“What happened in Highton?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” Gage turned Ulric back around; Ulric shrugged him off and headed up the stairs. The last time Gage had seen him that worked up, Ulric had huddled into a ball in the kitchen, stuffing his face with cake. And the look in his eyes that night—he’d been nervous somehow.
Was that related to this?
Gage stopped by his bedroom, where Wilkie lay sprawled on his bed, typing into his phone. “Hey, Wilkes. Tell me about today.”
Wilkie looked over warily. “What’s there to tell?”
“Who did Ulric meet in Highton?”
Wilkie cringed. “You’ll have to ask him.”
That wasn’t fair, either. “You can’t tell me?”
“Nope.” Wilkie mimicked zipping his lips. “I promised Ulric.”
Damnit. Gage growled, needing to solve this. What was Ulric hiding? More than that, he didn’t want Ulric going to bed looking like someone had kicked him in the gut.
So he slipped into Ulric’s bedroom, filling his lungs with that honey oak scent. Ulric had a nice king-sized bed, with a few cartoon duck plushies along one wall, some posters on the other walls, and another of Gage’s shirts tucked halfway under his sheets. When Gage picked it up, he found it crusted over with dried come. A lot of it.
Gage’s instincts rumbled, satisfied. Although, to be honest, he would much rather get Ulric off himself. So he could hear Ulric gasp, so he could feel Ulric shudder in his arms.
He perched on the edge of Ulric’s bed, facing the closed bathroom door. Just waiting. He listened to the sounds of Ulric showering, imagining rivulets of water on Ulric’s skin. The shower spray stopped. There was a bit of silence—probably Ulric drying himself. Gage’s cock thickened at that image.
Then, finally, the door swung open, Ulric with a bath towel wrapped around his waist. He took one look at Gage, sucked in his belly, and slammed the door shut.
Gage’s heart sank. “Hey. Babe.” He hurried over. “You look perfect.”
“Why’re you here?” Ulric’s voice was muffled.
“‘Cuz I want to see if you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
“Need me to hand you some clothes?” Gage asked.
There was a pause. Eventually, Ulric muttered, “Yeah.”
Gage riffled through his closet and found a comfortable shirt and pants. He knocked on the door; Ulric opened it by a crack, took the clothes Gage offered, and shut the door tight.
“You’re beautiful with nothing on,” Gage told him. “Been wanting to see it.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’ll show you how hard I’m getting for you.”
“You shouldn’t,” Ulric grumbled.
“Well, I am. All for you, babe. Want a few inches inside?”
Ulric swore. So Gage pulled down his waistband and let his cock jut up, just waiting.
When Ulric opened the door, shower water dripping off his hair, he froze. His gaze raked heavily down Gage’s front, pausing at his hard length.
Gage pumped it. “See?”
Ulric swallowed, looking uncertain. His lips had pulled into a pout, and he looked like he needed a good kiss. “You could’ve been jerking off to someone else.”
Gage rolled his eyes, taking Ulric’s hand. Then he wrapped that hot fist snug around himself, thrusting hard into Ulric’s fist. “For you, babe. No one else.”
Ulric groaned; the sound went right between Gage’s legs. Gage leaked, his tip dragging wetly against Ulric’s shirt.
For a moment, Ulric looked torn. Then, haltingly, he said, “We could—with the lights off.”
“Yeah?” Gage’s cock grew heavier. “Will you let me take your clothes off?”
Ulric paled.
“In the dark. You can blindfold me if you want.”
“No. Clothes on.”
That was disappointing, but Gage wasn’t going to push it. “Get on the bed. I’ll make you come real hard.”
“Damn it, Gage.” Hunger flickered through Ulric’s gaze; Gage reached down, squeezing Ulric through his pants. He was getting hard, too.
“Look how perfect this is,” Gage murmured, wrapping his hand around Ulric’s tip. “Want to put it inside me?”
Something flashed in Ulric’s gaze, something feral. And Ulric grew rock-hard against his palm. In seconds.
“I shouldn’t,” Ulric breathed, but beneath his words lay a thread of hunger. “I’ll ruin your hole, Gage. I want it so bad.”
Fuck, Gage couldn’t say no to him. “You’ll have to fight me for it.”
Ulric’s pupils dilated; musk billowed off his skin. “You shouldn’t stay,” Ulric rasped. “I—”
“You...?” Gage stroked his entire length, encouraging him.
