the part of him that was alpha, through and through.
Gage’s instincts lit up that threat. He planted his hands on Ulric’s chest and heaved him off, and then he followed Ulric, punching him lightly in the jaw. Enough just to offend, not enough to hurt.
Ulric snarled, swinging his fist. Gage barely blocked it—there was power behind that strike. It would’ve hurt pretty bad. Except that only raised the stakes.
Gage gave a sharp smile. “Try harder, Ulric.”
12
The Other Side of Ulric
Gage yanked Ulric closer and caught him in a headlock; Ulric moved. Gage felt his balance slip; he tumbled forward, falling flat onto his back. The shock jarred his entire body. But the surprise and approval he felt—that was something Gage didn’t come across so often.
He hadn’t known that Ulric O’Neil could throw him onto his back that easily.
“No more tickles,” Ulric growled, his eyes narrowed.
Gone was the easygoing shyness. Gone was the part of Ulric that blushed and yielded. Gage had glimpsed this side of him a few times before, but it was out in the open now, a creature that Gage wanted to tame. He wanted this side of Ulric to yield to him. Because.
“I can’t promise no tickles.” Gage rolled onto his feet, rounding the island counter. “You’ll have to fight me for it.” He stepped out of the kitchen, crooking his finger at Ulric.
Ulric followed him, ferociousness rippling off his skin, all alpha threat. Gage knew there were omegas out there who would drop their pants, if they saw Ulric like this.
How much hotter could Ulric get? Could this alpha... burn off Gage’s pants?
Gage hadn’t gotten far when Ulric lunged. Gage barely managed to twist around; Ulric slammed him into the wall, knocking the breath out of his lungs. Gage’s instincts roared at him to get the upper hand.
“Playing rough, huh?” Gage growled.
“I’m gonna win this,” Ulric hissed, shoving their abdomens together, his breath falling hot on Gage’s lips.
“Prove it.”
Beneath the softness of Ulric’s body, he was warm, strong. Gage grabbed Ulric’s arm and flipped them around, crushing Ulric against the wall. Ulric’s breath rushed out of him; his eyes darkened.
He raised his fist to punch Gage; Gage blocked it and punched him back. Ulric snarled, shoving Gage backward. Gage stumbled; Ulric shoved him again so he lost his balance and fell. He hit the floor, pain jolting through his bones. Gage barely had time to roll over—he needed to get his feet under him.
Except Ulric barreled into his back and slammed him flat against the floor, and he sat down hard on Gage’s ass, one hand pinning Gage’s shoulders down, the other locking Gage’s arm behind his back.
“I win,” Ulric whispered.
And, with his weight firmly planted on Gage’s ass, Ulric rolled his hips—a slow, heavy slide of fabric on fabric. But not only that. There was something distinctly hard between them, something thick and long, that pushed an indent into Gage’s asscheek.
Gage knew what it was. He knew what it smelled like. And he knew Ulric wanted to thrust it inside him. Probably every single inch of it.
“Fuck,” Ulric hissed, sitting back so his cock no longer rubbed up against Gage. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to do that.”
But his voice was husky; Gage could smell the musk rolling off him now.
Gage owed him a favor. And this... he wouldn’t mind it.
Ulric made to leave—Gage caught his wrist. Ulric paused, his stare burning.
“Whatever you want to do, do it,” Gage murmured.
Ulric didn’t answer for a long moment. “What?”
“I’m open to trying it,” Gage said, meeting Ulric’s gaze over his shoulder. “As long as you keep it outside my clothes. I don’t care if you use me to get off. Jizz all over me. You won.”
Ulric swallowed loudly, his chest heaving. For the longest moment, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Gage. He glanced down at his own spread legs, and the thick bulge that strained behind his pants. His neck flushed.
“I can’t,” Ulric choked.
“Yes, you can.” Gage rolled his own hips—just slightly, since it wasn’t easy with Ulric’s weight on him. “Put your cock on me.”
Ulric went so still, Gage didn’t think he even breathed. “What’s in this for you?”
“I’m helping you out.”
“I don’t need help,” Ulric growled.
“Think of it as a prize.”
“You’d let me—” Ulric bit his words off. “As a prize?”
He was retreating behind his politeness and his mild manners, and as adorable as it was, Gage wanted to see that other side of him again.
He pushed himself up, arching his spine as far as it would go. “Look, this is the only chance you’ll get,” Gage offered. “To rut against me. Wherever you want. You can even take my pants off. Leave my boxers on.”
Ulric’s breath rushed out of him. “You can’t be serious.”
“Get off me. I’ll show you.”
Slowly, disbelievingly, Ulric leaned his weight to the side, freeing Gage. Gage unbuckled his belt. Shoved down his pants. They caught on his boxers, dragging them partway down his ass. Ulric gulped.
Gage let him look. Ulric’s admiration felt nice, actually. Gage pulled his pants down further; this tugged his boxers completely off his ass. Ulric’s stare scorched.
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