16. Riley
Riley held the container filled with warm food in his shaking hands as he stood outside his apartment door. He hadn’t moved for the past six minutes, and he knew he had to go inside soon or risk explaining his shifty behaviour to a neighbour, but he was scared.
Why? Why did everything have to be so goddamn complicated?
Riley had been doing just fine living his straight, uncomplicated life until Kingston Sloan had kissed him and toppled every belief he’d had to the ground. And it wasn’t the kiss—Riley had kissed Jake tons of times when they were teens, so he wasn’t unaccustomed to making out with a guy.
With Jake, lines hadn’t been blurred because Riley had only been helping his friend on his self-discovery journey.
It never made him feel anything beyond a fuzzy, warm feeling that he always associated with his best friend.
Kissing Jake never made him question his sexuality because Riley knew who he was.
So why did memories of Sloan aggressively bullying his tongue into his mouth send Riley’s blood singing through his veins? Why had his skin tingled when their lips brushed? And why had the taste of blood made his cock so fucking hard?
Riley crushed his bottom lip between his teeth to stifle a sound that he would never admit was a whimper. Knocking his head angrily against the door, he glared down at the leftovers Jake had given him and contemplated finding a window to toss them out of.
What was it about Sloan? Was it possible for someone to have magic pheromones strong enough to override a person’s sexuality, or had Riley always been like this?
Fuck, he hoped he was a newly emerging bisexual. Being bisexual meant Riley could be attracted to men, not just Sloan.
He knocked his head against the door for a second time, making it throb angrily.
Liking guys, he could handle. Riley had Allen and Jake as a support system, and he trusted them with every fibre of his soul. But if the attraction stopped at Sloan, he would never forgive his dick.
Riley groaned, feeling pathetic as he lifted his head to bump it again—only for the door to swing open to reveal his furious roommate.
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Sloan hissed, his nostrils flaring as he let out a harsh breath. “What is it with you and hitting your head on things? Do you know you’ve been standing out here for half an hour like a fucking psychopath?”
Thirty minutes? Had it really been that long?
“How did you know I was here?” Riley asked, fighting to keep the anger from his tone. “Do you have X-ray vision?”
Sloan’s perfect, plush lips parted slightly before his mouth fell open. Riley was too distracted by them to register the shock on Sloan’s face until a barking laugh startled him.
“You have a fucking ring camera that you gave me access to, dumbass,” said Sloan, thrusting his phone into Riley’s face so he could see the camera feed. “Get in here before someone sees you and calls the cops here for a welfare check.”
Riley choked on his next breath, suddenly terrified to step over the threshold, but Sloan had apparently run out of patience. He grabbed Riley by the shirt collar with a growl and yanked him inside, nearly tripping him in his haste.
“Dude—”
Riley stepped out of hitting range, staring mournfully at the door as Sloan slammed it closed and turned on him.
“Thought I told you to stay at your friend’s place tonight,” said Sloan. He leaned against the door, giving off an air of superiority as he folded his arms across his broad chest. “You got a death wish?”
Riley stared at Sloan, drinking in the sight of his messy, white-blond hair, spattered freckles and bare chest. His lack of a shirt made it easy for Riley to ogle Sloan’s cut figure and tapered waist, all of which he had noticed before, but it felt different now that he knew what his rival’s vicious mouth tasted like.
Sloan must have been napping because he looked sleep-rumpled and tired, and his eyes were red like he had been rubbing them. No—because he had been crying.
Sloan had been crying?
“I…brought food,” Riley said awkwardly, and then held up the container like an idiot. “Jake made stuffed peppers for us and then kicked me out.”
Sloan drummed his fingers against his bicep, blue eyes narrowing. “For us?”
Riley was starting to lose feeling in his feet from anxiety. He had to swallow and wet his dry throat before he could force his voice to work. “These are just for you, but I think Jake wants me to use them as a distraction so you don’t…kill me.”
Sloan continued drumming and glaring for so long that Riley had to lower the container because his arm began to shake from the strain of lifting them. They entered a silent stand-off, and the tension was enough to make Riley’s heart nearly explode.
“What do you want to say?” Sloan asked gruffly. “Allen wouldn’t tell me shit. He just said that you were ready to talk, and then asked me not to pummel your pretty face because he likes looking at it.”
Riley didn’t want to do this in the entryway, but Sloan wasn’t budging, and he couldn’t put this off any longer.