“I—” A flush crept up Ulric’s throat. “I’ll need your safeword.”
That sounded dangerous. It thrilled Gage. “Yeah?” He murmured, crowding closer, his instincts growling just beneath his skin. “Why?”
“I—” Ulric tensed. “I like it when you hold me down,” he breathed. “When I—When I fight you off and you fuck me anyway.”
Gage’s hole squeezed. “And you want to do that to me?”
Ulric couldn’t meet his eyes. “Yeah. Actually, you should just leave. Please. Right now.”
He looked embarrassed but hungry, and in his eyes, that feral part of him lurked. Gage’s instincts roared. “If you want a fight, I’ll give you a fight.”
“Fuck.” Ulric’s pupils blew wide.
Gage’s throat went dry. He rarely saw this side of Ulric. And he wanted to. He wanted to know everything about Ulric there was to know. And if it helped Ulric forget his discomfort from earlier... “It starts now,” Gage said, shoving his pants off.
Ulric swore, his chest heaving. “Gage, no.”
Gage clambered onto Ulric’s bed, spreading his legs open. And Ulric lunged, he snarled and shoved Gage down against the mattress, grinding his covered bulge against Gage’s ass, his cock pushing an indent into Gage’s cheeks. Gage’s instincts demanded to pin him, to claim Ulric as his own.
“Tell me your safeword,” Ulric panted, pressing Gage’s chest against the bed. “Or you need to fucking leave.”
But Ulric’s desperation kindled Gage’s own need. Ulric wanted a fight—Gage would give him the best one he’d ever had.
“‘Popcorn’,” Gage said. He’d never had a safeword before. “That okay?”
“Popcorn,” Ulric repeated, his breath rushing hot into Gage’s hair. “Say that if you want me to stop.”
He reached down, grasping Gage’s cock roughly, yanking on it. Pleasure burst through Gage’s body; he swore, fucking into Ulric’s fist. And Ulric kicked off his own pants, he slid his tip between Gage’s cheeks, hot and thick. Gage stopped breathing.
He’d felt Ulric’s cock there before, Ulric shoving against his entrance, needing to push inside. Gage hadn’t thought he actually would—until now. He’d never been on this end, he’d never had an alpha inside his body. Ulric’s touch sent heat coursing through his veins.
Gage groaned, muscling Ulric off himself, rolling them over so he pinned Ulric with his own weight. Ulric growled and reached down; Gage shoved his hands away, rubbing their bare cocks together. His skin tingled wherever they touched.
“Try harder, babe,” Gage whispered against his lips. “You want this hole, you’d better fucking work for it.”
Ulric struggled, eyes flashing. Gage smiled and rocked their hips together. Then he straddled Ulric properly and rubbed his balls against Ulric’s cock, before sitting down on it, letting Ulric feel his entrance.
“It’s right here,” Gage murmured.
Ulric lunged; Gage rolled off to give him some leverage. Ulric slammed him back down against the mattress, working his fingers between Gage’s cheeks. Gage’s hole squeezed in anticipation.
Having Ulric hold him down like this—his instincts growled for the upper hand. Briefl
y, Gage remembered another time, when he’d been held down and beaten up by people he couldn’t trust. But that was a long time ago, and he was here with Ulric.
And he trusted this man.
Gage knocked Ulric’s hands away. Ulric grabbed his arms and pinned them above his head, and then he sank a finger into Gage’s hole, dry.
It burned a little. Mostly, what caught Gage’s attention was the feeling of Ulric inside him, Ulric wanting to own him, claim him. With his leg, Gage shoved Ulric’s hand away so his touch slipped out. Ulric’s eyes gleamed; he pushed his finger back inside, swirling it around.
It felt a lot better than Gage expected it to.
“Fuck, you’re so hot inside,” Ulric whispered. Then he pushed another finger in, his musk growing heavy, his cock a thick, damp weight on Gage’s thigh.
Gage throbbed, just having him this close. And he planted his feet on Ulric’s chest, shoving him backward. “That was just a taste, babe.”
He flew at Ulric, pinning him down again. Ulric reached around and grasped Gage’s ass, spreading him open so his hole was completely exposed. Gage leaked onto him. “Not there.”
