Chapter Twenty-Four
Holden
I stopped in front of his apartment building on President Street, lucky to find a temporary spot used for deliveries in front of the place. “Let’s run up and get your stuff.”
Avery was able to get us into the building without trouble, but unfortunately, I’d forgotten his keys at my house when I came to the hospital to get him. I carried him over to the security desk where a large African American man sat, watching a basketball game on a laptop.
“Hi, Joe. I left my keys somewhere, and I need to get into my apartment to get some shoes.” Avery held up his sock-covered foot and laughed.
The security guard chuckled. “Sure, Avery. Who’s your friend?” He eyed me carefully, and my face flushed.
“This is Holden Rose, my pack mule.” We laughed at Avery’s comment.
“I’m Holden, the boyfriend, and Brooke didn’t bring him any shoes or a coat. He just got out of the hospital, and he’s coming to stay with me.” Maybe I gave too much of an explanation because Joe raised an eyebrow at me.
“As you can imagine, Kyle and Brooke are celebrating their engagement on every flat surface of our apartment, so I’m relocating while I convalesce,” Avery added.
Joe stood from the desk and grabbed a key ring. “I’ll take you up. They haven’t come in that I’ve noticed. Holden, it’s nice to meet you. You live in B’more?”
We made small talk on the ride up, and Joe was kind enough to let us inside. “Please lock up when you leave, Avery. Feel better soon.”
I put Avery on the floor and he took off my coat, hanging it on the back of a dining room chair. “I’ll be back,” Avery said with that cute smile on his pretty face.
“No lifting anything heavy,” I ordered. I was going to make sure Avery listened to the doctor’s orders.
I sat on the couch and turned on the television. There was a movie cued up, so I decided, what the hell. I hit play, noticing a web cam on top of the entertainment center. When the movie started, I did a double take. People were fucking, and the room they were fucking in looked very familiar.
The volume was damn loud, and when the moaning started, it bounced off the walls of the living room.
A woman was riding a guy, and he was losing his mind.
Suddenly she stopped, stripped off the T-shirt she was wearing, and flipped around, reverse cowboy.
It was Brooke, and she was staring at the big screen. She winked, and I felt very dirty.
Avery rushed into the room and hurried behind the couch to stand with his hands on my shoulders. “What the hell? Oh, no! Why would they...?”
He reached over my shoulder for the remote frozen in my hand mid-air and stopped the video as Kyle put his chin on her shoulder and reached down to stroke her clit. “At least he knows she might not get off with just his dick.” Why I said it, I didn’t know, but Avery and I both cracked up.
“I hope his finger was lubed. That looks like it could hurt.” Avery climbed over the back of the couch and sat, snuggling up to me.
“She comes with natural lube, sweetheart.” That answered the question of whether he’d ever been with a woman. I chuckled at two gold-star gays watching het amateur porn made by his best friends.
“Oh!” We both gasped as she accidentally elbowed him in the nose. It seemed as if she was going to run her hands through her long hair in a sexy move, but Kyle stuck his head around her to see the TV, and she clipped him but good.
Blood began pouring from his nose, and I glanced down to see blood on the carpet. “Crap, this happened recently, and they did it right here on this couch.”
We both jumped up, and Avery stopped the video. “God, let’s go. Have you fucked anyone on your couch?”
I chuckled. “I didn’t bring anyone home with me. I haven’t had a hookup in quite a while. I either rented a hotel room, did it in the backroom of a club, or I went to their place. You?”
“Same. It’s easier to leave when you want if you’re at their place.” He stepped away and stared at me. “You don’t have to let me force my way into your home. I’m being a bitch. I shouldn’t have—”
“You should have. I want you to live with me. It’s fast, but my place feels more like a home with you in it. Do you have a lot of stuff? We can get it all now.” Was I making a mistake? Maybe, but the smile on his face told me It was perfect timing.
I’d taken Avery’s queen-sized bed apart and carried it down to my pickup one piece at a time while Avery borrowed a suitcase from Brooke and packed up the rest of his clothes from the dresser. I was surprised he didn’t have more until I went into his closet.
We put large trash bags over his hanging clothes and lid them in the backseat of my double cab pickup, and he left a note that we’d be back for the rest of his stuff over the weekend.
Thankfully, President Street wasn’t busy, so it was okay for my truck to still be parked at the curb in a handicap spot, according to the security guard.
Joe was nice enough to give me some rope to tie everything down to the truck bed, and then we headed home. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I glanced at my new roommate who wore a big grin of his own.
I parked in my garage, hurrying around the truck to help Avery out. “I’ll get your suitcase after I get you settled. I’ll unload your other stuff tomorrow. After I clean out the spare room, we can put your bed in that room in case you get mad at me and don’t want to sleep with me.”
Avery stepped out of my truck, and I immediately picked him up, even though he was wearing shoes. I had promised the gorgeous man that I’d treat him like a king, and I planned to do just that.
“Babe, my bed can stay in the garage unless you plan to piss me off on a regular basis. You said... Wait, if you want me to sleep in the spare room, I’ll do it. I’m not trying to force you to do anything you’re not ready to do.”
“Bullshit. You’re mine now. No backsies.”
Avery laughed as I carried him inside and put his sexy ass on the kitchen counter before I stared into his gorgeous gray eyes. Even with that odd patch of hair that had been shaved for his surgery, he was still the most gorgeous man I’d ever met. “I’m so damn happy you’re here, sweetheart.”
