Chapter 7

The windowof the boardroom looked out onto the mirrored wall of the Divine Conglomerate building, and I winced as the late afternoon sunshine glinted into my eyes. That place was such an eyesore. The Divines thought they were better than everyone else in New Gothenburg's business community and just had to flaunt their wealth.

There was a burst of laughter behind me, and I sipped my champagne as I ignored the celebration going on. We'd secured all the money we needed for our newest project. The ice tires were looking like they were going to be a roaring success. We had orders pouring in from all over the country and Canada—and we were in talks with some dealers in the Netherlands. It seemed like we would be the next big thing in the tire world, which moved slowly compared to other industries. What Tav had said about the tires not being mine had dug under my skin. I'd taken a chance on the technology, and I never claimed I created it. I blew out a long breath and swirled the bubbly amber booze in its flute.

Jon Ong clapped a hand to my shoulder, and I straightened, meeting his gaze first in the window reflection, then turning to him with a smile forced onto my face.

"You did a great job with all this." I gestured vaguely but meant the ice tire project in general. "You all know Jon organized everything except the cash," I called loudly, and there was applause and laughter.

Jon flushed and winked at me. "This is your day to shine, and you're over here staring at—" He glanced out the window and visibly cringed. "Well, I was going to say the sky."

I snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, just thinking about everything else we need to do to keep things rolling forward."

He nodded seriously but also got that panicked expression of someone trying to enjoy a party who is concerned he's going to get sucked into more work.

"Don't worry. We can have too many meetings about it later."

He bumped me with his elbow. "I'm taking Ella out tonight to celebrate. Do you want to come with us?" He raised his eyebrows. Ella worked for an advertising agency that rented a couple of floors above us, and from what I understood, he'd managed to get her phone number by being charming every morning on their shared elevator ride.

"No. Thanks for the invite, though. You'll have more fun alone."

"All right. You know my number if you change your mind." He smirked as he wandered off.

I brooded about Tav for a while, which was what I'd been up to for most of the day. Since I'd gotten out of the car this morning, I'd been going back over the relationship we'd had when we were younger. Had I been a condescending shit? What was Tav going to tell me before we were interrupted? A sharp spike of old grief renewed by the last two days dug into my heart. This was all unfair. If Tav had just told me what the problem between us had been at the time, I'd have moved the entire world to fix it. Tav hadn't given me a fucking chance to make things right. To change, if I'd needed to do that.

Be better.

Do better.

Fuck, speaking of Tav, what had he been up to all day?

I had just tugged my cell phone out of my pocket when Colleen Heizler came up to me. Her gray hair was cut in a short bob and her skirt suit was a relentless gray, but a simple emerald glinted on a necklace at her throat, allowing a small sliver of her personality to shine in her wardrobe. Dad was the one who required a strict dress code at his company, but she'd never loosened up.

"Your father is going to be so tickled pink by this," she said quietly, glancing around the room at the others from our department as if they were too stupid to realize that my last name was also Dailey. "Your mother will be pleased, too. She's taught you so well." Colleen grabbed my wrist, and some warmth alleviated the cold dread that had been building up in me. She was almost as close as family, and I stuffed my phone back in my pocket to give her a short hug.

She tittered and gave me a hearty squeeze back.

"Mom's CFO for Dailey Enterprises. If she wasn't able to teach me all the tricks of the trade, that would be pretty sad." I swallowed the rest of my champagne and wished it was something a little more potent.

She smiled and nodded.

God, I couldn't stand another second of this party. I made a show of checking the time on my phone. "Oh! Please, excuse me. I have a phone call with Canada." I waved around my phone. "I heard that one of the Trudeaus might be willing to talk about how my tires saved them from an accident later this coming winter." I rolled my eyes. "Who knows how much it'll cost."

"Which one?"

I lifted the phone higher. "I'll find out."

She shooed me toward the door. "I'll let everyone know they should get back to work."

"No! No. The workday is done. I just couldn't reschedule this."

She nodded, and I widened my eyes at her until she laughed.

People clapped for me as I walked out the door, and I waved, feeling a bit like an ass, remembering once again Tav's innocent observation that all I happened to be was the man with cash. I sighed as I noticed I'd carried the empty glass along with me. I made it to my office door, then realized I wouldn't be able to get any work done. I set the glass in front of my door, hoping someone would find it and get it where it belonged, then took the elevator downstairs.

Judah

Where are you?

My text sat unanswered as I got off the elevator, and I scowled around the classic lobby. There was a wide half-moon desk on my left and thick black leather couches across the room. I'd never seen anyone sitting there, but a nice amount of decorative foliage surrounded the seats anyway. I caught sight of Tav's wide shoulders outside the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the building, and he was standing there with his arms crossed, laughing with Merlin, our doorman.

