Paladin, page 21
“Okay, okay, jeez,” Nico said. “I was just kidding. Felix was playing around, too. Why don’t you ever get all alpha male on him?”
“Felix is married,” Arsen said. “And not currently pawing my boyfriend.”
Felix nodded. “It’s true. I can barely keep up with the three men I have at home.”
“Three?” Ever asked, eyes going wide.
“Mm, Zane and Asa live with us, too. And even though you’re the sweetest, I don’t think you’re quite ready for the big leagues. The sex attic requires Olympian-level experience. You’re still rocking training wheels.”
“Sex attic?” Ever repeated, looking to Arsen as if to confirm whether Felix did indeed have a sex attic.
Arsen didn’t have any idea how to explain to Ever that the twins and their husbands had a very complex relationship that would likely require diagrams and teaching things he wasn’t sure Ever was ready to know.
Luckily, the bell on the counter dinged before Ever could question him further. Arsen glanced towards the front, realizing for the first time that Jericho was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Coe?” Arsen asked.
Felix and Nico exchanged a look, then Felix grimaced. “In his office with the blinds shut. Probably sexting his husband.” He shivered. “Or worse.”
“What’s sexting?” Ever asked.
“I guarantee you Arsen will teach you as soon as you get your own cell phone, buttercup,” Nico said.
Arsen was grateful for the length of his hoodie. It was hard to hide an erection in sweatpants, and the idea of Ever typing out all the dirty things he wanted Arsen to do to him was making him horny.
He wandered to the front of the garage, mentally rolling his eyes when he saw the girl at the counter. Not a girl. A woman. She was at least ten years Arsen’s senior, not that you’d know it from the deeply scooped tank top and barely-there shorts she sported.
She had her strawberry-blonde hair swept into a braid that curled around her shoulder to hang over her cleavage like an arrow, pointing exactly where she wanted people’s eyes to go. She had heavy eye makeup, overly-lined lips, and several poorly done prison tattoos that told the neighborhood all about her gang affiliation.
“Hiya, Arsen,” she purred.
He plastered an overly polite smile onto his face. “Cherry. What’s up?”
She leaned forward, setting her breasts on the counter, then her elbow, propping her chin on her hand, lips pouting as she said, “My car has a flat tire…again.”
Arsen frowned. “Another one? That’s the third one in the last two weeks. Do you live in a construction zone?”
The amount of flat tires the women in this neighborhood got seemed statistically impossible, but maybe not when Arsen considered the amount of renovations happening all over their town. Gentrification was creeping closer every day, with huge development companies coming in and buying up whole city blocks so they could hike up the rent and force people out of homes they’d lived in forever.
Cherry shrugged. “I don’t know how this keeps happening to me,” she said, tone whiny as she swayed her body closer. “Can you fix it?”
Before Arsen could respond, Ever stepped in front of him, leaning his back against Arsen’s chest. Arsen looked down, frowning at the top of Ever’s head—not unhappy to see him but surprised. Ever rarely cared about what was happening in the garage, much less about the customers.
Cherry frowned like she’d found a bug floating in her drink, giving Ever a hard once-over.
“Who are you?” Ever asked bluntly, tone hostile.
“Cherry,” she said, her tone equally malevolent.
“Cherry?” Ever said. “That’s your name?” He leaned harder into Arsen. “Are you dropping off or picking up?”
Her upper lip curled in a sneer. “Dropping off.”
“Where’s your car?” he shot back.
“Who is he?” Cherry snapped, looking at Arsen over Ever’s head. “Does Jericho have another gay brother?” Arsen didn’t speak, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. To Ever, she said, “Who are you?”
“I’m Ever,” he said, taking Arsen’s arms and wrapping them around his waist, then tilting his head.
“That’s your name?” Cherry parroted meanly. “Well, Ever, is it? The adults are talking. Why don’t you go find your brother. Maybe he can help you scrape that gunk off your face. You are a boy, right?”
Okay, that was enough. Arsen opened his mouth to tell her to be nice, but before he could say a thing, Ever hissed at her. Just opened his mouth and…hissed. Like a cat. Like a feral cat.
