Chapter Twelve
RYDER
Let’s go out and dance.
Like it was no big deal.
The sadist.
I was starting to worry about the man I fell in love with. Yeah, he liked to take charge and could edge me like no other, but now I had to wonder if he had an actual torture kink because what he’d put me through for the last half hour would make anyone crack.
We moved against each other on the dance floor, surrounded by others who’d come to celebrate Trevor’s birthday, but they might as well not have existed for all the attention we gave them.
The entire time we danced with our bodies pressed so close we moved as one, Alex stared into my eyes.
Nothing short of an apocalyptic event could have torn my focus from him.
Every emotion he felt radiated from those beautiful dark eyes into me, keeping me on the knife’s edge of desire.
The fact that he’d stuffed my ass with a vibrating plug and pulled the trigger every so often played a healthy part in keeping me seconds from coming too.
Only a few inches separated us in height, and while Alex had me on width and musculature, our similar height let our dicks line up perfectly.
Every roll of our bodies and sway of our hips had our cocks grinding and brushing against each other.
I’d been hard as fuck since he got his hands on me in the bathroom more than thirty minutes ago, and I was happy to report Alex’s erection felt just as stiff.
We danced together through song after song, lost in our borderline-pornographic world. If anyone caught us on video, they could upload it and make a killing based on the heat in Alex’s gaze alone.
I love it when he looks at me like that.
Like I was the best thing in his world, and he’d die if he didn’t have me.
But when he buzzed the damn toy for the twentieth time, I’d had enough. Coming against Alex’s leg on the dance floor didn’t sound like my idea of a good time. When I finally came, I wanted it with some part of his body deep inside me or around my cock. I wasn’t choosy.
“Stop,” I said, panting into the sweaty crook of his neck. “Please stop.”
He did immediately. “You okay?” he whispered, running a hand up my back to cup my neck.
“No,” I mumbled, half delirious with frustrated pleasure. “I’m tapping out. Unless you want me walking around with a giant wet spot in my pants, I need a break.”
Chuckling, Alex kissed the side of my head, damp hair be damned. “Why don’t you go sit down, and I’ll grab us some drinks from the bar.”
I lifted my head to shoot him a droll look. “Really?”
That had him laughing out loud, which was one of my favorite things. “My bad. Wasn’t thinking. I’ll go sit, and you can get us the drinks.”
Uncomfortable things would happen if I tried to sit.
I kissed the smirk off Alex’s face, and I swear, I only meant it to be a quick peck before I journeyed to the bar, but he tasted so damn good, I might have turned it into a full-on make-out. We tongued each other for a few minutes until the song changed, breaking the spell.
“Jesus,” Alex said. He took a step back from me and rubbed a hand over his face. “You make me lose my damn mind.”
“Yeah.” My legs trembled. Never had I been so close to fucking in public as I was right then.
How was it possible we still wanted each other so badly after six months of dating?
Friends always complained that the inferno dimmed to a controlled campfire, but with the way we were going, we’d be hitting wildfire territory soon.
“Okay.” I gave him a playful shove. “Get away from me before we give Trevor a birthday show he’ll never forget. ”
Alex snorted. “He’d like that a little too much.”
“Exactly.” Because I was an addict who couldn’t resist a hit, I grabbed Alex’s shirt and yanked him close for a final kiss, but this time I managed to keep it tame—ish.
Then we went our separate ways for a few moments, allowing me a chance to cool my lust from a full boil to a simmer.
Constantly aware of the plug in my ass, I didn’t stand a chance of experiencing the party without a hard-on, but I could at least try to regain enough control that I didn’t shove my man to his knees and whip out my dick in the middle of the dance floor.
Shit, those thoughts wouldn’t do jack to quench my raging thirst.
Ugh, don’t think of jacking off.
I glanced over my shoulder before I reached the bar to see Alex join Luke and Dom at a table near the edge of the dance floor.
Those two were close but strictly friends, though they were as different as night and day.
Tall, lithe, and elegant, Luke never left home without dressing like a cover model, while Dom’s idea of fancy was spit-shining his combat boots and wearing the jeans without holes.
Both fantastic men, but complete opposites, yet they were the best of friends.
“Guess I didn’t stand a chance, huh?”
