"That's been our understanding," Riot replied. "Calix is out of town this weekend, but I let him know what's going on. He said he’ll leave it in our hands how to handle cleanup."
The four of us looked at each other, and I could tell that we all had no interest in provoking a war ourselves, but we also couldn't let the attack on the party go unanswered. I held Riot's gaze, and he gave me a small nod, letting me know it was okay for me to make the call.
"No permanent damage," I said, looking from Cleave to Axel. "But make sure they're feeling it for a few days." They both nodded. "Let's deliver them to the front of the Devil’s clubhouse at dawn."
Riot offered me his hand and I clasped it, pulling him in and clapping him on the back with my other hand. I shared the same embrace with Cleave and Axel, knowing I could trust them to get the job done, and turned to head back up to my room and Pax.
I just left him a few minutes ago, but it was so strange to think that he was there sitting at my table, using my shower, and that he would be sleeping in my bed. I liked it. I liked it a lot more than I'd ever imagined feeling about someone in my space. The word relationship had never had positive connotations in my life, but after nearly twenty years of nothing but hookups and fuck buddies, I was beginning to wonder if maybe I should give it a shot. Sometimes it seemed like parts of me that I’d never let factor into the equation—namely, my heart—had already made the decision where Pax was concerned. I guess it said a lot that I wasn't fighting harder against it, or hell, that I wasn't fighting it at all.
I cracked open the door to my room quietly in case Pax was already asleep. The room was silent, the only light inside coming from a crack in the bathroom door and the slits in the blinds showing a Pax-sized lump on the right side of my bed. I locked the door behind me, and after taking off my shoes, made my way across the room to the bathroom.
The mirror was still fogged over, and the humid air inside my shower stall was a warm mix of my own body wash and Pax’s scent. Soaping up quickly, I ignored my painfully erect cock, deciding it was creepy to masturbate while the object of my lust was asleep in the next room. I smirked, thinking how Pax would probably call me a dork or roll his eyes. Thinking about him, warm and sleepy in my bed, had me hurrying along, rinsing the soap from my body and giving my hair a fast wash. Once I was out, I dried quickly and wrapped a towel around my waist. Clicking off the light, I made my way out into the bedroom. Moonlight slanted through the gaps in the blinds turning the darkness to pale blue and giving me enough light to see to find a pair of boxer briefs in my dresser.
Just as I dropped my towel, the rustle of blankets sounded behind me.
"Mace?"
I turned to look at him, boxer briefs still in my hand. He was sitting up, hair messy and eyes squinted, with the comforter pooled in his lap. He hadn't worn the tank top I'd given him. His bronzed skin looked pale, washed out by the moon.
"It's just me," I said, bending over to slide on my underwear.
"You don't have to do that… I mean, if you don't want to."
Our gazes held. "You sure?"
Even from across the room, I could hear his shaky exhale. " Yeah, I'm sure."
Taking him at his word, I turned and put the briefs back in the drawer, then made my way over to the bed. My heart was thumping in my chest, and any blood in my body that hadn't already migrated south was heading there now. Just the thought of being skin to skin with Pax was enough to have a pool of warmth spreading in my belly and my balls drawing up tight. I slid under the covers, and he moved toward me even before I reached for him. I slipped my arm around his waist, letting my hand wander from his shoulder blades where I could still feel the rough edges of his scars, down the dip of his spine onto his cotton covered ass. It was no mistake I’d handed him the red boxer briefs. I bet they looked sexy as hell with his tan skin and dark hair.
My lips found his and I plunged my tongue inside, thrusting deep and savoring his taste. Something crazed cracked open in me, wanting to devour him and commit every second to memory in case I wasn’t ever allowed this delicacy again. Pax moaned, the rumble of it vibrating from his chest into mine. He slid his arms around me, fingers clutching my back, holding on with the same sort of wild desperation that I was feeling.
I slid a leg between his, grinding my thigh up against his balls. He tore his mouth from mine, a shaky breath stuttering out of him. "Mace," he groaned, humping against my thigh and digging his fingers further into the skin of my back.
"I've got you. I've got you, Pax," I told him, slipping my hand beneath the waistband of his underwear and pushing them down his legs. He kicked them off and we crashed together again, skin to skin. I rolled us, putting Pax on his back as I settled between his legs, keeping our mouths fused together.
He kissed me with the ferocity of someone who'd been waiting to do it a long time, and I knew that my kisses matched his vigor. Lining up our hips, I pressed against him. Our cocks slid against each other, hard and leaking between us.
He gasped, tearing his mouth away from mine and throwing his head back, so I did it again and again. He planted his feet on the bed and with both hands gripped my ass, pulling me harder against him as he thrust up to meet me. We set a hard, inevitable rhythm that had me seeing stars every time our matched movements brought our bodies together.
"Fuck, Mace. That's so goddamn good," Pax panted against my mouth.
"Are you gonna come for me?"
When he whined, I increased my pace, grinding down hard and dropping my head to suck a mark at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Pax's rhythm faltered and his body went tense beneath me as gasping breath filled my ear and the hot shot of his cum splattered my chest. I pulled back, not wanting to miss a moment of it.
He was fucking beautiful as he came, eyes clenched shut and mouth open. I thrust against him again as my own orgasm ripped through me, blanking my mind out in pleasure and sending my load out to mix with Pax’s between us.
With arms like jelly, I collapsed on top of him. “Sorry," I panted and started to lift myself, but he snaked his arms around my back and hooked his legs over my thighs.
"Stay for a minute," he whispered.
"I'll stay as long as you like."
His eyes were wide, totally black in the pale light of the room. I kept mine open as I kissed him and wrapped him back up in my arms.
Chapter Eight
Pax
"What is that?" Arden asked the moment I opened my door. "Paxton Neace, who has been giving you hickeys?"
It'd been two days since Mace and I had slept together in his bed, and he'd left quite the love bite on the top of my shoulder. I wanted to be mad about it, but I hadn't stopped him and honestly, it had felt amazing in the moment. There was also a part of me that liked the thought that Mace had marked me…possibly as his.
Arden was standing in front of me, hands on his hips with that questioning look still on his face. I shot him a smile and stepped out into the hall, closing my apartment door and locking it. We were supposed to be meeting JJ and Cody for lunch. It was something we'd tried to do at least once a month, and this was the first time in several months that I hadn't thought about canceling and was honestly looking forward to being out in public and with my friends.