Chapter 28
Second Chances
Carter
Pete’s was crowded, and we barely found a booth big enough for all of us. Bruce, Shelly, and Tye sat down first, while Adam sat beside Bruce. When Jordan tried to sit next to Adam, he earned himself a scowl. “Sit elsewhere, weirdo.”
Jordan blushed and circled the table so he could sit next to Tye, but the stormy blue eyes told him it wasn’t going to happen.
“Come here, Jordy,” Shelly said, motioning for him to sit between her and Bruce. “Adam got off on the wrong foot again.”
Bruce chuckled. “Is that how we’re calling it these days?”
I sat down next to Tye before anyone could pick up on me acting weird, and then we ordered drinks. Double for me and Shelly, who, incidentally, was sending me weird looks the entire day.
“You okay, Shel?” I said in a low voice when everyone else began to discuss today’s boxing match.
“More importantly, are you?” she whispered, wide-eyed.
Okay, that was weird.
Tye kept checking me out, further increasing my anxiety. His leg was touching mine, but I couldn’t even blame him since the booth was so small.
“Is it really a karaoke night?” Bruce mumbled with his mouth full of chips. “I’m an excellent singer. Did you know that before joining the force, I almost became an opera singer? I would have been one of the greatest if it weren’t for that weird tonsil accident that I had as a teenager.”
“Getting drunk becomes more appealing by the second,” Adam said, raising his hand. “Oh, waiter! Another round, please. Just for me, of course.”
Jordan, who was playing with a beverage napkin, glanced at him. “Is tequila your favorite drink?”
Adam scowled. “What’s it to you, weirdo? Besides, why don’t you ask your lover over there?”
When he pointed his chin at Tye, Jordan turned red in the face.
“He’s not my lover!” Jordan exclaimed. “Nothing happened. It was a mistake that—”
“Jesus Christ, he’s still speaking,” Adam said through laughter. “Can someone put a dick in his mouth and shut him up?”
“Don’t you dare talk to me that way!” Jordan growled.
“Then why are you letting me?”
“B-because…”
“B-because,” Adam mocked him.
“Leave him alone, Adam,” Shelly cut in because she was always the first to stand up for anyone. “Bruce, order us another round.”
“I’m broke.”
Tye was mostly silent, with Shelly whispering in his ear the entire evening, which pissed me off. When my phone pinged with a text, I thanked my lucky stars because it gave me something to do.
“It’s from John Smith,” I explained when Tye gave me a confused look. “A blood spatter analysis from Roxie’s apartment.”
It was a new and improved version since the chief insisted that we retrace our steps and check if we missed something.
“What does John reckon?” Tye said, shifting closer to me to take a look.
“That our killer is of middle height, powerful, and probably in his prime. Leftie. Someone with a military background or something to do with medicine. Maybe a nurse or a butcher.”
“Hmm,” Tye murmured, studying the photos. “Scroll down, babe.”
I looked at him in disbelief. “Are you doing this on purpose?”
At first, he looked confused, but when the realization hit him, he burst into laughter.
“Sorry. I really didn’t mean to. It just slipped out of my mouth, I swear.”
When Bruce headed to the stage to grace us with his singing ability, I whined internally. Shit, it really was a karaoke night.
“Is he as good a singer as he says?” Tye asked me, sounding rightfully suspicious.
I chuckled. “God, no.”
He smiled, and that smile did something to me, so I looked away, despite him still staring at me. When he wouldn’t stop, I glanced at him, feeling warm in the face.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
His gaze shifted to the floor, but I could feel it creeping up to my chest, where the top two buttons of my shirt were undone.
“How am I looking at you?”
Like a human hamburger.
When Bruce started singing, everyone went crazy, even though his singing was awful.
“What about tonight?” Tye murmured. “Your place or mine, partner?”
His voice told me he was joking, but also… not. It kind of gave me an opening to tell him about my thoughts on the matter. I struggled to construct a sentence that would explain it all, but I hoped it would let me keep a friend and perhaps make my heart beat normally again.
