Chapter 10 #3
“Of course I don’t want to,” Ren said. “We’re .
. . we’re a team. I don’t want to be two teams. It’s already hard enough now that Gabe has Sean.
It was just the two of us for so long, and don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that he’s happy, that they’re happy together but it’s . . . it’s not the same.”
“Sometimes even a good change, it hurts a little.” Like when Seth’s mom had met and married Andrew. She’d finally settled into a good life, but by that point, it was too late for Seth.
“Yeah. I don’t even like going into the Funky Cup now, and seeing Bryan bartending, and not Shaw. It’s not right. I know I can go down to the Fickle Cup and see Shaw anytime I want, but it’s the change of it.”
“And you guys splitting up, that would be a huge change.”
Ren’s eyes pleaded with Seth. “You get it, right? And then I thought, what if Gabe really wants that?”
“You think him taking Jonas’ card and not telling him to fuck off means that he wants you two to split up? Start another truck?” Personally, Seth thought there was no way that Gabe actually wanted that—the two of them were thick as thieves, more than family, but Seth understood the fear.
He’d felt the same, when he’d finally left the Navy. Would he lose this family that he’d worked so hard to find and to build?
For over a year, he’d been at loose ends—worse than that, really—but then Lennox had gotten out, too, and then they’d had each other.
No matter what happened to them, they would always have each other.
“No, that’s the worst part. I think he’s trying to be nice, but it made me think about it, and I don’t want to think about it.
I want to know the answer and then move on.
I was fucking afraid to hear the answer.
” Punctuating his frustration, Ren stood up and began to pace in front of the couch.
“And then I thought about you and how I was worried that you didn’t want me because of well .
. . me, and it wasn’t a fun morning or afternoon. ”
“You stewed about it.”
Ren turned to face him, gratitude written all over his face. “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I did.”
“I can’t speak for Gabe, but I don’t think he wants you gone,” Seth said, “and as for me, I definitely do not give a shit if you slept with every single guy you ever met.”
“I didn’t, just so you know.” Ren looked hesitant again. “I wasn’t like . . . all over everybody.”
“I know,” Seth said calmly. He’d expected this conversation at some point. Hadn’t expected it today, but maybe it was good to clear the air, before they did actually sleep together.
And they were going to.
He wasn’t afraid anymore. There was no way Ren was going to sleep with him and then tell him to fuck off. He knew it, deep down, in a place where everything was certain.
“Ugh,” Ren said, collapsing on the couch next to him. “Why are you so great?”
Seth smiled, feeling the words echoing deep down. “I don’t know, why am I so great?”
“When we met, I did not expect that you would be so easy to talk to,” Ren said, and suddenly he was right there, pressed against Seth’s side, his hand resting on his bare chest. “Or that I would want to talk to you.”
Seth couldn’t stop his heart from beating a little faster. If Ren felt it, so be it. It wasn’t like he was holding back—not anymore. “What did you think you wanted to do with me?” he asked.
Ren’s eyes glowed. “This,” he said, and leaned in, fitting their mouths together.
Ren kissed him deeply, and this time Seth let go and kissed him back, just as passionately, tugging him closer and then closer still, reaching down and tugging his t-shirt off.
Bare skin collided with bare skin, and Seth didn’t know if it was him groaning or Ren, but it didn’t matter.
Ren’s fingers trailed over his arms, gripping his biceps, before moving down lower, between them, sliding down his stomach.
It felt so goddamned good to be touched—and even better that it was Ren touching him.
But just when Ren got to the button on his jeans, he pulled back, mouth red and wet and swollen.
He looked like a fucking masterpiece.
And he was all Seth’s.
“Point of no return,” Ren teased, a single fingertip tracing a pattern over the hard ridge of his cock, still trapped in his jeans. “You ready?”
“Not like this,” Seth said, barely grasping at his own self-control. “Not on the couch.”
Ren raised an eyebrow. “Why not on the couch? We’re here?” He patted one of the cushions. “And it’s plenty comfy. Frankly, we’ve waited . . .”
Seth didn’t let him finish his sentence, instead pulling to the side and then scooping Ren into his arms. He wasn’t light—but Seth was used to carrying much heavier weight than him, and it was only a few steps to the bedroom.
