Chapter 28 Max
MAX
With everyone making themselves scarce from the house, I use the quiet time to catch up with the guys both here and back in New York.
I answer emails, return a few urgent pending calls, then I head to the gym for a workout, before swimming laps of the pool.
And by the time I’m done, I’m itching to see my girl again.
Last night was hotter than I could have ever anticipated, and I know she needs time to process that, especially when she is still processing us.
I know she loves me, I knew it the entire year she was pushing me away, it’s why I kept trying, but her grief is still so present, and I don’t want to push her too much.
Not when we are only just getting back on track, not when she is only just starting to look after herself again.
Then we have Zack. He has his own grief and demons to deal with, but that’s not what’s holding him back.
No, he’s too noble for his own good, and probably can’t deal with the fact of what he is to her.
It doesn’t matter that they aren’t blood, to him she’s his sister, in every way that matters, and getting past that is going to be a struggle for him.
He sees himself as her brother, her protector, and in his eyes, he has ruined that.
It doesn’t matter that it’s what she wants, that the chemistry between them was volcanic, no, he will still be spiraling about it, and that’s before he even kissed me.
He kissed me, and everything that I have been suppressing since I was a teenager came rushing to the surface.
Like I had found the answer to a question I had been asking for years, but it wasn’t as straightforward for him.
No doubt he’s also now having some kind of internal struggle about his sexuality, and the one person he could probably talk to about it, is the person who caused it.
So it’s safe to say things are a bit of a mess, which is fine, but we can’t go on like this.
I swim a few more laps, before dipping down and swimming into the warmth of the cave to relax. I’m not sure how long I’m hiding away there, but it’s long enough for Zack to find me, and I know instantly he wasn’t looking for me. Or at least not me alone, anyway.
“Need her again already?” Is how I greet him, letting myself openly trail my gaze over his slick torso, considering my eyes are hidden by sunglasses.
“That’s not why I was looking for her,” he snaps far too quickly, and I roll my eyes, leaning back against the pool wall.
“Ah, so you were looking for her,” I toss back with a smirk, and he opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off when I add, “Save your bullshit for someone who believes it.” His typical brooding frown only deepens, but still he surprises me by taking up residence opposite me.
“You check in with the guys?” he asks, and I snort a laugh.
“Really? You want to talk about work?” I question, but he remains quiet, so I take off my sunglasses and toss them aside.
“Okay then, I checked in with the team on the perimeter, all is quiet, and then I called the guys back home, things are good. I dealt with all outstanding emails and a couple of urgent tasks, but everything else will be fine until we get home.”
Zack only nods slowly, looking as if he doesn’t truly care about anything I have just said, and it just pisses me off even more.
Why is he acting like this? I get him trying to ignore the kiss between us, he can try to lie and blame it on the fact he was drunk, but he can’t ignore last night.
I won’t let him. Not when I can see he wants this as much as I do, he just needs to shatter his moral code and accept it.
Pushing off the rocks, I start to move toward him, holding his stare when it fixes on mine. “What are you doing?” he asks, his tone laced in both wonder and need, and I find myself more tempted than ever.
I know what he tastes like, but it’s not enough, and he knows what I taste like, but we’re still dancing around this like nothing is going on between us.
“Proving a point,” I tell him honestly, not stopping until his back is pressing back into the wall trying to escape me, as I crowd myself around him.
My hands close around the pool edge by his arms, the water rippling around us, as I keep a few inches between us.
I see the heavy bob of his throat, but still he steels himself against me, straightening his shoulders.
“And what point are you trying to prove?” His question is expected, but still I find myself shaking my head.
“Hmm, such a perfect and straight-laced CEO,” I start, emphasizing the word straight while letting myself get a little closer to him.
“Who always knows just how to play people, but you can’t play me.
” My fingers flex around the marble tiles, itching to touch him, but I can’t, not yet.
“You kissed me, you fucked her, you tasted me on her tongue, and then fucked her while I watched,” I reel off the things that have happened between us, noting the way his gaze darkens with each one.
“So the point I’m trying to prove is that we are more than just friends, and you need to accept that. ”
Zack is already shaking his head. “You know how I get when I'm drunk.” His excuse is weak at best, and pulls a laugh from deep within my chest.
“So tell me to stop,” I say simply, leaning in ever closer.
“You aren’t drunk right now, so push me away, put an end to this gray area we have found ourselves in, and tell me you don’t feel it.
” My words are a dare, a demand, one I know he won’t back down from, not if I know him as well as I think I do.
And I do. We’ve been friends so long, that right now I know him better than he knows himself, and I know he wants this, but still I push.
“Say the word, and we can go back to being friends and pretend none of this ever happened.”
“Max,” he warns, not realizing how perfect he sounds saying my name like that. Like he’s begging me for something I am more than willing to give him.
“Say it, Zack, because if you don’t I’m going to kiss you, and if you don’t kiss me back, it will ruin fucking everything.
” I implore him with my stare, giving him ample time to stop me, to create some distance between us, but he remains still.
His eyes are locked on mine and still I show restraint, I wait, but then his eyes flash down to my lips for merely half a second, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. And that’s all it takes.
My lips are on his before he can even take his next breath, kissing him hard and pressing him roughly into the wall of the pool, until there isn’t an inch of space between us.
His body tenses at first, his mouth moving against my own before he can even register what he’s doing, but then he moans and something inside of me breaks.
Something I have been holding together for almost a fucking decade, and falling apart has never felt so good.
The moment our lips collide it’s as if the missing bond between us finally snaps into place, like it was meant to be there all along.
A feeling that only intensifies when my hands release the pool wall and grip either side of his face, tipping his head back and deepening the kiss.
