A Bit of Me (15 page)

Paulie seemed to deflate then. He glanced around before dragging his gaze back to

Xavier’s in a manner that seemed reluctant. “Okay, okay. But…could I kiss you, just once?”

Xavier started to shake his head but Paulie kept talking. “You’re really hot, and I know you aren’t into me. Fine, I accept that. I just want a kiss, that’s all, then I’ll go find someone else to take home and fuck me senseless.”

A ripple of unease washed over Xavier, but whether it was because he’d once been

much like Paulie or for some other reason, he wasn’t sure. But he did feel bad for giving the man any hope at all that they’d hook up, and he really wanted the guy to leave, so if a kiss would accomplish that when words hadn’t, Xavier couldn’t see a problem with it. He

nodded and Paulie flashed him a smile.

“Good—thanks, man.” Paulie licked his lips, then swiped a hand over his mouth as if

he were nervous. He took a sip of his drink, then the next thing Xavier knew, the smaller man was on him, against him, his hands cradling Xavier’s jaws and his red lips crushing www.total-e-bound.com

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Xavier’s. The sweep of tongue surprised him, but not as much as the cool liquid that first seeped then flooded into his mouth.

Xavier’s grunt of surprise was drowned beneath that liquid as he swallowed rapidly.

He was too stunned to do anything else, and he never even noticed the small pills that swirled with the smooth liquor as it slicked down his throat.

“I don’t see him anywhere,” Josh shouted, straining to be heard over the music. Chase missed Nick’s reply, but he saw Adam and Les shake their heads as well. They were making their way towards the bar where Billy was busy serving drinks. Chase still got pissed when he looked at the bubbly blond, even though he knew he had no right. Even if Xavier had been involved with Billy, Chase had no claims on Xavier.

It didn’t matter. Logic wasn’t working in this case. Adam and Les veered off, hollering about checking the dance floor. Josh and Nick kept heading for the bar. Somehow Chase found himself pushing past them, an urgency pinching at his spine. He elbowed his way between two men who were drooling over Billy, giving each of them a chilling look when they started to protest. The two men grumbled but ignored him, which was fine with Chase.

He caught Billy’s eye and waved him over. Billy didn’t look nearly as friendly to him as he had the customers, and Chase was good with that. His stomach was burning and the hairs at the back of his neck were prickling, all warning signs something wasn’t right. Maybe he was just paranoid, maybe it was Billy setting him off—or maybe Xavier was in trouble. Chase needed to find out, and if that meant being nice to Billy, so be it. He hoped the smile he plastered on didn’t make him look psychotic. Billy came over and arched a brow at him.

“What’s going on?” Chase asked, when all he really wanted to ask was,
where’s Xavier?

There was more grumbling then Josh and Nick settled on either side of them. “Where’s Xavier?”

Billy looked at Nick. “He went back in the hall towards the office a few minutes ago.”

Billy glanced at Chase. “Should he be here?”

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“Why not?” Nick countered. “If there’s trouble, I have the feeling Chase will definitely kick some ass, even winged as he is.” Chase blinked when Nick winked at him.
That was
weird.

“Well, yeah,” Billy said in a tone that implied the ‘duh’. “But he might kick it a little too much. And maybe Xavier really just needs to get laid tonight and I’m just freaking over nothing.” Billy frowned and his bottom lip plumped out. “There’s just something familiar about this guy but I can’t quite—” Billy’s mouth snapped shut so quick Chase was surprised he didn’t hurt himself, but it was the look in his eyes that chilled Chase to the bone. “I remember,” Billy muttered, anger chasing fear from his features.

The bubbly blond was moving then, fairly flying over the countertop and forcing Chase and everyone else in his path to move. Then he was running, and Chase was carried on an adrenalin rush as he ran almost atop Billy’s heels.

Chase caught the name ‘Randy’ and something else that sounded like ‘druggie fuck

toy’. He had no trouble at all making out the cursing of the men beside him. They thundered down the hall single file, Chase’s arms and legs pumping a frantic rhythm fuelled by the worry of those around him. He didn’t want to consider that most of it might be his own, not yet at least.