Cherry jumped back. “What the fuck? Is he special or something?”
Arsen grinned, tipping Ever’s face up then kissing him square on his frowning mouth. “Very,” Arsen murmured, unable to stop himself from kissing him again. Then once more for good measure.
Arsen heard the door open behind him, and then Jericho was leaning against the wall beside him. “What’s up, Cherry? You’re here a lot lately,” he said, tone bored. “Let me guess. Another mysterious flat tire?”
She folded her arms under her breasts. “Yeah,” she said, tone defensive. “I think I ran over a screw or something.”
Jericho stared her down for a long minute. “You said that last week,” he finally said. “But it looked almost like someone had slashed it. Deliberately. With a knife. Seems like someone has a grudge.”
Her gaze floated away from Jericho’s. “What?” she mumbled.
Felix suddenly appeared, leaning over the counter, voice obnoxiously loud. “My brother said, it sounds like someone doesn’t like you. Make any enemies lately? Stick your stubby little fingers in someone else’s pie?”
“What?” she said again, sweeping a nasty look over all of them. “You know what? Never mind. I’ll just take my business somewhere else.”
Felix cupped his face. “Oh, no. Wait. Please, don’t go,” he mocked, deadpan.
She gave him the finger and stormed off, Arsen assumed in the direction of her car.
When she was gone, Jericho shook his head. “Good riddance. That girl is trouble.”
“She’s ugly,” Ever said, voice sullen. “And stupid. And I don’t like her hair. And her boobs are too big.”
Felix snickered, patting Ever’s head. “Easy, killer. You don’t have anything to worry about. Even if your man wasn’t already obsessed with you, he’s been strictly dickly for as long as I’ve known him. The closest I ever saw to him having a crush on a girl was Nala from The Lion King. So, unless Cherry sprouts fur, I think you’re safe.”
Arsen was only half listening. Ever had been jealous. Of Cherry. He’d come to stake his claim.
He spun Ever around and slanted their mouths together, his dick twitching at Ever’s surprised whimper. His lips weren’t just sticky, they tasted like strawberries.
“Okay, you two. Take the show upstairs or I’ll have to start charging the customers extra,” Jericho said around a laugh.
Arsen didn’t break the kiss, just spun them, walking Ever backwards to the stairs before letting him go, smacking his butt gently to prompt him to keep moving. If Ever wanted some reassurance that Arsen only had eyes for him, he’d happily give it.
As soon as the door of the apartment closed behind them, Ever wrapped his arms around his neck and jumped, legs going around his waist like he was a koala. His lips found Arsen’s, whispering, “Fuck me.”
“I—” What was Arsen going to say? No? He’d planned on spending the morning buried inside him anyway. “Yeah, okay,” he said before kissing him once more.
Arsen carried him towards the bedroom, but Ever broke their kiss, shaking his head. “Not there. The other room.” Arsen frowned but opened the door to the computer room. “Not the bed. The chair.”
Arsen huffed a laugh against his mouth, but it quickly died as Ever’s tongue slipped past his lips to tangle with his own. “We can slow down, besenok. We’ve got all day.”
Ever ignored him. As soon as Arsen collapsed into the chair with Ever in his lap, his hands were unzipping Arsen’s hoodie, pushing it out of the way, his head dipping to lick over his nipple. Fuck. Ever knew how quickly that got him going. Not that he wasn’t already hard enough to hammer a nail through a board.
Arsen gripped Ever’s ass dragging him closer to grind their cocks together with a groan. Ever made a happy sound, then moved to give Arsen’s other nipple the same attention.
Arsen’s hands slid up under his shirt, forcing Ever to sit up just long enough to pull it over his head. Ever moaned, rolling their hips together as he sucked a bruise onto Arsen’s neck directly over his pulse. He was marking his territory. Where everybody could see it. Ever was jealous. That shouldn’t have been the turn on it was. He didn’t want Ever to feel insecure, but he did love how much Ever loved him.
He gave a shuddery breath, his hands sliding into Ever’s pants, fingers dipping to tease over his hole. Ever hummed his approval into Arsen’s ear, nibbling at the shell of his ear. “Finger me.”