The moment I touch him, his whole body responds, and I become ravenous at a devastating level.
I can’t get him close enough, kiss him hard enough, and the only thing I can feel is the soul-deep desire I have been hiding since we were fucking fifteen years old.
Another groan slips from the back of his throat, and I use the moment to force my tongue into his mouth until it collides with his own.
My blood heats as his hands reach out and flex around my waist, pulling me harder against him and trying to take control.
It’s what he always does, with his company, with his family, with the women he fucks, so I shouldn’t be surprised he’s trying to do the same with me.
It’s in his nature, I saw it in the way he fucked Lily, and as filthy and hot as that was, he isn’t in charge here.
His hands start to roam my back, mapping the muscles there like he is studying them for a test, and it isn’t until one of his hands slides into my hair and tugs hard that I grunt against his lips.
His tongue explores my mouth, battling for dominance, but I’m not one of his little playthings.
I tighten my hold on his face before letting one of my hands trail down around his throat, savoring the way I can feel him panting against me.
“Do you have any idea how long I have wanted you like this?” My words are spoken against his lips, his mouth still stealing punishing kisses between every word. Like he is as desperate for this as I am.
The warm water lapping around us is nothing compared to the inferno burning inside of me at the taste of him, and it only gets worse when I press him harder into the wall, feeling his rock hard erection against my own.
I grind my hips against him, pulling another delicious moan from the back of his throat, and it’s as if his last shred of control finally snaps.
Pushing against me, he kisses me harder, rocking his hips against mine, as his fingers dig into the skin at my shoulders trying to hold me in place.
It’s not just a kiss, it’s a fucking war.
It’s years of friendship and hidden tension finally coming to head, and instead of ignoring it, we are finally pulling each other apart piece by piece, until there is no going back.
Now we’re not strangers to gray areas and crossed lines, we’ve both found ourselves in them plenty of times before, but never with each other.
I broke a code going after Lily, and now I am throwing away every single one of my rules for him.
I force myself to pull away, needing the distance, needing him to see it’s all or fucking nothing, because I can’t do this unless he’s in this with me, with us.
His eyes narrow at my departure, his frown almost instant, as his stare searches mine, and I struggle to catch my breath, to find the words I need to explain what I feel, but Zack is already shaking his head.
“Don’t you dare fucking stop right now,” he huffs gruffly, sliding his hands up and digging them into the skin at the back of my neck, pulling my mouth back to his.
This time his kiss is possessive, once again battling for ownership, as he takes his pent-up frustration out on me.
This time I can’t stop, I won’t, not when he is kissing me like he belongs to me, like I belong to him.
My hands start to explore now, needing to feel him, needing to show him exactly what it could be like between us.
We’re all teeth and tongue as I grab him and shift us toward the fake shallow rocks of the cave, pushing my body over him until he is laid back against them.
Of course he still battles against me, still not used to relinquishing control, but he won’t win here, not against me.
“Ah ah, I’m in charge here,” I rasp, pulling his bottom lip roughly between my teeth.
“So be a good boy and let me make you feel good,” I demand, releasing him and shoving down our shorts, before spitting into my palm.
His eyes drop to my hand instantly, watching as I wrap my now slick fingers around my cock and start working myself over.
He’s panting beneath me still, yet his attention is solely on my cock.
I jerk myself a few times before I spit in my palm again, and then lean down and wrap my fingers around his length instead, making him curse.
“Fuck me, Max,” he groans, tipping his head back until it smacks back against the rocks and into the water, and I can’t contain my grin as I bring my lips back to his throat.
“Patience, baby, all in good time.” I take my time lavishing his shaft with attention, making note of every gasp and moan, committing them to memory.
My cock is hard and leaking between us, as his hands continue to explore my body, scorching a path against my skin as I stroke him from root to tip.
It feels like everything I need and still it’s not enough, not when we have already wasted so much time.
I need more. So I take it, shifting myself so I can position myself above him fully, wrapping my fist around us both and making him hiss.
“Shit,” he curses, dropping back deeper against the rocks and staring down between us to watch what I’m doing. “That feels so fucking good,” he adds quickly, barely taking a breath, and I slam my lips back to his and swallow another groan.
His tongue once again goes to war with my own, forcing me to move my hand faster, rolling over our heads every time I reach the tip, spreading the precum down our shafts. His entire body arches up into mine, chasing my touch and seeking more and more friction, while simultaneously losing his mind.
“Fucking hell, Max,” he hisses, his blue eyes going dark with need.
“Yep, been there since the day I met you, baby,” I grunt, dragging my lips down his throat and along his collarbone, nipping at the skin there, desperate to mark him alongside his scars.
I pick up my speed, my hand moving quickly over our lengths now, and his hips move on instinct, fucking into my eager palm and chasing his release. My own is imminent, the feel of his cock sliding along my own almost too much to bear.
“I’m close,” he groans, “Your hand feels fucking perfect.” His eyes are still fixed on where I’m jerking our cocks, and that’s all it takes to have me exploding in my fist. It pulses in my palm, ropes of cum coating our cocks and making him curse once more. “Fuck, I’m gonna come!”
I move quickly, replacing my hand with my mouth, ignoring the water that laps against my lips as I take him to the back of my throat.
His fingers dig into my shoulders, hard enough now that I’m sure they break the skin, but it doesn’t deter me from my task, bobbing my head frantically, licking up and down his shaft until I feel him erupt against my tongue.
His cum floods the back of my throat, his sharp thrusts forcing me to swallow water too, but I don’t stop, I can’t, not when the sounds he’s making are the most erotic thing I have ever heard.
And there is no coming back from this, he can run, hide, fucking deny this all he wants, but just like his sister, Zack Royton belongs to me.