Mine (27 page)

“Yes, baby.” I took a deep breath, trying to make my voice soft as I put my hands on his face and looked into the dark blue-green eyes. “Never doubt it.”

“’Cause it’s gonna keep happening.” His voice rose, getting more guarded and more defensive with each syllable he uttered. “I mean, I’ve slept with so many guys that there’s no way that we won’t keep running into—”

I pinned him to the wall when I leaned in and kissed him. It was one of those moments where I just knew I could lose him right there if I screwed up. There was no recovering if he felt for even a second that I thought he was trash. He had to know that to me, he was everything I could have ever hoped for.

His hands were like claws on my zippered roll-neck sweater, he was holding on so tight.

My body pressed to his, my knee wedged between his thighs, I broke the kiss and bent to the side of his neck at the same time my hand went up under the skintight silk shirt he was wearing to the button of the low-rise jeans. I didn’t work it open, just ran my fingers over his flat, smooth stomach, teasing, letting him anticipate what I wanted.

He shuddered against me. “Trevan, please,” he moaned.

I leaned back and looked into his eyes, which were swimming with tears. “You’re mine,” I told him, kissing each of his eyes before I looked at him. “No one gets you anymore; no one touches you anymore. Right?”

He nodded, and I felt his heated breath fan over my face. “Put me up against this wall.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No one sees you but me. No one hears you but me. All of you, your skin, your smell, your cum, all of it is mine, and especially your voice when you scream my name.”

He looked indignant all of a sudden, and I almost broke down right there. If the man was annoyed, he was good. “I don’t scream.”

I just stared at him. “You’re kidding.”

“I don’t.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I don’t,” he insisted even as his head bumped against my shoulder, his face buried there as his arms wrapped around me tight.

“Fine, you don’t. I love you.”

“I know you do, and I’m so thankful.”

“Don’t have to be thankful, it just is.”

“I could thank you in the car,” he said evilly, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “If you park, I’ll blow you.”

“How ’bout I blow you in the car,” I offered, both hands taking hold of his tight firm ass.

“Oh God, Trev, stop teasing me. Just take me home and fuck me.”

“Are you sure we can leave?” I pretended to be uncertain, biting my lip for effect. “I mean, coming to this party was your idea. I didn’t even want to show up and you gotta work early in the morning, but you were like, he’s your friend, we should go.”

He laughed at me. “Yeah, we can bail.”

We walked back through the lounge together, me leading, Landry behind me with a hand fisted in the back of my sweater. I sent him to get our coats, and when I turned to look for Robbie to say goodbye, Kent stepped in front of me, laughing, barring my way.

“You know, Trevan, you—”

My anger came roaring back. “Fuck you, Kent,” I spat at him, instantly furious all over again.

His jaw clenched as he put a finger in my face. “Listen, Trevan—”

“Just stay the fuck away from me and don’t even look at Landry,” I cut him off.

I got the two-finger poke in the chest then. “Fuck you, Trevan. I—”

“How come all you got was a blowjob, Kent? You weren’t good enough for him to fuck?”

“You conceited prick.” His face was starting to splotch red.

“You don’t get fucked much, do ya, Kent?”

He shoved me.

“Oh sorry, I forgot about the rent boys. You gotta pay to play, huh?”

Second shove, harder this time.

“I bet you gotta pay a lot.”

“Fuck. You.”

I laughed at him.

“You sonofabitch!” he roared and hit me.

I let him because my father always said the other guy had to be allowed to throw the first punch. You got in trouble if you started it, just like you did when you were in the fourth grade. The cops always questioned witnesses and asked the same question, “Who hit who first?” So he caught me under my ear, half on my jaw and half on nothing. With my adrenaline pumping, I didn’t feel anything. I heard my father’s voice in my head, instructing, and I raised my left hand to protect my face, dropped my right shoulder, and came straight up. I got him under the jaw, which was more luck than anything else, and he went down hard. People don’t sink slowly to the floor like they do in the movies, they just drop instantly. I had to step back as his face landed on the toe of my hiking boot.

“Oh shit,” I heard Robbie swear behind me.