“About that…” I said, clearing my throat. “I was thinking that maybe… you know… what happened… it could be like a one-time thing… or something.”
He blinked a few times as if I were blurry.
“A what?”
“You know,” I said in a low voice, fidgeting in my seat. “Like an… experiment.”
“An experiment?” he repeated, looking at me incredulously.
I nodded, my face heating.
“That night felt like an experiment to you?”
It felt like a goddamn destiny, but I wasn’t saying that. I wasn’t even thinking that.
He raised his glass in a toast before pointing his chin at my lap. “Yeah, good luck with that, Dominic.”
When I saw the tent in my pants, I shifted in my seat, cursing under my breath. The fact that he had one too didn’t help either. Fuck.
So, yeah, the entire evening was a disaster. Shelly got wasted, while Bruce got booed after puking all over the stage. Jordan left pissed off, and Adam disappeared soon after him. And Tye was, understandably, furious with me. He hadn’t said one word to anyone the entire evening, and I couldn’t blame him one bit.
“Do you need a ride?” I asked him after everyone left, knowing his car was still at the shop.
“If it’s not too much of a bother,” he replied mockingly. “You already drove me this week, and I know you don’t like to do the same thing twice.”
I ignored the jab and drove us home. We reached our building in no time, and I paused in the hall as he unlocked the door to his flat.
“Um, see you tomorrow?” I mumbled, feeling awkward.
“Whatever you say, partner.”
He slammed the door in my face, and then he was gone.
Once in my apartment, I slumped against the door, rubbing my chest in hope it would ease the pain. I took an Advil because my head was killing me and showered in the cold water, feeling numb. I got what I wanted, only I didn’t expect it to be this hard. I didn’t expect to feel like an asshole of gargantuan proportions. Or guilty. Or like a coward.
After turning off the lights, I stepped onto the balcony that was enveloped in darkness.
Maybe you’re over-exaggerating. Maybe he doesn’t care all that much. Maybe he’s indifferent, and it’s all in your head.
The thought gave me some comfort, but it also resulted in another heartache.
Maybe he decides to give someone else a chance. After all, he’s single. Why wouldn’t he go out with someone? Kiss someone? Fuck someone?
I gripped the railing, suppressing the need to slam my fist into a wall.
When I heard a movement on the balcony below me, I peeked over the railing, only to see a half-naked, huge form standing there. He was dressed only in his joggers, and his hair was still damp from the shower. He rested his arms on the railing, as if he couldn’t hold himself upright anymore, looking just as I felt. Fucking broken.
It took me five seconds to reach my front door and ten more to reach the floor below mine. I knocked on his door, feeling as if my heart would burst out of my chest.
When Tye opened the door, his eyes widened in surprise.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I’m a confused fuck. Do you forgive me?”
Thorsen
I wanted to tell him to fuck off. I really did, but then I remembered my first time with a guy and how clueless I was. How I also hurt some people before I figured things out.
So, I hooked my finger around the waistband of his joggers and pulled him inside. I closed the door behind him and kissed his lips. When he ran his fingers through my hair, his moan of satisfaction made me smile. He really had a thing for my hair, but he also had a thing for me; otherwise, he wouldn’t be here.
We lost our clothes on the way to the bedroom. We left behind us our joggers, boxers, and socks, and with them also our fears, reservations, and doubts. When we got on the bed, I barely had time to sit down before Carter straddled my lap. He kept kissing me as if he couldn’t get enough of me while I blindly reached for the lube on the nightstand. I prepped us both so quickly I probably set some kind of record, and I was about to shift him on his back when he stopped me.
“Not so quick, partner.”
He reached behind him and took my cock in his hand, then he positioned himself and sank down. His eyes bulged, and I was sure mine looked the same. He took one-third of my length inside him, but holy shit, I was on my way to the point of no return just the same. Was he in pain? It was the only thing on my mind, as thrilled as I was with him taking the matters into his own hands. Have I pressured him somehow into this? Made him feel guilty? Have I prepped him enough? What if this makes him change his mind?
