Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
WILDE
I ’m sorer than usual after a Peril match.
Foley managed to beat me tonight, but not before he got a good shot to my shoulder with his post and left a huge welt on my thigh as he shoved me off.
I don’t take losing lightly, but I take it even worse after a week where my focus hasn’t been where it belongs.
I have no one to blame for the loss but myself. Even the last two days of nonstop practice didn’t have me ready to beat that asshole, and it’s a spit on my pride to see him take money we could have used in Wilde’s End and leave with it.
The only thing that will save tonight is a good fuck, and it’s not going to be pretty.
Wayward isn’t exactly a huge queer town, but a lot of the people who come to the Peril matches tend to head there afterward.
The bar we built in Wilde’s End, affectionately called the Cutty, isn’t set up for hundreds of people, and we keep its existence quiet from non-locals because it’s our little sanctuary.
So the Wayward Traveler bar ends up filled to the brim, which draws in the locals on the third Saturday of the month to drink up a storm with us.
It also means I have a steady group of discreet men to choose from. We’re all good with doing the no names, just sex thing, and it’s what I need more than anything right now. Someone who will let me take this pent-up aggression out on them and then forget about them once we’re done.
I pull up in the already full parking lot and leave the paved parking spaces to find a place on the grass beside it. Inside is as busy as I’m expecting, and I order a beer to give myself something to do while I take stock of who’s here.
Foley and his friends are over in a corner, surrounded by a ring of hangers-on from some of the other towns. He likes attention—I’m assuming that’s the explanation for his face tattoos—whereas I’m happier to go unnoticed.
A few familiar faces pop up in the crowd that I recognize from Peril, and I turn my back on most of them. I’m not here to analyze the matches or talk favorites or to have people commiserate with my loss. I should have lost. I deserved it. My focus has been too split lately.
“Almost didn’t see you there.”
I nearly choke on the sip I’ve taken, but I refuse to turn toward the voice. There’s no fucking way Hudson is here, and even if he is, I’m not going to acknowledge it.
“Are we playing the quiet game again?” he asks. “It’s okay, you can give it up. I’m never going to win, so you might as well take pity on me.”
Eyes forward, eyes forward, eyes forward .
“So what were all those cars doing in Wilde’s End tonight? I know you had some kind of event on, and I’m a little offended that I wasn’t invited.”
I need strength. Unfortunately, after draining my drink, I can confirm it isn’t in the bottom of the glass. “And why would you expect an invitation?”
“Good manners.”
“Not out here.” Before I’m even aware of it, I give in.
I turn toward where Hudson is leaning, one elbow on the bar, his body turned toward me, and I’m caught off guard by how close he’s standing.
He’s one inhumanly good-looking man, and I don’t need him in my line of sight when being in this place makes me horny enough as it is.
He doesn’t back up out of my space though.
“Go away.”
He grins, and I hate that by sitting on this stool, it makes him slightly taller than me. “I will once I have my answers.”
“You don’t need answers. You need?—”
“To leave. Uh-huh. Let’s pretend like that’s even a possibility and move on to something new.”
The way he so easily brushes me aside has my teeth on edge. “Why are you here?”
“I followed you.”
I’d assumed as much but didn’t think he’d admit it. “ Why ?”
“Because this is where you come to hook up, right?” He leans closer, that smug look turning to something hungrier. “Figured that’s enough incentive to trade for my answers.”
“What is?”
“The fact I’m going to cockblock you all night until you tell me what the event was.”
I’d call his bluff, but there’s nothing in his expression that would make me doubt him. He’s only a few inches away, holding my gaze, and so, instead of playing into his tantrum, I give him what he wants.
Because I’m not walking out of this place before I’ve had an orgasm, and the sooner he’s out of my way, the sooner I can make that happen.
“Fine. Once a month, we have our Peril matches. People come from out of town because it’s the largest illegal fighting event where we don’t have to deal with the authorities getting too nosy. And we make a lot of money out of it. It’s how we keep the town supplied with what we need.”
“And that’s where the skull face man was going?”
Skull face ? “You saw Foley?”
“I dunno, did I?”
I point through the crowd and Hudson’s gaze follows. “Yep, that’s skull face. He drove through town.”
“Then yes. He was here for Peril.” I lean in, tilting my mouth by his ear and ignoring that bubble gum smell he’s always wrapped in. “Now, get the fuck out of my face unless you’re planning to suck my cock yourself.”
