Embracing His Syn (5 page)

“
Uh oh. Stranger
danger.”

Syn looked behind him but no one was
there.

“
I mean you. You just
gonna stand there and stare, man?” Furious raised his head and
turned slowly, pinning Syn with a hot glance.

“
Name’s –”

“
Yeah. I know your name,
you told me already.” Furious cut him off. “Your cologne will give
you away every time.”

Syn stepped a little closer. “Does it
smell that bad?”

“
Nope. Smells that good,”
he said on an exhale of smoke.

Syn unintentionally let a small smile
creep up on him. Now that he had approached Furi, he was at a
complete loss as to what to say or do. He had absolutely no idea
why he was approaching this man … any man. Furious’ eyes were as
dark as night, his eyelashes dark and long, just brushing his cheek
when he looked down. Syn looked his fill, while Furious watched him
curiously.

“
I like your ink,” Syn
blurted out, cringing a bit when it came out a little louder than
he planned. “The stars are pretty cool.”

Furious took a deep inhale of his
cigarette, blew the smoke out through his nose and flicked the butt
into the street. He rose up off the back of the bench standing to
his full height, perhaps six-one. “You know what people assume
about a person when they have star tattoos, don’t you?” Furious
held his eye contact.

“
I’ve heard some things.
Not one to believe everything I hear though.”

“
Is that
right?”

Syn scrunched his eyebrows
not knowing where Furious was going with this – hell, where
he
was going with
this.

“
You waiting on the
bus?”

“
You got it, genius. How’d
you ever guess that?”

“
You’re a real smart ass …
and the name’s Syn. I thought I’d keep you company while you wait …
maybe even offer you a ride.” Syn’s face was tight as he
spoke.
Why the hell did everyone have to
be so fucking sarcastic all the time?

“
Oh really.” Furious
tucked his ear buds inside his jacket and ran his hand through his
hair. “Why the hell would you offer me a ride?”

“
Why wouldn’t I? You
obviously need one. I’m just trying to be friendly.” Syn stepped
closer and he heard a slight catch in Furious' breath.

“
I’m good, man. I got a
ride.”

Syn turned when he heard the diesel
engine of the MARTA bus pulling over to stop.

“
I could drop you off,
it’s no big deal.” Syn shrugged as if it really didn’t matter. Oh,
but it did.

Why the hell am I trying
so hard?

“
I’m good. Besides, I
don’t ride with strangers.”

The bus's air brakes were loud as it
came to a stop and the automatic doors opened.

“
Say it,” Syn snapped
suddenly.

Furious turned to look at him from the
stairs of the bus. “Say what?”

“
My name,
damnit.”

“
Why?” Furious almost
whispered.

“
Because, I want to hear
it from your mouth.” Syn’s voice had gone gravelly. He was being
honest. He did want to hear it. Now. Later. And ten octaves higher
ricocheting off his bedroom walls.
Hell.

“
No,” Furious replied,
turned, and got on the bus.

For some reason, Syn watched as his
new, enigmatic friend paid his fare and settled himself in the back
on the far side of the bus. Furious never looked in his direction,
but Syn kept hoping he would as the driver pulled the large vehicle
back into traffic.

Furi walked the half-block to his
small basement apartment in Emory Point. He’d been there for nine
months since he’d made his escape from his abusive husband. He’d
changed his last name and made it as far as he could on the seven
hundred dollars he’d managed to secret away. His landlord was an
old lady with seven grown kids and about fifteen grandchildren who
she visited often, which was extremely beneficial to Furi. He had
access to, but rarely ventured to any other parts of the
house.

He turned on the small entryway lamp
and peeled off clothes on his way to the bathroom. He did the same
thing every night when he came in from the bar. He had to rid
himself of the smell as quickly as possible. Smelling like hot
wings and vodka never appealed to him. Furi half checked his
messages and half hobbled into the small room that had the tiniest
shower ever and turned on the hot water. He had to let it run for a
few minutes before it even considered warming up.

He had another message
from Greg – the film company’s publicist.
Fuckin’ great.
Furi opened the email
and only managed to read a few words before his eyes started to
roll in annoyance.

‘
Furi I’ve gotten with
Mack about what I mentioned to you last week and we are prepared to
up your offer to $1000. How about that? AND 25cents per download!
How awesome is that, hot stuff? It’s an offer you don’t want to
refuse. You have fans who adore your sexy ass. You don’t want to
lose your audience, do you? They need more of you. Let me know
ASAP, and we’ll cancel your shoot tomorrow and start on the new
scene instead. We’ll even let you choose your partner. Mmmm ...
wouldn’t Sasha Pain be delicious? Oh and PS, there's a $500 advance
if you say yes now!!’ G

Furi re-read the email and felt his
stomach start to do some weird flippy shit when he thought about
accepting Mack’s offer. Furi was already risking being found by his
ex by doing the solo jerk sessions on Mack’s small-time porn
site.

