Hard Case (8 page)

“It might also be the change of scenery,” Troy added with a look around the pub.

The room held mostly men drinking and eating. On the walls were three large screens, each showing a different game. Warm and well lit, it spoke of a simpler time when working class men would have a bit of a breather before going home to the missus and kids.

“This isn’t a regular haunt for you then?” Steve asked.

Troy chuckled and shook his head. “Nope. At this time of the evening I’m usually either in the field putting something together or at my desk in the spare room of my flat, trying to puzzle out whatever my latest quandary is. Don’t get me wrong. I often go out for a drink with a friend or two, and sometimes one of us will talk the other into some take out. But between work and home, I don’t get out much anymore.”

“Is that something you want to change?”

Troy thought about it before he answered. Starting slowly, he watched Steven to see if he was overstepping some unknown boundary.

“I hadn’t thought about it really,” Troy said. “Certainly I’m not unhappy with my life—far from it. But I think I’d enjoy going out to various places with you—drives, hikes, restaurants and things like that. I’m perfectly capable of doing such things myself, but it’s always more interesting and fresher if someone is there to enjoy it with.”

“I agree,” Steve replied warmly. “And I’d also like to spend a lot more time with you.”

Troy leaned his elbows on the table, tilting his head toward Steve. He opened his mouth, about to tease with a raunchy come-on, but a chirp sounded from his phone. It was the audible signal that a text had been received. Casting a quick glance to his jacket, which was slung over the back of his chair, Troy made a face.

“Unfortunately it’s not often I can turn that off completely,” he apologized. “But like you, I’d like to see where we can lead.”

“We’re fine, Troy,” Steve assured him. “Check your message. Goodness knows it will be my turn to be chained to my phone soon enough.”

Digging his phone out, he then quickly pressed a few buttons and read the message from Fin.

Any news? How about a brainstorm session—breakfast tomorrow, my place?

“Fin’s suggesting we brainstorm over breakfast at his flat tomorrow,” Troy explained. “You in?”

“A few of the girls owe me shifts. I can get someone to cover for me tomorrow, then I’m off for two days,” Steve agreed with a nod. “Sure, I’d love to tag along.”

We’ll see you there. Marshall a dead end but will look into his PA – Leland Knox. Same school.

Satisfied, he sent the message and put his phone back in his jacket. Taking another sip, he glanced across at Steven’s drink. Troy grimaced. His pint was still over half full, whereas Steven had almost finished his.

“Are you up for another?” Troy indicated Steve’s drink.

“Nah, I’m all right, mate. You?”

“I’m not keen on this pale ale, so I think I’ll leave it.”

Troy frowned, mulling over the patterns and coincidences stacking up in this mission, but still not seeming to resolve into any kind of clear picture. Steve leaned in, caught his gaze. Troy grinned sheepishly, feeling sprung.

“I was teasing before,” Steve insisted. “I’m quite happy for you to talk business, particularly seeing as it seems to be weighing on your mind.”

Troy paused, then let it all out in a rush.

“It’s just not coming together for me. This is always the part that frustrates me. I know this is all linked—James, the attempt to assassinate Marshall, possibly even your school and the PM. I’ve got these pieces, but nothing is fitting together and gelling in a significant way. It’s like holding a bunch of threads, but only seeing a mess when you know there’s an image or picture in there somewhere. I just don’t have it yet.”

“Maybe you just need a break,” Steve suggested. “Step back for a few hours, let it settle and come back to it fresh.”

“That’d be smart,” Troy agreed. “But I can almost never do that. It’s like a song that gets stuck in your head. Even if you get diverted for a moment or two, as soon as you let that go, the song returns and it’s twice as annoying.”

“Then you’re not relaxing good enough,” Steve pushed aside his empty glass and lowered his voice. Troy felt the warm clasp of Steve’s hand on his upper thigh, out of sight from everyone. He lifted his eyebrows at the bold, but sexy, move.

“Tell you what,” Steve continued, his tone thick. “We can go back to my place—or yours, whichever—and I’ll show you how to really unwind and let go of your cares.”

Troy’s mouth went dry. Steve crept his hand up further, until the tip of his index finger pressed against the crease of Troy’s thigh, right next to his cock. Heat blossomed over Troy’s body and his dick hardened. Troy had to struggle to not move, the urge to press against the wandering hand intense.

