Chapter 12 Linus
twelve
Linus
Three Weeks Later
Liam’s legs are hooked over my shoulders.
His eyes are half-closed.
I focus on his gorgeous, thick cock. Watch it bounce on his belly as I thrust deep and unrelenting. Pre-come oozes out of his crown.
“Fuck, Linus.” His fingers curl around the edge of the mattress, knuckles white.
He’s close. I brace one hand beside his head and wrap the other around the base of his cock. “You’re takin’ it so good for me, love. So fuckin’ good.”
His hips lift to meet every push, greedy and desperate. We’re coated with lube. The wet sounds of us fill the room.
Sex with him is divine. Perfect.
His ass seizes my cock and I feel it all the way through my spine. “I’m gonna—fuck, I’m gonna—”
I don’t let him finish.
Pumping him in time to my thrusts, I make sure to twist my wrist at the head the way he likes it. A few passes in and he breaks apart beneath me. Thick, hot cream spills over my knuckles.
“Ahhhhhhhh….” I drive in deep one last time, filling him until I feel it leak down between us.
Liam pulls me close and I drop against his chest, still buried inside him, both of us breathless. His lips find my temple. He never speaks right away after. Doesn’t need to.
Minutes pass, maybe more.
When I finally pull out, he whines.
“You’re insatiable.” I kiss the corner of his mouth.
He grins. “You love it.”
I do. God help me, I do.
I settle in beside him, one arm behind my head, the other resting on his belly. He traces a circle around my nipple with a blunt fingertip. His whole body glows. We’ve been fucking all weekend, so he’s satiated. As am I.
This is something more, though. I feel in my bones when he touches me like this.
The corner of Liam’s mouth curves. “So. Was fuckin’ me a long con to get into the band?”
I huff a quiet laugh, dragging my knuckles across his ribs. “Aye. You caught me. Knew if I sucked you off enough times, you’d let me manage the band.”
Truth is, I didn’t plan to get involved. It was somewhat foisted upon me. The morning after Liam and I first had sex, I’d barely had time to button my jeans before Padraig and his girlfriend, Stevie caught us making out in the kitchen.
Felicity sauntered in right after, sizing me up like I was the biggest piece of shite on the planet.
The next thing I knew, Stevie tearfully owned up to missing an email costing Fireball a headlining slot. Regret written all over her. She wasn’t careless, only stretched too thin.
I spoke before I thought. Offered to help. Didn’t do it to impress anyone. Certainly not to wedge myself into their world through Liam.
I don’t regret it, though. I love what they’re building. The music. The chaos. The energy of it all.
Fireball’s got something rare. If I can help hold it together, even as a fill-in, I’m happy to.
“Good on ya’.” He nuzzles my neck. “You’re a pro, after all.”
“I didn’t mean to overstep, you know. Thought I was bein’ polite. Helpful.” I don’t want Liam to think I’m opportunistic. Not when I dig what we have going on so much.
“You offered to fix a fire.” He shakes his head. “We’ve got a lot of fires. She’s been runnin’ herself ragged to keep Padraig happy. Stevie never wanted to manage us and she’s all we ever had.”
“I’m not tryin’ to replace her.”
“I know.” There’s a pause. Comfortable, but heavy. “Maybe you should, though.”
My eyes widen. “Let’s give it a beat. Let Stevie or Padraig make it their idea.”
“Aye.” His response is immediate, almost too quick. “She likes you. You’ve got your shit together. It probably won’t take long. Only if you want to, though.”
I contemplate, then add, “It’s in my wheelhouse. I’ve seen you play many times now. If I were your manager, I’d tell you Felicity’s gonna be a problem.”
This gets his attention. His eyes cut to mine. He arches an eyebrow. Waits.
“No, not because you fucked her. Truthfully, she’s got talent,” I offer. “Her ego is gonna explode, though. She’s not right for Fireball. Not long-term. I think she knows it.”
Liam exhales, then rakes a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Don’t I fuckin’ know.”
“She’s not the type to bow out gracefully.”
“No,” he says bitterly. “Take it from me. She’s not.”
We lie there for a beat, the weight of their sexual history flickering between us.
