With or Without Him (20 page)

Haris kept silent.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“One more thing.” Haris’s heart pounded. Once he’d set this in motion, there was no going back. “I need a full background check on a Tyler Bellamy. Third year student at Trinity Music College in Greenwich. He was in local authority care from the age of seven.” Or so he’d said. “It’s important he doesn’t find out anyone’s been asking.”

Stan tsked. “You know me better than that. I’ll be in touch.”

Haris told himself he had no choice. It was in his nature to obtain every detail he could about a…project. He was adept at seeking out weakness, uncovering secrets, exposing the truth. If Tyler was lying to him, he didn’t stand a chance.

He could hear him playing but didn’t recognize the piece. He wanted to sit and watch him, but the mood they were both in, that might not be a good idea. So he buried himself in his work as he usually did on Sundays and tried to forget how he’d hoped everything would be different with Tyler there.

By late afternoon, hunger drove Tyler away from the piano. The instrument was a pleasure to play and the thought of owning it if he managed the whole four months was a considerable incentive to stick it out. Then again, he hadn’t expected Haris to be so…difficult, though he’d spent most of his life dealing with difficult people, so how bad could Haris be? His stomach rumbled as he made his way to the kitchen. He halted with his hand on the doorknob when he heard the voice coming from inside.

“Don’t you dare, you bad boy,” Wilson said. “If you don’t behave, then I won’t let you have it. And you really want it, don’t you? Well, come here then. Come and get it. Take it gently.”

Tyler frowned. What was he doing?

“Oh you’re so soft. You like that, don’t you? Is that the place? Yes. Going to give me a lick?”

He’d listened to enough. Tyler turned and walked into Haris’s chest.

“Who’s he talking to?” Haris whispered.

Tyler opened his mouth and shut it again.

“Get that wet nose out of my crotch,” Wilson said. “No, licking my ear doesn’t work…oooh.”

Haris pushed open the door and Wilson sprang to his feet. He held a small, scruffy, pathetic-looking dog which had one ear up and the other down. Tyler smothered his laugh.

“He followed me home, sir.” Wilson put the dog on the floor. “I was helpless to resist. It was the way he looked at me and attempted to wag his tail. Don’t worry about him being dirty, I’ve given him a bath, administered flea treatment and was just about to offer him something to eat.”

“My steak? Monday night’s dinner?”

Strips of lean beef sat on a plate on the counter.

“I was so certain that with your generous heart you’d insist on sharing,” Wilson said.

The dog crawled under the table.

Haris sighed. “Does it have to be the fillet?”

“He needs something soft and easy to digest.”

“Do all your strays get fillet steak?” Tyler asked.

Haris smothered a laugh, stroked his fingers down Tyler’s spine, and his defenses started to crumble.
From a touch?

“You are such a good man, sir,” Wilson said. “A veritable saint. What the poor starving dogs of Holland Park would do without your innate goodness, I really do not know.”

“Don’t try and con me this dog came from Holland Park. The pooches here all have diamonds in their collars and the owners never let them out of their arms, let alone their sight.”

“What’s his name?” Tyler asked.

“Alcide,” Wilson said.

Haris raised his eyebrows. “To go with Bill, Jason, Sam, Eric and Sookie?”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Alcide can stay until you find him a home, but he remains in the kitchen or downstairs with you.”

Tyler crouched and held out his hand.

“He’s very shy. He won’t—” Wilson let out a choked laugh as Alcide sniffed Tyler’s hand and came out from under the table to lick his fingers.

Tyler scratched behind his ears. “You’re cute.”

“He just needs a bit of affection,” Wilson said. “He has to learn how to trust again, don’t you, boy? We need to show him not all humans are the same. Everyone deserves a second chance. He can trust us.”

Tyler felt a pang of guilt. Would it have been so hard to tell Haris about Jeremy? Maybe he should come clean about Prescott’s parties, and then there’d be no chance of the bastard blackmailing him.

