12 - Andy Jacobs
12
Andy Jacobs
The second we walked into the bar the next Friday night, it was like Dan was all but ripped away from my hands by my friends. Literally.
I’d been holding onto his elbow, about to whisper a dirty warning in his ear as we crossed the door and went to get our drinks, thinking about my plans to offer to push a finger up his ass when I sucked him off tonight–since he sure pushed back against my dick every time his back was against my front–when my friends, along with Nina , had shown up.
They’d surrounded us, looking like hungry wolves with a distinctly evil glint in their eye and, sliding her arm into Dan’s own, Nina had dragged him away from me, saying that they wanted some damn time without me hovering over him– I didn't hover –to get to know him better, and before I knew it, they were already disappearing into the crowd.
Dan had spared an amused glance my way, shrugging at me with a grin that made my insides flutter, before he turned his back to me and followed them.
I’d had him to myself for the whole week. I told myself that it was fine, I could survive for a little bit without having Dan attached at the hip, especially when I’d already been crossing more lines than I should have. I could do this without growling like a dog, like they had taken my toy, like I wanted to hover and let them know whose Dan was–because I wasn’t insane .
And those thoughts definitely belonged to the insane and possessive, which was why I kept them to myself as I sat at the bar.
I flagged Vincent, restraining my urge to give him the stink eye, and thought to myself– thirty minutes .
Thirty minutes of alone time without my supervision and then I was taking him back.
Before Vincent was done with someone else’s order, I felt the warmth of someone settling at my side.
“So,” said a familiar feminine voice. “What’s this I’ve been hearing about you having a delightful protegé?”
I instantly groaned, knowing who I would find, and turned to meet Miriam's mischievous eyes. She was a brunette around my age who used to be one of the regulars here, one of us, but she had moved a couple of months ago because of work and so only showed up here once in a while.
I gave her a look. “Are you going to start giving me shit too?”
She grinned. “Only if you don't give me all of the dirty details.”
I could only groan again, and of course, she cackled like the evil woman she was, and before she could say anything else, Vincent was in front of us, grinning in greeting at Miriam and kissing her on the cheek from over the bar.
“Where's your man?” Vincent asked, obviously noticing that Dan wasn't next to me as he usually was.
Which probably only confirmed Nina's comment about hovering, but I chose to ignore it.
“He's dancing with Nina over there,” Miriam answered, which earned one of my glares, because how did she know already so much about Dan? And what the hell was she up to?
Vincent glanced in that direction, and his smile grew to dirty levels, sending a wink in Dan’s direction.
I gritted my teeth.
And after pouring our drinks—mine a ginger ale, because I was an idiot— , I found Miriam staring at me like she knew all of my darkest secrets.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” she asked, taking a sip of her cocktail.
“Like I'm doing something naughty and you know all about it.”
“Well, aren't you?”
“Nope,” I said, calling on all of my boxer training and the poker face I’d come to master during my fights, but whether Miriam would believe me or not, was something to be seen. “I’m just helping him out.”
“You, being charitable?” She leaned her head on her hand, watching me with curious eyes. “Tell me more.”
I didn't want to tell her more, I wanted to drop this subject, but I forced myself to say, “He's coming out of a tough break-up after a six-year relationship, and since he wants to let loose , someone needs to watch his back so he won't do something that he'll regret.”
Something like sleeping with me.
Obviously, I didn't say the latter part.
Still, Miriam looked thoughtful for a long second before saying, “If he needs to get over an ex, I have a lot of friends that would just love to be a damaged man's palate cleanser. In fact, from what Nina says, he sounds like a catch. He should better enjoy himself while he still can, ‘cause someone is going to snatch him up in no time,” she said in a low conspiratorial tone with a note of humor, but if I was supposed to laugh, I didn’t.
She finally let me off the hook and we spent the rest of my thirty stipulated minutes catching up on what was going on in her life, her job, her new friends, and I even managed to wait an extra five minutes, which was just out of bitterness, because I was stronger than this, and because, if I was being honest, Miriam’s comment had shaken me, and I didn't like it one bit.
I knew Dan was a catch, and I was the one that was constantly thinking that this letting loose thing wouldn't last, that Dan was obviously a relationship guy.
So why did it burn?
When I finally decided it was time to make my way toward Dan, I was still in a rotten mood, but I tried to shove it down, even when I pressed my front against his back and whispered in his ear, “Miss me?”
I needed my fix of Dan, and as if she knew it, Nina left his side, a secret grin on her face, and Dan turned around to face me, his jaw clenched. “You certainly didn’t.”
A sharp, bitter smile started stretching my lips. “You mean you think I didn’t miss you while I was being interrogated about your availability as boyfriend material for almost thirty minutes?”
Dan’s eyes flashed. Something strange crossed his face before he said, “She didn’t look like she was interested in me when she was cuddling by your side.”
Then it hit me.
Now my smile wasn’t just sharp, it was vicious as I crowded closer against Dan and didn’t let him step back, pulling him by his shirt before whispering in his ear, “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
Dan scoffed, but it was short and cutting. “As if. You can sleep with whomever the fuck you want, I just want to know it first.”
“So you’d be fine if I snuck out into the stall with her?” I asked, feeling vindictive, wanting to poke into the wound, because fuck I was way too deep into this.
I wanted Dan too badly, I cared too fucking much , and I knew I should have never gotten into this thing with him to begin with, but I couldn’t stop.
Dan tried to push me away to no avail, because not only did I have several pounds of muscle on him, he wasn’t a boxer , nor a possessive one at that. “You can do whatever the fuck you want,” he said.
Maybe this was where I should have put an end to this madness.
Maybe this was where I took the out and exited this while there was still a one percent possibility that I could leave this unscathed.
But then I looked at Dan, at his set jaw, the way he wasn't looking at me, and this awful feeling in my chest kept growing to the point the only thing I could think of was getting him closer.
Making this right.
“Dan,” I said, making him stop trying to push me away.
He raised his eyes at me.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” I said, the words like a stubborn, bitter admission.
I couldn’t look away from him.
He looked back at me for a long second, something going through his expression before his eyes fell, then said:
“Fuck me.”
My breath froze in my lungs. “What?”
“I said I want you to fuck me.” He looked back up at me. “I want it. Unless– unless you don't–”
I put a finger on his lips.
We gazed at each other for a silent beat.
My stomach turned into knots, tension thrumming between us as I was overcome by this overwhelming sensation that could only be called need and want.
Ache.
“Let’s go.”