“Oomph,” Ren said, as Seth carried him. “I didn’t expect that.” His gaze was sly and warm. “But maybe I should’ve?”
“Expect the unexpected,” Seth teased and set him on the edge of the bed.
Ren slipped off his shoes and Seth did the same, and then they collided again, kissing ravenously, their mouths moving together like they’d been doing this for a hundred years instead of just a handful of times.
He could keep kissing forever, because it was just that good, the best he’d ever had in his thirty-seven years, but they’d waited long enough.
Epic, Lennox had called them, and Seth could feel it, in every touch of Ren’s, in the throb of his cock as he knelt lower, to tug Ren’s jeans off.
Ren groaned as Seth pulled off his jeans.
His cock was hard and straining against the fabric of his black briefs.
He looked . . . well, Seth thought if he looked right at him, he might lose the remainder of his self-control and he wanted this to be good.
Not just good. Fantastic. Wonderful. Earth-shaking.
He’d been thinking about it for far too long for it to be anything less.
“Let me,” Seth murmured as he tilted his head down, kissing the ridges of Ren’s ab muscles, letting his tongue drift down lower and lower, his fingers pulling down his briefs the rest of the way.
Just like the rest of Ren, his cock was gorgeous. Thick and full and so hard, for him. Seth didn’t think that sight would ever get old.
When he leaned down and licked a stripe up it, he moaned a little at how good he tasted. That would definitely not get old, either.
Or that apparently Ren was a babbler in bed.
“Please, God, please,” Ren begged. “Please, please, please.”
If he’d known that Ren would be this hot and sweet in bed, he’d have never been able to resist, even six months ago.
He let more of Ren’s cock slide into his mouth, and tongued the head, loving the way that Ren let loose another string of nonsense pleading.
Learning someone new—what they liked, what they didn’t, what really got them going—was always an adventure, but with Ren, Seth really wanted to dig in and settle down, and frankly, never, ever leave.
After another long, lingering suck, he stood, his knees aching a bit in a way that felt unexpectedly satisfying, and slid a hand under Ren, pushing him back further on the bed.
“What?” Ren asked, pleasure fading from his eyes. Which, as far as Seth was concerned, would never do. He leaned over, and gave himself over to giving Ren as much pleasure as he could stand.
He wanted him babbling and incoherent, right on the edge of coming for ages, he wanted him to absolutely fucking lose it when he came.
Ren was in absolute fucking heaven.
Seth was as good as he’d ever imagined, insistent and skilled. Every touch felt like lightning trapped in a bottle, fizzing just under his bare skin.
Just the kissing on the couch had been so goddamned good, and then Seth had shocked and pleased him by picking him up and just carrying him into the bedroom.
He’d never expected that. Never thought he wanted it either, but his heart rate had accelerated even more when Seth had done it—and like Ren weighed nothing at all.
And then there was the way he was sucking him down, deep and insistent, like he intended to make Ren lose it. Which he was . . . if only because it felt so good.
Seth slid a hand under Ren’s ass and squeezed, trailing his fingers forward, and cupping his balls. Ren arched under his hands, and groaned, unable to keep the sound in a minute longer.
Normally he gave more than he took, and he worried about how the whole choreography of sex would go. Wanted to make sure it was incredible for everyone. But everything happening in this bed felt right and good and Ren found himself letting go of the worries more than he’d thought he would.
Seth sucked him a little deeper, a little harder, tongue wrapping around the head of his cock, the pleasure of it shooting up his spine until he thrashed on the bed.
Ren squeezed his eyes shut, bracing against it, not wanting to come yet. It was so good, he wanted just a little bit more.
Then, like Seth was reading his mind, he slid a finger up higher, pressing it against his hole, just tracing the edges of it and making him shiver.
“Oh, God, yes,” Ren babbled.
Like he’d been waiting for permission, Seth pushed in slightly, sucking him deep and hard, the thrill of it building through Ren’s body.
He heard rather than saw Seth fumble around in a drawer in the nightstand, and then his finger was pressing in, slicker than before, and he was fucking it in and out in a maddening rhythm, just off from his own deep sucks.