Avery grinned. “You wanna show me?” He took my right hand and placed it on his crotch. His cock was hard, and I wanted to suck it into the back of my throat, but Dr. Latham’s instructions circled my mind. Two weeks.
The hematoma had been dealt with in surgery and the stitches in his scalp were dissolving, but I wasn’t taking anything for granted. I wanted that beautiful man around for a long time.
I stepped closer and kissed all around his sumptuous mouth. “You, my love, aren’t allowed to have sex for two more weeks, and I’m going to make sure you follow the doctor’s orders.”
A mischievous smile overtook Avery’s face. “Okay, Holden. I’m used to following rules. You got any other rules you need me to know about if I’m staying here?”
Fuck if the sexy smirk didn’t make me want to jump him. The man had my nuts tingling every time I was around him. Now, he was going to be living with me, and I couldn’t touch him for two weeks.
“Number one, you’re going to get a good night’s sleep. It’s necessary for the healing process, so you’ll sleep in my bed, and I’ll sleep on the couch. Number two, don’t try to seduce me, Avery. It won’t work.”
I was a strong man, and I could withstand anything Avery could subject me to—or so I hoped. I loved him, and I wanted him to feel one hundred percent well before we proceeded with anything physical again. The last time we’d made love was vivid in my mind every night.
The next morning, music from the kitchen woke me on the couch in my living room. The sun wasn’t up, but there were good smells coming from the next room. I got up, folded the blanket I’d pulled from the hall closet, and went to see what was going on.
I’d spoken to Steve about the work schedule as we prepared for our upcoming week.
We had a big job on the horizon, and we were in all-hands mode regarding the Hartman Construction contract.
Their yard wasn’t far from my house, and I was looking forward to an eight-to-five day for a while, especially now that Avery lived with me.
When I walked into the kitchen, I froze and sucked in a breath, not believing what I was seeing. Standing at my stove was Avery. He was wearing one of my work T-shirts knotted at his slim waist, and those damn black lace boy shorts were right there in front of me.
“What’s cooking, sweetheart?” I did my best to ignore the beautiful crack of his ass that was visible through the lacy fabric. I hadn't taken that particular licking trip to heaven yet, but I hoped to hell I could in a few weeks.
“I’m making you an omelet, but it’ll be better than the one you had yesterday. So, how’s your day look?” Avery glanced over his shoulder and made a kissy face at me.
I could have pounded nails with my rock-hard dick. His sexy ass dancing at the stove as he made me breakfast while wearing those lacy shorts nearly had me calling in sick before falling on my knees to worship him—against doctor’s orders.
Buying myself some time to speak as my eyes continued to follow that swaying ass, I coughed. “We’re doing a fleet job this week. It’s a big company for us, and a new contract, and we’re servicing all of their machinery since it’s their off-season. What do you have planned for today?”
Avery glanced over his shoulder and smirked. “I’d like you to fuck me today, but I’m guessing that’s not going to happen because you have that two-week doctor’s order stuck in your head. I’ll call Kyle and Brooke to see what’s on the agenda for Paper & Pixel.”
He slid a plate in front of me, and my appetite didn’t change. I wanted Avery more than I wanted the food he’d fixed me, which looked damn good. I stood from the table and walked over to the goddamn sexpot at the stove.
I moved the skillet off the burner and kissed him. “I love you. I’ll see you tonight.” I grabbed two pieces of toast from the plate on the counter and put the omelet between them, taking a huge bite as I went to my room to get ready for work.
It took everything inside me to leave the kitchen, but I did. I was the strongest man in the world if I could keep from making love to Avery, especially while he was wearing sexy underwear.
When I returned home that night after a long day working on the tracks of a bulldozer, the smells drifting through the house made my mouth water. I took off my boots and slipped off my coveralls, tossing them on top of the washer to worry about later.
Stepping into the kitchen, I saw my beautiful Avery pulling a foil pan of lasagna I’d had in my freezer from the oven before putting it on the counter to cool. He was wearing the red lacy panties I’d found in his suitcase, and the steel rod in my pants pissed me off.
“Mmmm. That smells good. I’ll just clean up before dinner. Thank you for cooking.” Without saying anything else, I hurried upstairs, peeling off my clothes on the way.
I turned on the shower, setting it to arctic cold. When I stepped under the spray, the freezing water shot my balls straight into my gut.
After I cleaned up and opened the shower, Avery was sitting on the closed commode with two towels. When I stepped out, he handed a towel to me and put the other over my head before he hugged me. “You’re freezing cold. How was work?”
“It was good. Like I said, I worked overnight on the emergency and then went to help my co-workers. We’re about to finish this job and move to the bigger one next week. How was your day, sweetheart?”
“I was busy creating an advertising campaign for a car wash empire that owns thirty outlets in the area. They’re offering a punch card for nine washes to get the tenth free. It’s not classy, but it brings in money which pays my bills.”
I grinned. “Sweetheart, do you like creating campaigns for car washes or what your other clients ask you to create campaigns for?” The man was capable of doing a lot of things, but I wanted to know what he wanted to do with his life.
Avery exhaled. “It’s not ideal, but we’re a new marketing business and we’ve gotta work our way up the ladder, Holden. I don’t mind paying my dues. I want to be successful through hard work and my own efforts.”
The beautiful man was doing his best to make a name for himself, as I’d been trying to do my whole life. I had no problem backing him in any way he needed.