Our Gravity Read online

  “What about Venture?”

  “It’s not a meat market—it’s a dungeon. It sucks going and knowing I’m not going to play. Or I can play with women all night long, and that’s not really my jam.”

  “I thought you didn’t mind playing with women?”

  “If they’re friends and I know them, sure. Not strange women.”

  “I think most women in the lifestyle tick the box next to strange in some fashion.”

  He rolled his eyes at her snarky smile. “You know what I mean. I need an emotional connection to someone to play with them. Tying is different. I’ll tie nearly anyone, as long as they’re not an asshole and don’t have hellacious BO. But for impact play, I don’t like playing with strangers.”

  “And how long since you even went out and tied anyone, hmm?”

  He side-stepped her question. “I’ve been busy.”

  “I’ll go to the munch with you Sunday. Hell, I’ll buy you dinner. I feel guilty you’re so busy.”

  “You didn’t force me to take these cases.”

  “But I really appreciate that you did. So how about it? You, me, I’ll call up a couple of other friends, and we’ll all go Sunday. I bet I can talk Walt and Holly into going, if they aren’t already. Then you’ll get a chance to practice ASL with Walt. Come on. Please?”

  He knew she wouldn’t let up, but he didn’t resent it. Next to Kira, Kimbra was probably the person closest to someone he could call a good friend.

  “Okay, fine. You’re buying. Hell, you know what? You come pick my ass up so I can have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner without worrying about becoming your client in a DUI.”

  She grinned and held out her hand for a fist bump. “Deal.”

  He bumped with her. “I’ll wrap up here and go home,” he promised. “Not much longer. I want to finish reading this ruling and digest it for a while.”

  “Excellent.” She stood and turned to go. “All work and no play makes Bryce boring as hell.” She cast a smile at him over her shoulder. “Got it?”

  He snapped her a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Kimbra snorted. “Later, sweetie.”

  Once he heard her lock the front door behind her, he removed his glasses again and stared at the screen. The other thing bothering him was his best friend, Kira. He hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days, which wasn’t like her.

  She lived in Dallas, but had, unfortunately, been laid off from her job a week ago. On top of that, six days before losing her job, she’d broken up with her long-time boyfriend, Shawn, a guy she’d met while they were all in college in Tampa. Bryce never had liked the man.

  Hated him, actually.

  Mostly because the guy had a massive fucking chip on his shoulder and treated her like crap. When, during a dinner conversation early on while they were still in college, Kira had let it slip they’d lost their virginity to each other in high school, Shawn had angrily gone off on her, accusing her of “hiding” the information from him. It didn’t seem to matter to Shawn that it had been the only time they’d ever had sex, and, oh, yeah, it had been the final proof Bryce had needed to confirm yes, he was gay.

  Bryce had hoped she’d break up with the jerk then, but it hadn’t happened. Somehow the fucker had sweet-talked her into forgiving him. He didn’t outright forbid her from seeing Bryce—which would have been impossible anyway, since they were roommates—but it never failed Shawn would blow up her phone with texts or calls when the two of them went out somewhere without Shawn.

  To a predictable level.

  After graduation, Shawn had dragged her off to Dallas for his job, and because he was from the area, and…that’d been that.

  At least she never married the fucker.

  When Kira came to Florida to visit family, she and Bryce always managed to find time to get together. But when her parents moved to Oklahoma for her dad’s job, that’d cut back how often she could get to Florida without Shawn pitching an absolute shit fit over it.

  But now…

  Now she was free of the fucker. She’d moved out of the house they’d been renting together and into a small efficiency unit at a long-stay hotel, putting most of her things in storage until she could figure out her next step. Which turned out to be a good plan when she’d been laid off six days later. No expensive utilities and rental deposits to pay, but from what she’d said it sounded like a fairly generous severance package.

  Frankly, Bryce was hoping she’d consider the idea of moving back to Florida.

