Ex's and O'S
A Total-E-Bound Publication
www.total-e-bound.com
Ex’s and O’s
ISBN # 978-0-85715-702-7
©Copyright Bailey Bradford 2011
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright September 2011
Edited by Claire Siemaszkiewicz
Total-E-Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.
Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e-melting
and a
sexometer
of
2.
Love in Xxchange
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
To my friends who make each day brighter—y’all know who y’all are. Thank you.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Dodge: Chrysler Group LLC
Coke: The Coca-Cola Company
Visa: Visa Inc.
Goodwill: Goodwill Industries International: Rev. Edgar Helms
Captain America: Marvel Characters, Inc.
Honda: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Viagra: Pfizer, Inc.
Mag-Lite: Mag Instrument, Inc.
Vicodin: Abbott Laboratories
McDonald’s: McDonald’s
Tupperware: Tupperware Brands
Levi’s: Levi Strauss & Co.
Excedrin: Novartis Consumer Health, Inc.
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
5
The jail cell door clanged as the dour looking cop slammed it shut. Adam ignored the way the guy leered at him through the bars.
“Have fun, boy. This ought to be just your thing.”
Adam stifled a groan and sat down on the floor, the only space available in the
crowded cell. It’d figure the stupid fucking cop would just have to say something like that.
He might as well have painted a target on Adam’s ass. Adam glared at the other men, most of them sneering but more than a few of them looking at him like he was going to be their next meal.
Yeah, not happening. Adam had grown up having to fight, his smaller stature
deceiving many a bully into thinking he was easy prey. They’d learnt different, quickly.
These skeezes would, too. He clasped his hands together, extending his arms out and cracking his bloody knuckles.
“Try me,” Adam growled. “I may be little but I will beat the shit out of any one of you who even thinks about touching me.” It was all about attitude, except when it wasn’t. As a big burly bear of a man snickered and stood up, Adam resigned himself to this being an even longer, more violent night.
Earlier that evening…
Shit! Why do I always manage to find the weird ones?
The only exception had been Nick, but he’d been pining away for someone else so he didn’t count.
Adam backed up, one hand slapping the mattress in a—so far—vain attempt to find
his clothes. Mitch, his intended hook-up for tonight scowled and stalked towards him.
What a freaking waste! Again! From the waist up, Mitch was one of the sexiest men Adam had ever seen, his hair black as a raven’s wing, glossy and thick with luscious curls, his body ripped, muscles stacked just right, the perfect smattering of chest hair, dark, hard EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
6
little nipples, cut—so nicely cut—abs. The bottom half, or more specifically, his dick, left a lot to be desired, but Adam could have made do. He’d had smaller. Barely.
But he absolutely wouldn’t do what Mitch was demanding. Adam didn’t bareback for
anyone, and while Mitch’s cock left a lot to be desired, namely length and girth, it was still potentially a deadly weapon. And Adam had been very clear up front that there’d be no fucking without condoms, which he’d tried to point out. Again.
“We agreed, no sex without rubbers,” Adam’s fingers ghosted over soft material
which he quickly grabbed. Hopefully it was his shorts, the denim worn smooth from frequent washing. He was kind of too scared to look away from Mitch long enough to check.
Mitch glowered and matched Adam’s retreat step for step. “I didn’t agree to anything other than fucking!”
Obviously reasoning wasn’t going to work. Adam resorted to the emotion that usually took over when he got scared. Anger. “Look, you swizzle-stick dicked moron”—actually, a swizzle stick was longer—“I was very clear up front and I gave you a chance to get your head out of your ass—and that is the only thing going up your ass tonight—so stop with the stalking shit before I make you stop!”
Mitch laughed and lunged, both of which only pissed Adam off more. “Right, and
what are you going to do? Run out of here with your shirt in your hand?”
Adam’s stomach plummeted. Of course he’d grabbed his shirt, a skimpy sleeveless
denim number that wouldn’t do much to cover his ass much less his dangly bits.
Mitch stopped and grinned, which made Adam want to shiver. The man looked
unhinged or high—or both. Adam really had to start being more selective in his choice of sexual partners. Mitch continued flapping his lips. “I’d just call my dad—you’ve probably heard of him, Mitchell Rollins the second? I’m the third, of course.”
