Vik swallowed. “There’s been no one. Not since—” He didn’t need to go further.
Temple dipped his head, hiding his gaze from Vik as he finger-fucked him, adding another finger until Vik was groaning, panting, begging out loud.
Temple made him come again.
Twice more on that couch. One with his fingers. The other after Vik had dozed off, waking him up with his mouth on Vik’s sensitive dick. Then they curled into each other on that couch, Vik falling asleep to the scent of Temple’s skin and the rise and fall of his chest.
The next time he opened his eyes, the sun was streaming through the blinds.
And he was alone.
Six
Temple thought he’d felt guilt before, but it’d been nothing compared to what he felt now. The idea that he’d betrayed his best friend, the one man he’d loved so much in the whole world, gutted him. He tried to think about what Henry would say, how he would feel if he knew what Temple had done.
How he’d destroyed his friend’s memory.
He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t sit still. Hell, he couldn’t stay in the apartment, felt as if the walls were closing in on him, and whenever he closed his eyes, he heard Vik’s moans, felt his body pressed against Temple’s, writhing.
Vik begging him for more.
The things they’d done.
Temple scrubbed a hand over his face then pounded the steering wheel. He sat in the driver’s seat of his Jeep. He’d come downstairs intent on driving away from Hadley Cove, from Vik. He couldn’t clear his head, the memory of sliding into Vik clouded it, but the sense of betrayal, the guilt, bombarded him. He’d turned his phone off the moment he walked away from Vik last night. But he still kept glancing at it where he’d tossed it on the passenger seat.
Wondering if Vik was calling him.
Hoping he did.
He didn’t want to hurt the other man, but Temple just… He didn’t know what to say. What to do next. He hadn’t planned the sex. He’d wanted to see Vik. Just be close to him. But the moment their eyes met, the moment Temple touched him, he’d known it was over. There’d been no way to stop it. He had to have Vik.
Now he sat in his car, knuckles ashen as he clenched the steering wheel.
Maybe coming back had been a mistake. There’d been no anticipating this sudden turn his life had taken. All he’d wanted when he came back was to check on Vik, make sure he was okay. These feelings that seeing Vik resurrected in him, they ruled his every thought, every action.
He’d come down to his vehicle with his go-bag, intent on driving out of Hadley Cove and never coming back. But he couldn’t. It was as if his brain refused to let him leave Vik this time.
He didn’t want to go, but what were the other options?
He picked up the phone and turned it on, calling Syren, who answered on the third ring.
“Temple.”
“I’ll take the job,” he blurted out.
A pause ensued in which he thought they’d gotten disconnected. Then Syren spoke. “Sorry. The job is no longer available.”
Temple frowned. “You got someone else already?”
“Didn’t say all that. How is Vik? What made you change your mind, I wonder?”
“If the job isn’t available then you and I have nothing else to discuss.”
Syren tsked. “What’s going on with you? Does it have something to do with—”
“I fucked up, okay?” Temple blew out a breath. “Is that what you want to hear? I fucked up.”
He imagined he could see Syren’s nonchalant shrug. “I want to hear whatever you want to tell me,” the other man said. “Do you want to talk about it?” Before Temple could answer in the negative, Syren continued. “Tell you what, I’m an hour away from you. I’ll see you shortly.”
“What? No. I—” But he found himself talking to the dial tone. “Fuck!” He tossed the phone back onto the passenger seat and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to the steering wheel. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Syren, but he knew from experience that Syren wasn’t to be denied and he couldn’t be stopped.
So he got out of the Jeep and made his way back up to his place. He sat on the couch, staring off into space. How was Vik? Did he hate Temple for leaving? He couldn’t stand the thought of Vik hating him. He also couldn’t imagine not seeing him every day now that he’d gotten used to it, but if he stayed in Hadley Cove…
He had no business wanting Vik the way he did. No business going there. Last night had been perfection. Everything about it. Vik had wanted him just as desperately. They’d come together so organically, as if that was what was meant to happen. He wanted to believe that, but he couldn’t stop imagining what Henry’s reaction might be.
In all the years they’d been friends, in all the years Temple had considered Henry his brother, his only family, he’d never envied him. He’d never wanted what Henry had. Until Vik came into the picture. He’d started making himself scarce then, declining invitations to visit the couple, staying away as much as he could.
How did he know this was real and not another part of his jealousy manifesting itself? How did he know what he saw in Vik’s eyes last night, what he read in their kisses and the way their bodies moved together, was real and not Vik looking to him to replace Henry? Or God forbid, seeing Temple as an extension of Henry?
Was Temple doing the same? Wanting Vik because he was a part of Henry?
Fuck, his head hurt trying to figure all that shit out. He rubbed his forehead just as a knock came on the door.
Syren.
He went to the door and opened it. Syren stood there, all five-five of him, a lock of white-blond hair falling over his forehead. He peered up at Temple with those oddly colored eyes that saw everything and held up two to-go cups from The Java Bean.
Shit.
Temple stood aside so his visitor could enter then closed the door softly. Syren didn’t wait for him, he made his way over to the couch and placed the drinks on the little table there, shrugging out of his knee-length camel-colored wool coat and draping it over the back of the couch. He sat, crossing his legs and leaning back, waving at the coffee when Temple took a seat opposite him.
“Still take it the same?”
Temple ignored the question and made no move to take the hot drink. It only made him think of Vik. As if he needed help in that area. “I didn’t know you were in the states.”
“Why would you?” Syren lifted an eyebrow. “I’m here on last-minute business. I go home tomorrow.”
“And the job you wanted me for?”
Syren picked up on the coffee and blew into it before taking a sip, but his lavender eyes didn’t move off Temple’s face. He’d always gotten the feeling the other man knew all of Temple’s secrets, which was likely not off the mark. Syren’s business was information. He was powerful and untouchable because he knew everything about everybody, which was probably why he could travel around with no bodyguards even when he was likely on a dozen of the world’s most dangerous criminals’ hit list.
“What’s got you wanting to run away suddenly? You wanted to check in on Henry’s man, didn’t you?”