  He’d come drive the moving truck for her personally, if he could get her to agree to it. She’d hated Texas from the start. Hated the weather, hated not knowing anyone out there, and hadn’t been fond of the job she’d found there as a junior corporate attorney for a software company. Shawn was born and raised in the Dallas area, and Kira had lamented to Bryce that she had nothing in common with Shawn’s family.

  She’d felt miserable, but she’d tried to tough it out. Because she’d loved the fucker.

  Bryce still didn’t know the final straw that made her leave the fucker, but suspected she’d tell him that when she was ready. He did know a repetitive point of contention between them was that she wanted kids. Shawn had held off, saying he wasn’t ready to be a parent yet, but they could talk about it at some point. Over the years, his opinion had swung to the “no kids” side of the spectrum while still dangling it out to Kira as a possibility.

  Bryce hated him for that, too. How many countless hours had he and Kira talked about families, kids? They were both only children and had wanted kids of their own. It was a dream they shared.

  He decided to call it a day and head home. He needed to swing by the grocery store for a few things. After packing his stuff, he decided to shoot Kira a text.

  Just checking in, honey. How you doing?

  He was walking into the Publix not far from his house when she replied.

  I know this is short notice, but can I come for a visit? A long visit?

  He smiled and thumbed in a reply.

  Long as you want. When, and how long?

  He was nearly ready to hit the checkout line when she replied.

  In about two weeks, give or take. Not sure for how long. A while.

  He frowned as he studied her reply. He’d known her since they were kids. They’d grown up living three blocks from each other. Vague wasn’t her style. The corporate attorney didn’t like plans hanging unconfirmed.

  Mi casa, su casa, for as long as you need to stay, seriously. Days, weeks, months—I’m here for you. Is everything okay?

  He was loading his groceries in the car when she responded.

  Thank you. <3 Long story, tell you later. I need out of the big D. Have to wrap up a couple of things first. Pick me up when I fly in?

  Her reply left him feeling seriously freaked out, but he also knew better than to bombard her with questions right now. It’d only make her feel pressured and trigger her. He didn’t want to be like Shawn. When she was ready to talk, she would.

  She always did with him.

  You don’t even need to ask. Text me flight info when you have it.

  He missed her reply until he’d parked in his driveway and glanced at his phone.

  Tks. :) I love you, B. No matter what, I want you to know that.

  A shiver rippled up his spine. That’s not how she usually said it to him.

  He didn’t care if his gelato melted. He replied.

  I love you, too, but you’re scaring me.

  He stood there and awaited her reply.

  We’ll talk when I get there. It’s complicated and I’m stressed. I need to leave Dallas for good. I’m SAFE, no worries.

  A little relief seeped in. Must be Shawn acting like a jackass. She’d never said he was violent, and Bryce knew if he had been she would have left a lot sooner, but still…

  Something serious was going on. She was never sappy with him. Usually, it was Luv U and a heart emoticon when she said it to him. Their special little thing th
ey’d always done since first getting cell phones in their teens.

  If it wasn’t worry about violence, he had another strong suspect. He knew she’d received a generous severance package, but maybe there’d been financial stuff going on he didn’t know about. About some things, like money and relationship issues, she was extremely tight-lipped, not wanting to bother others or air her dirty laundry. The only reason she’d told him about the breakup was because they’d been friends for so long, and she’d known damn well how much Bryce hated the asshole. Bryce also knew he was one of the few people she would open up to.

  He sent her another text.

  Then move in with me. Ship your shit here and stay with me as long as you need. Like old times except we can afford to drink now. Find a new job here. I’ll even send you money to hire movers if you need it. I can get you interviews here.

  She knew he was kinky, so it wasn’t like he had to hide his private life from her.

  Not that I have a private life right now.

  When she didn’t reply immediately, he finally started hauling his groceries inside. By the time he had his groceries put away and had fed a howling Archer his kibble, she replied.

