Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (59 page)

Rylan grunted and dropped his chin to his chest. “Argh, don’t

remind me. I’m pushing forty now. Don’t wanna fucking talk about

being over forty.”

“You’ll still be hot,” Gage growled, moving his body between

Rylan’s thighs, his naked, half-hard cock rubbing erotically against

Rylan’s leg. “You don’t like my cupcake decorating skills?” he

suddenly asked.

“Oh no, they’re really great… for a five-year-old.”

Gage smirked and wrapped his fingers around Rylan’s right wrist,

moving the man’s hand until it was between them then forcing his

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fingers open, revealing the key card. “It matches the card, though,

right? Ingenious idea if I do say so myself.”

“Only if there’s some hidden meaning behind it,” Rylan answered,

not meeting Gage’s eyes. He knew if he looked at Gage, his eyes

would just show too much, something Gage was always telling him.

His eyes made him an open book and at that moment, he just wanted

to close that book and stuff it back in the pile. “So… you um… wanna

jump back in the tub? Might still be warm…”

“I love you, Rylan.”

Rylan’s breath hitched in his throat. He kept his head tucked to his

chest, struggling to control the excessive beating of his heart. Of

course Gage loved him. They’d been best friends for years, had each

other’s backs, fucked each other on a regular basis so of course that

meant they had strong feelings for one another, but that did not mean

Gage loved Rylan the way Rylan loved him. Taking an extra moment

to get his breathing under control, Rylan concentrated on shoving

away the fleeting rush of hope that Gage might actually be
in love

with him and struggled to say something, anything, back to Gage.

“Yeah… um, me too,” he mumbled, picking at a loose thread on

his briefs.

Gage’s finger pressed under Rylan’s chin, tugging his head up so

their eyes met. “That’s all you got?
Me, too
?”

“What?” Rylan asked, pulling his chin from Gage’s fingers.

Gage made a low grunting sound deep in his throat. “I told you I

love you. Do you know how fucking hard that is to say when you’re

not sure if you’ll sound like a whiny teenage girl or a big, sappy

pussy?”

Rylan couldn’t contain his smirk as he saw the look of disbelief on

Gage’s face. Gage didn’t get frustrated… ever… but right now, Rylan

would swear that’s exactly what he was.

“Why do you think I’ve been getting guys that were your type

lately and not mine?”

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“What?” Rylan repeated, startled by Gage’s words, the smug

smile leaving his face. “My type?”

Gage shook his head and took a step back, Rylan’s knees

squeezing to keep him right where he was. “Yeah, and I haven’t

touched another guy in months.”

“Months?”

“Chicago.”

“Chicago?”

“Damn it, Ry. Have you suddenly gone brain dead and can’t string

more than one word together?”

Rylan swallowed purposefully then attempted to clear his throat of

the rather large heart that was lodged there. “What about Chicago?”

“That’s the last time I fucked anyone besides you,” Gage hissed,

crossing his arms over his chest. “The last time I even touched another

guy in… that way.”

Rylan tilted his head in thought. “But Chicago was two… three

months ago?”

“Eleven weeks and three days of watching you with other guys,”

Gage hissed again, attempting to pull away again.

Rylan snickered and wrapped his feet around the backs of Gage’s

thighs, pulling him forward so he tipped right into his arms. He

wrapped himself around Gage and squeezed, realizing he finally had

the upper hand. That happened so rarely when it came to the two of

them that his brain had taken a few moments to catch up, and as was

the case when Gage got one up on him, Rylan intended to milk it for

all it was worth.

“Ahh, that’s so sweet,” he cooed in Gage’s ear. “You’ve abstained

for that long… just for me?”

Gage snorted. “Well, there hasn’t been that many guys and I

wouldn’t actually say I abstained,” he said, maintaining his stiff-as-

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 347

fuck posture. “I did you at least a few times during that sad,

depressing period of my life.”

Rylan snickered again when Gage turned his head and grinned at

him. “You bastard!” he hissed. “You just fucking played me!”

Gage laughed and wrapped an arm around Rylan’s neck. “Not

completely. But, man, you totally thought I was all offended that you

hadn’t noticed.”

“Fucker,” Rylan growled. He pressed their mouths together,

nipping lightly at Gage’s bottom lip.

“Whoa!” Gage warned. “No more biting. I may need those lips

later.

“There’s no may about it,” Rylan said. “You think you’re getting

away with just getting me a fucking cupcake for such a devastatingly

painful birthday?”

“A special cupcake… your
favorite
cupcake actually,” Gage

corrected. “And no, that’s not all I got you, Mr. Spoiled-As-Fuck.

Now if you let me go, I’ll get your real gift.”

Rylan smiled and dug his heels harder into the back of Gage’s

legs. “Maybe I just want you to suck me off for my birthday?” He

lifted his hips and ground his crotch against Gage’s hardness.

“Why settle for something you’re gonna get anyhow?” Gage

teased, lapping across Rylan’s lips then sticking his tongue in the

dimple in Rylan’s chin. “Now, let go.”

Rylan squirmed away from Gage’s obvious ploy to distract him.

That damn dimple was just too fucking sensitive. Releasing Gage, he

leaned back into the mirror again and picked up the cupcake beside

him. He licked across the pink heart, the exquisite sugary flavor

stunning his tastebuds and making him groan out loud.

“You haven’t started that sucking thing without me, have you?”

Gage chuckled from the other room.