I’m expecting Hudson to retreat, to tell me to get fucked and storm away, or get angry like I’ve seen him do more times than I can count.
But instead, his cheek skims mine as he turns his head, and then we’re face-to-face with nowhere to go.
I’m not expecting the raw challenge written all over his expression.
“Let’s do it, then.”
“What?”
His tongue wets his lips as his voice drops. “Fuck me.”
I sneer and go to push him back, but he forces my knees wider and steps between them.
“I’m serious. If you hate me that much, think about how good it will feel to let that hatred out on me. To fuck me so hard it hurts. Or use my mouth until I can’t breathe.”
I can already picture doing exactly that. My cock is making its interest known in a more demanding way now, and I have to reposition it away from my fly .
Hudson clocks the movement, and his gaze stays locked on my groin.
“Why would I do that when there are plenty of willing guys in the bar who I can trust not to bite my cock off?”
He smirks at the question. “It’s because you can’t trust me—that makes it fun.
It’s because you know I won’t make it easy for you.
I’ll fight you every step of the way, and I’ll make sure you know I hate it as much as you do.
” This time, his mouth finds my ear. “But you’ll make me come anyway.
Because of how raw and fucked-up it is.”
“Why the hell would you want that?” But I think I know. It’s the same reason I want it too. I’m hard, and I’m so fucking tempted by the images he’s putting in my head. Dominating Hudson, finally feeling like I get to win with him, has an appeal greater than sex.
“Fucking someone who hates you is the best kind of sex.”
“Done that a lot, have you?” I ask dryly, but is it any better than fucking someone who doesn’t even know my name? Both ways get the outcome I came here for. I’ve never been all that picky about where I stick it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever fucked a guy who does like me, honestly.”
“Sounds like all the men you know have good taste.” Like my body knows we’re doing this before I’ve even made up my mind, I widen my legs and pull him in closer.
There’s no hiding how hard we are from each other. No covering up that our hearts are racing like a fucking madman’s. No hiding that deep, destructive want in his eyes that I’m sure is filling mine as well.
That fucking bubble gum scent makes me want to lick the man’s skin, but I hold back because I know better.
He wants it quick and dirty? That’s my fucking specialty.
I’m roaring with the need to get out all this frustration on him.
He’s dangerous, a threat to my town and my life, and yet he’s so fucking hot I can’t focus on doing what I need to.
Maybe fucking him will change that. Maybe showing him exactly how much I despise him will make him think twice about the town.
Or maybe we’ll just fuck. And get off. And then tomorrow, we’ll be back to being unable to stand the sight of each other.
At least leaning into the tension will make it snap. The fun of the pursuit is finally over when I know I can get what I want, and for right now, that’s Hudson. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve wanted someone the way I want Hudson.
“This is what’s going to happen,” I tell him in a low voice.
“You’re going to go into the bathrooms. You’re going to let yourself into the last stall, and then you’re going to prep your ass for me.
I have no interest in touching you. No interest in kissing you.
I’m going to have one more drink, then I’m going to use your hole and leave. ”
He’s breathing heavier. “And how do I know you’re not going to run out on me?”
I try to ignore the rasp in his voice. “You don’t. Remember? The fun is that we don’t trust each other.” Then I take his uninjured hand and set it over my straining cock. “But whether it’s you or someone else, I’m taking care of this in there. Might as well give me an easy option.”
“You wish I was easy.”
“Guess we’re about to find out.”
He rubs me through my jeans, and it’s a mission not to moan. The bar is so crowded that no one is paying attention to us, but if I start making obscene noises, that will change pretty fucking quickly.
I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, and I’m surprised how much I’m into it.
I might not know Hudson well, but I know him outside of this bar, and that’s usually something I avoid.
And while my dick might be hard, it doesn’t change that I really do, all the way to my core, hate the sight of him.
Being attracted to him only makes that hatred deeper.
Because I hate myself too for being this weak over him.
“Who knows?” Hudson breathes, sounding half a second away from coming himself. I’m so tuned in to his every breath, every movement, every little twitch of his face. Like he’s the only one who exists. “Maybe I’ll be the one to stand you up.”
Then he takes a sudden step away. The sounds and colors of the bar come rushing back to me, and I’m panting as I look around.
Hudson backs up again, that raw want and taunting smirk plastered on his face. “Better drink fast,” he says, and then the crowd swallows him up, and I’m left to work through what the fuck I’m doing.
And even though I can’t answer that question, I know I’m doing it anyway.