10. Chapter 10
ten
Cyrus felt compelled to get things done himself.
Unfortunately, to figure out how to manage the situation, Gabe had to be part of it.
This didn’t mean Cyrus always let him be a part even when he knew it had to happen.
He had only let him in on what he’d found when reading through things near the end, and he barely allowed Gabe to have control during the questioning.
Now, back inside, he sat alone in his bedroom typing out what information was had.
Getting it out of his head and off the paper pad and into one place was going to make it easier to figure out what to do.
It always did for Cyrus anyway. He could have something rolling around in his head and figure it out later.
No, it needed to get written down and organized.
The period of his life in which he didn’t organize was an absolute mess. He'd learned his lesson early on what type of person he was. He wanted things how he wanted them and needed things how he wanted them. Unfortunately, some things couldn’t be how he wanted them to be. Not always.
Cyrus knew he was going to have to talk to Gabe again eventually.
Despite his tension toward him, the ache that their history brought him.
He was going to have to continue working with him, and after all, this was over.
It wasn’t, not really. There would always be something he'd need to work with Gabe on.
Cyrus growled to himself.
He hated it.
After getting everything typed up and managing to sleep, it was almost dawn when Cyrus decided to climb out of bed and get some fresh air. He could take care of himself if he were caught by surprise, so he wasn’t worried.
Jogging down the driveway and along the dirt road for a couple of miles with no shirt and a band around his bicep to hold his phone, ear buds playing loudly, he worked off some of the tension that he needed to.
Until he stopped near a mailbox and started to see a familiar face running in his direction about two miles from the pack house as he was headed back.
Gabe.
He was wearing a shirt, but he was drenched in sweat. His black hair was damp and hanging over his forehead, perfectly along with his eyes, and as he stopped to breathe, he raked his fingers through his hair, and the rising sun made the beads of sweat along his skin glisten.
Cyrus’s gaze met his after running from his head to his feet, and he then watched as Gabe eyed him, and his nose turned pink.
“Morning,” Cyrus mumbled and then moved, intending to continue running toward home. The opposite direction of Gabe.
Except Gabe put a hand out. Cyrus took his ear buds out and put them around his neck as he heard the signal that the battery was dying. Right on time.
“I’m not exactly”—Gabe panted—“A runner, but needed to do something.” And started jogging beside Cyrus back the way he had come.
Cyrus did his best not to roll his eyes as he jogged beside Gabe, who, because of his legs being longer than Cyrus’s, actually managed to keep up with him despite their stamina and strength is different.
Cyrus attempted to run faster than Cyrus so that he could put some distance between them, without full-on sprinting away from him, but the next second, Gabe
was right next to him.
The sound of both of them breathing, heavy, a slight pant. The scent of Gabe’s hot, sweaty body beside his.
It was ridiculous. Cyrus felt an ache of both guilt and desire in his stomach. He’d taken care of Gabe when he was a teenager. Something about finding him attractive now, even as an adult, didn’t settle right with Cyrus. There had to be something wrong with it, didn't there?
He shook his head to himself and as he felt his ear buds, on their little cord around his neck, start bouncing and sliding off his neck, he grabbed them and put them in his pocket.
Cyrus raked his fingers through his damp curls, knowing he was going to need to shower when he got back to the house anyway, and he’d rolled out of bed with bed head in the first place.
Liliana took care of her curls with a bonnet at night, but Cyrus made up for the mess of hair from not doing so in the shower.
Cyrus tried to distract himself by thinking about anything else that he could. Including Lily’s hair routine, his hair routine, the differences in their hair routine because of their different hair textures. After all, she was Black. He wasn’t…but it only got him so far.
He started running even faster still. This was even more noticeable than before because Gabe began to pant harder and stop running, putting a hand out to grab Cyrus and stop him, nearly laughing.
“Dude, what the fuck is going on?” Gabe asked. “I know things are weird between us, but we can’t run together?”
Cyrus worked to catch his breath. His bare chest was rising and falling, and he saw Gabe's eyes on him. Looking at him, flustered. Gabe’s face was so flushed from the heat, the blood rush, and…what Cyrus didn’t want to imagine was attraction.
“Not when you look at me like that.” Cyrus exhaled heavily and then turned but didn't quite make it to running before Gabe’s mouth was against his once more.
This time, however, Cyrus did shove him away. He was growling slightly. However, it was challenging to think as he licked at his lips and tasted Gabe's sweet lips and salty sweat there.
