5. Chapter 5 #2
“Letting me break…how kind of you,” Gabe replied.
Cyrus glared at him for a moment. Why was Gabe so bratty all of a sudden?
Gabe broke, and two balls went into two different holes. Gabe looked up at Cyrus.
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Ryan chuckled from nearby.
Gabe missed his next shot, and it was up to Cyrus to get things rolling.
Which he did. Four perfect shots lined up and made. He was on his fifth one when he felt Gabe near him, standing behind him.
Warmth, and the scent of him even if clouded by food, booze, and the smell of the others in the bar. Gabe’s particular scent he found so easy to latch onto. His head was dizzy. He tried to think it was because of the alcohol.
Cyrus missed his fifth shot. He cursed under his breath.
“Get off my ass, will ya?” Cyrus shot at Gabe, who tilted his head to the side.
Cyrus shook his head and stepped out of the way for Gabe to get his shots in.
Ten minutes of calculating, cocky, and testosterone-filled pool later, Cyrus got the last three shots in, and the game was over.
“You got lucky on that last two,” Gabe insisted.
“Sure,” Cyrus replied.
“We should’ve warned you. Cyrus is a bad loser, so he never does,” Lily teased as she leaned on the pool table.
Cyrus caught the eye of Gabe looking at Lily, her neck, he thought. He narrowed his eyes for a moment and handed the pool stick to Michelle.
He sighed and pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket to let people know without saying that he would go outside for a smoke.
He turned around and headed to the back door of the bar.
He hoped he could get some peace and quiet back there.
He usually enjoyed the pool and hanging at the bar, but something about how Gabe acted toward him and what Lily had said to him earlier was making it difficult for him to enjoy the night.
They’d only been there for maybe forty minutes, and Cyrus was already feeling trapped in a room with Gabe.
Was Lily talking out of her ass when she mentioned that Gabe got flustered every time Cyrus walked into a room, and was there some kind of pattern with Cyrus coming into rooms Gabe was in?
He shook his head as he pushed out of the door and took several steps into the cool evening air, and leaned against the brick wall. He lit a cig and stuck it in his lips.
Taking a deep drag, he tilted his head up to look at the sky.
He was only a few more drags into the cig when the door opened. He expected it to be Lily, but instead, it was…Gabe.
Cyrus groaned softly.
“Don't you have somewhere else to be?” he asked.
Gabe folded his arms and stood in front of Cyrus.
“You know smoking is terrible for you,” he told him.
Cyrus blinked and nearly laughed.
“A lot of things are,” he replied.
Gabe furrowed his brow.
“Yeah, well…so is avoiding me. I’m your Alpha. You’re supposed to be my second. We’ve barely spoken,” Gabe accused.
Cyrus looked at him like he was nuts.
“You’re the one avoiding me,” Cyrus said, “according to Lily, getting all flustered when I walk into a room.”
Cyrus eyed him for a moment. He swore he saw Gabe’s nose turn pink. It made his stomach tighten, and his neck felt warm. Fuck.
“Yeah, right,” Gabe mumbled.
“You’re a brat tonight,” Cyrus told him. “And I don’t think you’re the best for the pack. Is that what you want me to say?”
Gabe unfolded his arms and waved his hands around for a moment. “How can you even say that? You haven’t seen me do anything for the pack yet.”
“Okay, then do something,” Cyrus said.
“Like what?” Gabe asked.
“If you knew what you were doing, you’d know.” Cyrus took another drag.
Gabe growled softly, the sound causing Cyrus’s ears to ring for a moment, warm and tingly.
“You’re being patronizing, and you know it,” Gabe told him. “You could take the chance to help me, but you don’t.” Gabe stepped forward, grabbed the cigarette out of Cyrus’s hand, tossed it to the ground, and stomped it out.
Cyrus growled at him.
“I just don’t understand why you’re here,” he huffed.
Gabe groaned softly. “You don’t remember?” he asked. “Yeah, I believe that.”
Cyrus furrowed his brow, feeling dizzy as Gabe grew closer to him.
“God, just go back inside.” Cyrus sighed. He was feeling tense.
Gabe looked at him, Cyrus looked back.
The air was suddenly a lot harder to breathe.
In a second, a pair of lips were against his.
Cyrus tensed with shock for a moment, but he could not resist the urge to kiss Gabe back.
The kiss was warm and urgent. Gabe’s body pressed tight against his as they kissed.
Cyrus’s mouth moved in time with Gabe’s, but suddenly Gabe’s head pulled back, and when Cyrus opened his eyes halfway, he saw the shocked look on Gabe’s face.
Like even Gabe was surprised with what he had done.
“I-I’m sorry I didn’t m—” Gabe started, but Cyrus captured his lips once more and halted whatever words were coming from him.
Gabe didn’t seem to object. He kissed Cyrus back even more urgently, as if with some newfound sense of realization.
Cyrus wrapped his arms around Gabe and, in a quick movement, turned them and pushed Gabe’s back against the brick wall tightly. Gabe moaned softly into Cyrus’s mouth.
“Fuck,” Cyrus groaned in return, dizzy-headed and his pants growing tighter.
He bit at Gabe’s lip, feeling the shiver of the other man’s body against his own, and pressed his groin against Gabe’s.
Cyrus’s head dipped down for a second to nip at Gabe’s neck when suddenly his head was pulled back up to lock lips with Gabe.
His breath was heavy, he was hot, and the air around them warmer than ever.
Cyrus started to push his hips against Gabe, rocking roughly. Listening to Gabe’s panting breath and low moans had him just about ready to risk everything.
“Uh,” Michelle’s voice came from the side of them.
Cyrus had never jumped back so quickly in his life. Shoulders flinching in surprise and face pink. Jeans uncomfortably tented.
His gaze met Michelle’s. She blinked back and then smirked.
“Well, that’s one way to get along.” She chuckled.
Cyrus looked over at Gabe, who was flushing even deeper than him, panting and looking like a deer in headlights.
“Don’t tell anyone,” Gabe ordered though it wasn’t as demanding as he’d likely meant because his voice broke in the middle before he went darting away from both of them and back inside.
Cyrus raked his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath.
“What are you doing?” Michelle asked, cocking a brow.
Cyrus shook his head. “No fucking idea.” He pulled another smoke out of his pack from his pocket but then just looked at it for a moment before shoving it back, deciding to go back inside.
“Absolutely no idea,” he mumbled to himself.