Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
MILES
The dinner had been good, but before it even started, Miles noticed a strange line of tension in both men.Cosimo seemed edgy and Emmett’s tone had shifted—just a fraction, but enough for Miles to notice.
It was strange. He felt the urge to say something, but he also felt the urge to run. He wanted to let the two of them work out whatever the fuck was going on so things could feel normal again. He was already a little discombobulated from the day out with Emmett.
It felt like a date. Or, at least, it felt like what he always imagined a date would be like. They talked. Miles held his arm as they walked. Emmett introduced him to a few of his colleagues like it was totally normal for someone other than his husband to be with him like that.
Lunch had been expensive and delicious, then Emmett had taken him to the outlet mall and dragged him from store to store, dressing him up like a doll and making him feel like he was the most important person the world.
It had felt good.
Too fucking good.
So good he was tempted to call Oliver and find a way to bolt because he couldn’t just sit around and be tormented with everything he wanted and couldn’t have.
It was every fantasy he’d ever had wrapped up in a package that wasn’t for him.
Emmett seemed like he was flirting. He was touchy and sweet and kept pushing Miles’s hair off his forehead and even kissed him there a couple of times.
He was protective and attentive.
But he was also married. This was obviously just how he was with the people he cared about, and it was one more reason he didn’t understand how Selene had turned out to be such a goddamn nightmare.
Sighing, he laid back on his bed and pulled his laptop close. From his spot by the window, he could see the front of the house. All the lights were off, so obviously the two of them had gone to bed. He couldn’t help but wonder what their sex was like. Was it tender and soft?
Or rough and filthy?
Although Cosimo was sharper around the edges and took no shit ever, he could imagine Emmett being the one to boss him around. Maybe put him on his knees a little, fuck him so hard he cried.
His dick was so hard it made his jaw ache, so he reached into his pants with one hand and pulled up his browser bookmarks with the other.
He had one video he always came back to—a silver fox and a younger man. The audio was shit, so Miles never really got to experience how they sounded, but the captions and their body language were enough.
“Let me see how pretty and loose your hole is, baby boy,” the Fox said.
Baby boy turned around to show him. “Does it make you happy, Daddy?”
For whatever reason, in that moment, he pictured himself and Emmett. And when he blinked again, Cosimo was there in the corner, watching. Loving it. Turned on beyond belief as Emmett grabbed Miles and took him from behind.
What kind of dildo would he use? A fat one? Long and skinny?
Fuck, it wouldn’t matter. Miles had never taken it like that before by someone else—only his own toys. But he knew what he liked.
“Daddy,” he whispered aloud, testing the word.
He wanted it so fucking much, with every fiber of his being.
But shit, even if Emmett or Cosimo were available, they wouldn’t want something like this…
would they? Everyone he’d ever known who talked about kinks and fetishes always made fun of that dynamic.
He doubted those two would be any different.
CRACKBOOM!
Suddenly the lights flickered, and the video froze. The internet was out. Miles’s erection deflated almost immediately, and he released his dick, slamming his laptop shut and swinging his legs over the bed.
Rain was coming down now, a torrential downpour making it hard to see anything apart from a misty sort of spray over the pool.
CRACKBOOM!
The thunder was almost hitting at the same time as the lightning. He could feel it along the walls and under his feet. Was it going to hit him? If he was in the pool house, would he be safe?
“Promise me,” Emmett had told him, “you’ll come over here if it’s too much for you.”
He could. He could make it in a run. He didn’t even have to bother either of the men. He knew where the guest room was. All he needed to do was slip in, take off wet clothes, then climb in the bed.
They wouldn’t mind. Emmett would be thrilled, and he didn’t think Cosimo would hate him for it.
CRACKBOOM CRACKBOOM!
This time, the thunder didn’t stop. It was one long, continuous rumble that he felt in his sternum.
Then he felt a jolt, and it took him a moment to realize it was wind. It was blowing so hard now it was making the house shake. Fuck, this was not how he wanted to die.
Grabbing one of the thinner blankets off the bed, he bolted from the pool house and ran. He was drenched almost immediately, but he made it to the back door without being struck by lightning, so that was a win.
