13. Chapter 13

Ifelt…calm, relaxed. For once, waking up didn't make me want to curl up into a ball as much as it had over the previous week. Arthur was cuddled close, tucked under my armpit and we were both naked as the day we were born. Life was good.

‘What's got you smiling?" he mumbled, looking up at me through bleary eyes.

"You," I simply stated.

"Yup, that'll do it." He laid his head back down on my chest and I tightened my arm around him to hold him in place, like he'd fly away if I let go. My other hand idly played with his hair as his skated across the planes of my stomach. Watching him there, so secure, made that crushing sensation of weakness cease to exist. I was exactly where I needed to be.

Arthur stroked his finger down my tattooed arm and smiled. "We still need to get your last one done," he said, coming to rest on the patch of bare skin above my palm.

"I didn't win. Doesn't count."

"No? Then you don't feel like you're winning now? He drifted one nail across the bumps of my knuckles and across my thigh. I shivered.

"Shut up," I sighed. "I'll think about it." I thought about what those tattoos actually said and how I knew we weren't ready for that yet. Would he feel the same way about me if he new the words etched into my skin weren't boxing terms? If it was something so much more personal?

"You know, I realise I kind of jumped you last night. I hope this doesn't constitute workplace harassment," Arthur said, pulling me from my reverie. "Because if you have to know, I will be throwing out any HR complaint you put in against me."

"What if I put in a complaint to Jason?" I asked teasingly.

"That man wouldn't know a filing cabinet if it hit him in the face," Arthur replied. "Believe me, best we leave the harassment cases to me."

Something in his tone made me feel uncomfortable. "Have there been cases?"

Arthur's hand froze briefly, then continued its dance across my skin. "At the gym?"

"Yeah." I almost didn't want to know, but surely I'd have known if they had. Surely.

When Arthur spoke again, his voice was quiet. "A few. I've handled them, expelled the perpetrators when they've happened. People seem to be comfortable enough to come to me before we have to take it any further."

"From now on, I want to be more involved. How could I not have known?" I asked, more to myself than to him.

"You were a boxer. I was the everyman. But if you want to be more involved in all of it—the good, the bad and the financial—I think we can do that," he told me. "Let's make the Imperial Gym's legacy one that lasts, yeah?"

I brought his hand up to my mouth, brushing a kiss across his knuckles. "Yeah. That sounds good to me, love. Let's do that."

We were quiet for a minute, but the question I'd been burning to ask him since last night was still playing in my mind. "I confessed my feelings for you last night," I finally said.

"You did. Why do I feel like that's the start of something bigger?"

"It is…you didn't."

"Didn't what?" Arthur started. "Wait, you think last night wasn't me confessing my feelings?"

"I dunno. You didn't…we just did stuff, you know? We'd had a couple of glasses of champagne. It could have been something like lust."

"Bradley Tyler, I have lusted after you since the day you dropped your towel in that change room," Arthur scolded. "But feelings? I've been nursing those since about week two. And they've only gotten stronger." He craned his neck up to press a kiss to my cheek. "Right, shower time for me. No, you may not join me. I've seen the twelve-in-one shit you use and I won't have it touching this precious skin."

I laughed as Arthur got out of bed then gave me a little bum-wiggle as he left. He closed the door behind him, leaving us farther apart than I wanted us to be. But I understood. These feelings were both inevitable and weirdly overwhelming. We'd finally crossed all those boundaries that we had been skirting and it felt…weird. Weird, but good.

The shower switched off five minutes later, leaving me to have a shower of my own, and wrapped a towel around my waist before knocking on Arthur's door. "Come in," he said.

I stepped into the room and for a second, I didn't know where to look. He was bent down, rifling through his underwear drawer—wearing nothing at all. I could feel my cock rising to attention, and I closed my eyes and thought of anything but…anything butt…Damn. Once I'd seen Arthur like that, it really wasn't possible to get it out of my head.

I flinched when I felt a cool hand on my chest. "You okay?" Arthur asked. He was wearing a pair of pink boxer-briefs that hid the goods I'd just had my eyes on.

"All good here, love," I said weakly. He was just as sexy in his pants as he was out of them. In fact, he might look even better. Like how no present at Christmas could ever make up for the sheer excitement of ripping open the packaging.

"What are our plans for the day?" Arthur asked, distracting me from the inevitable thoughts.

"Plans?" I echoed dumbly.

"Much as I'd love to spend all day in bed with you, I think your mother would see that as a setback rather than progress from where we were. So, we've got to do something."

"Can't we just sit in and watch a film?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "It's your turn though."

"And what's so bad about that?"

"I can't watch another shitty war film. The last one bored me to tears."

I clamped one hand over Arthur's shoulder. "How dare you call Saving Private Ryan ‘the last one' like it's just some other war film. It. Is. A. Masterpiece."