“So I’m not purely a hot fuck with a color-coded spreadsheet?” I try to shift the mood back to where we were a few minutes ago.
He squeezes my ass. “Nope.”
“High praise.”
He groans and flops back into the pillow. “Fuck off. You know I love it.”
Oh, I know it. I can feel it in the way he touches me, the way he lets me see under all the bravado. I’ve been around musical egos before. Entire rosters full of them. But Liam?
He’s different.
I want to stay long enough to see where it goes
“You’re stayin’ tonight, yeah?” he asks, as if it’s still a question.
“I practically live here now, don’t I?” Most of my stuff has migrated into Liam’s bedroom. “We can walk to class tomorrow.”
He laughs. “Yeah, but you’ve got the Dublin guilt. Thought maybe you’d slink back to your place to pray or whatever.”
“I’m not prayin’ for forgiveness, love.”
His smile falters.
Silence thickens between us, not uncomfortable, but charged.
“I haven’t told them I’m movin’ in,” I admit.
He doesn’t pretend not to know who I mean. “Your parents.”
“They’re payin’ for my flat near campus. Think I’ve been focusin’ on school and workin’ in the lab. It’d be impossible to tell them I’m shackin’ up with the bloke I’m shaggin’ every night,” I say to the air above me.
I call things as they are, so I do.
His hand stills on my chest. “You think they’d care more about us or the degree?”
“Us, probably. I’m hopin’ as long as I do somethin’ with a suit and a salary I’ll be able to come clean about you.”
Liam tilts his head. “Tell me more about the work you did at the…”
“Booking agency,” I finish. “Started when I was sixteen. Niamh’s da ran the place. He gave me a foot in.”
His gaze sharpens. “Niamh…your ex.”
“Aye.” I nod. “We were together five years..”
“She’s the one you cheated on?”
“Aye.” I shift uncomfortably. “I told her the truth before I left. She broke it off. Didn’t like the idea of me cheating with a guy, which I regret to this day. Both of our families’ hopes of marriage were dashed.”
Liam looks at me quizzically. “So, she didn’t take it well.”
“No.” I swallow. “I get it. I made her feel small. Like she wasn’t enough. I tried to explain, but…”
Liam’s eyes squeeze shut. He gets it.
“Look, what I did was wrong. I wouldn’t ever do it again. She wanted to brush it under the rug and keep goin.” I wince at the memory of the girl I spent so much time with. “I broke it off by comin’ here..”
“Her da?”
“Dunno. I begged her not to tell him.” I internally recoil at how desperate I felt in the moment. “Mostly, I was worried he’d tell my folks.”
Liam’s fingers cover mine.
“She’s not cruel,” I add. “But she’s hurt. And hurt people can be dangerous. I’d like to be able to control my own narrative, ya know, but it’s outta my hands.”
Silence sits between us for a beat.
“Aye. I know.” He bites his lip, likely in memory of his da’s violence. He hasn’t talked about it much since he confided in me, but I can tell it weighs on him.
“I wasn’t lyin’ to her when I said I loved her,” I confess. “She was real to me. But there’s a part of me she never touched. Not ’cause I didn’t want her to. I didn’t know how to tell her I was bisexual. I never want to be in a relationship without full transparency again.”
Liam watches me. No judgment, no distance. Only understanding. “Tell me about the guy.”
“Summer holiday with my folks.”
He goes quiet, letting me fill the space on my own terms. “There was this lad at the resort. Ripped. Blond. He caught me starin’ and smiled like he knew what I was after.
On our last night, I decided to take a walk around the hotel grounds.
Hoped I’d see him. Sure enough, he was waiting.
I followed him into a dark corner. He dropped to his knees. ”
Liam strokes my chest, listening.
“I let him. I needed it. Wasn’t even thinkin’. Burned for it.”
“You finish?” He smiles.
I nod. “In his mouth.”
Liam whistles.
“I felt sick after.” I bite my lower lip. “Not ’cause of what we did. ’Cause I liked it too much. Spent the whole flight home tryin’ not to cry at how I’d betrayed her.”
“You knew you were bi then?” His eyes searched mine.
I kiss his forehead. “Being with him made it real. Tell me about your first time.”
Liam brushes his fingers along my thigh. “You really wanna know?”
