Stay (14 page)

“Don’t move,” he told Wes. “I want you right there.” Then he ran his hand down Wes’s chest, let his fingers run through the hair there, just touching. Always touching...

He traced Wes’s abs with his finger. “You’re too damn sexy.”

“You’re still talking.”

Braden shook his head, leaned over Wes’s body and pushed inside. “You like it when I talk.”

Before Wes could argue with him, Braden pulled out and shoved forward again. He took Wes’s mouth, owning it as he thrust as long and deep as he could.

Wes’s feet dug into Braden’s legs as he pumped, as Wes’s body squeezed his cock oh so fucking right.

It felt like someone injected pleasure into him, needles in every inch of his body, yet he still wanted more.

“Harder.” Wes’s grip on him tightened. “I want more.”

Christ, that almost made him come right there. Braden growled as he jerked out of him, as he flipped Wes over to lie on his stomach before pushing inside again. Leaning over his back, he slammed into him.

This time when Wes’s hand moved down, he didn’t stop Wes from jerking himself off. He tried to position them so he had more space without stopping his movements, wanting as deep inside him as he could get.

“Fuck, my whole body is aching. I’m about to fucking lose it, Wesley.” He thread his arms under Wes’s from behind and let his hands grip his shoulders. It gave him the leverage he needed.

Wes’s hand moved faster, then he groaned, his body jerking in completion under Braden. It was all he needed to knock him over the edge, too. His cock jerked inside Wes as he continued to pump through his orgasm. When his body felt bled dry, he rolled off Wes and onto the bed. His chest heaved in and out. He remembered Wes’s words when he’d arrived, how he wanted to come soon. Braden let his head roll to the side, to see whisky eyes looking at him. “Was that soon enough?”

***

“D
o you ever stop?” Wes almost turned away after asking the question but for some reason he couldn’t, so he just lay there, watching Braden.

“Will you ever stop pretending you want me to?” he countered.

Who the hell was this man? Half the time he didn’t know how to respond to him, and Wes wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Just like with the notes this morning, or the fact that Braden had left him last night because he’d known Wes would have wanted him to, it made conflicting emotions war inside him—respect, and the urge to flee.

Which was why he tried not to think of it at all. Luckily for him, his stomach growled loudly enough for Braden to hear.

“I made ya work up an appetite, huh?”

“No. I’m always hungry after a night of drinking. Not everything is about you.” He surprised himself when he playfully pushed at Braden’s arm. “I should go—”

“Stay there. Since it was your need for me that forced you out of bed so early, I at least owe you some food.” Braden winked as he stood. He headed toward the bathroom in his room.

Wes rolled to his side and watched as Braden got rid of the condom and then washed his hands. As he moved, the muscles constricted in his body. He was long and thin, but ripped, too. All man. It really should be illegal to be that sexy. So sexy that Wes didn’t even have the strength to call him on his cockiness.

“Coffee?” Braden asked.

“I should go,” Wes replied, but the words sort of stuck in his mouth like peanut butter. He didn’t want to mutter them.

“Eh, its fun to do something you shouldn’t every once in a while. Give me like five and I’ll be right back. Don’t move. Or get dressed. I like the view.” Braden turned and walked out of the room.

And to his shock, Wes didn’t get up to leave. His head spun half the time he was with the man. He’d try to compute one thing he said but Braden would already be moving to the next.

Needing to do something, Wes grabbed his pants, pulled his cell out and checked for any calls. It was still early, so he set the phone on Braden’s bedside table and...sat there. Just sat in the middle of Braden’s bed, waiting for him.

What the fuck am I doing?

“Here.” Braden stuck his head around the corner and held out two plates. Wes grabbed them and saw massive cinnamon rolls on each one. It was enough to make his mouth water.

“Cream and sugar?” Braden asked.

“Um, yeah. Thanks, man.”

“No problem. I’ll be right back.” He nodded his head toward the bed again.

“Jesus, you’re pushy.”

“No, that’s you.” Braden ducked out of the room again and Wes found himself back on the bed, this time with plate-sized cinnamon rolls.

It wasn’t a minute later before Braden came back in with napkins and their coffee, handing one cup to Wes and setting his on the table.