“What the hell happened?” Landry asked, coming up behind me, his arm wrapping around my neck.

“I dunno,” I said with as much astonishment as I could manage. “He just came at me.”

“What?” Robbie yelled, crouching down beside Kent, who was already stirring. “You’re so fulla shit, Trevan.” He looked up at me. “What’d you do?”

As I shrugged, the bartender vouched for me, as did three women crowded around the bar, Robbie’s friend Dan, and some other guy I didn’t know. They had all seen it; Kent had thrown the first punch, attacking me without provocation. When the manager and the bouncer showed up, they told Robbie that Kent would have to leave the club. Attacking me would not be tolerated. They asked if I wanted them to call the cops. I said that getting him out was good enough. They seemed very relieved.

Kent was surly when they got him to his feet, and he shouted at me as he was escorted from the club. I waved just to be a dick. He lunged like he was coming after me, but the bouncers were big. There was no way he was getting anywhere near me.

Landry put an arm around my abdomen, breathed against my ear. “What’d you do?”

“Me?” I was the picture of innocence.

“Trev.”

“I dunno what you mean.”

He chuckled low and kissed the side of my neck. “It was over; why would you bait him?”

“I didn’t.”

“Of course you did. Why?”

I took a quick breath so I wouldn’t yell. “He shouldn’t have said a fuckin’ word about you.”

“You’re very protective.”

“You’re mine.”

“And I love that, I do, but you cannot go around defending my honor.”

“The fuck I can’t.”

Robbie, who had followed Kent and the bouncers outside, reappeared, grabbed my arm, and walked me over to the couches. He shoved me down on one of them and waited.

I sat there and looked up at him as Landry took a seat beside me. “What?”

“You’re going to have a bruise on your face.”

“Probably.”

“Christ,” he grumbled, shaking his head. He was staring at me like he had something to say, stalling for whatever reason.

“I’m gonna go get some ice,” Landry said, quickly so I had no time to argue with him before he was gone.

Robbie watched him leave, and then his eyes were instantly back on me. “You’re so stupid,” he snapped at me, his voice changing to a sharp whisper as he gestured after Landry. “He’s pretty, Trev, I’ll give you that, but to move him in like I heard you did, what the fuck, man?” His face said even more than his words about how distasteful he found the whole idea.

“He belongs to me,” I told him.

“Are you fuckin’ kidding?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he groaned loudly. “The man is a piece of fluff; there’s no substance there at all. And for you to waste your time and energy on him is just so fuckin’ ridiculous I don’t—God! You’re such an idiot!”

“Are you done?”

“He’s not good enough for you,” he half shouted at me. “You deserve someone better!”

“There’s no one better, and if you’re my friend then you accept him just like everybody else has.” I smiled at him. “C’mon, man, my mom’s crazy about him, you will be too.”

“I can’t,” he said seriously. “I can’t watch you throw your life away on trash.”

“Okay,” I told him flatly, because I knew right then, at that moment, that we had ceased being friends, because he obviously didn’t know me at all.

“I’m back,” Landry announced before he sank to his knees on the couch. He slid into my lap, his long legs folded on either side of me as he straddled my hips. “I got some ice, baby.”

I smiled up at him as he put the sealed Ziploc bag on the side of my face, his other hand on my cheek, his fingers stroking my skin.

The way he was looking at me—his eyes so soft, the gentle, careful way he was touching me, the caressing sound of his voice—was all a little much, as my adrenaline had died down. I shivered hard.

“You all right?” He shifted in closer to me, his legs tightening.

I slid my hands over his thighs, loving the feel of him. I forgot all about Robbie, and when I looked up for him, he was gone. But that was okay. It didn’t matter. I was in love with Landry Carter, and my real friends, the ones who shared my life with me, they understood, they got us together, and even if it had started out as something they were unsure of, they trusted me and my judgment.

“Let’s go home,” I told him, hands on his face, his beautiful face, as I bent him toward me and kissed him.

“Whatever you want.”

So I pulled Landry along after me and then put my hands on his shoulders and steered and pushed him all the way out of the club. Outside on the street, I draped an arm back over his shoulder before I eased him in against me.