“Did you want something?” Wilson asked as Tyler stood.

“I was…hungry. Could I make myself something to eat?”

“I’d be delighted to cook for you. I’m sure Alcide will be perfectly fine without my attention for a few moments. One small dog can’t possibly make much mess, particularly if I keep the flour and eggs out of reach.”

Tyler winced. “I only want a sandwich.”

“Which I’m only too pleased to—”

“Wilson,” Haris snapped, “let him make himself a sandwich.”

Haris left the kitchen and Tyler’s shoulders slumped. Not quite out of his black mood then.

“Bread in the box, butter in the dish, cheese and ham in the fridge, or there’s Marmite and jam in the cupboard,” Wilson said.

“Thank you.”

Tyler gathered everything together and smiled at Wilson hand feeding the dog tiny scraps of beef.

“Shall I make a sandwich for Haris?” Tyler asked.

Wilson opened his mouth and Tyler just knew ‘no’ was going to come out, but Wilson said, “Yes. That would be kind.”

“Does he like Marmite?”

“A faint smear.”

“What about you? Would you like a sandwich too?”

“No, but thank you for asking.”

Tyler sawed awkwardly at the loaf. He only ever bought sliced bread.

“So…” he mumbled. “Am I one of many strays?”

“I’ve no idea what you mean, sir.”

“Cut out the sir. I know you don’t like me.”

Wilson sat at the table with the dog in his arms. “I apologize if I’ve given that impression. I don’t know you. I’m not able to judge. Yet. But no, you’re not one of many. No one on two legs has ever been invited to stay here before, and of course you are no bother, the extra bedroom and bathroom to clean should take me no time at all, provided my back doesn’t seize up. And whatever makes my employer happy makes me happy. Mostly.”

Tyler let out a heavy sigh. “Except he’s not happy.”

“You’ve disturbed the equilibrium, and sometimes that can be a good thing. He’s…”

“What?”

“He’s a good man. A word of warning, if I may be so bold. If you hurt him, I’ll hurt you.”

Tyler almost dropped the jar of Marmite. For a moment, Wilson had looked and sounded an entirely different guy. On the point of saying what if Haris hurt him, Tyler pressed his lips together. He tidied up before he left the kitchen and carried two plates of sandwiches to the study where Haris worked on a laptop.

“I made you a sandwich too.” Tyler put it on the desk.

Haris ignored it and him. Tyler slumped in a chair and rested the plate on his lap. One mouthful and he realized he’d cut the bread too thick.

“Take little bites or you might choke,” he said.

Haris looked up from the laptop to the plate and rolled his eyes. Tyler glanced around the room. Books, books and more books. Oh and a photograph in a silver frame. He pushed himself up and walked over to it. Three boys and their parents. “Is that—?”

Haris reached round, snatched the picture, put it face down on his desk and carried on working.

Tyler knew it was up to him to put this right. He had a feeling the guy could win medals for sulking.

“I haven’t and won’t break the terms of our arrangement,” Tyler said. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that you can trust me. But you have to let me breathe. You can’t chain me to you.”

“You walked out in the middle of the fucking night without a word. I was worried,” Haris muttered through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry.” Tyler picked up the sandwich and then put it down again. “A friend needed help. That’s all it was. He’d been…”

Haris looked across at him. “What?”

“Raped.”

Haris’s eyes widened in shock.

“And no, he hasn’t told the police. He won’t. He knows what will happen if he does; the humiliation, the raking up of all his sexual history, and the rapist would likely still get away with it.”

“Is he…okay?”

“A little knocked around but yeah, he’ll live. He’s learned a lesson the hard way.”

Haris opened his mouth and Tyler spoke quickly before he could ask for more details. “I’ve a gig on Tuesday night. You can come if you like.”

There was a long pause before Haris answered. “What time?”

“We’re on at nine. We usually rehearse in college after lectures and go straight to the venue. The Room on Borough High Street.”