“Christ. When did you get so demanding?” Arsen teased, stretching to reach the lube that laid on its side behind his subwoofer.
Ever used the time to suck another mark into the skin over his collarbone. “Since some slut named Cherry shoved her boobs in your face.”
Arsen didn’t think this was the time to give Ever a lecture on slut-shaming. When did his sweet boy learn to be so sour? Was this his friends’ doing? Felix could easily have been the culprit. He had a barbed tongue and zero filter. Or maybe Ever had always been this feisty but was just waiting to be comfortable enough to speak his mind.
He was that comfortable with Arsen.
“That’s not very nice,” Arsen admonished playfully, coating his fingers and sliding them between his cheeks until Ever was pushing back, trying to get them where he wanted them.
Arsen made a pained sound as he slipped a finger into the tight heat of Ever’s body. He wanted it to be his throbbing cock. He was aching at the thought of burying himself in that perfect heat.
Ever’s mouth found his, fucking his tongue between his lips as he worked Arsen’s finger deeper. “Another,” he demanded.
Arsen didn’t try to dissuade him, just did as he was told. Ever was in charge—Arsen was just there to serve him. Or service him. Whatever he wanted, really.
When Arsen complied, Ever’s responding hiss was one of pain but, just as quickly as the sound escaped him, he was rocking back, rolling his hips, his hand plunging into Arsen’s sweatpants and wrapping around his cock, stroking it with purpose, making another pleased sound when he found him leaking. “I’m good. Fuck me.”
“Ever…” Arsen said breathlessly.
Ever pulled back, giving him a pouty face, voice sullen. “Please? Haven’t I been good?”
Arsen’s cock twitched at Ever’s pleading. He already had him wrapped around his finger. Arsen was his goddamn slave. Fuck.
Even if it was an act, a role-playing exercise, some newly discovered kink, Arsen was more than happy to give Ever the words he needed to hear. “Yes, baby. You’ve been so good.”
“Better than her?” he asked, riding Arsen’s fingers with abandon.
Arsen groaned, biting Ever’s chin, his neck, his collarbone. “Better than anyone in the whole fucking world.”
Ever suddenly slapped Arsen’s arm. He pulled his fingers free, wiping them on his sweatpants as Ever wiggled from his lap, getting rid of his pants and underwear before cocking an expectant brow at Arsen. He stared for far too long at the naked perfection that was Ever, scars and all.
When Ever gave another impatient sound, Arsen remembered what he was supposed to be doing, hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his sweats. Ever waited just long enough for Arsen to get his pants out of the way before grabbing the lube, slicking Arsen’s cock, and turning away from him.
Arsen frowned, but then Ever was holding his cock still so he could sink down on him, both of them gasping at the intrusion.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” Arsen begged.
“I-I’m not. It-It doesn’t hurt,” he managed. “Feels so…full of you. You’re so…deep like this.”
Arsen gripped Ever’s hips hard, dragging him down even as he drove up into him. “Jesus. You really are trying to kill me.”
Ever whined, rising up then dropping down once, then again, like he was testing whether he could take it or not. Arsen tried to let Ever set the pace, he did. But each time Ever rose up then dropped down, it sent these bolts of pure heat through him until he couldn’t stop himself from holding Ever in place and working up into him.
For his part, Ever didn’t seem to mind. He almost instantly went limp in Arsen’s arms, leaning his head back against his shoulder so that Arsen could hear every breath he drove out of his lungs with each thrust.
It was addictive.
“Fuck. You’re so tight. So hot and wet. You feel so fucking good. So good. You’re doing so good for me.”
Ever whimpered, his cock flushed and leaking, bouncing with every movement.
Arsen grabbed the lube, slicking his hand and wrapping it around Ever’s hard length, jerking him in time with his movements.
“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck,” Ever chanted.
Arsen smiled. It was always so easy to know when Ever was close. His mouth got away from him and he’d start to babble curses. It was still so hot hearing those words come out of that innocent little mouth in that breathy, sweet voice.
Ever took back control then, chasing his own pleasure, fucking up into Arsen’s hand, then dropping back onto his cock. Arsen had to fight to stave off the climax threatening to overtake him.