  :) Deal, if you really mean it. I don’t need money, I’m good. I’ll send flight deets when I’m ready. Couple of weeks to pack and prep. Lot of loose ends to tie up.

  Relief filled him and he actually jumped for joy. A literal jump. He didn’t understand why she’d need that long if her stuff was in storage already, but he wouldn’t question her on it. He’d take the win and grin like a fool.

  Of course I mean it. I’ll be waiting, sweetie. Luv U <3

  Luv U 2 <3

  He relaxed a little at that. Back to their usual.

  I’m a dummy. Of course this is emotional for her. I’m making too much of nothing, again.

  Yeah, he had a habit of doing that with her, but he felt protective of her. She was his bestie, after all.

  He’d owned his house for a little over a year now, closed on it after her last visit so she hadn’t even seen it in real-life yet, just via FaceTime. It wasn’t huge, but it was his, a three-two with a one-car garage he never parked in because he had stuff stored in it. He walked down to the larger of the two spare bedrooms. He’d set it up as his home office, because, honestly, when had he ever had guests who weren’t sleeping in his own damn bed?

  Even then, those had been few and far between since he’d bought it.

  He kept a treadmill and exercise bike in the smaller of the two bedrooms. It wouldn’t take much to reconfigure the room and move his desk in there. The futon could stay where it was in the larger spare room for now, until he figured out how long it’d take Kira to get her stuff shipped to Florida. She might need it to sleep on it if she arrived here first. Then again, she could share his bed with him, if she needed to. Wasn’t like they hadn’t literally slept together plenty of times in college, one or the other falling asleep in the other’s bed while watching TV or movies.

  God, I’ve missed her.

  Excitement built. She was his best damned friend. Except for their freshman year of college, when they’d been in dorms, they’d lived together all through college and law school. Shawn hadn’t liked it once he found out they’d had sex the one time in high school, but since Shawn hadn’t been paying her bills, Kira had told him he could go screw himself if he didn’t like it.

  Unfortunately, Shawn had backed off and tolerated it instead of walking away from her.

  After a shower, where Archer kept trying to stick his head through the shower curtain to perv on him, Bryce nuked himself a dinner and sat on the couch in front of the TV.

  She’s going to yell at me about my diet.

  He smiled, missing that, too. How she’d always harassed him about his eating habits, trying to get him to eat more fruits and veggies. Momming him, as he’d called it.

  Considering his own parents had moved to Tallahassee six years earlier, where the main office of his father’s law firm was located, he hadn’t had much up-close momming lately anyway. Other than Kimbra, and since she wasn’t only a friend but his boss, he didn’t count that.

  Archer jumped onto the couch with him and tried to shove his face into Bryce’s chicken fettuccini meal.

  “Hey, asshole. Stop.”

  The black and white tuxedo sat, primly wrapped his tail around himself, and slow-blinked at Bryce with his green eyes. He was a perfectly marked tuxedo, front mittens and everything. When Bryce had adopted the cat from the shelter six months ago, he’d been less than a year old and a gangly mass of long limbs, and Bryce had named him after his favorite TV cartoon character.

  He was a lot like the cartoon Archer, too. Selfish, destructive, with rich tastes, completely inappropriate, not very good at what he did, and oblivious to what others thought of him. Although he had good looks going for him and could be affectionate when he wanted to be.

  Bryce loved him to death, though. At the rate he was going, Archer was the closest thing he’d ever have to a baby.

  He’d always wanted to be a dad, even when he was a kid. He and Kira had spent countless hours playing house, complete with stuffed animals standing in as their children. As he grew older and understood things about himself, he knew the chances of him being a dad grew longer by the year.

  Sure, if he found a guy he fell in love with, settled down with him, and it lasted, they could find a surrogate to have a baby for them, or they could adopt. Absolutely. The mechanics of becoming a father didn’t stymie him. Hell, he could hire a surrogate himself and raise a child alone.

