Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
GUS
G us was so livid he could punch a wall. Several walls, in fact, especially the ones with the stupid wallpaper in front of his nosey neighbor’s door. The second he was in the hall, he spun to Val, ready to tell her to fuck off hard and fast, but she cut him off first.
“Not here.”
Without pausing, she strode to the elevator, leaving Gus no choice but to follow. He hesitated only a moment, not wanting to leave Brittany alone, but she had Curtis, and as much as Gus hated him in this moment, Curtis was damn good at what he did.
In the elevator, Gus opened his mouth to let Val have it, but again she cut him off.
“Before you start yelling at me, I want to remind you that I’m here with a replacement for you, just as you asked me to do last night. If you’re mad at anyone, be mad at yourself.”
“What makes you think I’m not?”
The doors opened, and Val headed straight for the exit.
“Val, where the fuck are you going?”
“We’re going to get coffee, Gus. You’re going to explain to me why you’re being such a shithead, and then you’re going to try to convince me that you’re able to act as security to our client. And your argument better be damn good, because right now, I’m not feeling it.”
It was unfair. But it was unfair because Gus had made it this way, calling Val last night and demanding a replacement after that horrendous fight with Brittany. So he followed her, ready to do whatever he needed to undo the damage.
They went to the usual coffee shop, with Val once again ordering a muffin that tasted like wood chips. Gus ended up with a cup of something that he had no memory of ordering, and they sat themselves in the corner of the café, far enough away from people to have a quiet, private conversation, but close enough to people that if Gus started yelling, he’d cause a scene. Gus dropped into the too-small chair across from her and ran his hand through his hair, knowing he looked like baked shit but not able to do anything about it.
“So,” Val began. “You’ve changed your mind, I take it.”
“Yes. I don’t need a replacement. It was a misunderstanding.”
Val took a long sip of her blended sugar whatever and Gus knew she did it on purpose to drive him nuts.
“What kind of misunderstanding?”
“The private kind.” Like fuck he was going to tell her about last night. About Brittany in his bed, begging for him.
“We have a problem here, Gus.”
“No problem that I see.”
“I have a client that hired us to keep her out of danger. And the security personnel I assigned to protect her seems to be prone to misunderstandings.”
“That’s not what happened here.”
“Then tell me.”
“Brittany and I have a history. You knew that when you gave me the assignment.”
“Your history was that you were friends until your brother dumped her. You said you could handle this and keep it professional. What changed?”
“The client and I had an argument last night that got a little… heated. We’ve since made amends and are ready to continue our relationship.”
“Relationship?”
“Working relationship.”
Gus steeled his jaw, not willing to give more, and Val could probably sense it because she sat back in her chair.
“Gus, you’re damn good at your job, but you’ve been emotionally compromised and we both know it.”
“Emotionally compromised? What does that even mean?”
“It means you’ve fucked the client, and that’s not what you get paid to do.”
A rock sunk into Gus’s stomach at Val’s words.
“I haven’t. We haven’t.”
“But with the way you’re going, I’m guessing you will. And that’s a problem for me and my company. If you’re thinking with your dick, you’re not thinking with your head.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like? Explain it to me, so I can understand. Because right now this looks like a clusterfuck.”
Gus’s mind whirred with explanations he could offer, excuses or diplomatic reasons, but settled on the truth. Val was one of his best friends, and if he couldn’t be honest with her, he was truly fucked.
“I don’t know how to explain it. We were working together, we were fine, everything was fine.”
“And then you moved her into your condo.”
“She got hurt. She wasn’t going to be safe in that revolving door hotel room.”
“Don’t bullshit me. You’ve never let a client stay in your home, even when their residence was compromised.”
She was right. “Brittany’s a friend. She had already been to my home several times. It was easier this way.”
“Fine. Let’s pretend that’s a totally normal thing to do. What happened last night?”
Gus hesitated. He was not going to come out of this story looking good, and he knew it.
“She snuck out without telling me. Went to a party unprotected.”
“It’s my understanding she went with friends of hers and that the party had my security agents everywhere, as well as a tight guest list.”
“You and I both know that doesn’t matter if someone’s aiming to hurt a client.”
“Fine. She snuck out to a party. I assume you showed up and talked your way inside.”
Gus nodded. He knew all of Val’s employees, had worked with most of them at some point or another. It had been easy to convince them to let him in.
“I’ll be sure to chat with the party staff later, but let’s move on. What happened when you got to the party.”
“I found her snuggled up with some guy in a corner.”