I reached for his hips, stopping him.
“Dom, you don’t have to—”
“Need that dick,” he gasped, sinking down my length. “Aw, fuck.”
The tattooed chest in front of me rendered me speechless. It was impossible to refuse that muscled perfection or his hole that swallowed me so good it should be forbidden by law.
That’s it. Arrest him. But fuck him first.
“Ungh… fu…” Carter bit out, taking more of me inside him. “God, your dick is killing me.”
Admitting defeat, I buried my face in his chest, praying.
God, please, don’t make me come yet. I’m not asking for minutes, but seconds… please!
When he bottomed out, a garbled sound left his mouth. “Fucking fuck!”
I merely sucked in a sharp breath, fighting to keep my eyes open. My body had trouble functioning. My heart was barely surviving this. Only my dick knew what to do because it stood erect and firm as he rode it, whimpering. When it hit his gland, his eyes widened in awe.
“There it is,” he gasped, quickening the pace. “There it fucking is.”
“Dominic,” I said, trying to warn him that I was close, but I wasn’t sure if he heard me.
“Tye,” he whimpered, sounding undone. “Ta-aye… Taa-aye… Taaaaaaa-aye…”
I looked over my shoulder at the open window, wondering if I should shut him up, only I didn’t want to.
“Baby,” I breathed, squeezing his ass, because it was the tightest and the sweetest ass that I had the privilege to enter. “You’re killing me, baby.”
His cross pendant kept hitting my face, so I sucked it into my mouth, saying a little prayer of my own.
Give him to me, God. Please, make him mine forever.
When I felt his fingers in my hair, I raised my head and gave him my lips. My heart. My soul.
“You can come, Tye,” he murmured against my mouth. “You’ll be dicking me more tonight, anyway.”
I sputtered something intelligible and gripped his ass with both hands, then I slapped it.
“That’s what you need,” I said through my teeth as he bit my lip in punishment. “Some fucking discipline, so you’ll never dare leave me.”
I slapped his ass again before yelling out and filling his sweet hole like it was meant to be filled—to the fucking brim.
“Fu… oh my God!” I heard him shout, but my mind was gone. “Oh, fuck! TYE, FUCK!”
When I felt his cum spraying both our chests, I opened my mouth, trying to catch that sweet nectar. One spurt hit my lips, and I licked the rest of it off his chest, lapping it up. Even after I cleaned him, I pulled my dick out of him and threw him on the bed, licking his body wherever my mouth landed.
“More,” I mumbled, sucking on his skin and leaving hickeys. “Fucking more.”
When I felt his hand caressing my hair soothingly, I forced myself to stop because it was all gone. Only then did I collapse on the bed next to him, feeling embarrassed by my lack of control.
“What did I say about spanking?” A low voice rumbled.
“It was your punishment,” I said, still panting. “Now you’ll think twice before saying something stupid like this afternoon.”
“So, you won’t do it again?”
Hmm, that was a stretch.
“Yeah, I can’t promise you that.”
We both laughed as I propped myself on my elbow and turned toward him.
“I missed you,” I said, looking at him from under my lashes. “I fucking missed you.”
He smiled and nodded. “I missed you too.”
The simple words made me so happy that I couldn’t contain a grin spreading across my face.
“Tye?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“What is this? I mean… what are we doing?”
There were a billion ways to answer his question, some sweet, some dirty, and some I didn’t dare utter. Finally, I compromised.
“It’s not a one-time thing, that’s for sure,” I deadpanned. “And if you tell me that it’s a two-time thing, I will un-friend you. And un-partner you.”
He chuckled. “What is it then?”
Till death do us part?
“It can be whatever you want it to be,” I replied, nuzzling his nose. “How about a relationship?”
He looked at me, gnawing at his lip.
“Is that what you want?”
“I would love that,” I replied honestly. “You?”
He mulled it over, making my heart go berserk in my chest until he finally nodded.
I brushed a strand of hair off his forehead. “Yeah? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “I want you, Tye. I want us.”