I whipped back around to find the flirty bartender who’d served us our first drinks. “No, you didn’t. Sorry, but nobody does.”
“No?” He tilted his head. “How about spicing things up with a third?”
I raised an eyebrow at the guy who appeared to be about our age, maybe a few years older, but probably not yet thirty. “Did it look like we needed more spice?”
He threw back his head and let out a loud laugh. “No. No, it did not. Fair enough. Guess I’ll stick to getting you drinks. Same as before?”
“Actually, we’re gonna switch to water now. Icy cold, if you don’t mind.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be too drunk to remember all that either.
” He wrapped his knuckles on the bar. “Two ice waters coming right up.” As he moved toward the tap, I turned my back to the bar.
By now, Alex was fully engaged in conversation, laughing at an animated story as Dom told it.
The guy had crazy stories coming out of his pores, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he embellished to the point of lying or if he’d truly lived an insane life.
“If I’d known you two were going to start smoldering on the dance floor, I’d have warned the fire department hours ago.” Trevor laughed at his joke as he joined me at the bar. He had the glassy eyes and wobbly gait of someone enjoying their birthday party to the max.
“Hey, birthday boy,” I said with a chuckle. “Sorry about that. We’re getting a little carried away tonight.”
He snorted. “Don’t apologize to me. I could watch that shit all night. You two are always hot as fuck together, and you know it. But tonight, you’re on another level.”
I couldn’t keep my grin at bay. “Well, you can thank yourself for that.”
“Huh?” He blinked, and I kept my mouth shut but raised an eyebrow, letting his booze-soaked brain catch up.
After a few seconds, his lips curled into a smirk.
“Shut up. You did not.” He closely leaned in and spoke in a low voice.
“You? Or Alex?” Then he laughed. “It’s gotta be you, he’s too grumpy to relax enough for that.
Damn, I am so happy. I feel like a proud papa. ”
I raised an eyebrow at our overly enthusiastic friend. “You have a warped view of parenthood.”
Trevor snorted. “You have no idea, my friend. No idea. Guess now I understand why you’re over here and Alex is all the way over there.
Needed a little break, huh?” he asked before I had a chance to dive into his cryptic statement about his family.
One of these days, we’d get the guy to open, but not tonight.
No one deserved to relive bad memories on their birthday.
“You’d be correct. So, you’re having fun tonight?”
Trevor beamed. “I am having a fantastic time. Any night that celebrates me is a wonderful night, wouldn’t you say?”
As I was about to make a snarky comment about his self-esteem, he stiffened, and the elated expression slid right off his face. He paled to the point of concern as he stared across the club.
“Trev? What’s wrong?” I followed his gaze. “Oh shit.” I clenched my teeth to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. What the hell was Parker thinking?
He stood across the dance floor, scanning the room with, well, Trevor the Second hanging off his arm.
The guy was young, way younger than Parker, and built with the same slender stature as Trevor.
He had tanned skin and spiked his platinum-tipped hair in an artful array while wearing a glittery ensemble Trevor would have loved on any other man.
“Trev…”
He visibly shook off the shock of seeing the man he coveted with someone so similar to him. “It’s fine, Ryder.”
“I’m sorry. I have no idea what he’s thinking. He—”
“I said it’s fine,” Trevor snapped in a tone that let me know it was anything but fine. So much for his fantastic night.
All it took was one second of imagining myself in Trevor’s shoes to feel deep and utter heartbreak.
The kind that pulls you two inches under the water and holds you there until you drown, watching what you can’t have right beyond the surface.
If Alex strolled into the room with someone so like me on his arm while I pined away for him, it would crush me to dust. I could feel Trevor’s agony from here, no matter how wide he smiled that fake grin.
“Did something happen between you guys?”
Trevor tore his gaze away from his obsession and faced me with despair written all over his shimmering face. “Something besides him telling me I was way too young for him, and nothing would ever happen between us because of it?”
Oh, Christ. After throwing that shit at Trevor, he had the nerve to show up with someone just as young. I had no idea what to say to that. Fucking Parker.
As though he could sense our turmoil, Alex glanced away from his conversation. One look at our faces had him standing and making his excuses to Dom and Luke. He followed Trevor’s longing gaze to where Parker stood with his new plaything, and Alex’s features darkened with disbelief and fury.