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  “What part of none of your fucking business don’t you understand, Jay?” He found his keycard in his slacks and herded her toward the room door. “Now get out.”

  “You owe me an explanation!”

  “I owe you jack-shit. We aren’t a couple, and my life isn’t your business.”

  “Do I need to get tested? Did you expose me to something?”

  He yanked the door open. “For the last time, I never cheated on you, I haven’t cheated on you now, and if you tell anyone anything, I’ll fucking sue you for slander. Now, are you leaving, or do I need to call hotel security to have you thrown out?”

  She glared at him. “Where am I supposed to stay? The hotel said it’s booked. My stuff’s down in my rental. I was going to have you bring it up for me.”

  “I don’t give a shit, Jay. I’m not your sherpa, and you’re not staying with me. In fact, I’m checking out today. Maybe if you wait down there, they’ll give you this room.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have a job to do. The filming schedule is starting a week early. I have to be there tomorrow. For the last time—leave.”

  Eventually, she did, but she paused at the door. “This isn’t over.”

  “Stop channeling cheap-ass movie villains, honey. That’s beneath you. We’ve been over for a while, but I felt sorry for you. So don’t flatter yourself.”

  That pissed her off enough to get her to leave. He waited until she stepped on an elevator to leave the room to head upstairs.

  When he reached Kodie’s room, he pounded on the door. “Let me in, boy. Now.” He didn’t care who heard him.

  He hated that when Kodie cracked the door open his face was red, his eyes puffy.

  Brett pushed his way in, letting the door swing shut behind him. He reached for Kodie, clamping his hands around his face and kissing him until he finally relaxed and started responding.

  “She’s my ex,” Brett said once he had his boy’s full attention. “It’s a long story. Short version is I haven’t slept with her in a while and I broke up with her officially on Friday. Been a long time coming. Her dad is my dad’s business partner, and she works in the office.”

  “She didn’t sound like your ex.”

  “Our dads and everyone else want me to marry her. I told her from the beginning—and I told Dad again on Friday—that I have no interest in getting married.”

  Fuck, Kodie’s expression flashed over to wounded again. “No, huh?”

  “Not to her.” He kissed him again. “Only one person who’d make that list for me, and he’s right here with me now.”

  Kodie studied him for a moment. “Is she going to cause you trouble at work?”

  “I doubt it. Doesn’t change the plan. Ryan Ausar specifically asked Dad to work with me. I’ll tell Dad she’s lying, if she tries to say anything, and buy us the time we need to get the show off the ground. Then it won’t matter if he fires me or not. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I’m here, now. I promise, I won’t leave you again. All I’m asking is for you to help me get the show to that point. Once that happens, I’m yours, and if Dad is a dick enough to disown me…well, I can’t help that. That’s his loss.”

  The hope he saw in Kodie’s eyes echoed in his own pulse as it raced. “Okay,” Kodie finally said. “But now what?”

  Brett pulled him in for another kiss. “We grab your shit, go back to my room, order room service, and fuck like bunnies. Then we take a shower, check out, and head to your place.”

  “My place?”

  He smiled up at him. “You still want me to ride with you and stay with you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” Another kiss, to seal the deal. “She’s in my past.”

  “How many women have you slept with.”

  Brett sighed. “Not many, but too many. I’m done trying to please my father. I never should have left Sarasota. I should have gotten my MBA at USF, even if he wouldn’t have paid for it. I’m done living for him. A Harvard MBA means nothing when I’m miserable as fuck.”

  Chapter Eight

  In Brett’s room, Kodie dumped his stuff while Brett called in breakfast for them. He hadn’t even bothered changing out of his tux, or putting on shoes, for the trip back downstairs.

  He did, however, dig out his toothbrush and take care of that, ridding himself of the morning yuck mouth from last night’s boozer.

  He quickly stripped, though, and when he returned to the bedroom, Brett stood at the window, peeking out through the curtains.

  “Bed, boy,” he softly said.