His admission destroyed the last reservation inside me, if I even had one. I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips, because… damn.
“I want us too,” I murmured. “God, you have no idea how much I love—”
Fuck.
I blurted it out.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Maybe he didn’t hear.
I raised my head to look at him, only to see the jungle greens observing me cautiously. I bit my lip, feeling like a fool, but I was a fool in love, so entitled to all kinds of stupidity.
“Look, Dom, uh…” I mumbled, stalling. “How to put it… erm… Ah, fuck, I’ll just say it. I love you, okay? I love you. Maybe it’s too soon, and maybe I’ll chase you away by saying it, but I can’t… I can’t not say it when it’s all that I feel. Please don’t run away. I’ll never say it again if you don’t want—”
He put his finger on my lips. “Shut up, you idiot.”
Oh, okay, so I fucked it up.
“I’m s-sorry,” I muttered, panicking because I couldn't imagine losing him, not anymore. “Let’s just forget this happened and—”
He caressed my cheek. “You won’t chase me away, Tye, because I feel the same. I had no idea until now, but as soon as you said it, I knew it. I felt it… here.” He pointed at his heart. “Maybe you rubbed it in me while massaging my anxiety away. Or maybe you forced me to love you by bringing down my walls over and over again, and trust me, I know I have them. I could give you a million reasons for loving you, but I’ll just say you’re the most wonderful person I know. That should cover it.”
I rested my head on his chest and shook my head. “Fuck you, Dominic. You’re not making me cry.”
He chuckled. “Big bad Tye Thorsen cries?”
“Big bad Tye Thorsen is crazy about you.”
“I’ve never been in love before, you know?” Carter said thoughtfully. “I never loved anyone, and no one ever loved me. Not my parents, and certainly not Vic.”
It was a terrible thing to say, and my heart ached for him.
“I think Raj loved me, but not the way I loved him,” he continued, “but what I feel for you… I just… I caught fire, Tye. I caught fire at one point, and now I burn, and I can’t think straight. And I say stupid things, and I do stupid things, and I know they hurt you, because they hurt me, too.”
I kissed his forehead. “I know.”
“And I think I loved you from the beginning. I just didn’t know it.”
I grinned. “Oh, I definitely loved you from the beginning. From the moment I saw you standing in that locker room, probably. Even before that, when our eyes met briefly in the hall, and I felt as if I got struck by lightning. Do you remember?”
“I remember everything.”
When I felt him hardening against me, I couldn’t help but smile. His libido was insane, which was perfectly fine by me since I couldn’t get enough of him.
“Do declarations of love always give you a boner, Dom?” I teased him, looking down at his crotch pointedly.
“Nope. It’s the Tye effect.”
I chuckled and kissed his lips, enjoying the way his tongue tangled with mine—so readily.
“By the way, we can do this the other way around as well,” I said, wanting him to know that the option was on the table. “If that’s what you want, of course.”
“What do you mean?”
I trailed his earlobe teasingly. “You can top me if you want.”
He mulled it over before answering. “I mean, I definitely want to fuck you one day, but for now I’m just loving your dick in my ass too much.”
I burst into laughter because only he could say something so hilarious out of the blue. Then something on the muted TV caught our attention because we both looked up.
When Chief Bibb appeared on the TV screen, Carter turned on the volume.
“This is not just an investigation,” Chief Bibb said, looking into the camera. “It’s a manhunt. The man we’re hunting doesn’t know it, but we’re close. Seven cities, sixteen victims. All the departments are working closely together, and it’s only a matter of time before we capture him. And we have an eyewitness who helped us identify him.”
Then the reporter appeared on a TV screen. “We heard what the chief of police had to say. Now back to you, Roger, for more sports news.”
“A manhunt?” I repeated, looking at Carter incredulously. “Close to capture? An eyewitness?”
Carter shrugged. “The chief does that sometimes, but it works. The perp feels threatened and starts to make mistakes, only because of a bluff.”
“Well, I hope it works this time, because I want to catch that demented fucker more than anything.”