All at once, acid seethed through my veins. Merlin was attractive. He had a nice smile and wide blue eyes. He wasn't a small man, but he was a good bit shorter than Tav. The way he leaned toward him, intently saying something with both hands gesturing, made me want to toss him into the street. I stormed toward the doors and shoved out the right one into the blinding sunshine.

"Tav! Upstairs. We need to have a discussion," I called, rather than going anywhere near Merlin, because with the way my heart was racing, I was sure I would fire him on the fucking spot. He worked for the building, not me, but I'm sure I could make it stick.

Tav leaned to the side to have a clear view of me, and his eyebrows slipped up toward his hairline. He pursed his lips and nodded once, the amusement that had been making his face glow dying. Anger clawed harder at me. Why was he happy to talk to Merlin and not me?

We rode the elevator up in silence. I didn't say a word to him as I escorted him to my office, and when I got there, I was so fucking angry that I kicked the abandoned champagne flute down the hall. It hit a wall and shattered with a high tinkling sound that wasn't nearly satisfying enough.

He sucked in a deep breath.

I glared at him and shoved open my office door, then waited for him to come inside before I slammed it. The crack made his shoulders stiffen.

"Were you having fun talking to Merlin?" I asked, my voice low and gravelly because it kept trying to stick in my throat.

"I have a good time everywhere I go," Tav said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. It was clear that he was forcing himself to relax, at least to me. His jaw was tense despite the way his shoulders fell down and back.

"Do you?" I snarled, pacing around him.

I wasn't sure if Tav trusted me or what, but he didn't track my movements the way someone with less of a spine would've. He simply stared at my desk until I stalked back around into his line of sight.

"Oh yes," he said, tipping his head forward. "What is this display about? You think I'm goin' to go fuck your doorman first chance I get?" There was a teasing tone to his voice, but it set me off. I grabbed his face in both hands, and he struggled against me a little, but not much.

"How many men have fucked you while you've been gone?" I asked, finding it hard to take a deep breath. "How many men have you begged to fuck you just right?"

He grabbed my wrist and squeezed until it was almost to the point of hurting—but not quite. "How many have you fucked?" He waggled his eyebrows. "You don't get to play that game with me. I know you took no vows of celibacy."

Adrenaline surged through my body. Yeah, I'd had people I'd unloaded into, but I hadn't had any other partners. I'd never wanted to make the connection, not when I'd fucked this one up so royally—and didn't even know why or how. I shoved him back against my desk, pushed his shirt up under his chin, and got distracted by his pecs, squeezing the muscles.

He put his hands on my chest but didn't exactly shove me off. "Why do you think you get to act like a fucking arsehole, then get all the good stuff?" He scowled.

I slid my hand down and grabbed his half-hard cock through his jeans. "Because you fucking like it." I gave him a squeeze, and his head fell back.

With a growl, I latched on to his neck and sucked as hard as I could, determined to mark him so the next asshole who flirted with him would know he wasn't available. We might not be dating, but no one else was touching him or I would fucking make them regret it. Part of me knew I was being insane, but I'd just gotten Tav back—sort of. No one was stealing him from me.

He panted and groaned. His hands were rough as he pulled me closer and ground his groin hard against mine. His cock was flying at full mast now, and I shuddered at the pleasure that raced through me as he put pressure on my hard-on with his. I moved to the other side of his neck, making the deepest bruise I could with my mouth. He cried out, and I glanced at the door but honestly didn't give a fuck if anyone heard us. I slid my hands up and attacked his hard nipples, teasing and pinching. He thrust against me, and it was all so good I just wanted it to go on forever.

"You're a jealous prick," he said with a laugh. I knew from his tone he didn't mean anything by what he'd said, but the wound of seeing him flirt—fuck, okay, seeing him talk—to another man festered and became poison. I bit his right nipple hard enough that a high-pitched keen filled the room.

He didn't ask me to stop, so I didn't.

I sucked and lapped at the already swollen nub, and he slouched back against my desk with his legs spread, obviously offering himself to me. I ran my fingers into his hair and yanked his head to the side.

"Did you go somewhere and let Merlin fuck you?" I whispered in his ear.

"Not that kind of man. But if I was, there's no shame in it." He pinched my side, but I barely felt the zing of pain.

"Yeah, there would be for you," I said, sliding my fingers around that bracelet he'd wanted back so bad, then giving it a light snap against his skin that had him hissing. "You've been wearing this since you walked out of my life? Doesn't that mean you're still mine?"