I nod, already half-mast. All this talk about sex has me ready to go again.
“Happened right after I turned seventeen, a few months before Da’s accident.
I’d been fucking girls for years. Easy, fun, nothing deep.
I’d been noticin’ guys since my dick started gettin’ hard.
Never said it out loud. Never acted on it.
Only Padraig knew.” He shifts beside me, eyes on the ceiling, remembering.
“Anyway, there was this older guy who worked at a vintage record store on Capitol Hill. Always flirted when I came in. One night he invited me upstairs to his loft. It was quintessential Seattle. Velvet couches, incense and candles.”
He glances over at me. “I was nervous, but horny as hell. He offered me a beer, which I declined, and sat beside me so close our legs touched. When he kissed me, I didn’t hesitate. I let him push me back onto the couch.”
“He didn’t fuck me.” Liam’s voice lowers. “I thought he would. I wanted him to. He could tell I was tense. Inexperienced. Said he’d ease me in.”
Picturing the scene is so goddamn hot.
“He undressed me. Lubed my ass and fingered me. One, then two. Scissored them. When he hit my prostate, my whole body lit up. You know what I mean. He blew my fuckin’ mind and I forgot to be afraid.”
Liam notices my dick standing at attention and fists it, stroking me as he speaks. “When he took my cock in his mouth, I came so violently, I thought I’d blacked out.”
A beat of silence.
“I walked home sore. Shaky. Smiling the whole fuckin’ way.” Liam’s lips lift, barely. “It’s how I knew I want both.”
Liam’s lips quirk when he feels my cock twitch in his hand.
I shift toward him. Rest my forehead against his, our breaths tangling. His palm works miracles. He draws something out of me I’ve never had the courage to embrace.
“I’ve never told anyone before,” he murmurs, so close I feel the words on my lips.
I kiss him. Not soft. Not sweet. Open-mouthed and hungry, like we’ve already lived a hundred lives and wasted most of them not doing this.
“This isn’t about fucking, is it?” Liam pulls away for a second.
I shake my head.
“I used to think it was about preference. Now I think it’s about energy.” Liam hesitates. “I don’t do relationships because I know I won’t stop wantin’ what I don’t have.”
He climbs on top of me, thighs straddling mine. Our cocks slide together, heat meeting heat. He grinds against me, rhythm building, dragging pleasure up my spine with every push of his hips. I buck under him, hands gripping his waist, anchoring him there.
“You’re not the only one who wants both,” I breathe shakily. “You’re the first person who’s ever seen all of me.”
His mouth is on my neck now, biting enough to make me gasp.
“Say it again,” he rasps. “Tell me I see you.”
“You do.” I arch up. “More than anyone.”
Liam braces a hand beside my head and shifts. Slides lower until his mouth finds my chest. He kisses down, slow as sin, until I’m shuddering beneath him. My hand threads through his hair, anchoring myself to the moment.
Liam lifts his eyes, mouth trailing lower. “You good?”
I nod.
He doesn’t break eye contact as he takes me into his mouth.
It’s not a rough, fast blowjob. This is deeper. Focused. He watches me as he sucks me down, inch by inch, his tongue mapping every vein, like he’s memorizing the shape of what we are.
I can’t look away.
I clutch the sheets, my hips lurching once, twice before I manage to hold still. I want to make this last. For him to know I trust him enough to let go like this.
“Unghhhhhh.” Liam’s sexy vibrations around my cock drag a curse from my throat.
I thread my fingers through his hair again, trying to hold on to anything. My thighs tense. I’m right on the edge when he pulls back, breathing heavy, lips swollen. He crawls back up my body, grinding against me again until we’re both insane with need.
He lines us up, and fists us together, stroking in tandem. Our skin slides. Hot. Thick. Intense.
“Come with me,” he demands against my mouth.
His words do something to me. Everything coils then explodes. Floods through me. I cry out his name when I spurt into our fists. He follows, our release catching between us, messy and beautiful.
Liam grabs a towel from the floor and we silently clean up. Then we lie coiled together in the quiet.
His head on my shoulder. My heart in his hands.
I don’t say it out loud, not yet.
But it’s already true.
I’m in.
Whatever this is.