29. Daire

TWENTY-NINE

daire

THIS WAS GOING to be a long night.

The band wasn’t terrible, but they weren’t my thing. At all. The only good thing I could say was that they were so loud they drowned out the sound of my thoughts, at least for a moment. Because the second my eyes drifted from the singer to where Trevor and Gavin were dancing so close they practically merged into one, those thoughts came back louder, and with a vengeance.

Gavin was holding that fucker close, his arms looped around his neck, while the Tool’s hands moved down to the top of Gavin’s ass.

My first instinct was to get up, rip Trevor’s arms off, and glue them to his own ass.

But I didn’t have a claim on Gavin, so that would be a little extreme, even for me.

I shifted focus as Gavin closed his eyes, swaying to the music. I liked the way he got lost in it. That he didn’t care who was around while he enjoyed himself and let go.

As his head fell back, exposing all that smooth, creamy skin, I pictured how easy it would be for me to lean in and press my lips along his sharp jaw before moving down to lick and suck along his neck. I’d feel his moan against my mouth, quietly begging for more. With every roll of his hips, his erection would graze mine, provoking me in all the right ways. I’d haul him in closer to give him something to grind against, and he’d take it, not giving a damn who was watching as he got himself off on me⁠—

“I’m all for putting on a show, but that’s not usually your thing,” Travis shouted over the music, and reality snapped back again, Gavin no longer in my arms but in Trevor’s.

I looked up to glare at Travis, who stood beside me with an amused tilt to his lips. When he nodded pointedly at my hips, I glanced down to see I’d been stroking my dick through my pants.

What the hell?

When I jerked my hand away, Travis chuckled. “Please don’t stop on my account. I enjoy watching a good public rubdown.”

“Oh fuck off.” I shifted, trying to adjust myself, but it only strangled my cock to the point I had to stand up to give it some room.

“Something got you riled up?” Travis said, arching a brow. A thin line of glitter lined his eyes, shimmering under the flashing lights.

“Not a thing.” I shook my head, forcing myself to look anywhere but in Gavin’s direction. I’d made things crystal clear with him, so there was no point in caring whom he decided to spend his time with. Or grind himself all up on.

Nope. It didn’t affect me one little bit.

Travis snorted and rolled his eyes. “You’re such an idiot.”

I turned to pin him with a stare. “Excuse me?”

To his credit, he didn’t back down the way most would. Instead, he inclined his head toward where Gavin was dancing and singing along. “What are you doing, just watching?”

I ground my jaw tight. “I don’t dance.”

“I’m not talking about dancing, dumbass.”

My head swiveled in his direction. “You have a death wish?”

“I guess so, ’cause I’m tired of you mooning over the guy and fucking it up.”

What the hell was he talking about? Fucking what up?

“I get you’re trying to maintain your whole loner asshole image,” Travis continued, “but you’re gonna regret watching him move on from you. Trust me.”

I ignored the stab in my chest. “Nobody asked you.”

“Let me guess, you think you’re not good enough. But then, no one ever will be, and by the time you realize that, you’ve lost your chance.”

Jesus, it was like he was inside my head, reading my mind.

“Don’t you have somewhere else you could be?”

“Probably, but you seem to be in need of my extensive knowledge of self-denial.”

Now that was a fucking laugh—Travis was the king of excess, whether it involved drinking, fucking, or just having a good time. “Nice try, but you and self-denial don’t exactly go hand in hand. When was the last time you ever denied yourself anything?”

Travis looked to the back of a tall guy in a pair of ripped jeans, dress shirt, and a slouch beanie sucking face with a blonde in a tight corset showing off her huge rack.

Caleb Reeves. Of course that’s who Travis was talking about.

“Yeah, well, that’s totally fucking different,” I said. “You could always cut in.”

Travis scoffed. “In this situation, you have more of a chance than I do at getting what you want.” He put up a hand when I started to deny it. “And don’t tell me you don’t want him. It goes beyond whatever stunt you pulled the other day. You thought you could fuck and flee Gavin? There’s no way that didn’t just rope you in tighter.”

