7. Santiago
SANTIAGO
With one hand still on Nacio’s chest, keeping him put, my nerves kicked in after seeing the police car. Were they here for me? Had I violated my parole already? Cold sweat broke out across my skin, and I was thinking about running, when—
“Relax.” Nacio pushed my hand away and continued walking. “It’s probably just Gabe.”
“What?” I frowned.
“Gabriel, Dolores’s son?”
“I know who he is,” I grunted under my breath after Nacio already sprinted ahead.
Dolores was our next-door neighbor. A nice lady who treated us as family after our mom passed away. Her son, Gabriel, only two years older than me, became a cop while I was locked up. To say I wasn’t keen on seeing him would be an understatement. In fact, I’d been avoiding him since I got out.
With a grunt, I moved my ass and walked toward them.
“?Hola, mi amor!” Dolores said as I joined them by our front gate, making Gabriel turn around and face me.
Fuck.
“Hey,” I said back, trying to ignore her son’s piercing gaze.
“Are you hungry? I cooked dinner.” She turned to look at my brother and squeezed his cheek. “This one already said he’d join.”
Although Dolores was Mexican and her Spanish was slightly different from my mamá’s, I still loved hearing her speak. It made me nostalgic for the days before Mamá got sick. Days in which our house was colored with the sound of her voice.
“You know I’d do anything for your tostadas,” my brother said, cutting into my memories while practically drooling.
“You should join—”
“I’m actually beat,” I said, cutting off Gabriel. “So I’ll pass, but thanks.”
I’d rather starve than sit around the table with him.
“Anyway, have a good night. And you—” I pointed at Nacio. “—be polite and clean up once you’re done.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he murmured, clearly not hearing a word I’d just said, but whatever.
Taking my leave, I went inside the house and headed straight to the shower.
It had been one long-ass day, and I couldn’t wait to wash it off.
After stripping naked, I got under the running water that was hot for a change and closed my eyes.
With one hand pushed against the shower wall, I took a deep breath, my body slowly relaxing as I exhaled the air.
If I put Nacio’s bullshit aside, today was actually a good day, as I got to spend most of it with Ariyan.
Amber eyes and smooth skin filled my mind, and I bit my lip, remembering the way his body pressed against mine on that sexy red bike of his and how good his waist felt in my grip.
He was so slim I could wrap my hands around him, and yet, he wasn’t fragile; if anything, his body felt strong, powerful, with muscles I wanted to lick all over.
Opening my eyes, I looked down at my now fully hard cock. Wrapping my fingers around it, I slowly moved them up and down in slow strokes, all while thinking of Ariyan’s pink lips, with the small scar cutting into the upper one.
My dick twitched in my fist, and I gripped it harder, squeezing the tip until a low growl escaped me.
Shit. What I wouldn’t give to fuck him, even just once, and to have my dick balls-deep inside his sexy ass.
Thrusting into my fist, I imagined it was Ariyan’s tight hole I was fucking into, the thought making my balls grow tight.
The small shower quickly filled with the sounds of my grunts as I continued to rub myself at a faster pace, Ariyan’s face not leaving my mind the entire time.
My hips bucked instinctively, needing more—
“F-fuck,” I grunted, stroking myself harder until the friction was painful.
My cock throbbed, and my breath hitched at how hard I was.
Basically dripping at this stage, I pumped myself faster until my muscles turned rigid and my hips lost their rhythm.
A second later, a low curse fell past my lips as I burst in my fist, hot cum spilling into my hand while I continued stroking myself throughout my release, imagining it was Ariyan’s hole taking it all.
My chest rose and fell with my heavy breaths, and I opened my eyes to look down at the shower floor.
With the water still running, any traces of my cum were quickly washed down the drain, almost like nothing had ever happened.
I was still high from my climax, but not wanting to finish up all the hot water, I quickly finished up and got out.
Jerking off while thinking about my boss sure wasn’t a good idea, but when did I ever have one of those?
And what could I say, Ariyan was a real tease, and watching him every day left me horny and pent-up like a lame-ass teen.
Honestly, I got more ass back then than I did nowadays.
Sad to admit, but it had been a while since I’d gotten laid, and ever since Ariyan walked into my life, I was set on him and him alone.
It was like I’d been possessed or some shit, but I craved him like a starved man.
Was he even gay? There were times I was sure he was flirting with me, but on others, he was just being nice.
He was so smooth with everyone that it made me second-guess myself.
And having hearts for eyes whenever he glanced my way didn’t make it easier.
At this point, he was nothing but a shiny trophy I wanted all to myself.