“Office!” Billy’s shouted warning was all that saved the four men from running into one another. Chase managed to stop a couple of inches from ploughing into Billy, and Nick and Josh’s heels actually screeched as they came to quick stops themselves.

Billy grabbed the doorknob and tried to twist. “It’s fucking locked! Xavier! Xavier!”

Billy pounded on the door and rattled the knob. “Fucking—” Billy muttered and shoved his hands in the pockets of his tight jeans. He pulled out a key ring with only a few keys on it.

“Got it!” he shouted as he slid the key in the lock.

Chase didn’t wait for Billy to get the door all the way open before he barrelled past the younger man. If the guy who’d freaked Billy out was still in there, who knew what could happen. Chase figured he was better suited for a dangerous fight than Billy was. The first thing he saw was the open window. A quick glance assured him there was only one person in the room. Chase forgot about the potential danger as his gaze lighted on Xavier at apparently the same time Billy’s did.

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“Xav!” Billy cried. Chase grabbed his arm and barely managed to dodge a punch Billy

threw at him.

“Let me go you fucking asshole!” Billy snarled. “Where’d Paulie go? Did that fucker go out the window? Why aren’t you going after him?”

Chase banded his arms around the blond. “Let the police handle that and let Josh

handle this. He knows what to do. We need to stay out of the way.” His eyes met Josh’s as he hurried past them. He was tempted to try to run down the guy who’d done this, but he was more concerned with Xavier. He didn’t look good at all.

“Call an ambulance, now!” Josh ordered.

“Got it.” Nick’s voice rumbled shortly thereafter as he requested an ambulance.

Chase turned back to look at Xavier, trying to remain calm as he took in the way the man was tied to the chair. That wouldn’t be hard to get him out of, but what had made Chase’s heart stop was the amount of sweat dripping off Xavier, the wild look in his hugely dilated pupils and the strong flush to his skin. Xavier’s chest rose and fell with rapid breaths despite the gag tied around his mouth, and he seemed to twitch all over, as if he was being pricked and poked at.

“Let me go,” Billy demanded, although he’d quit struggling. “I won’t get in the way.”

Chase dragged his gaze back to Billy’s and, seeing what he needed to, he released the younger man. “You’re still an asshole,” Billy muttered as he turned and strode towards Josh and Xavier.

Josh was already by Xavier’s side, brushing a hand over his sweaty brow before tipping his head back and looking in his eyes. “E, I bet. Nick!” Josh began working the knots of the gag, never looking away from Xavier. “Tell them Xavier will probably need some diazepam and dantrolene. He’s burning up! Billy, Chase; start working on getting these ropes off his arms and legs!”

Chase had wondered fleetingly if he should leave, but Josh’s snapped order had him

moving forward. Xavier’s dark eyes looked bottomless, the pupils so wide the brown was indiscernible from the black. Chase couldn’t look away from them if his life depended on it.

He was as caught in those eyes as a rabbit in a snare, and all he could do was stumble the last few steps before dropping to his knees in front of Xavier.

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“The ropes, Chase!”

The steel in Josh’s voice broke the spell Xavier seemed to have over Chase and he

looked down instead at the pale rope biting into the ankles of Xavier’s black leather pants.

His fingers were unaccountably clumsy, at least in Chase’s opinion, as he tried to work the knots free.

Once he had, Chase looked back up into Xavier’s eyes and an emotional tsunami

crashed down upon him. Anger, fear, lust—those were the first of the tidal waves, but there were others that soon followed. All of them were blanketed by a layer of confusion that stole Chase’s voice when Xavier brushed his fingertips across Chase’s cheek.

Chase didn’t know if the heat was from Xavier’s skin temperature or the desire that

consumed him at that point. He had the distinct feeling that seeing Chase on his knees pleased Xavier…and pleasing the other man brought forth a warm, tingling sensation in Chase’s chest.
What the fuck is up with that?