  Except he wanted someone to spend his life with. That came first. He had no desire to be a single father.

  He didn’t want to be single, period.

  Yet, here I am.

  The few guys he’d felt he clicked with as a person, a partner, and as a Dominant, they’d had little or no interest in being parents.

  Which…sucked. That wasn’t usually the big factor that had tanked his relationships with them, but it didn’t help matters.

  Except…he was starting to think maybe he needed to drop that requirement from his list.

  “I could always adopt more cats,” he muttered as he took another bite.

  Archer slow-blinked at him in feline contempt before getting up, turning, and showing his butthole to Bryce before stalking down to the far end of the couch. There he sat and started licking where his balls no longer lived.

  “Asshole.”

  Archer paused, looked at him, gave him one of those eye-narrowing almost-blinks, and went back to licking himself.

  Chapter Two

  The couple arrived five minutes before their appointment to see the house. The wife was obviously pregnant, but Dustin Poole was no idiot. He didn’t even mention it, and wouldn’t, unless they did first.

  As he showed them around the listing, a spacious four-three with a pool located in a posher section of Lakewood Ranch, he listened carefully as they talked. When the couple walked over to the window in one of the spare bedrooms, the wife smiled.

  “This would be a great room for the nursery, hon. Look at how much light it gets.”

  “Yeah, it would,” her husband agreed.

  Whew! “When are you due?”

  She smiled as she stroked her baby bump. “Five months. We weren’t expecting him to get transferred here while I was pregnant, but so far, we like what we see of the area.”

  “No more cold winters,” the husband said, smiling. “That’ll be really nice.”

  “You’ll be happy to learn we have fantastic hospitals and excellent schools here…”

  Later, Dustin smiled to himself as he drove back to the office. The couple had put in an offer on the house. Now all he had to do was await an answer from the very motivated seller, who’d been transferred for work six months earlier and was hemorrhaging money paying two mortgages. Dustin was heading for his office when he passed Lara in the hall, waddling on the way from her office to the bathroom.

  She smi
led. “I’m thinking guys are really lucky now. You all get to pee standing up.”

  “Um, I’m…sorry?” he joked as he stepped out of her way. He knew she was pregnant, and not just because of her baby bump.

  She playfully poked him in the shoulder as she edged past him. They’d quickly developed a friendship and close rapport. He and another agent, Victor, had gotten together and volunteered to handle her listings for her, gratis, while she was out on maternity leave, if she’d at some point in the future volunteer to handle some of their weekend open houses so they could take days off. She’d immediately jumped at that offer.

  It’d been Victor’s idea, and he’d proposed it to her after talking with Dustin. Apparently, Victor felt he owed her since she’d been instrumental in helping him meet Simon, his husband, and he and Simon were very close friends with Lara and her husband, Brad.

  Lately, it seemed Dustin was surrounded by pregnant women, everywhere he looked. Wasn’t like kids were on his radar. Nothing against them, he just…didn’t feel very parental.

  Never had. Never had a reason to. He’d been an only child and had no close cousins growing up. He was close enough with his parents, who still lived over in the Miami area, no problems there.

  He just didn’t want to be a dad. He was a workaholic, and while he’d admit that his personal life was lacking, there wasn’t a child-sized hole in his life he was looking to fill.

  It was a completely different and definitely not child-friendly sort of hole he’d like filled, and having kids would actually interfere with what he considered his ideal life.

  All he had to do was find an ideal someone to share it with.

  He dumped his stuff on his desk and went in search of a cup of coffee. Once he had that, he passed Lara again, this time as she was waddling back to her office. He’d only worked in this agency for four months. Now that he was settling in, he was getting to know his fellow agents. He’d been out to dinner with Lara and Brad several times already. And Victor and Simon. They’d all made him feel welcomed in a way he hadn’t felt in Miami, despite having grown up in the area.