CHAPTER ONE
Thursday, 1 December
Showered and dressed in boxers and an old T-shirt, Alex lay back on his bed with his phone resting on his chest. Work had been particularly stressful. Everyone wanted their cars fixing before they had to travel for Christmas, but he’d still had chance to check his phone at regular intervals. The text message he’d sent Riley that morning remained unanswered. Not that that was particularly unusual, but the fact he hadn’t seen him since Sunday was.
The previous weekend away had been great, just what he needed—how thoughtful of Dylan to have his birthday when Alex was feeling a bit low. But as good as it had been to get away with his friends, Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Riley.
They’d been best friends for a long time, ever since Alex and his mates had stuck up for him at school when they were fifteen. Alex liked to think he knew Riley well enough to spot when something was bothering him. Riley never tried to hide stuff from Alex. They didn’t have many boundaries, and no topics had been off limits so far, but Alex would bet a month’s wages Riley was hiding something from him now. And that pissed him off as much as it made him worry.
Clearly he’d done something to upset Riley at the lodge, because they’d been absolutely fine before that. Alex wasn’t stupid; whatever he’d done it had to have been when they were drunk on Saturday night. That was the only part of the weekend he couldn’t remember, so it must have been then. But why wouldn’t Riley just tell him? Whatever shit he’d come out with couldn’t have been that bad, or in the morning, Riley would have yelled at him for being an arsehole and then ignored him for the rest of the day until he got bored and caved. It was how they worked. Neither of them stayed mad for long.
But that hadn’t happened. Riley had just been…weird.
Alex cast his mind back over the weekend’s events for the umpteenth time to see if he’d missed anything. He remembered starting early on the Saturday, with beers all round when they got back from their walk. And then there was the whisky that Dylan fucking insisted on, since it was his birthday, and that Riley somehow managed to avoid. But after that…. Yeah, everything after that was vague at best. Abi said they’d wished him goodnight, but he had no recollection of that, or of Dylan and Jake going to bed either.
Waking up next to Riley hadn’t been much of a surprise, but dreaming about him had been.Jesus.Why, out of everything, did his mind decide to remember that? Shit, maybe that was it! Maybe Dylan was right. He could have accidentally groped Riley in his sleep, or rubbed up against him. Alex had been hard when he woke up, and yes, he’d also had his hand slung over Riley’s waist, but his cock had been a safe distance away from Riley’s arse.
Just thinking about those two things in the same sentence made him a little hot. Objectively speaking, Rileywashot, though he tended to put himself down far too much for Alex’s liking.
Those big, broad shoulders were definitely something worth getting worked up over, and those eyes… if Alex met someone like Riley in a club, he’d be all over him. He palmed his dick absently, the images from his dream filtering through his mind unbidden: a solid body underneath him taking all his weight, the rough tease of stubble grazing his lips….
It had been a long time since he’d thought of Riley in that way. He’d successfully weaned himself off the idea when Riley showed absolutely no interest in him whatsoever. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t get off to the thought of him every now and again. Was that wrong? Probably, but fuck it. Where was the harm? It wasn’t as though anyone would ever find out.
He had the house to himself, which in itself was an opportunity not to be wasted. Mind made up, he slipped a hand into his boxers and closed his eyes on a sigh. To make him seem like less of a creep, as he gripped his cock and gave it a squeeze, he tried not to picture Riley’s face, instead imagining wide shoulders and the heavy weight of a big guy pinning him to his bed—
Fuck.
He shoved his underwear down and off, then fumbled to get the lube out from under the spare pillow next to him, and he hurriedly squirted some into his hand.Better.His palm glided up and down with a little less resistance, but still enough to make his breath catch. In his head, it was someone else touching him, someone else’s thumb rubbing over the head of his cock through the precome gathering there. Being on his own sucked sometimes, but never let it be said that Alex Turner didn’t know how to have a spectacular wank.
Sliding one leg up to rest his foot flat on the bed gave him better access to everything down there, and he wasted no time cupping his balls, then slowly edging further back towards his hole. He ran the pads of his fingers back and forth, pressing down with every stroke of his cock.
The third drawer down in his bedside cabinet held a good selection of dildos, but as tempting as that was, he couldn’t be bothered to stop what he was doing and lean over to get one. His hands felt too good where they were, the slide of slick fingers tugging him towards his orgasm at an easy pace: not too fast, but not torturous either.
Yeah, this was good; he could already feel his bad mood floating away on a sea of endorphins.
A flash of bright blue eyes and a slightly crooked smile crept in while Alex’s guard was down, and a couple more thrusts into his tight fist had him coming all over his stomach with a drawn-out moan. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and closed his eyes, concentrating on the satisfying afterglow spreading through his body.
Ten minutes later and feeling much more relaxed, Alex wiped himself off with his T-shirt and reached for his phone. Not feeling quite comfortable at the thought of hearing Riley’s voice after what he’d just done, Alex opted for another text.
Hey, everything ok? Get the feeling you’re avoiding me. What did I do?
He hadn’t come right out and asked yet, but four days was long enough for whatever was eating at Riley to fester. Alex wasn’t a big fan of ignoring a problem until it went away. He liked to get things out in the open, get them sorted, and move the fuck on. And thisthingbetween them was really starting to mess with his head.
Riley was his rock, as corny as that sounded, but he was. There was nothing Alex didn’t tell him, nothing he wouldn’t listen to in return, and knowing he would always have Riley in his corner had kept him from feeling shitty about a lot of things. No way was he allowing that to be damaged by something stupid he did or said while off his face.
His phone buzzed almost straightaway, taking him by surprise. That was the quickest Riley had replied all week—usually he’d made Alex wait at least an hour. Was that a good thing? With great trepidation, Alex thumbed through to his messages.
Everything’s fine. Just been busy.
For fuck’s sake! That was the same bollocks Riley had sent him earlier.
How about a drink tomorrow night? I miss your stupid face.
The delay in Riley’s reply told him all he needed to know, and when it finally arrived, the contents came as no great surprise.
Sorry, can’t. Already made plans with Charlie.
Alex stared down at the screen, then typed,I didn’t realise he was back.