Goddammit, why wouldn’t he just shut up already? I didn’t need him acting like a mirror and pointing out the obvious. The part I’d pushed so far back it was easy to pretend like it didn’t exist.

I looked back over to where Gavin wiped at his forehead, already getting sweaty in the crowd.

Fuck, that wasn’t enticing. Not at all.

Travis leaned in close. “He thinks you’re enough. Why don’t you?”

My heart stuttered, and all of a sudden it was hard to breathe. I couldn’t seem to look away as Trevor lowered his mouth to Gavin’s ear to say something before pressing a kiss there. There. Where I’d been fantasizing putting my own lips.

It was wrong. All of this was wrong. Gavin didn’t belong in anyone else’s arms. He belonged in mine.

As his date grabbed their empty cups and moved through the crowd, leaving Gavin alone to watch the band, my vision tunneled, everything around me going dark. Everything except for Gavin.

My mind made up, I started forward, the faint “Go get him” from Travis a mantra in my head as I weaved through the crowd to the man with the shock of platinum hair.

Gavin’s back was to me, his guard down, and I figured that was for the best, because there was no way to hide what I was feeling, and I didn’t want him to bolt. It was as though I was tethered to him, and nothing and nobody better get in my way.

I needed to touch him. Needed to taste him. The craving was at an all-time high as I stalked my gorgeous roommate, having no clue how to do this, just knowing I needed to.

As though he sensed the second I was within his orbit, Gavin spun around to see me only feet away. I reached out, snaking an arm around his trim waist, and when he didn’t protest, I pulled him in hard against my body.

Confusion swirled in his eyes as he placed steadying hands on my chest. Then he swept the tip of his tongue along his plump lower lip, and my dick throbbed.

“End your date.” My voice was rough and low.

“End my⁠—”

“Date.” I bent my head until my lips were by his ear. “Tell him you got a sudden fever and really should go home to bed…with me.”

Gavin jerked back, his eyes searching my face, and for a second I thought he’d tell me to fuck off—until that second passed and he still had a death grip on my shirt.

“What? Why would I tell him that?”

“Because we both know nothing he can do is going to cure this.” I smoothed my hand down to his ass and held him in place, grinding my hard cock against his.

Gavin sucked in a shaky breath, and I dug my fingers into the soft material covering his ass. I could feel his dick throbbing behind the zipper of his pants, and I couldn’t help myself. I was going to use every card in my hand to win him back tonight. Even if that meant playing dirty.

“Come home with me.”

“D… What are you doing?”

“You said I couldn’t have it both ways. So I’m pickin’ a way.” I put my lips to his glistening temple and licked at the salty skin there. “I want to run my tongue all over you. And I want to be inside you when I do it.”

“Oh God.” Gavin’s hands twisted in my shirt, pulling me closer. His leg rubbed along mine as he writhed against me to the new song playing somewhere in my periphery. “I… I…”

But as suddenly as it started, Gavin shoved me back a step, his eyes stormy, clouded with arousal.

“Don’t. Don’t do this to me again if you don’t mean it.”

I’d thought he was going to say no, but as his eyes trailed down over my body and stopped to rest on my thick erection, I realized how wrong I was.

He didn’t want me to stop. He wanted me to promise that I wouldn’t.

I knew I should walk away, leave before I did something stupid to screw everything up. But instead, I moved in closer and took his chin in hand, tilting his face up so I could brush my lips over his.

“Meet me back at our place.”

“D—”

“Meet me.”

Gavin blinked, his dark lashes kissing the pale skin of his cheeks, and when he nodded, I forced myself to let him go.

It was up to him now. I’d warned him off, given him so many chances to run. It was dangerous for him to wade into these waters with me. I didn’t know what I was doing. But if he came to me tonight, all bets were off.

Gavin would be mine.