  Kodie’s cock hardened immediately, and he scrambled to comply.

  He didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to discuss anything.

  He wanted his Sir.

  He wanted this.

  Brett turned, smiling when he spotted him there. “I always fantasized about you. About seeing you in my bed, about what we did together. There wasn’t a day we were apart I didn’t think about you.”

  He stripped his shirt off and dropped it as he walked over. “Wasn’t a day I didn’t think about doing this to you.” He climbed onto the bed, shoving Kodie’s thighs apart, and bent his head to Kodie’s cock.

  Kodie let out a moan as the sweet, wet heat of his mouth engulfed his throbbing erection.

  This! Sooooo much this.

  Kodie’s fingers plunged into Brett’s hair and he held on, not wanting to lose contact with his mouth, not wanting this moment to ever end. Plenty of nights Brett had tied him up and literally spent hours edging him with his mouth, sensual sadism, but sadistic nonetheless, before finally allowing him to beg and trade for the orgasm they both knew he wouldn’t deny him anyway.

  He never did.

  The threat was always there, but in the end, Brett liked making him come too much, had once admitted to Kodie that bringing him pleasure made him feel far more powerful than any of the other things they did together, like the bondage, or beatings, or tortures with clothespins.

  Every night they spent together at Brett’s, with no one to see them, had ended with them curled up together, twined in such a way it was hard to tell where one started and the other ended, sated and content and feeling blissful. It was at the core of who they were.

  Was it any wonder that Brett had also failed to find someone?

  First loves, last loves.

  Only loves.

  While part of Kodie’s brain tried to warn him, tried to caution him to slow this down, the deeper part of his heart, which had felt sure he was going to lose Brett the first time around, felt equally certain this time that Brett was going to stay.

  As pleasure rolled through him, he had to say it. “I love you.”

  Brett swirled his tongue around the head of Kodie’s cock before he lifted his mouth from it. “I love you, too. I mean it—I’m not walking away from you again.” The tip of his tongue flicked out, gathering pre-cum from the slit, Brett’s breath warm against Kodie’s cock. “You’re mine. Thank god you’re still single. I swear, I’ll spend the rest of our lives together making up the past twelve years to you.”

  He went deep on Kodie’s cock again, even as his gaze burned up Kodie’s body, tracing a trail through the air as it caressed his abs from his treasure trail and back again.

  One hand held the base of his cock, while Brett’s other hand cupped Kodie’s sac, lightly stroking with his thumb. It made Kodie shiver, tipping him too far over the edge despite trying to hold on and hold out to make the sweet ache last longer.

  Brett let out one of his triumphant growls around Kodie’s cock as he sucked down his cum, not letting up even past the point of too-sensitive, chuckling when Kodie finally remembered the magic words and way to make it stop.

  “Please, Sir, boy is done. Thank you.”

  Immediately, Brett stopped sucking, releasing his cock after placing a gentle kiss on the softening tip before crawling up his body to kiss him.

  “You remembered.” He stared down into Kodie’s eyes, and Kodie kne
w the truth—

  No way could he walk away from Brett, either.

  “So did you, Sir.”

  Brett’s smile faded. “I haven’t forgotten a thing about loving you, including that I was so fucking stupid to walk away from you in the first place.”

  * * * *

  Brett was going to say more, but then they heard a knock on the door. He sat up and pulled the sheet over Kodie before going to answer the door. This time, he peeked through the viewfinder first, to make sure it was their food.

  It was.

  A moment later, they were alone again and eagerly devouring their breakfast, along with coffee.

  Brett couldn’t help but watch Kodie as he sat, naked, at the small table to eat.

  “No offense, but how’d you get so buff?” Brett asked.

  He slyly smiled. “Gym is a great place to meet gay guys in the middle of a fairly rural and conservative area.” His smile faded. “Besides, I needed a way to burn off my anger. I couldn’t take the time or afford to go dirt-biking every day. I could hit the gym, though.”