“If you have to be up at this hour, there’s no better way to do it than sex, coffee, and sugar.” Braden cocked his brow before popping a piece of food into his mouth.

For once, Wes couldn’t argue with him.

Together, they sat on the middle of Braden’s bed, naked and eating. Neither of them really spoke until Wes set their plates on the table.

“So,” Braden leaned back, arms outstretched behind him, hands on the bed. “Where’d you go to school? I know you’re from Colorado, right? But then you left?”

“Yeah. We didn’t live in Blackcreek, but I’m from Colorado. I went to California not long after high school. Went to college there, and I stayed there until I moved here. What about you?”

“Grew up outside of Denver. Like I told you, my parents have a shit-ton of land. Lived in a small town, and the second I could get my ass outta there, I did.”

Wes leaned back against the headboard with his legs out in front of him. “You didn’t like it?”

Braden’s forehead wrinkled as though he was confused. “I liked it fine. It was a good place to grow up—just not where I wanted to live forever. I bailed with a buddy of mine right after graduation. Moved around a bit, then ended up in Seattle for a while. It was my favorite there. Have you ever been?”

Wes shook his head. He’d been to California and Colorado. That was it.

“Ah, there are good times to be had there.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard they have some nice art galleries out there. I’d love to visit some.” It wasn’t something he’d ever really thought he’d do. Now, well he doubted he’d be going much of anywhere. Not that being here with Jessie wasn’t more important, because it was, but still...why hadn’t he ever tried to go anywhere before?

“I forgot you paint. When are you going to paint me something, Picasso?”

Wes chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t paint anymore.”

“You could paint.”

“But I don’t.”

“But you could.”

Damn, the man acted like he was ten sometimes. “Why do you always try to argue with me? You’re always bustin’ my balls for something, or trying to get under my skin. Like that ‘Wesley’ bullshit. I asked you not to call me that.”

Braden moved closer to him. “Because it’s fun to watch you get all rattled, to pretend shit bugs you more than it does. I’m not sure you even know you’re pretending, though.”

Was he right? No. Wes didn’t pretend stuff bothered him. Why would anyone do that? He didn’t want to feel like shit most of the time, he just did.

Braden settled himself between Wes’s legs. He leaned on one of his arms, which was on the outside of Wes, wrapped around behind him. Their faces were close, Braden’s legs over Wes’s left one and the other knee angled up.

Wes could never imagine doing that, just putting himself in someone’s space like that, but Braden did it, and Wes didn’t push him away.

Braden grinned up at him, his fingers tickling the back of Wes’s waist. “You like me.”

Wes rolled his eyes. “I like fucking you.”

“Nope. You like me. You like that I get under your skin and never stop talking. I think you might even like it when I call you Wesley.”

Wes tried, though not very hard, to get up, but Braden didn’t let him. “I don’t like it when you call me Wesley.” He’d never really liked the name.

“But you like me?” he asked.

Wes let the smile slide off his face. He looked down at Braden, who held his eyes intensely. “Braden—”

Braden leaned forward and pressed his lips to Wes’s. And Wes let him. Let him kiss the hell out of him before he pulled back, but didn’t move from his spot, wrapped up in Wes.

He was letting Wes off the hook. He knew that. And Wes allowed it. “What did you used to paint?”

“Whatever came into my head.”

From there they went to sports. Wes talked about playing baseball in high school and Braden talked about soccer, which he actually still played, and his time playing football, too. They spoke about their jobs next, then more of Braden’s adventures, Noah and Cooper, and on and on.  The whole time, Braden was always touching, fingers brushing over Wes’s back, his leg, his stomach. His leather bracelet rubbing against Wes’s skin, too. It was around eleven thirty that his phone rang, Lydia telling him Jessie was ready to go home.

After they got dressed, Braden walked him to the door, saying he had to let Jock out again.

He stood in the driveway as Jock ran around and Wes climbed into his car. “See ya Wednesday.” Braden grinned at him.

“See ya.” Wes closed the door, turned on the car...then rolled the fucking window down. He wasn’t sure what he planned to say until the words just came out. “Thanks...for leaving last night. That’s probably a shitty thing to thank someone for, but... yeah. There it is.” Braden wouldn’t have left. He didn’t work that way. He’d done it to be fair to Wes.

