He’d learned what those white signs with red lines meant though. It’s place on the bar door made Gale plant his feet. “No.” He smiled when Drew frowned and took another drag. “I’m not stomping out a fottai because there’s a sign on a fucking door. You can’t get fottai outside of Vihaan.” He held out the smoke for Drew to see.
Drew spoke under his breath. “God help me.” When he looked Gale in the eye, he nodded. “Fine. You stay with Jude to enjoy your smoke. Janet and Isaac will come with me to help this non-Vihaan recognise a native Vihaan.” He held the door open for the others. “I wish I could say I had a better way to spend my time, but this is for Keon,” he mumbled as he stepped inside.
Gale unzipped his jacket and glared at the canopy keeping them dry.
“Interesting,” Jude remarked after the door shut. Gale leaned against the brick of the building, and Jude joined him, their shoulders touching. “I know everything works differently here?” He took a drag as he stretched his feet and crossed his ankles. “?but do you think Drew and Keon had a relationship?”
“Nah. I have a feeling they play on the same side of the table.”
“What?” The spark of his smoke lit Jude’s amused hazel eyes.
“Isn’t that how it works with two guys?” he asked though he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t given it much thought until Jude’s gaze lingered when he was fresh out of the shower or getting changed. “One gives and the other takes? All indications are Keon and Drew are firmly on the ‘take-it’ table.” He couldn’t help wondering what side Jude played for.
He was like Rylee: big, masculine, a typical kalou warrior. Jude had never been careless enough to give away his preference in Vihaan, but Gale understood how he might be more comfortable with the gay men of this world. They weren’t the stereotypical figures that Vihaan culture portrayed them as.
Gale knew the truth of gay men was more complicated than Vihaan liked to acknowledge, because his brother had been gay his whole life. Yosi was far from frail or delicate, and he wasn’t one of those flashy boys from another fraternity that Jude had shown an interest in.
Was that what Jude liked?
“How would you know?” Jude laughed, gazing at the constant activity of the street, despite the late hour and bad weather.
“I’m a certified giver.” Gale winked, making it clear. He may not know what was happening with Jude, but he knew his strengths and limits.
“Sure you are, stud.” Light, smoky laughter filled the space between them as Jude leaned more heavily against Gale. His left hand held his cigarette but the other hung by his side, thumb tucked into a jeans pocket.
The longer they stood smoking and leaning, the more the hand drifted. Gale acted like he didn’t notice, but it was impossible not to: the graze of a finger against his clothed thigh, deliberate and cautious. When Gale didn’t react, the lone finger shifted and caught his hand, a feather-light touch across his knuckles.
Gale was tempted to push Jude, to discover how far he’d go. He took a drag and bit his thumbnail, tilting his head to catch Jude’s gaze, dark-pepper hair slipping across his eyes. Those hazel eyes dilated with lust, zeroing in when Gale darted his tongue to lick the bow of his top lip. He craned his head back against the building, exposing his throat in a clear m’weko challenge. Instead of ‘fight me’, this was a blatant ‘fuck me’. Once he’d taken another drag, he dug fingers deep into his pocket, tugging his jeans low enough to reveal a hint of hair, advertising the lack of underwear. The message couldn’t have been clearer:I’m horny; come get me.
In the chaos of Dnara, Jude swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing as the world whittled to the two. Gale canted his hips and casually brushed his free hand across his stomach. Jude took a drag and gave his cock a sharp tug, adjusting it inside his jeans. Adjusting, sure. Gale could see Jude was a grower, pushing against the denim. He upped the ante, trailing a hand inside his open jacket, under his T-shirt and over bare skin. The way Jude stared with intensity left no doubt he was interested buthowinterested? Gale pushed his hand under the tee, the fabric sliding over his forearm, exposing everything, then idly squeezed his pec and rubbed a thumb over the nipple.
“Fuck, I’m hungry,” he complained, canting his hips a second time.
Jude caught his eye, lips parting with the onset of words.
The door burst open and Jude flinched, pushing from the wall. His posture screamed guilt and shame as he tossed his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. When Drew emerged, Jude feigned a smile. “Any luck?”
“He’s the wrong guy.” Drew didn’t blink when Janet stormed off, apparently at the end of her rope with this mission. He opened his umbrella and smiled when Isaac nudged under its cover. “You two okay?”
Gale dropped his hand and took another drag. “Sure.” He glanced at Jude, who avoided eye contact. “How many with the same name?” How long would this fruitless search continue? They’d found most of the names on their list, bar eight who had names too common to single out from the herd.
“Twenty-five.” Drew glanced at the rain and stepped out under the cover of his umbrella. “We’ll consider this one of the few who’ll need to come to us. Onto the next!”
His feigned enthusiasm was cute, except Gale was bored and horny.
He cast a glance at Jude and took a deep drag, already plotting his next move.
Chapter Two
Gale had never been into men. He’d never looked at a man the way Jude looked at him. But the incessant heat of that gaze was too much to bear in silence. Some truths a man didn’t bother denying.
He may not be into men, but Gale wasn’t a coward and didn’t hide from the obvious. He never hid from a fight, never let others pay for his mistakes, would never let anyone hurt his family, and he didn’t run from what scared him.
Gale Toreto didn’t tolerate fear. The moment it sparked, he grabbed the skinny shit by the throat and throttled it. Fear had no place in his life, not even when it came to Jude.
When the team returned to the fraternity, Gale made it known he would eat in his room when he was hungry. Since everyone knew he wasn’t comfortable in Dnara, no one pushed.
He had two choices: beat off in the shower or have fun and get answers.