I leaned back to glare, and his mouth opened and closed. I hated that I'd managed to put tears in the corners of his eyes. Guilt washed through me, but it wasn't enough to make me stop. I unbuckled his belt and slid down the zipper, then worked his cock free until it was in my hand, the pink head peeking out from the foreskin and gleaming with precum. I massaged the skin around the tip the way he'd always liked, and he shuddered and rested his forehead against my shoulder.

"Are you mine, Tav?" I hissed into his ear.

He nodded.

"You're goddamned right you are. If I'm a spoiled asshole, then you should already know I don't share."

He gasped as I switched to teasing strokes, and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and buried his face against my neck, where he gave me pleading kisses. I could feel myself wanting to give in, calm down, simply fuck this out of my system, but I was pissed off and this wasn't the end of things.

"Instead of talking to me, you accuse me of treating you like a dog," I said, twisting my wrist and catching his cockhead just right on the upstroke. "Maybe you can only fucking communicate in dog language."

Tav moaned and rocked his hips, shoving his dick harder into my hand. I backed off, and I wasn't sure what exactly I had in mind as I whipped out my dick. Part of me wanted to piss on him, but I was so fucking hard there was no way that was happening even if I would've had a full bladder. He licked his lips as he stared down at me and tried to tug me closer by my hips, but I planted my feet.

"Do you want this more than you want Merlin?"

"Who?" he asked, blinking at me with a confused little furrow between his eyebrows.

Fuck, he was so goddamned handsome it hurt. I grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him, then used my hold on him to drag him around to the other side of the desk. I dropped to my knees and fumbled my lube out of the bottom drawer on the right, where I kept it for the occasional lonely long night when I was burning the midnight oil. He laughed, then moaned when I sucked his cockhead into my mouth. His thighs shook as I swirled my tongue around him. I let him go with a pop.

"Is this mine, Tav?" I asked, staring up at him.

He shivered and nodded, and I tossed the lube on the desk. I made sure he was watching as I sucked him down again. His mouth fell open before he clamped his teeth on his bottom lip. I shoved his thighs wider, so it would be harder for him to do anything but take it, and bobbed my head. I dug my fingers into his muscles, waiting for the telltale sign that he was close. Not long later he started to knead my shoulders, and I got a few tasty bursts of precum on my tongue as I pulled back.

"Judah. Oh, Christ, Judah." He strained against me, and I rode it out, sliding my mouth over him in long, smooth strokes until his breath caught and that tiny hitch escaped him. I pulled off him as he whined and thrust toward me, but I only kissed lightly along his shaft.

"Why?" he asked, sounding absolutely betrayed.

I shot to my feet. "You're mine, and you get to come when I say you can."

He stared, and I half expected him to take a swing at me, but then he nodded and dragged me in for a deep kiss. I thrust my tongue between his lips, and he sucked. The sweet, accepting pressure after I'd been tasting his cock and touching him nearly sent me slipping over the edge.

An intense pleasure swirled in my gut as he nodded again while I kissed him, and I pulled away long enough to stare into his eyes.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" I growled out.

"I'm yours," he murmured. "You don't have to worry. I am yours."

Oh, fuck, that expression on his face, those tears dancing on his eyelashes. I felt like I could lift a fucking car. Instead, I kissed him hard, then turned him around so that he had his knees on my comfy office chair. I shoved his pants down.

"What are you doing?" he asked, and there was a waver in his voice, but his humor was slipping back where it belonged.

"Quiet," I snapped.

"But—"

I pushed him forward so that he had to brace his arms on the back of the chair. "Oh, look at that muscled ass," I said with a happy sigh. I slicked up my fingers and teased them into his hole. He moaned and jutted his ass back toward me, which was beyond fucking perfect, but in my mind's eye I remembered him leaning closer to Merlin and laughing with him. Fury ripped through me again. No, he wasn't doing anything wrong, but I still fucking hated it.

"Fuck, I don't have a condom," I murmured. Hell, I'd never considered doing anything like this at work.

"Do it," Tav moaned out, shuddering under me. "I trust you. I haven't.... I've tested recently. I'm negative. Just... please, Judah. I haven't gone bare with anyone."

Oh, wow."Same. Fuck." I lubed myself as fast as I could, then lined up. I didn't give him time to get used to what was happening, just shoved home.

My knees almost gave out. After all the awfulness pumping around inside me, being so close to Tav was perfect. I wanted him on my cock. Wanted him near me. Wanted his smile. I'd never felt so crazy about him in the past, but he'd been gone for a long time. I bit his shoulder and pushed in as deeply as I could.

