19. Shane
Chapter 19
Shane
I locked the doors of the bar and turned the lights off. It had been a crazy night and I was ready to go home, shower the stink of booze off my skin, and crawl into bed. I dealt with the closing duties, secretly wondering if Archer was going to come down and join me again.
My phone sat heavy and silent in my pocket. I wanted to text him, but he was probably sleeping. Most people were at this time of night, but a bar owner’s hours suited me. I’d never been the type to get up early and that was never going to change.
I was about to slip out the back and get in my truck when my cell phone buzzed. The volume was always off, as if I’d hear it over a noisy bar anyway. I knew it would be Archer before I removed the phone from my pocket.
If Cyrus had suspected anything, he didn’t show it. Working with him had gone like normal and he didn’t seem at all surprised that I was upstairs getting a consult for a tattoo. Guilt tugged at the corners of my mouth, but when my phone buzzed again, I pushed it away in favor of answering.
“Hey,” I said. Wow. Smooth. Go me. I managed a one-word greeting. Archer didn’t mind.
“You said I could call. Is this is a bad time?” He sounded sultry and sexy in an effortless way that was just Archer. I found him irresistible. Archer Kinsman was my catnip .
“It’s never a bad time for you.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he said, clearly pleased with my response. It had been more truth than I’d been prepared to give away, but my mouth wasn’t on the same page as my brain. “Open the door, Shane.”
I took half a step toward the back door before realizing he meant the door that led to the upstairs. My keys jingled in my shaky hands as I searched for the right key. Why the hell was I shaking? It was just Archer. But that was a lie. Saying it was just Archer implied that he was unimportant. A passing fancy. Something that I could dismiss. Nothing was further from the truth. Even without his tattoos on my body, he was already under my skin.
The key slipped into the lock and I twisted it. A singular deep breath was all I managed to wrestle into my lungs before I opened the door. Archer stood on the other side, leaning against the wall. He pocketed his phone then crooked his finger, silently urging me forward.
Stuffing my keys and my phone in my pockets, I hurried to close the distance between us. He reached for me and cupped my face in his hands, then pulled me down to him.
His mouth slanted over mine and I let out a satisfied sigh that made Archer laugh before he deepened the kiss. I opened for him, following his lead, letting him devour me. Wrapping my arms around him, I mapped the shape of him with my hands.
Archer pulled away, but my hunger hadn’t been sated. I kissed the corner of his mouth, the sharp line of his jaw, the sweet spot under his ear that made him shiver against me.
“I could spend all night like this.” My confession was spoken into the curve of his neck. I had to stop myself from saying more. It was like I was under a spell. I wasn’t the type of guy to sneak around and keep things from my friends. Yet, that’s what I’d been doing since meeting Archer. I tried to feel bad about it, but Archer was a grown man. We weren’t doing anything wrong. The only reason we had to sneak around was because Cyrus could be an unreasonable mother hen where his brother was concerned. I wanted to say that it was sweet, but clearly Archer didn’t appreciate that dynamic between them.
He pressed himself against me. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere. It’s been a long day, that’s all.”
Archer made a thoughtful noise before pulling me into another kiss. The intensity of it nearly knocked me off my feet. It was like he was pouring all of himself into a singular kiss. And as swiftly as it started, Archer pulled away.
“Go home and get some sleep.” He stepped out of my arms, leaving me feeling immediately bereft. Cold.
“Come home with me.”
Archer stepped back to me and brushed his mouth against mine. “Not tonight,” he said.
Disappointment slammed into me like a freight train, and it must have been written all over my face because Archer gave me the softest smile.
“I would if I could, but I have things I need to do in the morning. Which is why I’m going to go upstairs all alone and get some sleep when I would much rather go home with you and tongue-fuck you until the sun comes up.”
I reached down and pressed the heel of my hand against the base of my dick, hoping to get my raging boner to go the fuck away.
“You have such a way with words.” As good as that sounded—and don’t get me wrong, it sounded fucking amazing—I wanted to take him home so I could hold him after the promised tongue-fucking. Waking up next to him, burying my face in the curve of his neck and kissing him awake were things I wanted so much they made my chest hurt.
“It’s a gift.” Archer kissed me one more time. “Okay, get out of here. I need my beauty sleep. I just wanted to give you a kiss goodnight.”
I stole another one, quick but still soft, a tease of lips brushing against each other. It felt like a promise for things to come, so I did it one more time. And one more time, until Archer laughed and stepped away.
“You’re trouble.” His eyes flashed and I dragged my gaze down, noticing that he had the same problem I did. “Get home and get some sleep. If I don’t see you tomorrow, meet me here, same time.”
“It’s a date.” I glanced up at the door to his apartment. “Can I walk you home?”
He laughed again and started up the stairs alone. “Good night, Shane.”
“Good night, Archer.”
When he reached his door, he turned and blew me a kiss, then disappeared inside, closing the door behind him. As if it were the easiest thing in the world to walk away. I stood there unable to move for half a minute or more before finally forcing myself into action. I went back into the bar and locked the door, set the alarm, then slipped out into the night.
The temperature had dropped to unseasonably cold, and I hurried to my truck. Part of me wished that it wouldn’t start just so I’d have an excuse to go back inside and upstairs. Archer was an addiction. If he’d have let me, I’d still be in that hallway stealing kisses. Turning the key, I started my truck and reluctantly drove home.
I’d have preferred it if Archer were with me. The disappointment didn’t run quite deep enough to kill my raging boner, though. I’d never been the type of guy to jerk it while driving, and until this moment I never understood the appeal of doing that. But my dick throbbed and ached, demanding half my attention. It wasn’t happy with the current position it was in, trapped in my jeans with no relief in sight.
