Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
Duncan
I leave Felix for a moment to grab us both some waters, when my phone dings.
I pull it out, seeing Lou’s string of emojis and worried texts.
Is he with you?
I tap out a yes. There’s no point in hiding it.
Lord knows Lou would send out a cavalry if he couldn’t find Felix, and I don’t want the damn news vans showing up here.
This town is peaceful and removed from Hollywood.
I’d like to keep it that way, for Bobby’s sake, but also for Felix’s.
And my own.
He’s okay. I’ll take care of him. Just do what you do best.
Lou types, the bubbles on the screen endless as another text comes through.
Dr. Philenstein’s office.
Panic ebbs through me as I swipe, opening the link to the patient portal.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see my son’s clean bill of health.
Thank God.
I still my breath as texts from Lou come through, two in a row.
But for the moment, I have more pressing matters.
I scroll through the same paperwork, my heart in my throat as I settle on the results of my own testing.
All clear.
A huge weight falls off my shoulders and I feel like I could pass out.
Aside from creaky knees, everything is in perfect working condition.
I swallow as the sounds of faint strumming come from down the hall.
Lou texts me.
Tell him I will have a car pick him up at nine. We’re going to address this insanity head on, tonight on Romano.
I shoot back a ‘k’, turning off my phone as I slide it back in my pocket.
I walk down the hall, listening to the faint strums of the guitar, a familiar melody I haven’t heard in ages.
I’m surprised Felix knows Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Power Of Love , being as it’s such an underground track.
But then I think about all the ways Felix keeps surprising me, and how each time, I fall deeper into him, into his powerful vortex.
I stop in the doorway, and he doesn’t see me.
He’s singing, his accent slipping through, while playing my most recent project.
An acoustic I built myself from reclaimed wood.
The sun shines through the skylight, lighting him up in a golden halo.
His eyelashes are thick, standing out against his pale skin. He doesn’t see me, with his eyes closed.
His voice—his real voice—isn’t raspy and throaty.
It’s softer, deeper.
I watch as he gets lost in his playing, as his fingers dance along the frets, strumming the strings delicately, singing the words with more feeling than anything he’s recorded.
And I realize all at once as he sings those spellbinding words, that somewhere between fight and fury, between attitude and obedience, between music and lyrics, I have fallen in love with Felix Hart.
I push off the doorframe, heading toward where he sits, lost in his playing, in the power of the music.
And then I do something I haven’t done in a long time.
I sing, too.
Felix’s eyes flash open with surprise, but his fingers continue to strum as his voice falters. I continue as he plays, and he joins in until our voices dance together, echoing off the walls.
He stands, slowly walking toward me as he continues to play, his accent coloring the words with a realness that takes my breath away.
In this business, talent can be manufactured at the drop of a hat, especially today.
But beneath all the tattoos and the attitude, Felix Hart has real, raw talent.
Of course he does.
As I sing out the last line of the song, those final notes ringing out, I know without a doubt, he’s paradise.
“Sorry, I, uh... didn’t mean to impose on your stuff.” He says the words softly.
I take the guitar from his hands carefully, setting it on the workshop table before turning back to him. His blue eyes glitter like diamonds in the setting sunlight.
“Leave a musician in a room full of instruments, what do you expect?” I flash him with a smirk, setting my hands on his hips. I slide one over his left side and he falls into me without much guidance.
He stares up at me through his lashes, his tongue jiggling his lip ring as his eyes glaze over.
“Lou finally stopped texting me, I think.”
My lips twist up in the corners and I lean closer, my mouth inches from his. I back him up against the edge of my workshop table.
His gaze darkens as he grows hard against me, biting his lip.
“That’s because I told him I’d take care of you,” I inform him. “And I may have promised him, I’d have you delivered to Romano tonight.”
Felix chews his lower lip, his shoulders loosening as I reach my right hand up his neck, grabbing him just enough to remind him I’ve got him.
Now, and probably forever.
Because there’s no way I’m letting him go.
I don’t know how I thought I could fight something like this.
The Power of Love, indeed.
“Typical Lou. Always trying to get ahead of shit,” he says. “Will you... will you come with me?” His voice is small, needy.
I use my thumb to tilt his throat up, forcing him to look at me. My cock throbs against him, and I look him in his eyes when I tell him, yes.
And then I press my lips to his.
Felix sinks into me like ink in paper.
Like he was made for me.
I kiss him with renewed confidence, and relief.
I devour him with my whole damn soul.
Our lips part just a bit and I whisper to him, “Results came in.”
Felix’s gaze simmers as he glances down to my lips, his chest heaving with breath.
“I take it it was good news,” he says, flashing me with a smirk.
“Very.” I nod, then take his lower lip in my mouth, biting at the flesh.
“Duncan, I—” The way he says my name is like a wish, a prayer.
I slide my fingers over his waist, deftly working at the buttons of his jeans. I hold his gaze, watching the way his pupils dilate.