Okay, Adam was every bit as much an idiot as this guy. Why hadn’t he at least asked Mitch’s last name? Or, you know, noticed how much the man resembled the aforementioned Mitchell Rollins the second, the wealthiest man in Billings? Probably because he was so horny he couldn’t see straight, and he was flat out sick of beating off—although if he got out of this without being raped or sent to jail, he’d never reject his hand again.
Adam switched back to logic, desperate to bring this god-awful drama to a quick and painless end. “I’m sure your father wouldn’t approve—”
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
7
Another maniacal laugh from Mitch had Adam skittering around the foot of the bed.
“He doesn’t give a shit what I do. If you tried to make a fuss, he’d either pay you off or run your scrawny ass out of town, so give it up already. You’re lucky I even want to fuck you.”
Adam stopped with the logic and let the stupid take over. “I’m lucky you want to fuck me? With that?” Then he compounded all of his prior mistakes so far tonight by laughing as he sputtered, “What part of me saying you have a teeny weenie didn’t you understand? I was still going to have sex with you regardless if you’d just bagged it with one of those rubber thumb things!”
Mitch roared as he leapt forward. Adam dropped the shirt and swung, thinking he
really needed to learn when to shut up. The impact of his knuckles to Mitch’s jaw threatened to knock Adam on his not so scrawny ass but he locked his knees and grunted as pain shot up from his hand to his shoulder. He swung his left fist in a rapid follow up strike, burying it hard into Mitch’s stomach, which hurt worse than hitting the idiot’s jaw. The guy really must have abs of steel.
Springing back quickly as Mitch yelped and hit the floor with a thud that sounded painful, Adam hoped the man was down for a while. Long enough for Adam to get his shorts on and get out of there, at least. As far as he could tell, his shirt was now somewhere under the big lug’s body.
Spotting his shorts on the floor beside the bed, Adam picked them up and put them on, keeping an eye on Mitch’s prone form. He found his shoes, a battered pair of flip flops that he loved too much to throw away, then Adam was out the door and running. He got as far as the parking lot before it dawned on him he hadn’t thought to grab his keys, and it was that bit of panicked stupidity that had him standing there stunned like a spotlighted deer when the first cop car pulled into the parking lot a few seconds later.
Hours later, Adam was still cursing himself for not having grabbed his keys. Usually he was so much more level-headed than to panic like that—
“Masterson, let’s go.”
EX’S AND O’S
Bailey Bradford
8
Adam lifted his head up and opened his eyes, blinking until he could see more than blurry splotches of colour. A uniformed cop stood on the other side of the bars, looking at Adam impassively.
“Yeah, just give me a sec.” Ignoring the tingling sensation that began in his feet and quickly spread up his legs, Adam pushed himself up from his spot on the floor. His first step was a little shaky but at least he didn’t fall on his face.
The cop unlocked the cell door and opened it just enough for Adam to slip through.
“Bye, Adam—call me!”
Adam peered over his shoulder at Ed, the burly guy who’d decided Adam was his
new best friend. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Not.
Ed wanted to be a little friendlier than Adam was willing to be.
“Looks like you have an admirer.”
Adam snorted as he trailed after the police officer. “Yeah. So what now? Am I being charged or…”
“No charges,” the cop said, which was the answer Adam had expected. “But there’s
an attorney here who wants to speak to you.”
That didn’t surprise him either. Mitchell Rollins the second would want to hush this little disaster up as soon as possible. Well, the man could just shove it. “Then I’m out of here.”
“I would advise you to spare me a few minutes first.”
Adam looked the half dozen feet to his left where the owner of that deep voice stood.
An attractive red haired man, his pale skin dotted with freckles, and a briefcase in his hand—
the lawyer was kind of hot.
Not that he cared. Adam wasn’t the sort to be bullied or bribed. He was exhausted, his hands ached, and God only knew what kind of nasty germs he’d picked up sitting on the floor of that cell all night. All he wanted was to go home and shower, then sleep for as long as he could. He shook his head at the lawyer. “There’s nothing you’ve got to say that I want to hear.”
Adam ignored the man’s arguments and headed for the doors, just managing to step