“What the hell!” Cyrus huffed. “Don’t come here to seduce me, and yet.”
Gabe groaned/ “What do you want me to say?” he asked. “I didn’t intend for this, but you can’t act like there’s nothing here.”
Cyrus swallowed thick. “Oh, there’s something here. Distance, frustration, annoyance. How you are reading anything else into that, I don’t know, man.”
Gabe suddenly looked like Cyrus had kicked him while he was down.
“I-I didn’t…” Gabe swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
Cyrus turned away from him and continued running. Despite the blood rushing to his groin.
Nothing else was said on the jog back home. Cyrus headed for the bathroom on the first floor, while Gabe headed to the second floor.
So Cyrus thought. Instead, when he opened the door after grabbing clothing from his bedroom, there Gabe was, shirtless, shower running. Fingers in the waistband of his pants.
They just looked at each other for a moment.
“Oh…I…someone else was in the one downstairs, and I didn’t know if it was you or—they didn’t answer, so I thought it might be,” Gabe said his face flushing.
Cyrus felt his stomach tighten and, at that moment, decided to do whatever he was going to do.
The door closed behind him, locked, and the clothing in his hand was dropped on the counter next to the sink.
Gabe looked at him, confused for a moment before Cyrus closed the distance between them.
His lips met Gabe’s, and there was only a moment or falter from the other side. Gabe kissed him back intently, and Cyrus wrapped his arms around the other man, their bare sweaty chests pressing against each other.
That sound of Gabe’s soft pleasure as they kissed was like music to Cyrus’s ears, and his semi hard-on pressed against the very obvious erection of Gabe’s as they kissed, standing next to the steaming shower that was making the room even moister than they were.
Cyrus shifted them to the side and pressed Gabe’s back against the wall next to the shower.
His hips pressed against Gabe’s even with their height difference, as Cyrus was leaning up halfway to kiss Gabe, and Gabe was meeting him the other half.
There were no questions, no words, just kisses. Soft growls of pleasure and their hips rocked against each other. Cyrus’s cock was throbbing within his soft shorts and boxers, and he could feel Gabe’s against his own through their thin fabric.
His lips pulled away from Gabe’s, and he started to kiss down his neck, his beard rubbing against his skin, and he felt Gabe shiver.
Cyrus nipped at Gabe’s neck and shoulder and felt the other man’s head tilt to his own. Bite along his flesh, and Cyrus bucked his hips against Gabe’s, the friction of their clothed cocks just enough to bring him the pleasure he needed and was sure Gabe needed.
His head was dizzy, flooded with desire, need, desperation.
Gabe seemed to catch onto the fact that Cyrus liked things rough, and as Cyrus was going to pull back to lock lips with him once more, Gabe bit into his shoulder harder than before.
Causing Cyrus to moan into Gabe’s shoulder.
A low groan escaped him as well as he started to roll his hips harder against Gabe, who spread his legs apart more against the wall.
“Fuck…fuck…” Gabe moaned against Cyrus’s shoulder.
Cyrus didn’t focus on pulling his head back and kissing Gabe again. Every inch of his focus was the hot throbbing cock between his legs as he humped Gabe against the wall, steam filling the bathroom.
He grunted as his core tightened, and several throbbing pulses of cum followed, soaking the inside of his clothing and the outside of Gabe’s.
Within seconds of his orgasm, as his hips were still moving against Gabe’s, though slower, he felt Gabe’s body tense and the addition of hot wetness to his own.
Cyrus shivered and panted against Gabe’s shoulder. He was shivering again as he registered Gabe’s breath against his skin.
“Ohh, God,” Gabe groaned against his shoulder.
For a moment, they just stood there.
Until the cloud around Cyrus’s brain began to fade away, and the fast beat of his heart wasn’t beside his arousal anymore.
He pulled back, taking a deep breath.
“Oh god,” he mimicked, but his tone was miles away from the pleased tone of Gabe.
“What did we just,” he mumbled. “No that…”
Gabe looked up at him, his eyes slightly hooded from pleasure, but his eyes started to widen a bit as he seemed to process whatever look was on Cyrus’s face.
“What’s wrong?” Gabe asked.
“We can’t do that.” Cyrus exhaled heavily. He was feeling dizzy for a new reason.
“Why?” Gabe asked. “You’re hot, I’m…hot, I wanted it. You didn’t do anything wrong, Cyrus.”
Cyrus swallowed hard. “Yes, I did.” He took a step back.