“My place is closer.” Troy breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath. His brain was leaking away as his blood congregated for a big party in his crotch.

Steve stroked his fingers along the ridge of Troy’s zipper. He caressed Troy’s dick through his clothes. Troy panted, finding it difficult to breathe through the thick wall of his rising lust.

“I’m ready to leave whenever you are,” Steve said in a calm tone Troy envied.

When Steve lifted his hand away, it was as if a vise had been released from Troy’s chest. He could breathe, though he struggled to not gasp for air. Digging his hands into his pocket, he then pulled a bunch of notes out. He glanced at them to make sure there was enough money to cover his share of the bill. Steve placed a similar amount on the table and they both stood.

Draping his jacket over his arm, Troy then walked in what he hoped appeared to be a calm manner out of the door. He used his coat to hide the fact he was partially erect. Heart pounding, he knew the short walk back to his flat couldn’t pass quickly enough.

Chapter Five

“I could kiss you like this forever,” Steven murmured against his lips.

Troy could only groan. He fisted his hand in the short strands of Steve’s blond hair and tilted his head down to taste that soft mouth again.

They kissed slowly, with pants and sighs. Troy flicked his tongue out to taste Steve, enjoying the moan that rumbled in response. They had both stripped hurriedly upon entering his flat. Clothes lay scattered from the living room, down the hall and piled in a heap on the bedroom floor. Troy lifted himself up on one arm then pressed Steve back into the mattress when he moved to rise.

“I want to look at you,” Troy said, voice thick with lust. “Despite the stolen kisses and that mutual fist-fuck—which you realize completely blew my mind earlier—I haven’t really seen you. Not fully. Now I’ve finally got the chance.”

“I’m not the prettiest of sights,” Steve chuckled.

Troy tilted his head, intuition telling him while not embarrassed, his lover mightn’t be used to someone staring at him. Troy ran his palm down the hard, smooth muscles of his tanned chest. Troy liked the color of his skin. Certainly it looked better than his own body, pale as the newly fallen London snow.

“I think you’re fucking handsome,” Troy insisted. “You look like a fighter, someone who can stand up for what he feels is right. Someone who you can’t bully and mess around with. That gets me hot. Do you know how many bullies take one look at me and think I’m some scrawny brain, an arrogant cock who couldn’t land a solid blow if his life depended on it? There are times I’d have happily traded anything I possessed for a body like yours.”

“You’re certainly not delicate, or scrawny,” Steve said.

Troy chuckled as Steve hooked his thigh around Troy’s leg. Steve pressed his shoulder and flipped them over. This time it was Steve who caressed those big, long-fingered hands over his skin.

“You’re lithe,” Steve countered with admiration in his tone. “Sleekly muscled. I’d not put you down as a boxer, but anyone with eyes can see you have a balance to you of someone who’s learned to throw a punch.”

“Are we going to compare war wounds?” Troy teased.

Steve chortled and the mood heated between them. They moved together and pressed their lips into a deep kiss again. There was more urgency this time. Troy found his patience thinning. He wanted to suck on Steve’s delicious cock, needed to feel the hard, hot press of his throat being penetrated and swallow Steve’s seed.

More than that though, he wanted to relax in Steve’s arms. A softer part of Troy looked forward to falling asleep with Steve and waking up with his body warming the bed beside him. This wasn’t a fling or passionate, brief encounter for Troy. He worked a lot with his instinct and something inside him insisted Steve could be an equal and remarkable partner with him.

Someone he could rely on and trust.

Troy thought Steve was a man he could live with and maybe even grow old alongside. Lying together on the large bed, Troy wrapped his arms around Steve, drawing them close together. Their erections pressed against one another, the friction causing Troy to groan. He thrust his hips forward, surging his dick along the silky smooth hardness of Steve’s cock.

Steve groaned.

Troy wrapped his fingers around both their thicknesses, unable to close his fist. Pressed together, they were too big for him to encompass. He pumped his hand up and down again. He ran the pad of his thumb over Steve’s slick head.

“I gotta taste you,” Troy murmured.