With a sigh, I wrapped a towel around my waist and got out of the bathroom, a fog of steam following me on my way to the kitchen to grab a drink.
Opening the fridge, I looked inside. To no surprise, Nacio and Tess had raided my shit, leaving me with a lame-ass bottle of lemonade soda.
Taking the bottle out, I kicked the fridge door closed while checking the label. Seriously, who the fuck bought this?
The sound of the door opening cut my train of thought, and I looked up to see Gabriel.
He froze in the doorway, his hand still gripping the handle while his eyes slipped down to my naked torso. He visibly swallowed, his tawny cheeks taking on a deeper shade of red before he shook out of it and met my amused stare.
“H-hey,” he muttered, voice hoarse.
“Sup?”
Finally moving from the doorway, he got into the kitchen. “Má wanted you to have this,” he said in Spanish, lifting up the plate he was carrying.
Opening the bottle’s cap, I tossed it into the sink. “You could have sent it back with Nacio,” I said after taking a sip.
He pressed his lips together, lips I knew all too well, before placing the plate down on the counter.
“Nacio said you got a new job.”
“I did.”
“That’s nice.”
“Looks like you got one too.” I took a sip when he glanced down at his uniform.
A silence so intense accompanied my words that I could hear the drops of water dripping from me down to the floor, until he spoke.
“I came over the other day, but you weren’t here.”
I wiped my lips with the back of my hand, not caring for this small talk. “Like you said, I got a new job and all.”
Crossing his arms, he smoothed a hand over his stubbled jaw.
“I thought we could talk.”
I snorted in response, and he scowled.
“What’s funny?”
Finishing up my drink, I placed the empty bottle on the counter, then looked at him. “We didn’t work before you went blue, Gabriel. Ain’t no way we’d work now.”
The muscle in his chiseled jaw twitched, same way it always did when he tried holding back his words.
How did I know this? Because we’d been together for years.
As together as we could have been with him being in the closet.
Not that I cared about that. He was a good guy, hot as fuck, and fun to be around, but I never loved him enough.
He knew it, I knew it, and that was why I believed he was finally over me.
But then, hurt crossed his pretty brown eyes, so I guess he wasn’t.
“Why?”
“Why?” I leaned back against the counter, arms crossed. “I don’t know. Guess we want different things.”
“I only ever wanted you,” he said, voice accusing. “You’re the one who kept looking at other men.”
“You mean, fucked?”
He tore his eyes away from me, and I knew I’d hurt him. Same way I always did.
“At least don’t sound so proud of it.”
“What do you want me to say, Gabe? It’s been years, and we both know you could do much better.”
I would have said the air around us was so thick you could cut it with a knife, only it wasn’t.
We weren’t involved enough with one another for me to care that much, at least, not anymore.
To begin with, our relationship—if you could even call it that—was a mistake.
We were a bad fit, which resulted in too much heartache on his behalf.
I often fucked up, and he always forgave, even when he shouldn’t have.
Refusing to admit we were wrong for each other, he stuck to me like his life depended on it.
And don’t get me wrong, there were nights I thought I loved him, too, but the feeling always went away at dawn.
“I came to see you, you know?”
Ah, damn it.
“Three times. I came there three times, and not once did you agree to meet me.”
Biting my tongue, I tried swallowing down the rage that slowly simmered inside me. The last thing I wanted was to think back on those damn days, and yet, Gabriel just waltzed in here and began speaking like he knew shit. It was one thing if I still wanted him, but now, I couldn’t care less.
“Why did you refuse—”
The sudden sound of my phone ringing was like a lifeline, and I reached to grab it before Gabriel could slip in another word. Seeing it was work, I quickly picked up.
“Hey,” I said to Taylor, one of the girls working with me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Gabriel shifting uncomfortably and hoped he’d give up and leave.
“Santiago, hey. Sorry for calling so late, but there was an emergency, and one of the guys on the night shift didn’t show up. Any chance you could come here at the last minute?”
I wanted a way out of this situation with Gabriel, but not enough to pull an overnight.
“I just came back from my shift—”
“They pay double at night.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
She thanked me, then hung up.
Gabriel’s eyes immediately found mine the second I put the phone down.
“Work?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah, and as you can see—” I glanced down at my half-naked body. “—I need to get ready, so…”
Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Cool,” I replied and watched him go back to the door.
His head was down, and his shoulders slumped.
I was probably a bit too mean, but maybe it would make him get the message for a change.
To be honest, I never understood how he could still want me after all the shit I caused him, but I guess some people were so poisoned by love they got blinded.