Val leveled him with a look. “She’s allowed to do that.”
“I fucking know she’s allowed to do that, Val.” The fact made him burn, that he had no claim to Brittany, that she could touch and kiss and more with anyone she wanted because she wasn’t his.
“Gus, tell me this wasn’t some alpha male jealousy thing that I’m getting pulled into. I thought you were better than this shit.”
He had thought he was, too, but Brittany changed everything.
“I pulled her aside and we had words about her sneaking out.” Among other things, Gus sure as fuck wasn’t going to tell his boss. “It got heated, and she made it clear at the time that she would prefer someone else on her case.”
Val nodded. “So you called me. Makes sense. Now tell me what changed.”
“We… worked it out.”
The look on Val’s face said she wasn’t buying it, which made sense since Gus was working overtime to not talk about the truth.
“What about Robbie?”
Gus snorted. “Why does everyone care so much about what Robbie thinks?”
“The better question is, why don’t you care more about what Robbie thinks? Everything up until this conversation led me to believe that he was the most important relationship in your life, and you didn’t want to do anything to ruin that.”
Gus paused to think about it. How he took care of Robbie, went out of his way to make sure he was happy and thriving, fixing whatever problems may come up, telling himself that’s what good brothers do. And Robbie definitely hated Gus hanging out with Brittany. But Gus was finding that while he cared about Robbie, he didn’t give a shit what Robbie thought about Brittany. Not even a little bit.
“My relationship with Brittany has absolutely nothing to do with Robbie. And if he has a problem with that, he can work that out on his own.”
Val’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re really not making me feel better about keeping you on this assignment.”
“But you’ll keep me.”
He stated it, rather than questioned, even though his heart was pounding with the possibility of her refusing. Val glared at him, more serious than he had ever seen her. Which was saying something, since he and the other guys had a running bet on if she ever smiled.
“I’ll need you to check in with me twice a day rather than once. No more public displays with this woman. No more drama. No more late-night calls. You hear me? You want out, you remember this moment and why you wanted to stay, and you do your fucking job. Understand.”
“Copy that.”
Gus smiled at her, even as she glared at him, and relief flooded him. He stood, anxious to get back.
Val beat him to it. “I’ll tell Curtis to expect you. Don’t fuck this up.”
Gus was out the door, his coffee forgotten in his mission to get back to Brittany.
At the condo, Gus let himself in, staying quiet when he heard Brittany’s voice describing her outfit for the day, realizing she was streaming. He nodded at Curtis, who nodded back before heading out the door. One thing Gus loved about Curtis, he knew when to fuck off.
Gus turned his attention to the corner of his living room, where Brittany had set herself up. She was standing, which he didn’t like, thinking of her ankle, but she seemed well enough as she showed off the small shorts she was apparently planning to parade around in the convention center that day. And she was currently in some sort of bra, something that covered more than a swimsuit but was still clearly underwear. Gus knew she did this often, that part of her stream was showing people the undergarments that could work for various outfits, but still the sight of her in it, posing for her stream, was enough to stop him in his tracks. Fuck, he was going to be hard for hours.
At the thought, the memory of their conversation right before Val interrupted came back to him. He slowly made his way to the living room, knowing the moment when Brittany noticed him by the tension that shot through her body. She was clearly determined to ignore him, which suited him fine, because he was in the mood to work for her attention.
He sat on the couch, facing her but far away from her camera set up, watching as she held up two different shirts to her body.
“What do you all think? I was leaning toward a vamp look, but I’ve also been enjoying the nerdy T-shirt vibe at the con, so I’m torn.”
She continued reading her chat, responding to questions, debating the shirts, and she was so fucking cute Gus couldn’t stand it anymore and let his hand fall right at the pressure on his zipper, rubbing himself through his jeans.
“Y-you’re right, the nerdy aesthetic is what I’m here for, I can vamp anytime.”
Brittany pulled the T-shirt over her head, fast, and Gus felt satisfaction deep inside him at her stutter. She was doing her best to ignore him, but she wasn’t succeeding. He was getting to her. Gus rubbed himself once, hard and slow, through his jeans. Color rose up her neck as she kept her attention on her stream, but her eyes flickered toward him, and he knew he had her.
So he reached for his zipper.
“Now let’s talk about sunglasses because it’s extra sunny today and you all know how sensitive my eyes are.”