He wanted Ever to come first. “Are you close?”
“So close. Fuck. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”
Arsen didn’t point out that Ever was the one moving, Ever was the one fucking himself on Arsen’s cock, jerking himself with Arsen’s tightened fist.
“Come on…let me hear you,” Arsen murmured against his ear. “You sound so hot when you’re coming on my cock. Come for me and I’ll fill you up.”
Ever’s breath caught, and then he moaned long and low, his release spilling over Arsen’s fist. He continued to milk him until Ever flinched away, oversensitive.
“My turn,” Arsen said roughly.
He put Ever on his feet, bending him over the bed so he could grab his hips and slam into him again and again. He didn’t think about anything but the heat building in his spine and the pleasure just out of reach. Every thrust had Ever going up on tip-toe, driving these tiny little cries from his lips that drove Arsen crazy.
Ever was so hot, so perfect. All Arsen’s. “You’re mine,” he said. “Just mine.”
His orgasm slammed into him then. He gripped Ever’s hips tight enough to bruise, working into him in tiny, aborted thrusts as he came.
As the post-orgasm high wore off, he blanketed himself over Ever to kiss his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Ever wiggled his butt a little. “Can you just stay inside me?”
Arsen laughed, placing more kisses wherever he could reach. “I’m afraid not.” Ever shivered as Arsen pulled free. He dropped down to the mattress, dragging Ever with him, snuggling him close. “But give me an hour and we can do it again.”
Ever made a sad sound. “Half an hour.”
“Forty-five minutes,” Arsen countered.
Ever huffed out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. Forty-five minutes.”
“I want to start by saying this is a safe space.”
Ever eyed Dr. Jeremiah Jones warily. Jeremiah Jones. It seemed like a fake name, an alias hiding a much cooler identity. If this was a web comic or graphic novel, Dr. Jones would be an undercover superhero. But this wasn’t a book. This was Ever’s reality. And in reality, Dr. Jones was Ever’s new therapist.
Ever had been there for about ten minutes now. He sat on an overstuffed but comfortable purple sofa, knees drawn to his chest. Dr. Jones sat in a tall high-back chair, legs crossed at the ankle. He had frogs on his socks. The thought stuck in Ever’s head, like a song on a loop. Why frogs?
He looked…kind, Ever supposed, but his size alone was imposing. He was tall, well over six feet, and the olive green, probably cashmere cardigan he wore clung to well-muscled arms and a trim waist. He had warm, dark skin and intelligent, whiskey-brown eyes framed by gold-rimmed glasses that would have looked nerdy or awkward on anyone else.
But Jeremiah Jones was a walking contradiction. His sweater and shoes were expensive, but his jeans seemed well-worn, threadbare at the knees, not because it was trendy but because they were well loved. And despite his high and tight hair cut, his put together outfit, and this almost militant feel about him, he had tattoos on the back of both hands and deep scarring on his knuckles.
When he caught Ever staring, he smiled. “I’m a boxer. Well, I was when I was in the Air Force. Now, I’m a therapist, obviously.”
“A boxer turned therapist?” Ever said. Another contradiction. How did one go from beating people half to death for sport to wanting to help them? “Okay.”
Could Ever really afford to judge? His boyfriend had killed two people just in the few weeks they’d been together and his friends had killed far more, but they all treated him like a pet. Like a baby. Something that should annoy Ever—he was an adult, after all—but it didn’t. He liked being babied. He liked getting presents and attention and getting away with pretty much anything. Did that make him a bad person?
Ever continued to study the doctor. He couldn’t gauge the man’s age. It could have been thirty, it could have been forty-five. It was hard to tell. His face was wrinkle-free, but there was a sadness to his eyes that made him seem like an old soul. Ever just wanted to know if he could trust this man. Not that age was a signifier of trustworthiness.
Jericho and Arsen said he could trust Dr. Jones. And he trusted them. So, there he was, sitting on a couch, heart in his throat, waiting to bare his soul to a stranger.
After a moment, he smiled at Ever, then offered him a bowl of candy. Ever took a black-labeled BlowPop, unwrapping it and popping in his mouth, grateful for something to do.
