Page 22 of Toren

“I know.”

“It’s been hours and I’m…”

“I know,” he said again, body and mind in full agreement with the glaring absence Andrew didn’t have the words to explain.

“Can I see you before Friday?” Andrew asked.

Toren wanted to see him every second of every day, but he didn’t want to burn himself out. Didn’t want to burn this out. Lust was a spark and love was a fire, but a fire wasn’t something that could be forced.

“I’ll come over Friday after work.”

Andrew groaned, and Toren could picture the tortured expression on his face, the desperation. He shifted in his seat, crossing and uncrossing his legs to alleviate the pressure growing in his balls.

“Before,” Andrew begged.

“Ask me again later.”

“I will,” Andrew promised.

“I know.”

“Go back to work before I embarrass myself,” Andrew whispered. “Please.”

This neediness was such a change from the control Andrew showed in the bedroom, and Toren loved it. The attention, the demand, it made him feel handsome, it made him feel powerful. He still didn’t think he had it in him to be anything other than who he was, but there was an underlying confidence he felt when he had these conversations with Andrew that he didn’t want to lose.

“I’ll talk to you later.”

Andrew hung up and Toren glanced at the clock. He’d already wasted almost an hour of his morning between Andrew and Donovan. He had a whole stack of work to get through, so he took a deep breath and focused himself on the application in front of him, but he’d barely read the first line before his phone vibrated with a text from Donovan.

Donovan

Already deleted by the way. Not sure who works quicker, you or him.

CHAPTER 8

Andrew

Dave managed to avoid Andrew until Thursday night when Andrew finally gave up and decided to go to Dave’s house. He had briefly debated letting the relationship run a natural course and disappear into nothing, simply because of the ridiculously hot phone sex he and Toren had the night before, whispering about not wanting to get caught and knowing how horrible they were to be together. But he’d promised to take care of things, and take care of them he would.

After work, he drove straight to Dave’s house, finding a parking spot a couple of houses down. Andrew rehearsed the speech he’d planned the whole walk, but his ability to speak left him when he got there, stepped onto the porch, and heard the unmistakable sounds of sex coming from the other side of the door. His blood boiled, and he knocked hard enough to startle a yelp out of someone inside who was absolutely not Dave.

“I know you’re there,” Andrew called out. “I don’t care who you’re fucking, just let me in.”

Then the hushed tones of angry conversation, rustling clothes, and Dave opening the door with messy hair and a kiss-swollen mouth. Andrew barely looked at him, his attention instead drifting to the twink of a man who barely looked old enough to buy himself a beer at the bar, half-hidden behind Dave, wearing a scoop-cut tank top and a pair of the shortest shorts Andrew had ever seen.

With a sigh, he looked back at Dave. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I’ve been working.”

He snorted, pointing at the third man behind him. “Working,” Andrew said dryly.

“Who…who’s this?”

“I’m his boyfriend,” Andrew answered, which earned the expected response. “Did he not tell you about me?”

The other man shook his head.

“You’re exactly the same as you’ve always been,” he muttered, worrying the inside of his cheek between his molars. “I don’t know why I thought you’d really changed.”