Gus’s eyes traveled down from Brittany’s face, enjoying how she swallowed as he folded back the sides of his jeans, making room, and reached his hand into his boxer briefs. Her eyes flicked to him right when he touched himself, and he felt the look as if it caressed him.
She showed off the two sunglass choices, probably trying to hide her eyes and where she was looking, but from him or her stream, he wasn’t sure. And then Gus pulled himself out, letting his length free and Brittany dropped both pairs of sunglasses.
“Sorry, everyone, one second, just a little clumsy today. Should we talk earrings? I found a cute thrift store down the street with some stellar choices.”
She turned to grab the earrings, her back to the camera, but her eyes immediately went to him, and the hunger he saw there had him giving himself one stroke, slow and strong, loving that she was watching him. Fuck, this woman was perfect.
Brittany spun back to the camera. “Hmm, I can’t seem to find the earrings now, so maybe it’s a casual day? In any case, I should run, my next panel is soon, and I got a lot of ground to cover in the convention center to get there. Thanks so much everyone for tuning in! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
After a few more goodbyes, Brittany hit the button on her camera, double checking that everything was off. Gus watched her, stroking himself, dying with anticipation of what she was going to do now that they were finally, finally alone.
Brittany stepped toward him, the look in her eyes unidentifiable.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” she said.
“Tell me you’re wet.”
She just shook her head, moving closer to where he was still seated on the couch. He reached out a hand for her.
“No.” Her voice was sharp, and he obeyed immediately, letting his hand drop, freezing the movement of his other hand on his dick. Her eyes scanned over him, and he couldn’t breathe waiting for whatever was going to happen next.
“Show me,” she said, and Gus felt a break in his mind as it hit him how much he wanted to please this woman.
He stroked himself slowly, from base to tip, giving himself a twist at the end, covering his hand in the precum that was coming just for her, because she was watching him.
“Is that what you like? Slow and hard?” she asked, her voice mild and neutral as if she was asking how he liked his coffee.
“Sometimes.”
“Show me what else you like.”
Brittany stepped closer as his hand on his cock sped up, unconsciously mirroring the speed of her steps until she was right in front of her. She placed a finger under his chin, drawing his gaze up to meet hers.
“All that for me?”
He nodded, unable to speak as she slowly straddled him, her knees going to either side of his thighs. She sat her cute ass on his legs, his cock hard and long between them. She stared down, watching him stroke himself.
“I’m close,” he admitted.
“Already?”
“It’s you. You have me on edge just by looking at me. It doesn’t take much as long as you’re here and watching.”
“I turn you on that much?”
“You know you do.”
She rocked in his lap, nowhere near where he wanted her, where he wanted to touch her, but he kept his hands to himself, sensing she wanted to be in charge of this moment. She leaned over him, her hair tickling his face as she lightly, so lightly, bit his earlobe.
“Then show me how you come, Gus.”
With a half-grunt, half-moan, he did just that, his hand flying up and down his cock, harsh and fast. His eyes were locked on hers, staring deep into those baby blues, and the excitement and desire he saw there was his undoing. With a shout, he came, erupting between their bodies. Brittany leaned back to see better, and something about her watching him defile himself, all for her, was the biggest turn-on he had ever experienced.
Gus leaned back when he was done, a complete mess. He was going to have to shower and change clothes, but he had managed to miss Brittany, which was a shame. He’d love to see her covered in him, to rub it into her skin. Next time, he promised himself.
Brittany was still in his lap, had watched every moment of his orgasm as if committing it to memory. She took his hand, the one that had been stroking his dick, and licked it from wrist to fingertip, cleaning the come off, and then gently kissed his palm.
“Thank you for showing me. You did a very good job.”
He was warm inside, even as she stood up, brushing down her shorts and adjusting her top.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Busy schedule today, Gus. We need to leave soon, and you need a shower.”
“Brittany, get your ass back here.” He was practically growling, and he could hear it in his own voice. Frustrated as fuck that she was walking away instead of letting him put his hands on her, letting him have the privilege of giving her an orgasm.
Instead of listening, she turned to him, the look on her face saying that she was still apparently very, very pissed at him.
“Gus, you tried to fire yourself off my case. I’m still angry with you. So if you want to touch me, ever, you’re really going to need to work for it.”
She strutted to the bedroom and shut the door behind her, and Gus let out a frustrated groan. He hated knowing she was turned on, how turned on he had made her. She wouldn’t let him take care of her, and that was torture for him.
Which was obviously what she had in mind. Gus was fucked. He went to clean himself up and change clothes to prepare for his day of being frustrated.