When Mack came into his uncle’s bar
almost six months ago, he’d gushed half the damn night about how
sexy Furi was and how he could make him into a movie star. Furi
quickly decided it was worth exploring and went to Mack’s studio.
He’d been floored when he realized it was a porn company and worse,
felt like an idiot for not asking what type of movies Mack
produced.

Each time Furi tried to bow out
gracefully, Mack offered up more money. Although Furi needed to
stay hidden from Patrick, he desperately needed money. His uncle
wanted him the hell off his couch after only a few
months.

There was just one big fucking problem
with Mack’s porn site. It was hetero porn only, and Furi was so gay
he wouldn’t know how to get a woman off if someone gave him a
diagram.

So after practically
chasing Furi out into the parking lot, Mack had convinced him to do
one solo jerk off session for five hundred dollars. Furi figured
he’d do only one session and that would get him off his uncle’s
couch. That money would be enough to rent him a small room, but of
course; one film turned to two, then three ... and it just kept
going. Furi had done over twenty solo performances, but now Mack
was aggressively trying to convince Furi to do more. Furi refused a
blowjob on film. Hell he doubted he could stay hard – he’d refused
mutual masturbation scenes and he damn sure wasn’t doing
penetration. Now they were offering him a thousand dollars, plus
twenty-five cents per download.
Fuck.
It probably would do pretty
well, but the thought of being found by Patrick or his psycho
brother made Furi physically ill. Furi calmed his racing heart by
convincing himself that there was no way those two fuckers would
ever pay to go on a het site, since both his husband and his
brother were gay.

Furi closed the email without replying
and stepped under the lukewarm water. He released a small sigh,
wishing for more water pressure. The small trickles of water that
came out of the thirty-year old showerhead were barely strong
enough to rinse the conditioner out of his hair. He shook his head
at how many small things he had taken for granted when he was
married and living in his comfortable condo in Charlotte. When
Patrick and his brother were away on business he was happy, it was
when Patrick came home that shit turned disastrous.

Goosebumps popped up all over Furi’s
taut body. Not because the water was already getting cold, but
because once again those memories were invading his head ... no
matter what, he couldn’t stop them.

One year ago.

“
Darlin, I’m home. Are you
here?”

“
I’m coming,” Furi yelled
from the second floor. He quickly closed up the Universal Technical
School pamphlet he was reading and gathered the other materials,
making his way down the metal spiral staircase.

Furi found Patrick in the
kitchen loosening his tie. Damn the man could wear a suit. The
black designer suit had fine lavender pinstripes that Patrick
accented perfectly with a light purple tie. Furi would no doubt be
responsible for getting the suits his husband traveled with to the
cleaners and returned to his closet. He didn’t know how he’d become
his husband's personal assistant, but it had happened, and to avoid
argument, Furi didn’t refuse Patrick's requests.

“
Is that the kind of
welcome you give your husband when he returns home after a week
away?” Patrick set his water bottle down on the brown marble
countertop and looked at Furi expectantly. “You just gonna stand
there looking at me from the other side of the room?”

Patrick’s eyes could pin
you in place with one stern look. Furi had thought this extremely
sexy in the beginning, but as time wore on, the glare became more
feral than attractive. Patrick's hair was jet black, slicked and
combed straight back, reminding Furi of Andy Garcia without that
annoying widow’s peak. “How was your flight?” Furi asked, moving
into Patrick’s muscular arms.

“
Long. Anything happening
here?”

“
Well actually,
yes.”

“
What’s this?”

Before Furi could tell
Patrick what was new, he’d picked up the enrollment package from
the auto mechanic school and was frowning while quickly scanning
the contents.

“
What the fuck is this,
Furious?”

“
I was getting to
the-
–
”

“
If it isn’t mister lazy
bones.”

Fucking great. Patrick’s
younger brother and business partner, Brenden, came around the
corner, fastening his belt buckle. Furi hadn't heard him in the
bathroom when he came downstairs. If he had, he may have stayed
upstairs.

“
I’m not lazy. Did you see
the yard?” Asswipe. Not only had Furi completely turned over the
entire flower bed, but he’d mowed the grass and gotten his fall
flowers in the ground, not to mention the three hours he’d put in
at the auto repair shop. Patrick would never know about that last
part though. Furi loved gardening ... it was peaceful. He'd started
doing it to be out of the house when Patrick was home, but it
quickly became an enjoyable hobby. He loved anything he could do
outdoors; however, his passion was automotive mechanics. There
wasn’t a vehicle with wheels and an engine that he couldn’t
fix.

“
Darlin, I asked you a
question.” Patrick’s hard gray eyes glared at him, but his voice
was cool and calm. Furi feared that tone more than his
yell.

Furi turned from his
annoying brother-in-law and faced his husband, seeing immediately
that Patrick didn’t like what he saw in the paperwork.