"Judah," he whispered, my name sounding like a prayer.

"I would've never left you," I growled into his ear, and he hung his head. I pulled out far enough to slam back in, then grabbed the armrests on the chair as it started to skid away from me. I fucked him hard and fast, dragging the chair back toward myself as I pushed him away on it, which added a strange movement to what we were doing. Soon we were both panting and moaning, and if anyone tried to find me, they would get a fuck of a lot more than they bargained for. I fucked him faster and harder, wanting to make sure he would remember this. Remember me.

That tiny hitch from Tav made me feel like a god among men as he tensed around me and rested his forehead on the back of the chair. I could tell he was unloading, and the knowledge sent me into a frenzy.

"Don't come in me," he muttered. "Might make for a sticky ride home."

Blind fury ripped through me. After all that? After I got him off with my dick? After I saw him fucking laughing for someone else? He didn't want me to fill him up. I gritted my teeth and tugged free of the most perfect hole on the fucking planet, then spun the chair to the side. I grabbed his hair and tugged him back until his head was leaning against my chest, and the chair sort of skidded away. He put a foot out, and our positions were precarious, but I jerked off fast and furious, covering his pecs with my cum. Then, I snorted as I started to go down, and I added a few sprinkles of piss.

"Did you just fuckin' do that?" he asked. His expression danced between shocked and amused. "I didn't want you to come in me to avoid a mess in my arse."

"You think I would treat you like a dog? There. You're fucking right." I let him go, and he was forced to catch himself and awkwardly stand from the chair as I tucked myself away and zipped up. He stared at the mess and shook his head before he simply tugged his shirt down and covered it. Some of the liquid soaked through the fabric, but he didn't seem to care. There was too much fatigue on his face.

All at once, he plopped down onto his ass on the floor, and I followed him, hand out to keep him from banging his head on the desk. I sat and dragged him closer, holding him. After a while I helped him rearrange his jeans, and we got him decent. If someone peeked in here now it would still look weird, but no one would be traumatized.

Sighing, I stared into his face. His eyes were closed and he was simply resting against me. "Did I...?"

"Hmm?" He opened his eyes and stared up at me, and the trust in his expression nearly ripped my heart out.

"Was I one of those shitty rich kids? I've met some spoiled assholes. I didn't think I was... but I must've been."

He snuggled closer and wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on my shoulder. I couldn't help it. As pissed off as I happened to be, a hug from Tav was exactly what I wanted, and I gave him one right back.

"I'm sure you were sometimes," he mumbled. "Mostly you were totally unaware. You would snack and invite me, and when you were done you would sometimes throw away half a plate of food. It always shocked me." He shrugged.

His words ripped a hole in me that felt like it gushed out all my life force. I'd always suspected I'd been the problem. "You didn't have enough food at home?"

"We were usually fine," he said quietly, which wasn't the same as saying they always had enough.

Fuck, was I really that blind? "So, it was things like that? I drove you off?" I whispered, slipping my fingertips over his bracelet.

"No," he said, and the word was nearly a croak.

"Then what?"

He was quiet for a long time, and I couldn't stand it, so I gave him a little shake.

"I'm not sure I should tell you." He was so quiet and unlike himself that an awful sensation slithered through me. Something was wrong. Something had been wrong then, and I only knew about it now.

"Did something happen to you?" I tugged him closer. I would fucking kill anyone who'd hurt him.

"My mum was sick," he said quietly, which was confusing after what he'd been talking about.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You couldn't've done a thing. Plus, you loved her, too. Why make you sad before you needed to be?" he said thickly.

My mind spun. "I could've.... She couldn't work, right? That's why she left? I could've given you money," I said, nuzzling my cheek against the top of his head.

"How?" he asked, and there was a bitterness in the word I didn't understand.

"Okay, so back then I couldn't have, but my parents liked your mom. They like you. They would've helped." I pecked a kiss on his temple.

I wasn't prepared for the way he shot out of my arms, but I missed him immediately.

"Did they like me?" he asked, and his Scottish brogue punched through his words. "You know, your mum did give me money for Ma."

I reached for his hand. He tugged away, but when I firmly grasped it, he squeezed back so tightly it hurt. "Then why?—"

"She made me sign a contract for it. The money for Mum's treatment, if I never saw you again. Never dragged you down to my level."

My head spun with the information. That couldn't be right. But Tav looked convinced, and one thing he'd never done was lie. I fumbled my phone out of my pocket and brought up my contacts.

"What are you doin'?" he asked.

"Telling an old woman to go fuck herself," I muttered.