“Look—if you want to forget about the kiss, then let’s forget about it,” said Sloan. “I’m not even sure I’m into guys, but you were pissing me off so much that it was either a kiss or a punch, and I figured you’d rather the kiss.”
Sloan’s arms and chest gradually flushed a deep red as he continued to ramble—not from anger, but from embarrassment. Riley had never seen anyone light up like an angry Christmas tree before, and he was surprised it was happening to Sloan of all people.
“If it makes you feel any better, there are no feelings involved,” Sloan continued, oblivious to how flustered Riley was becoming.
“You know you’re hot, so it’s not like it’s hard to see why I went for it.
I still hate you, so nothing has changed between us.
We’ll both go back to fucking women and pretend it never happened. ”
Riley inwardly cursed himself because Allen had been right. It was difficult to believe that someone as rough and confident as Sloan could be hurt by a rejection, but he was seeing the evidence laid bare before him.
Sloan was hurting because of Riley. Sloan had cried because of Riley.
Any other time, Riley would have found Sloan’s suffering enjoyable, but today it was waking a different anger inside of him. Anger at himself.
So, what if they were both men? Riley had liked kissing Sloan, and he thought Sloan was pretty, even though he was muscular and masculine. And yeah, they were still rivals, and being boyfriends was out of the question, but what was wrong with kissing?
The answer was nothing. They could kiss as much as they wanted to as long as they were both consenting, and Riley couldn’t think of a better way to figure out where the line was drawn.
He didn’t know if he was bisexual or…curious, but Riley wanted to know. He didn’t like feeling unsure of himself, and he knew Sloan likely felt the same way.
Daring to take a chance, Riley bent to set the container on the floor and then straightened. He held Sloan’s gaze so there would be no mistaking his intentions as he closed the space between them with determined steps, watching Sloan for signs of discomfort.
But Sloan’s posture mirrored Riley’s, determined as Riley’s hands touched the door on either side of Sloan’s body, pinning him against the wood. Their breaths mingled as Riley tilted his head, hovering close enough to kiss, but keeping enough space between them to give Sloan a chance to back out.
Sloan’s throat bobbed when he swallowed, and Riley’s gaze dipped to watch it before slowly dragging back to Sloan’s still swollen mouth. “You gonna kiss me or what?” Sloan asked, softer than anything Riley was used to.
“Can’t fucking stand you,” Riley growled—and then his mouth was on Sloan’s—where it belonged. He pinned Sloan harder against the door, earning a gasp from his rival’s mouth that Riley was all too eager to swallow.
Sloan’s lips tasted like something sweet, maybe one of the gummy candies Riley always caught him snacking on, and Riley swept his tongue over them and nibbled like he owned every inch of Sloan’s mouth.
Sloan was breathing hard through his nose, and his hands had flung up to grip the belt loops of Riley’s jeans when he had been shoved against the door, but he wasn’t opening up for Riley. Not yet.
Happy to accept the challenge, Riley’s hands gripped Sloan’s bare shoulders, fingers digging into the warm, smooth skin before sliding down to trace the hard ridges of the arm muscles flexing under his touch, drawing a surprised huff from him.
Fuck, Sloan was built like a goddamn weapon, all lean power and taut lines, and Riley’s palms roamed possessively over the bulging biceps, squeezing appreciatively.
“What—” Sloan began, but Riley didn’t give him a chance to finish.
He forced his tongue past those parted lips, plunging deep and stroking against Sloan’s with aggressive hunger.
It turned into a battle of mouths, Riley dominating every slide and twist, sucking on Sloan’s tongue before biting down just hard enough to draw a muffled groan.
Yeah, he liked doing this. He liked how he could make Sloan react so vocally. He liked how he tasted. He liked the warm, wet heat of his mouth and thinking about how good it would feel around his cock if Sloan wanted to go that far.
And that was when Riley realized where his line was. He wasn’t panicking about thoughts of Sloan on his knees for him. Or bent over the counter as Riley drove his cock into him. Or gripping his sheets as Riley took him apart in his bed.
Riley wanted all of that and more. Maybe more. Maybe.
Because the thought of Sloan being his, like Allen was Jake’s and Jake was Allen’s, made him want to carve his fucking name in Sloan’s pretty, freckled skin with his teeth.
Sloan grabbed him by the throat and pushed him back, barely able to take a breath before Riley was kissing him again. Claiming him.