"I have an idea," said Arthur, eyes sparkling with mischief. "As part of your continued journey toward getting better."

"You just said it's my turn!"

"Well, I'll owe you one." He stuck out his bottom lip. "Trust me?"

How could I say no to his pout? Especially when he was stood in front of me almost naked. "Fine," I grumbled. "But it better be good."

"I promise." He stretched up to peck my nose. "Now go get dressed and meet me in the living room in ten minutes. I'll find some snacks."

I did as I was told. When Arthur was involved, that was often the best thing to do.

The living room in my parents' house was much like many other parts of it: sleek, modern, white, and slightly sterile. I was glad to see Arthur had the foresight to grab a blanket, as the thought of eating the popcorn and chocolate he'd acquired over the white leather sofa was enough to make me panic. The TV was on, showing the title card for the film he'd chosen.

"Rocky? Really I've seen it a hundred times."

"And you still don't get the point. I want you to watch with fresh eyes." Arthur patted the sofa, so I sat down next to him with the same gap we'd always kept between us. It felt wrong, though. I reclined and motioned for him to lay back on me. For a second, I worried I was going to be rejected. But then he smiled, moved the bowls to the floor next to us, and rested on my chest. I pulled the blanket over us and started to stroke his hair as he pressed play.

Arthur had been right. Rocky was a film I'd seen hundreds of times, but with him laid up against my chest I felt completely differently about it. I still watched him fight, still felt for him with every setback and winced when he went down in his final fight against Apollo Creed. At least he got back up—I didn't even get the chance. But then he called out his love's name, and I understood. He'd lost, but had won. He had a network of supporters around him to help him get better, to give it another go.

"We're not watching the sequel, you might get ideas," Arthur joked as I wiped away a subtle tear.

"I'm retired and I'm keeping it that way," I grumbled. Though the thought of getting one over on Bartosh was very, verytempting, I'd committed to retiring, and it was time to make good on that promise. "Do you want to visit the gym tomorrow?"

"Sounds good to me. There's some solid eye candy I've been missing since we last went."

I growled. "Who?"

"I knew you were the jealous type." He laughed. "Kidding. Though I will not be stopped from looking. I'm like a vegetarian at a steak restaurant, I can appreciate the chef's artistry without ordering a dish."

"So…you won't be going elsewhere?"

Arthur smiled up at me and shifted around to press a kiss to my chin. "I know we're moving pretty quick, but when you consider it in the context of it building for three years, I hope it doesn't freak you out to know I've not been able to consider anyone else seriously for at least the last two years."

"So, we're exclusive?"

Arthur shifted up my body to capture my mouth, and I groaned at the sensation. I really shouldn't have worn such thin shorts. We kissed lazily for a minute under the blanket, and I was so aware of how our bodies shifted against one another. But it took me another minute to realise that every move Arthur made was deliberate. He was rocking his hips against mine in just the right way…

"You bastard," I mumbled against his lips, and he chuckled against me, slipping one hand between our bodies and into my shorts to wrap around my cock. I sighed as he pulled back and forward slowly, keeping a steady tempo and leaving me hovering me at a low level of need. And I did need.

"God help me if you don't get down there right now," I mumbled, guiding him south by a hand on his shoulder. Arthur's teeth briefly came to bite down on my lip.

"Keep an ear out for intruders," he whispered as he moved under the blanket. "I don't want to be caught by your family."

I nodded, though he couldn't see me from under the blanket. I couldn't see him either, but I could feel as he pulled down my shorts and swallowed my cock in one motion. And took me all the way to the hilt.

I groaned at an octave that wasn't particularly manly as he sucked me deep, and I moved my hand under the blanket to thread my fingers through his soft hair. Arthur gently stroked my balls with one finger, and I bucked up into his mouth and despite choking, he didn't stop. In fact, he seemed to like it. I gently thrust upward into Arthur's mouth until I couldn't bear the feeling anymore.

"Please, Arthur. Make me come." I pushed the blanket aside so that I could finally see him. He looked right into my eyes as he picked up the pace, hitting the back of his throat with my cock again and again, swallowing around it like he was made for it.

"Fuck, Arthur. Fuck." I looked right into his eyes as I unloaded into his throat. And he drank down every last drop, only finally letting go and taking in a gasp of breath when I was done.

"I need to finish you," I said, noticing that despite the tent in his shorts he hadn't actually taken his cock out.

"Nope," said Arthur. He crawled back up my body and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Surely you've noticed by now my love language is acts of service. I'll take my reward later, after I've made you come until you can't stand."

"That a promise?" I chuckled,

"Yessir. Now let's watch Rocky II. I need my boxing fix."

I reached for the remote. It was going to be a good, good day.