“And for the coffee this morning.”

“No problem.”

As Wes drove off, he realized Braden was right. He did like him, he just didn’t know what the hell it meant, or if he’d actually do something about it.

––––––––

B
raden sat in a chair at the firehouse, arms crossed and his feet kicked up on a table. He expected it when three guys walked up to him, had seen it coming all day, but still didn’t look up at them when they stopped in front of him.

“What’s up, Roth?” Fred asked him. It was the first time Braden had seen him since the night he’d danced with Wes.

Braden leaned back so he could see their faces. “Not much. Was thinking about texting my buddy Wes to see if he wanted me to bring him something for dinner tonight. You know him, right? I was at the bar with him the other night. He’s pretty impossible to miss though, right? I mean, at least for me.”

Yeah, he’d never been known for being real subtle. He knew what they wanted to talk to him about. Fred had always been a homophobic asshole. Coop had told him some shit he’d said before as well.

He didn’t give a fuck how they felt about his life. Now they knew where he was coming from, too.

“What the fuck, man?” Fred asked. “You’re a fag now, too? First Bradshaw and now you?”

Braden ignored his rapid pulse, stood, and bit back the urge for his fist to meet Fred’s face. “I’ll let you get by with saying that once, and once only. I don’t give a shit if I lose my job or not. You say that again and we’re going rounds.” He shrugged. “Plus, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been fucking guys much longer than Coop has.” With that, Fred charged at him. Gus and Rick both grabbed his arms to hold him back, Rick saying, “Christ, Braden. Have some fucking tact, would ya?”

“Tact? You guys just surrounded me like the fucking mob or something, like it’s any of your goddamned business who I’m dating.”

Dating? But I’m not really dating him, am I? Not if you asked Wes.

With that Fred jerked out of their grip. “Stay the fuck away from me, Roth. You and Bradshaw both. Fucking queers.” And then he stormed away.

Gus shrugged, “Sorry, man. You know how he gets sometimes,” before following right behind Fred.

“Fuck!” Braden dropped to the chair, running both his hands through his hair. He would never understand people, never get why it mattered who someone was attracted to or loved. He’d seen too many people he knew getting hell about their preferences for Braden to let it go easily.

“You have to see how we were shocked. We were just curious...he’s a fucking dude. I’ve been out with you when you were with women,” Rick said.

“No offense, but fuck you and your curiosity. You didn’t come at me like someone curious. And why the hell do you have a right to be curious, anyway?”

“Yeah,” Rick nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Just got one question for ya, man.” He nudged Braden’s arm in a way Braden figured meant he was trying to say they were cool.

“What’s that?”

“I know you said you were into guys longer than Coop, but I gotta know...do I need to stop drinking the water around here or what?” he smirked.

Braden stood again and shook his head. “If that was the case, you’d be doing yourself a favor to drink the water.” He winked at Rick before walking away.

They didn’t get any calls the rest of his shift. He went to the gym when he got off and exercised for a while. Of course he’d been giving Fred shit when he said he’d been about to call Wes for dinner. It didn’t mean he didn’t kind of want to, but knowing the man, he figured he’d be all pissy because of how they spent their last time together.

How he could be in a bad mood after that morning he didn’t know, but knowing Wes, he would be. Or would he think he should be? There was always something right below the surface that Braden saw in him, a little light in his eyes that said he wanted more. Not necessarily from Braden but from life. He just didn’t get why Wes wouldn’t take it.

Or why I care so much...

But that was a lie, and Braden didn’t do that shit. He liked Wes, plain and simple. Liked more than just fucking him. He liked being around him. Liked the way he made Braden feel. And the Squirt, too.

Braden went about his business the rest of the week. On Wednesday he picked Jessie up at preschool like he did every week and took her home.

They watched cartoons and traced her ABCs, and Braden went ahead and made dinner. He texted Wes that he did and then put his phone in his jacket pocket so he could claim he didn’t hear it when Wes replied.

It was just a few minutes before Wes would be home when he lay on the floor coloring with Jessie and she asked, “Are you Uncle Wes’s boyfriend?”