It felt fucking great, and then, suddenly, that was an understatement, because a second finger slid in next to the first and Seth pressed against that spot, the one that always made him see stars. Except today he wasn’t seeing stars—he was seeing a whole fucking galaxy.
He wasn’t sure, with all that pleasure rocketing through him, that he could hold on much longer, but the moment he wasn’t sure, the moment it nearly overwhelmed him, Seth pulled back, breathing hard, eyes glassy, and their gazes met and Ren knew he had to hang on for just a bit longer.
Because from the passion burning in Seth’s eyes, he was about to get fucked within an inch of his life, and love every second of it.
Seth shed his jeans, and Ren opened his mouth to say something, something clever and witty about how he hadn’t even been wearing underwear, and if he’d known that, six months ago, he’d have never made it off the lot without coming in them, but nothing came out.
Just . . . nothing. Maybe a lot of begging and pleading. But nothing of actual value.
And miraculously, Seth didn’t seem to care. The fire in his eyes just stoked even higher, as he pulled a condom from the drawer and carefully, inexorably, rolled it down his cock.
Oh. Ren realized. His cock. He’d finally gotten to see it.
It was long and hard and magnificent, and it was going to feel so good that he could barely wait for Seth to get on with it.
Like everything else, Seth approached him carefully, deliberately, pulling up his leg and positioning, but then as he started to slide in, Ren watched as the world blurred and they finally came together.
Seth’s eyes snapped shut and his fingers tightened on Ren’s skin, and when he was finally totally inside, Ren barely able to breathe at that point, he let out a long, strangled moan.
Like he was just about to lose it.
Ren reached up and cupped his fingers around Seth’s head, tugging him down, changing the angle of his cock inside of him, nearly making him gasp with the pleasure of it. But that wasn’t the idea. He somehow managed to push it aside, and he said, “Let go,” and pressed his lips firmly to Seth’s.
It was like falling into the middle of a hurricane, except the hurricane was Seth.
He was wild but not hard. Passionate but never overbearing.
And it felt like it was over in a moment, even though Ren knew that Seth had drawn it out as long as he could, bliss spiraling out and out until he could barely take it any longer, begging and pleading for him to let go.
Then Ren couldn’t help it, he just fell.
Hard and fast, and he was coming so hard he swore he’d feel the residuals in a week, as he pulsed up his chest, tightening around Seth’s cock, milking it as Seth groaned and followed right after him.
When it was finally over, Seth didn’t even fall on him, just . . . carefully settled to the side of him, wrapping a warm, muscled arm around him.
Ren didn’t like cuddling after sex, usually, but after sex like that? He would do just about anything, and he leaned into it.
“That was . . .” He still didn’t have the words.
“Good?” Seth questioned, pressing his lips to Ren’s chest. He felt them burn into his skin. Like a brand.
He’d never wanted to feel marked, either, but he did.
And he didn’t hate it.
“Better than good,” Ren said wryly. “You know that.”
“Oh, I did, but maybe I just wanted you to say it,” Seth murmured.
“At least,” Ren added coyly, “the best sex I’ve ever had in the afternoon.”
Seth smiled.
It was a slow, private smile. Like it was just for him.
Maybe it was the cuddling. Maybe it was the branding that he hadn’t minded. Maybe it was the casual thing that wasn’t casual, not even a tiny bit, but Ren knew he was in trouble.
Was this what falling in love felt like?
When one minute the man next to you was just another guy, and the following, he was the one you wanted to tell all your troubles to? When he was the one who made you feel like you’d burn from the inside out if you couldn’t have him every single possible way?
Ren had never felt that way before.
He’d never let anyone close enough before.
But Seth, he was there now, and Ren wasn’t sure that he could displace him.
Even if he’d wanted to.
“You have to go just yet?” Seth asked.
“I can stay for a minute . . . at least,” Ren said. Not wanting to go just yet either. “Gabe’s gonna be pissed, but well, he can get over himself.”
“I think,” Seth said, “that he’ll be happy for you.”
It was also annoying when Seth was right.
But that didn’t mean that Ren liked him any less.
Maybe it even meant that he liked him more.
“Then I’m definitely staying,” Ren said, and cuddled in closer, pressing his hand to where he could still feel Seth’s lips. Right over his heart.