It took a few tries to get it open with wet hands, but soon enough, he was slipping inside the dark kitchen.The house was entirely quiet. He wanted to go to the room, but he was still so wet, and he wasn’t about to ruin the sheets.
He could wait a few minutes.
Miles crept into the informal living room and curled up in the corner of the sectional.The room had a massive window where he could see the beach, and the storm began to rage as he watched.
He felt safer there—secure.He wished he wasn’t alone, but that was something he was going to have to get used to. At some point, he was going to have to leave. At some point, he’d be on his own again.
He watched the rain lash at the beach.The waves wrecked the sand, and he saw a few roof tiles start to peel away on the pool house.It was awe-inspiring now that he was behind windows so thick he couldn’t hear the wind outside.
His eyes started to close, and then there was another noise coming from the kitchen, echoing off the tiles.It was a voice, very stern—almost cruel. And dear god, he could make out every word perfectly.
“You think it’s okay to misbehave even if things are different?”
It was Emmett.For a moment, Miles assumed he was on the phone with his daughter.
And then came, “No, Sir.”
“Really? Let’s try this one more time because I feel like you’re not getting it.You went against my direct orders.I told you to leave it be, and what did you do?”
“Disobeyed.”
“Right.I should have expected it.Someone like you—small.Weak. Pathetic .Just because I can’t punish you the way I want doesn’t mean I’m not going to paint your ass as red as the whore you are the moment I get the chance.You’re just delaying the inevitable.Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir.”
For the first time in his life, Miles wished both of his processors were broken—or shitty enough that he couldn’t recognize Cosimo’s voice, and the tremble in it.His heart was beating a mile a minute, and everything felt so…so wrong.
How could Emmett say that?How could he do that?
Was that the reason Cosimo was the way he was?He was being abused?
Is that where Selene had learned it all?
Miles shuddered, feeling absolutely helpless.
“Go fill two glasses with water and bring your ass to the bedroom. I'll be waiting for you there.Hey.Eyes on the ground.You definitely haven’t earned the privilege to look at me right now.”
“Yes, Sir.”
A moment later, Miles heard footsteps in the kitchen.He wasn’t always a man of impulse, but he was often enough to get him in trouble.He moved without being consciously aware of it, and he found himself staring at Cosimo who was wearing nothing but a pair of tight boxers.
His mouth watered at the sight of his ass, and he hated himself a little for it because this was no time for that.At all.
Cosimo turned from the fridge and jolted so hard, he sloshed water all over the floor.“What the fuck are you doing in here?” he snapped.
Miles’s chin trembled.“I heard.”
Cosimo went pale.
“I…I know this is rich coming from me, but you know you don’t have to take this, right?
You don’t have to let someone abuse you.
You’re not a who—a whore,” he stammered, struggling with the word.
“You’re not pathetic.You’re kind.You’re really kind.
It’s obvious where Selene gets it, and I understand why people don’t leave bad situations, but I don’t know. I just…needed to tell you that.”
Cosimo just stared at him, and Miles started to realize he should have kept his mouth shut.
Fuck, this could have made it worse for him. If Emmett knew that someone else knew the way he was hurting Cosimo, the man’s life could be made into a living hell. And Miles would be responsible for it.
"How long have you been here?" Cosimo finally asked, his voice rough. "And why are you in here?"
“Emmett said I could—” He started to choke on his words. “Um. The storm freaked me out.I’m gonna…” He glanced at the window.It was a wall of water, but he could make it. He’d dry off, weather the storm in the pool house, and call Oliver in the morning.“Sorry. I'll go.”
He turned, and then he ran.
Huddled on the center of his bed, Miles stared across the room at his packed suitcase while he fiddled with the watch on his wrist.He probably wouldn’t get thrown out before the rain stopped, but he wanted to be prepared for it. He had no idea what Emmett was actually capable of.
The kind, gorgeous, generous man who had been so fucking tender and sweet with him was also a monster. Fuck. How had Miles gotten it so wrong again?
But if the abuse was as bad as he thought, Cosimo probably wouldn’t tell Emmett that Miles had overheard them, and then they’d live in tense silence until one of them cracked.
He wanted to be prepared for whatever was going to come.Miles had tried to call Oliver, but the call had gone right to voicemail, and he wasn’t brave enough to say any of it over text.