Ulric reached down; Gage knocked his hand away. But Ulric slipped his other hand back there, and all the warning Gage received was a caress between his cheeks. Then Ulric shoved his fingers in, a rough, demanding burn all the way to his knuckles. Stretched open, Gage swore and clenched.
Ulric found a spot inside. Then he pushed down hard on it, and bliss shot down Gage’s nerves, sending sparks through his vision. Ulric rumbled, pleased. He worked Gage’s prostate, over and over, until pleasure coursed through Gage’s limbs and his precome squirted between them, his balls pulling tight.
“I’m gonna—” Gage lifted himself off Ulric.
Ulric shoved him to the side and pounced, slamming Gage down against the mattress. He grasped Gage’s ass, spreading him, shoving his blunt tip between Gage’s cheeks.
Gage’s instincts snarled. Just as Ulric was about to push inside, Gage heaved him off. “Nope.”
“Gods, Gage.” Ulric growled, prowling back. Gage shoved him off with his feet; Ulric struggled, knocking Gage’s feet to his sides. Then he grasped Gage’s legs and spread them wide, he slammed Gage back down onto the mattress, cramming his tip into Gage’s crack, right against his hole.
“Fuck off,” Gage hissed—just because Ulric liked it.
“Mine,” Ulric growled, snapping his hips, spreading Gage’s cheeks with his sheer width. Gage wasn’t sure how it’d fit inside. His balls pulled tight.
He shoved Ulric off and pinned him, pushing his cock against Ulric’s hole. Ulric thrashed and heaved him off, and now they were fighting for real, Ulric struggling against Gage, his entire body rubbing up against Gage’s front.
“Feel my cock,” Gage whispered, grinding it against Ulric’s thigh. “This is gonna go into you.”
Ulric hissed, heaving him off. And his cock strained between them, heavy and ravenous.
Ulric shouldered Gage into the mattress, ripping Gage’s pants off his legs. Then he shoved Gage’s knees apart, he pushed them so far up, forcing Gage’s spine to arch and his ass to tilt up toward Ulric, his hole exposed.
Ulric groaned, reaching down to pump his cock. This gave Gage an advantage; he rolled out of Ulric’s grip, snatching the lube off the nightstand. Just as he was about to squirt some onto his fingers, Ulric grabbed the tube, squeezing a huge dollop onto his cock. And he smoothed the gel down the length of it, cramming two fingers into Gage’s hole, forcing Gage to open for him.
Ulric found that one spot again—a shower of sparks sizzled through Gage’s body. Gage swore and arched. Ulric jammed his fingers against it, over and over, until Gage’s hole squeezed tight and his cock fucking hurt, and he knew he was about to blow.
Ulric pulled his fingers out, leaving him on the edge. Then he mounted Gage; Gage squirmed out from beneath him, refusing to give this to him easy.
Except Ulric snarled and threw himself bodily on Gage, he pushed his cock between Gage’s thighs and crammed his tip against Gage’s entrance. And Gage knew that Ulric would push in this time.
“‘Popcorn’,” Ulric rasped, his cock leaking onto Gage’s hole. “Say it and get out now, Gage.”
But this was the alpha side of Ulric, the part of Ulric that he kept buried until times like this. Gage flipped him off, shoving Ulric off his back. “Not in a million years.”
He was about to clamber off the mattress when Ulric slammed into him from behind, bringing them both crashing down. And Ulric’s cock pushed thick between Gage’s cheeks, he crammed his blunt tip against Gage’s hole and shoved, and it opened Gage wider than he’d ever been, inches upon thick inches pushing inside, stretching Gage so much that Gage couldn’t breathe.
Fuck, Ulric was big. And he felt even bigger inside.
“Take it,” Ulric snarled, slamming every inch into Gage. Gage roared and arched, his body opening, all his nerves lighting up as his alpha claimed him then and there, Ulric’s cock filling him up so full that he knew no other alpha would ever be enough. Just Ulric.
“Fuck, babe,” Gage rasped, clenching around him.
Ulric panted, his strokes growing uneven, his cock keeping Gage spread as he began to pound in, harder and harder. “‘P-popcorn’,” Ulric hissed, his grip tight on Gage’s hips, his cock growing thicker. “Now.”
“No,” Gage spat. And Ulric cursed, slamming in so hard that he shoved Gage forward on the bed. And he yanked Gage back, plunging every single inch in.