Haris smiled. “I’d love to come. Thank you. I have to attend a charity dinner this evening. Want to give your new tux an outing?”

Tyler breathed a mental sigh of relief. “Sure. You’re going to have to teach me how to tie a bow tie.”

Haris pushed to his feet. “I’ll show you now.”

“I don’t want to disturb you.”

“I want to be disturbed.”

“So we’re friends again?” Tyler asked.

Haris nodded.

Haris hated to be this needy but felt powerless to resist Tyler. Before they’d even reached the bedroom, he had the guy half-undressed. Tyler tripped on his pants and stumbled into the dark room, laughing. Haris switched on the light and yanked off his own clothes before Tyler had untangled himself from the rest of his. But when he reached to pull Tyler down on the bed, he twisted round and Haris was the one who landed on his back.

“Let me be in charge?” Tyler asked.

Haris nodded.

“Scoot down so your butt’s at the bottom of the bed and bend your knees so your feet are on the bed too.”

Lust raged through him, every brush against his skin by any part of Tyler sent shivers of anticipation rippling through his body like rivers of fire. He positioned himself as Tyler had requested and leaned up on his elbows to watch the guy stroke his own cock and play with his balls.

Haris’s mouth watered. “Need help with that?”

“Nope. I want you to come first.”

That sounded good to him. Haris allowed his head to drop to the bed and his eyes fluttered shut. His cock ached, his swollen nuts were drawn up tight and he needed Tyler’s inventive mouth on him right now. He sucked in a breath at the blast of warm air hitting his balls. The sensation made his nerve endings riot and goose bumps skittered over his skin. He held his breath as Tyler slowly licked up the seam of his scrotum, continued to the tip of his cock and circled the head. As the wet tongue dipped into his slit, Haris released a long, loud groan.

“You taste better than Marmite,” Tyler whispered. “And I really like Marmite.”

Haris laughed and then shivered as Tyler’s hair brushed his thighs. He used his tongue to separate his balls, pressing down hard between, and Haris clutched the bed cover in his fists. “Oh fuck, fuck.”

“You like that?” Tyler whispered. “Or do you want me to stop?”

“I thought…you…were the one in charge.” He gasped as Tyler sucked hard at the root of his cock at the point where it joined his body. “Shhhiiit,” he mumbled.

“Don’t come until I tell you,” Tyler said.

A gurgle of laughter slipped from his mouth. “That’s not going to work. My cock has a mind of its own.”

Tyler laved his balls, his cock, the creases of his thighs. He kissed, lapped and sucked him to the edge of nirvana. He teased him to the very brink of detonation and then clamped his hand down tight at the base of his cock and pressed the heel of his palm on his balls and stopped the orgasm in its tracks. Haris shook with the need to come, anticipation stealing the air from his lungs. Tyler’s mouth latched onto the stretch of skin between his balls and his anus, and sucked with the perfect pressure to make his head swim.

“That…ahh God…fuck.” Haris lost the ability to speak as Tyler brought his other hand into play, forming two tight rings around his cock using his thumbs and index fingers. He started slow, sliding the rings in opposite directions, squeezing down to the base and up to the crest at the same time. The need to come roared back like a tornado, the sensation toe curling, the friction delicious and as Tyler’s hands moved faster, with a flood of pre-come acting as lubricant, Haris raced toward completion.

Only for the guy to bring him down again. The ache in his gut deepened.

“Oh you beautiful fucking bastard,” he grunted.

“I think you mean highly skilled pleasure bringer.”

Haris snorted but the sound was choked off as Tyler pressed the tip of his tongue against his anus. The hands slowed on his cock as Tyler rimmed him, fluttering his tongue around the tight ring of muscles, teasing, pressing, tormenting until Haris’s breath came out in stuttering bursts. He couldn’t help rocking his hips, trying to get more of Tyler’s hot tongue. Nothing else mattered but that.