“Ask you a question?” He smiled at me as we walked.

“Sure.”

“You love me, huh?”

I grunted because it was a stupid question.

“Did you love anybody before me?”

“No.”

“And if I die, will you love anybody after?”

“You won’t die,” I said flatly.

“But if I did.”

“Only you, Lan.”

He nodded, pleased with the answer. “You promised, right, the night we met. You’re gonna love me forever.”

“Yes. I promised.”

We were silent then before I realized he was humming softly, and I turned to look at him.

“So, what’re we gonna do when we get home?”

I just looked at him.

He blushed and it was so cute, and other people might have thought he was sweet and innocent, but between the bedroom eyes and the hint of a smile, I got that he understood me and where my brain had gone.

“If you’re lucky, I’ll let you out of our bed before the weekend,” I told him.

“Who says I wanna be?” He chuckled and the sound made me sigh.

I was so in love with him. I told him.

“I know,” he said smugly. “I love you too, Trev.”

“
T
REVAN
?”

I looked back at Landry in the present. “Sorry, I was thinking about that party, since you brought it up.”

“No one ever fought for me before you.”

“I know,” I said, reaching for him, putting my hand on his cheek. “I got pizza. Go wash your face, wake up a little, and come out and eat.”

“I don’t wanna eat,” he said with a sigh, staring at me, at my mouth.

“Yeah, but you need to, come on.” I got off the bed and started for the door.

“You always think you know what’s best.”

“’Cause I do,” I assured him.

He grunted, but he did as I told him.

I had set the table and put a piece of pizza on each plate and poured some Chianti because he liked it. As I moved around the kitchen, I heard him behind me. Turning, I saw immediately that the slumberous look in his eyes had been replaced by something purely predatory.

“I like those brown jeans,” he told me.

“Thanks.” I smiled at him. “What’re you doing?”

He was standing there, leaning against the counter, just watching me. 

“Just admiring my stuff,” he replied casually; the mischievous grin was very sexy.

“So I’m your stuff, am I?”

“Yessir.”

“Come sit down.” I chuckled because God, he was cute, and if I didn’t know that he had to be hurting from all the bumps and bruises and scrapes, I would have attacked him.

I was turning off the light over the sink when he walked up behind me and put his hands on my hips.

“You need to eat,” I breathed out.

“Oh, you took that breath.”

“I did not.” I swallowed hard, trying to get myself under control. He had been taken from me and I wanted to feel that he was well and whole, and if I could bury myself in him, hear him cry out my name, I’d know he was as okay as he said he was. Without the physical joining, I wasn’t sure.

“You did,” he insisted, hands sliding up under my T-shirt as I closed my eyes against the onslaught of desire that swept through me. I would not attack my boy; he was too fragile.

“God, Trev, I love the feel of your skin, warm and silky under my hands,” he whispered, “and I love it when you shiver.”

“Lan,” I rasped.

“Yes, love?” he asked as he tugged the T-shirt up over my head, balled it up, and tossed it onto the counter.

“It’s late,” I said without much conviction. “You’re exhausted, and you need to eat.”

He kissed down the side of my neck to my shoulder, then back to my ear, nibbling the lobe as he popped the top button of my jeans and moved to the zipper. “We can eat later.”

My head fell forward as I leaned over the sink. “Jesus, how does this happen so fast?”

“What’s that?”

“You just put your hands on me… it’s amazing.”

“Is it?” he teased me.

“Landry,” I said, trembling under his touch.

He slid his hand under the waistband of my briefs and down around me, drawing my hard, already leaking cock out so he could stroke me gently, firmly, as he kissed between my shoulder blades. “Maybe you like me a little.”

“Landry,” I moaned, pushing in and out of his hand, loving the feel of his fingers, the tug, the slide.

“Take these off,” he asked, pushing on my jeans.

I followed directions, shucking them off, kicking them away from me.

“Spread your legs.”

I heard the snap of the bottle right before cold, slick gel slid between my cheeks. He had brought it with him, intent on this seduction. I moaned as I felt the hand pushing me down, and I leaned farther forward, widening my stance to give him what he wanted and what I suddenly craved.