But when Chase would have risen, would have stood and stormed off instead of face

that uncomfortable realisation, the feel of Xavier’s hand slipping around to caress his nape calmed him. It was freaky as hell, but he didn’t have it in him to fight it just then, not when the adrenalin rush was flagging and he felt so tired he wanted nothing more than to rest his head against Xavier’s knee and close his eyes.

Chase found himself leaning forward to do just that when the EMT’s came rushing in.

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Xavier felt like he was burning up from the inside out.
Maybe this is what spontaneous
combustion feels like.
Except as far as he could tell, all of his appendages were still whole and hearty. Then again, he was having a
slight
problem concentrating. He wanted to move, and he found himself oddly disconnected from what was going on. Even Paulie’s taunts and threats hadn’t bothered him much, until Xavier had found himself tied to the damned chair.

But he wasn’t tied to it now, and the man who made him burn hotter than the drugs in his veins was kneeling right
there
and looking up at Xavier as if he were the answer to every prayer the man had ever had.

Xavier had to touch,
had
to. The way Chase’s lids slid almost closed as Xavier touched his stubbled skin made Xavier ache. He couldn’t give less than two shits just then about being drugged or whatever Josh and Billy were going on about. All that mattered was the way Chase responded to him, and how perfect the man looked kneeling at Xavier’s feet.

Xavier just wished he wasn’t stoned, because he couldn’t quite draw those perfectly sculpted features into focus… But, he could…if he could just lean down or pull Chase up enough—if he could feel those lips pressed to his—and if Chase would just…just
let
him…

His thoughts swirled and fractured as people came rushing into the room. Chase bolted backwards so fast he was a blur, or maybe that was just Xavier’s fucked up vision. Xavier tried to stand, intending to reach out to Chase. He didn’t want to lose this opportunity. Chase wasn’t an easy man, but Xavier just knew if he could touch him again, that seductive spell that had woven around them would return.

Determined hands grabbed his biceps, settling him back in the chair. Xavier growled

and cursed; he didn’t know what he was spitting out at the people holding him back and he didn’t care. He just wanted them gone.

“Xav, stop, please—” Billy’s voice sank into him, the fear in it evident even to Xavier. It shut him right up. He was supposed to be taking care of Billy, not scaring the hell out of him.

Xavier quit trying to fight off the hands grabbing at him. His gaze lighted on a slightly blurry www.total-e-bound.com

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Billy before darting around the room. Xavier looked again, blinking rapidly, and came to the same conclusion he had the first time he checked.

Chase was gone.

Chase checked himself in the mirror, running a hand down the silk shirt Josh had lent him. It had some sort of stretchy stuff in it so that it moulded to his body, emphasising his lean torso. Too lean, he thought as he paused at his ribs. He’d lost too much weight, giving him more of a twinkish look than he liked. Fortunately, he still had some tone to his muscles.

Maybe that would offset the dark skin under his eyes.

He debated shaving off the few days’ growth of stubble on his face but finally decided against it. With the hollowness of his cheeks, he’d probably look like a skeleton if he ditched it. Chase fingered the gaudy belt buckle, a bright pink monstrosity with, of all things, dancing penguins on it. If it had been his, he’d have burned it, but the dare in Josh’s eyes when he’d handed it over had been undeniable, and so Chase found himself wearing the damned thing around the waistband of the low-slung skin-tight jeans, also borrowed from Josh.

The only things he was wearing that were his own were his jock and boots. It wasn’t

like he’d arrived with much more than the clothes on his back at the time, and they’d been pretty much ruined after getting his ass kicked. He’d been living in hand-me-downs for a while now, which, while humbling, was unavoidable. Chase just wished someone other than Josh was close to his size. Adam was too thin, or had been. Chase eyed himself in the mirror.

Well, maybe not now, but it was too late to worry about tonight. He had plans, ones that hopefully involved finding one little shit named Paulie and giving him an intimate

introduction to his fist.

He’d got the whole story two nights ago, when Les had caught him before he could flee The Xxchange. After an apology from Les that was uncomfortable for both of them, the cop had started explaining about Xavier’s piece of shit brother and his fuck toy—according to Billy, who hadn’t recognised Paulie right off owing to the makeup the guy was wearing.