Movie night with Cyrus and Marshall in attendance was going to be impossible. I’d have to be careful not to look too much at Archer, or for too long. Or at all even. Did my dick shrink at the idea of trying to hide my attraction to Archer in front of his brother? I fucking wish. My dick didn’t have a brain, but it still wanted to do the thinking.
Frustrated with myself for being disappointed over Archer not coming home with me, for liking the idea of sneaking around under Cyrus’s nose, I stormed into my house and locked the door. I barely remembered the drive home and that annoyed me even more.
Generally speaking, I was a laid back kind of guy. I did my best to do right by people. I worked hard, even after winning so much money that I wouldn’t have to work again if I didn’t want to. The thing with Archer had wound me up beyond reasonable comprehension.
After a few deep breaths, I was somewhat calm again. Still hard as nails, though, I noticed as I went into my bedroom and stripped down. On a whim, I pulled my phone out. Cupping my dick through my briefs I snapped a picture and sent it to Archer.
Looks like you have a big problem , he responded.
And no one to help me with it , I sent back.
The phone rang in my hand and I nearly dropped it as I fumbled to answer.
“Do you want help?” Archer asked.
I flopped down on my bed and stuck my hand down my briefs. After a couple cursory tugs, I decided it wasn’t quite right. Putting Archer on speaker, I tugged my briefs off .
“I offered to let you help me earlier. But you didn’t want to come home with me.” Wow, that was petulant as fuck.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to,” Archer said, and I believed him. There was something in his voice that was real and honest. He had yet to bullshit me. Even when we talked about things he didn’t necessarily want to share, he gave me the truth.
“What did you want?” I asked. I was fishing for compliments, I realized. Or maybe not compliments, but confirmation that I wasn’t alone in the feelings I was developing. That whatever this was that had started off as great sex, had rapidly evolved into something more than that. Deeper than sex. I liked Archer. He was easy to be with. It’s why I was angry. I was a child deprived of his favorite toy.
“Are you asking me to have dirty phone sex with you, Shane?”
Without answering, I turned and grabbed the lube off my nightstand. After squirting a generous amount into my hand, I rolled back over and grabbed my dick. The lube was cold on my skin and I sucked in a breath.
“Shane, are you jerking off?”
“You bet your ass I am,” I said.
“Tell me everything.”
I closed my eyes and pretended that Archer was in the room with me. Like he was standing in the doorway watching me. “The lube was cold, but it’s already warming up. I used a lot. I like it sloppy sometimes.”
“I like you all wet for me,” he purred in my ear. “How wet are you?”
I bit my lip to stifle a groan and spread my legs, bending them so the bottoms of my feet were on the mattress. I let my legs fall open, creating as much room as possible .
“I’m fucking soaked.” I tightened my grip, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted Archer here with me. Pretending was shit and it made me angry all over again.
I didn’t want to pretend with him. I didn’t want to act like he meant nothing to me. I didn’t want to treat him like nothing more than a friend. I wanted to bring him home and wake up next to him. I wanted him to walk into my bar and kiss me in front of everyone.
There was no way I could say any of that. For the time being, I’d take what I could get until I couldn’t take anymore. Eventually, one of us would have to walk away. But it wasn’t going to be me. I knew that already. I wanted Archer in any way that I could have him, even if it was only his voice in my speaker phone as I pressed two fingers against my hole.
“What are you doing now?” he asked. “Are you being a good slut for me?”
“Ye-es.” The word stuttered out of me. I’d borrowed some excess lube from my cock and teased my fingers into my hole. The stretch was too much too fast, but it was perfect for the way I felt. The burn in my heart now matched the burn in my body. It was tangible proof that I was absolutely fucked up over this man. I jerked myself faster, wet skin slaps echoing in the otherwise quiet room.
“Fuck, listen to you. You’re so hot.”
I huffed out a laugh. “You can’t even see me.”
“You’re always hot. But you’re especially gorgeous when you’re like this. All lusty and slutty for me. Close your eyes and listen to yourself. What do you hear?”
Lube. Skin slapping against skin. Harsh, heavy breaths. I pressed my fingers in deeper, trying to fill the spaces in me that I wanted Archer to fill. A whimper escaped my lips and Archer made an approving sound .
“That’s right. Let me hear you.”
It was like he had a Shane Taggart manual and knew what buttons to push, because I twisted my fingers, pushing them in deeper. I crooked my fingers and stroked against my prostate a couple times. The sounds I made were unreal. He was right—I did sound like a slut. I wished he was here to use me like one. I liked the way he said it to me, like it wasn’t an insult. When Archer called me a slut, he was giving me the highest of compliments. He always had this approving, appreciative look in his eyes when he said it.
I wished he was here so I could see it.
“I’m close.”
“Then come for me. Let me hear you. That’s a good boy.”
I cried out, arching off the bed, and my hips stuttered, fucking my fist. I came hard in ribbons that painted stripes up my chest. And I didn’t stop jerking. I kept stroking myself past the point of comfort until my noises went from gentle sounds of pleasure to tortured whimpers.
I stopped suddenly and yanked my hand away from my dick like it might fall off if I kept touching it. I’d already removed my fingers from my ass and I winced as I let my legs straighten out. There had been little lube easing my way and in the moment it had been incredible, but it might suck tomorrow.
There was a pause. A silence. No sound at all except for my harsh breaths and the blood rushing through my veins.
“If you ask me to come home with you again, my answer will be different,” Archer said, part confession, part promise. “Now get some sleep.”
I did as I was told.
Like a good boy.