Gage struggled. Ulric weighed him down, his cock pistoning inside Gage, over and over, a demanding thickness that told Gage he belonged to Ulric. And that Ulric wouldn’t let Gage go until he’d been properly fucked.
The longer he plowed into Gage, the closer he urged Gage toward the edge. Gage couldn’t believe he was still hard, he couldn’t believe he had Ulric inside him. And it felt so damn fucking good, Ulric coaxing every single one of Gage’s nerves to sing, so much that his balls pulled tight and he thought he would explode all over Ulric’s bed.
Ulric bit hard into Gage’s shoulder, his strokes turning uneven, desperate. He was close. Then he snarled, thrusting in a final time, slamming Gage against the mattress. Warmth flooded Gage inside—that was Ulric’s pleasure, Ulric’s marking. Gage couldn’t hold back. Pleasure crashed through him in a bright-white wave, arching his spine, ripping his come out of him.
They breathed together for a long moment, Gage holding onto Ulric, pulling Ulric’s arms around himself. That had been the first time he’d let an alpha claim him. It had been Ulric. And Ulric had felt phenomenal.
Gage would feel Ulric’s fucking well into next week, but that only made him happy. He liked wearing Ulric’s marking. They should’ve done this so much sooner.
When the fog in his mind cleared a little and Ulric began to pull away, Gage tugged him back. “I want your knot.”
Ulric sucked in a sharp breath. “But I—” Over his shoulder, Gage found Ulric with his face red, unable to meet Gage’s eyes.
“Knot inside me,” Gage whispered. “Tonight.”
Ulric pushed back inside. Gage groaned, Ulric’s knot stretching him open, growing round and heavy in his body. Gage had never been on this end of a knot, either. But with Ulric, it felt right. Ulric’s knot locked them together, Ulric a solid presence inside him.
Gage sighed in pleasure, burying his face in Ulric’s pillow.
Ulric pressed his forehead against Gage’s shoulder, his voice barely audible as he mumbled, “This shouldn’t have happened.”
“Why not?”
“Because I—You saw me do that.” Ulric dug his fingers into Gage’s waist. “I’m not right in the head.”
Gage brought Ulric’s hand up to his lips, kissing him there. “It’s not the first time we’ve done that.”
“It’s the first time it’s been—” Ulric swallowed “—this violent.”
Gage pushed their hips together, so Ulric’s knot sank deepe
r inside him. “And we both enjoyed it.”
He hadn’t met another person who wanted what Ulric had asked for. If it had happened with anyone else, with no safeword, Gage would’ve been alarmed.
Ulric had been honest with his request, though. And Gage had played along willingly, trusting him. Because he trusted that Ulric would not hurt him, because he trusted that Ulric would’ve stopped if Gage had asked him to.
Ulric eased his hand away from Gage, looking embarrassed. Gage caught his fingers and kissed them again. “You’re fine.”
“I’m—”
“If that’s your kink, then I’ll explore it with you,” Gage murmured. “Here, where it’s safe to. We can talk about it.”
Ulric blushed redder, shoving his face against Gage’s back. “You shouldn’t.”
“I want to.”
“Why are you this nice?” Ulric muttered, looking uneasy. “You don’t have to be.”
“Because.” Gage couldn’t say it. Because you mean more to me than anyone else I’ve dated.
“That isn’t a reason.”
Gage pulled Ulric’s arms snug around him, before tugging the sheets over both of them. “Mind if I sleep here tonight?”
Ulric tensed, his breath rushing out of him. “Why would you want to?”
“Because you’re cozy.” Gage smiled, ignoring all the little voices telling him that this couldn’t possibly last. “Because I’ve been dreaming about sharing your bed for a long while, Muffin.”
Ulric cracked a shaky smile, tightening his arms around Gage. “Fine.”
He didn’t sound convinced, but he was letting Gage stay. And that was a step in the right direction.
24
Gage Finds Out
A few days later, Gage set down some food at the grocery store checkout stand. It wasn’t a lot—the cheapest pork roast he could find, some broccoli, and a bulk container of oats for Wilkie. He’d made sure to total them up twice; he knew he had just enough on his bank balance left for this.
But there was always the possibility that other charges had come up, and that the remaining amount wasn’t what he’d remembered. He bit the inside of his cheek, opening his wallet. Did he want to risk an overdraft fee...?
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