Steve moved onto his back and parted his legs slightly. He grabbed a pillow and shoved it under his shoulders, rising up to presumably watch. Troy couched between Steve’s legs and fisted his cock again. Then with a deep breath, he bent low and took Steve into his mouth.

Flicking his tongue out, he then laved around the sensitive head and pressed hotly under the glans. Steve tasted of semen and hot masculinity. Troy stroked under his sphincter, teasing the delicate skin and firing up every nerve he could find. Steve shifted his legs restlessly and moaned his approval.

Encouraged, Troy fondled Steve’s balls with one hand and continued to stroke between his ass-cheeks. Breathing strongly through his nose, Troy sucked really hard—just how he enjoyed it— and moved as far down Steve’s shaft as his throat would take him.

“Fuck yes, just like that,” Steve groaned.

Troy continued, bobbing his head faster. He continued to stroke from the perineum to the highly sensitive base of Steve’s sac. Wetting his index finger, he then circled the tip of his digit around to Steve’s tight ass. Igniting the nerves present there, he worked Steve up until his buttocks clenched tightly with arousal.

Murmuring around his cock, Troy warned him with the sound of what he was about to do. Steve unclenched his body, giving silent approval. Troy pressed a slick, thick finger knuckle-deep up Steve’s ass. He cried out, the muscles in his legs spasming. Steve spread his limbs farther apart, granting better access.

Troy sucked harder and flicked his tongue out, stroking around the large head lodged in his mouth. Screwing his finger around, he then caressed the thin lining of Steve’s passage, finding more erogenous zones and stimulating them all.

Steve cried out again, his ass contracting tightly around Troy’s finger. Troy had to struggle to keep breathing. The feel of Steve pulsing around him was overwhelming. He could just imagine what this constricting, hot vise would feel like around his dick.

It would be heaven and hell, deliciously mixed together. Troy pumped his finger, bobbing his head in rhythm. His cock ached, slick with pre-cum. His balls burned and sexual tension knotted in his stomach.

Troy knew this was going to be one hell of a climax.

Fingers twined in his hair. Troy looked up, his mouth full. Steve’s eyes met his gaze hotly, burning dark blue and searing him with its heat.

“I fucking love your hair,” Steve commented, his voice thick. “Even after you’ve run your fingers through it, combed it, it looks like you’ve just got up from my bed. It’s not messy, or scruffy like I’ve heard you say before. It’s tousled. Drives me fucking wild, mate.”

Troy groaned. He didn’t think his erection could be harder or his chest hotter, but Steve’s words consumed him. He wanted it all. Troy lifted Steve’s balls, stretching them so the skin was taut. He raised his head so his lips caressed around the base of Steve’s head.

Fisting the rest of Steve’s shaft, Troy focused his attention around the nerve centers. Steve pushed himself up, resting his weight back on his palms.

“I’m not going to last much longer,” Steve cautioned.

Troy lifted his mouth free. He licked his lips and grinned.

“We’ve got all night,” Troy said. “As long as you don’t mind being a bit tired tomorrow.”

Steve scooted closer so they were both sitting on the mattress facing each other. He wrapped a leg around Troy’s waist and dropped a hand to circle his dick.

“I want to jerk you off as I fuck you hard,” Steve whispered against his lips. “I’ve been daydreaming about that since I first saw you at the hospital. You were covered in blood, banged up and bruised. Your silver eyes glowered at everyone, your hair was a tangle and you looked ready to bite someone’s head off, but you were the most desirable thing I’d seen in months.”

Troy felt a flush spread over his skin. He’d been poked, prodded and stared at seemingly by half the hospital staff by the time Steven had entered his cubicle that night. He’d been ready to burn the damn place down and to hell with everyone by that stage. But something in Steve had calmed him.

The man touched him, deep inside where so few people managed to reach.

“You’ve got a soothing presence,” Troy said. “Not that I’m feeling very calm now. I didn’t want you till the next morning. Waking up and seeing you stand over me, just the way you exude this inner peace, it makes me want to reach out and touch you, even now.”

Steve wrapped an arm around his shoulders, drew them together in a hug. Troy was usually not an affectionate man, but he eagerly twined his arms around Steve and held onto him. Steve lowered his head and gently bit into the sensitive juncture between Troy’s neck and shoulder.