  Shame rolled through Brett—and a little possessiveness. He’d let his boy down.

  “No one’s going to hassle you over me being around?”

  “No. I haven’t even told anyone about you.” He looked away, and Brett wasn’t sure what emotion erased his boy’s sweet smile. “The more I tried to forget you, or pretend it never happened, the harder it was to stop thinking about you. I mean, everyone knows I’m gay. That’s not an issue.”

  After they finished eating, they ended up in bed again. Brett’s libido was through the roof, his cock hard and aching in a way he hadn’t felt in too damn long. Never with any woman, that was for sure. He fucked Kodie, who eagerly rode him while he stroked his boy’s cock until he shot ropes of cum all over Brett’s abs. His ass squeezing tripped Brett’s climax, and his cock exploded, filling the condom.

  Kodie didn’t move, at first, and Brett didn’t want him to, either.

  “Shower, Sir?” he mumbled against Brett’s right shoulder, just at the juncture of his neck, lipping his flesh.

  Brett reached up, heart racing, and threaded his fingers through Kodie’s hair. He pressed down. “Mark your Sir,” he whispered.

  “But—”

  “There, boy. Right there. Hard as you want.”

  He felt Kodie’s sharp intake of breath, before his teeth gently pressed, harder, realizing that Brett meant it. Next thing he knew, Kodie was practically chewing on him.

  Before, while he’d leave marks all over Kodie’s body, he’d only allow Kodie to mark him low on his abs, or high on his inner thigh, where his father would never accidentally see it.

  He closed his eyes as the sweet pain made his cock stir in Kodie’s ass. He fisted his boy’s hair and held on. “Yeah,” he gasped. “Just like that, baby.” It’d be covered by shirts there—mostly. Some of his T-shirts, the neck would likely show a little bit of it.

  Even better.

  Kodie whimpered as he tightened his embrace around Brett and bit harder, making Brett gasp, but he wouldn’t stop him.

  Kodie started working his way down Brett’s right pec, biting hard, sucking, moaning, his cock also reviving between them, and still, Brett wouldn’t stop him.

  This was the smallest of all gestures Brett knew he could make, but it was one that would have the most impact on his boy, short of a marriage ceremony.

  From this point forward, he would dedicate himself to showing his boy how he felt, that he meant every word he’d said.

  And if that meant walking around for the world to see him looking like he lost a battle with an octopus, so be it.

  * * * *

  Kodie closed his eyes to hold back his tears. He’d never been allowed to do this before. Not like this.

  Never.

  He bit and sucked his way down Brett’s chest, sniffling and moaning and now rocking his hips against him as best he could as he left a trail down to his right nipple.

  There, he flicked his tongue against the hard nub before lifting his head. “Let’s finish this in the shower, Sir. Please?”

  Brett playfully ruffled his hair. “See? You’re reading my mind already. Just like old times.”

  They untangled and moved to the shower. Brett brought the lube in with him, and this time, he handed it to Kodie.

  “Go easy on me. It’s been twelve years, and you’re bigger than you were.” He turned his back to Kodie and braced his hands against the shower wall.

  Kodie hooked an arm around him and bit down on the top of Brett’s left shoulder, marking him there with a dark love bite that would look just as gorgeous as the line of ones currently trailing down his right pec. “No one else, huh?”

  Brett glanced back over his shoulder. “There’s never been anyone in my heart but you. I tried dating men a couple of times and realized it was pointless. At least I could fake it with women. For a little while.”

  “Why didn’t you ever try to contact me?” Then again, Kodie hadn’t tried to find him, either.

  “I figured you hated me.”

  Kodie wrapped both arms around him and rested his chin on Brett’s left shoulder. “I hated what you did to us. I never hated you. It would have been infinitely easier to move on if I’d hated you.”

  Brett kissed him. “Well, put a load in my ass, baby, so I can fuck one more into you, and then we can get packed. I have a suspicion I’ll be tackling you as soon as we walk in your front door.”