“Yes, Felix?” I whisper as I feather my mouth over his jaw, a smile curling on my lips.
His heavy breath echoes in the space between us.
“I...” His voice falters, shaking with nerves and I stop.
I look at him, for a moment worried I’m pushing him too much.
He slides both his hands up the side of my neck, licking his kiss-swollen lips.
“I love you.” He says the words as if he’s terrified, and I realize he is.
Because Felix has never loved out loud.
But I will never force him to hide.
Because I don’t want to hide, either.
“I know,” I say as I crush my lips to his, resuming my onslaught of un-pantsing him.
Felix’s hands slid down my neck, the unmistakable look of vulnerability crossing his beautiful face.
“Can I tell you a secret?” I ask, pressing my lips to the underside of his ear,
Felix’s hands wander to my jeans and he has my pants down around my ankles in seconds, and is tugging at my shirt.
I chuckle as he breathlessly sighs, “Yeah?”
I slowly tug at the hem of his shirt, and he removes it without question as I do the same, stepping out of my pants.
I’m acutely aware of how the light shines on his naked form and how his tattoos blend with shadows, accentuating his slender, pale form.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” I whisper, and Felix crumples in my grasp.
But I won’t let him fall.
I let my hands wander over his sinuous form, using my thumb to flick his underside piercing.
“You really think so?” he asks, his accent coloring his words with a sweetness that makes me melt.
I lift him up, and he doesn’t miss a beat, wrapping his legs around me. His wet cock slides against my abdomen, making my own ache, and I don’t think twice about what I do next.
I carry Felix over to the couch on the other side of the room and carefully lower us both. He arches his back, his leg sliding down my side as he gets comfortable.
I trace my fingers along his infinity tattoo, biting at his lip ring and he groans.
My cock settles at the edge of his entrance, and I wait for his permission. Felix slides his hands down my sides, over my ass, right over my black cat tattoo, and his grip isn’t forceful.
It’s the lightest of touches, almost as if he is afraid I’ll change my mind.
“Are you sure?” he asks, his glassy sapphire pools glistening with so much love, it’s impossible to fight.
“I meant what I said to Lou. I promise, I’ll take care of you,” I whisper.
Felix’s gaze holds mine.
“Wait here,” I tell him and he blinks as I extricate myself from him for a moment, heading to the ensuite bathroom.
When I come back with the bottle of lube, I can’t help but appreciate the sight of Felix, spread on my couch, naked, with his cock in his hand, looking up at me like he did from the pages of Playgirl.
“Are you sure?” I ask, popping the cap off.
One. Two. Three.
Felix strokes himself, showing off his sparkling steel barbell.
He bites his lip as he nods. “I told you, I don’t mind being fucked.”
I shake my head, rubbing lube between my fingers first, tossing the bottle on the cushions next to him.
Four. Five. Six.
I stalk closer to him, and he grins.
“I’m not going to fuck you, Felix,” I say and he frowns.
I settle between his legs, lifting them onto my shoulders, pushing him back into the couch.
I slide my tongue along his shaft, flicking over his piercing as I slowly breach his hole with my lubed finger, and he cries out immediately with a deep groan.
I continue my onslaught slowly, stretching him as I lick his cock.
He squirms beneath me. “Please…” He writhes, begging with that saccharine desperation that has me unable to deny him.
I slide another finger in, and he grabs my head, fingers gripping my locks as he attempts to face fuck me.
I stroke my tongue along his piercing as I pull my fingers out and he curses.
“I told you, I’m not going to fuck you,” I bite as I grab the lube, taking my time as I apply it to his twitching hole, then to my throbbing cock.
Felix gazes up at me, and I keep my sights set on those pretty sapphires.
I press my cockhead against his entrance, and he holds my gaze.
I lean forward just the slightest, gripping the back of the couch with my fingers as I inch myself in slowly. The only sounds that can be heard is our heavy, labored breathing.
“I’m going to make love to you, Felix Hart. Do you understand?”
Felix swallows harshly, nodding wordlessly as I take his lips with mine. His right hand grabs my neck as his left grabs my ass. He pulls me forward, and I bottom out.
Brat.
I slide my tongue in his mouth as I pull my hips back.
He’s so tight. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it. But I have to try.
I grab his wrists, forcing them up by his head.
He wraps his legs around me, ankles locking as his cock leaves sticky trails of precum against my abdomen.
“Because I love you, too.” I whisper the words against his lips and the smallest sound of submission escapes his throat.
“Do you understand?” I ask, biting his lip as his hips meet my thrust.
He nods hazily, breathing out, “Yes”.
I lose myself in the motion, the rhythm of my thrusts, the sound of slapping skin and breathy moans, and the feeling of being tangled up in Felix Hart.
And when he comes undone beneath me, I know my fate is sealed.
My heart is no longer an empty shell.
I’m no longer hollow.