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“I wish,” Rylan said, taking another swipe at the icing. “Fuck, this

thing is better than sex.”

“Should I be offended?” Gage asked coming back into the

bathroom, a brown paper bag clutched in his hand. “Is that what

happens when you get to forty? You replace sex with sugar?”

“Fuck you!” Rylan returned, using a finger to snag some more

icing. “And I’m not forty!” He held his finger out to Gage, waggling it

back and forth. “You taste this and you’ll know exactly what I mean.”

Gage scrunched up his nose. “Too sweet for me. Don’t you

remember making me lick that shit off you? I was sick for the rest of

the day, man.”

Rylan chuckled. “Then why the hell would you buy it?”

“You love ‘em. I love you. Simple as that.” Gage stood a foot

away from Rylan, arms crossed over his bare chest, bag still clenched

in his hand, the look on his face almost a dare.

“That’s the second time you said that.” Rylan could feel his face

redden. What the fuck? He didn’t blush. He was thirty-five years old,

not some lovesick teenager. “What’s going on with you?”

Gage shrugged and tossed the bag at Rylan, moving to stand

beside him at the counter. “It’s not that big a deal.” Rylan frowned. “I

mean… it’s just kind of a given anyhow, isn’t it? But you’ve been

acting weird so I thought you might like to hear it.” He shrugged

again and dipped his head.

Rylan studied the naked blond man, heart beating wildly in his

chest, his face still flush with excitement. “How do you do that?”

“What?” Gage asked, lifting his head.

“Know what I need….”

“Ah, man. Don’t make it into some sappy thing. We’ve been

together what… six years in the band?”

Rylan added the years in his head, then nodded.

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“And fucking around, like, five of those?”

Another nod.

“So that’s almost a fucking marriage, Ry. And now I’m gonna

make it official.” Gage grinned wide, head dipping, motioning for a

stunned Rylan to open the bag in his hands.

The rough paper bag seemed to burn in Rylan’s fingers. His heart

pounded deafeningly in his ears, his throat went Sahara-dry and he

broke out into tiny pinpricks of sweat along his hairline. “That’s not…

I don’t know what… this isn’t what….”

“Just open the bag, Ry,” Gage coaxed, laying a callused hand on

Rylan’s shoulder, thumb rubbing gently over his collarbone. “I’m not

trying to freak you out. You’re just freaking yourself out, man.”

Rylan’s hands shook ever so slightly as he unscrunched the top of

the paper bag then reached inside.

“Nice wrapping, huh?” Gage teased. “Only the best for my man.”

Rylan tried to squeeze out a legitimate smile but failed miserably

as his fingers sought the contents of the bag. He touched something

soft, not what he expected to find at all, his lungs finally unlocking in

his chest. Whatever it was, it was not a little blue or black or what-the-

fuck-ever colored box that he’d expected… and maybe feared.

Wrapping his fingers around the object, he pulled it from the bag

and was instantly smiling. “What the fuck is this? Bracelet?”

Gage laughed and moved between Rylan’s thighs. “Dude, you are

so naïve for an old guy.” Rylan smacked him in the arm. “It’s a

cockring… a specially made cockring.”

Rylan smoothed his fingers over the butter-soft, black band of

leather. He felt three snaps on the inside and quickly undid them,

flattening the band out in his hand. “I’ve never felt such soft leather,”

he said, eyes wide as something else on the thin band caught his

attention. “Mine?”

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“I had them specially made and embossed. Hunter’s mom owns a

leather shop and she’s a friend of my sister’s friend’s cousin….”

Rylan shook his head. “Your sister’s friend’s cousin?”

“Nevermind,” Gage said, taking the cockring from his lover’s

hand. “Get the other one out?”

“Other one…” Rylan’s voice trailed off as he pulled a second

leather circle from the bag.

“Read that one,” Gage instructed.

Rylan’s lopsided smile couldn’t be hidden. “Yours.”

Gage cocked his head, his face soft and calm. “I thought you

could pick which one you wanna wear… if you wanna wear one at

all.”

This was a side of Gage that Rylan wasn’t used to and it made his

body hum with warmth. A sentimental, possessive, soft side that

Rylan only saw in private moments and only on special occasions.

He took the first ring back from Gage and studied them both

carefully.
Mine. Yours. Yours. Mine.
Two simple words that brought

peace to Rylan’s mind but how was he supposed to choose?

“So…” Gage said impatiently. “Do you wanna be mine or yours?”

He waggled his eyebrows and smirked at Rylan.

“I’m in love with you,” Rylan said, eyes determinedly meeting

Gage’s sparkling gaze. “Totally, completely.”

“I know.”

Rylan gasped dramatically. “Bastard.” He laughed easily, both

rings still clutched between his fingers. “I don’t want to pressure you

about not, you know…”

“Not having sex with others? Ry, I already told you I haven’t been

with anyone else in a while.”

“Can’t believe I didn’t notice.”

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“You were busy,” Gage teased. He reached out and brushed a

smear of eyeliner from under Rylan’s eye. “I’m done with that shit,

but I’m okay with you still…”

“Fuck no!” Rylan said too quickly, too loudly, too emotionally. “I

mean… I’m done, too.”

Gage reached for Rylan’s hands, entwining them with his own.

“Okay, then, by the power invested in me… blah, blah, blah, yatta,

yatta, yatta… you may kiss the… groom.” He leaned in and attacked

Rylan’s mouth, bumping his head back against the mirror and

crushing their lips together. It was hot and harsh and sweet and