  Kodie obliged, taking a few minutes to first lube and loosen Brett’s ass with his fingers before sliding his bare, lubed cock inside him.

  They both moaned as he worked his full, thick eight inches into Brett.

  “Jesusfuck, baby,” Brett gasped. “You really did get bigger.”

  Kodie chuckled. “Sir regretting letting his boy fuck him now?”

  “Never. Just need to get used to it again, that’s all. Won’t take me long.” Brett turned his head to kiss him again. “I feel like I’ve finally come home.”

  “That’s because you have, Sir.”

  * * * *

  “Why Lincoln?” Brett asked him once they were riding north in Kodie’s truck.

  Brett still couldn’t believe they were together again. He worried he might wake up to discover this was nothing but a dream.

  Kodie shrugged. “I spent so much time with you, sometimes I thought I heard your voice when someone called my name. When I moved up to Brooksville, I decided to go by Lincoln instead of Kodie. Another degree of separation.”

  “Ah. Is that what you’d prefer I call you?”

  Kodie reached out and squeezed his hand and didn’t let go. “No. I want you to call me Kodie, Sir. Or Kode, the way you used to.”

  Brett squeezed back, long and hard.

  During the drive, Brett couldn’t help watching Kodie, staring at him.

  Reassuring himself this had really happened—was happening.

  And they talked.

  Sometimes about uncomfortable things—like Kodie wanting to know why he slept with women and kept up the lie—but Brett knew that was part of the penance he had to pay for this to truly work between them.

  He owed Kodie nothing less than the full truth and complete honesty.

  He also realized just how much he’d lost through the years. He missed not only that time with Kodie, but the years he’d spent living a lie, time he could never get back.

  All the experiences he didn’t get to share with Kodie.

  The holidays he’d spent alone, or avoiding whoever he was dating at the time with an excuse that he had to work, because it was easier to be alone than to force himself to pretend on a day he missed Kodie even more.

  Seeing Kodie build his business.

  Helping Kodie build his business.

  I’m done.

  The quiet thought settled deep within him. He had no idea how it’d play out, or what would happen on the other end of things, but he was done living a lie. Fear of losing his job and his father w
as no longer the greatest fear in his life.

  The fear of losing Kodie again was far stronger, and now formed his true north.

  He needed Kodie, and he wouldn’t waste this second chance with him.

  Even if it meant giving up everything else to be with Kodie, to be where he truly belonged.

  Chapter Nine

  It was nearly eight that night when they rolled into Kodie’s driveway after stopping by a Subway when they hopped off I-75 at SR 50.

  Kodie usually referred to it as his house, but it wasn’t really a house. He owned five acres on a dirt road a mere five-minute bike ride from the entrance to Croom, with a double-wide manufactured house placed toward the front of the property. Fifteen years old, nothing fancy, but not trailer-park trash, either. He liked having the space, the peace and quiet of living in “the country,” and had a pole barn and workshop behind the house. There, he could tinker with his personal projects and store his dirt bikes.

  Except Kodie wondered what Brett thought as he shut his truck off. He was almost afraid to glance his way.

  “This is great!” Brett said.

  Kodie studied his expression, looking for any signs of Brett just humoring him. “I’m sure you’re used to something way fancier than this,” he muttered.

  Brett grinned and leaned in to kiss him. “Do you know how hard I can spank you here and no one can overhear us?”

  Kodie blinked before bursting into laughter. “That’s your first thought when you see the place?”

  “Yeah! Why?”

  Kodie opened his door, a grin plastered across his face. “Nothing, Sir. Come on in and let’s eat.”

  He wasn’t exactly a slob, but now that he had Brett walking in the front door behind him, he took a quick mental inventory of what shape the place was in. He switched on the lights as he walked in the front door and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing horrible, and he’d run the dishwasher before he left on Friday. He dropped his bags onto the sofa as he heard the door shut behind him.