“My ex-boyfriend.”
“Wait.” I sat up. “Isn’t he the one who was driving when you had your accident?”
Jeremy made a sound of disgust. “Yes. His”—he paused and took a breath—“shitty driving almost cost me my career.” He sat up, his eyes dark with anger. “And then he tried to sue me for five million dollars, saying the accident was my fault.”
My gut twisted, and I unexpectedly felt a surge of rage. “What the hell? If he was driving, how the fuck could it be your fault?”
His upper lip curled up. “He claimed I was giving him a blowjob.”
“Judging by the look on your face, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that didn’t actually happen.”
Jeremy shook his head vehemently. “We were barely speaking at that point. He had done something…” He stopped speaking and pressed his lips into a thin line. “Let’s just say he did something I didn’t want him to do. I decided to break it off with him after that, but I’d made a commitment to play at this fundraising event at the hospital in Livingston. He was on the board, and my playing for them was a huge feather in his cap.”
I remembered how Jeremy stiffened in the shower when I pulled him close before I put on a condom. I suddenly felt a little sick to my stomach. My hands clenched reflexively. “Did he hurt you?” Jeremy flushed and looked away from me. I took one of his hands in mine. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. It’s none of my business.”
He gripped my hand tighter. “It’s all right. I’m the one who brought it up. You should probably know anyway, in case I freak out again.”
“Hey,” I protested. “You didn’t freak out.” I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. “And you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
Jeremy sighed softly and curled into me, tucking his face into the crook of my neck. “I don’t know why,” he began, “But I feel unaccountably comfortable with you.”
I kissed the top of his head. “I know what you mean.”
Jeremy was quiet for so long that I figured he’d taken the out I’d given him. But finally, he took a deep breath and said, “The last time I let him touch me, he wanted to go bare. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. I suspected he was cheating on me, although I didn’t have solid proof, and I didn’t want any diseases he might be carrying around. He got upset, but I held my ground.”
Jeremy clenched his jaw and swallowed hard. I felt myself getting angrier by the second because I had a feeling I knew how this ended. “In the middle of…everything…he pulled off his condom. He was behind me, so I didn’t see him do it. When I realized what he’d done, I tried to pull away, but he…held me down and finished inside me.”
He tucked his face into my neck again, and that protectiveness I felt for him had me wanting to go find this Pierce guy and drop him off a bridge. I settled for holding Jeremy tight and letting him just be.
After a little while, I felt dampness on my shoulder and heard the hitch in his breathing. “Hey,” I whispered. I put my fingers under his chin. “I’m sorry.” I brushed his tears away with my thumb.
Jeremy shook his head and let out a watery laugh. “I guess I am a pain-in-the-ass diva, after all.”
“No, you’re not,” I replied fiercely. “That guy…” I was so angry I was having a hard time forming a complete sentence. “What he did…you know what that was, right?” I couldn’t speak the word. It was too horrible. He nodded, still blinking away tears. “Did you think about going to the police?”
Jeremy made a dismissive sound. “For about three seconds. You know how victims get treated. It’s even worse for men, and forget about being a gay man.” He shook his head. “It wasn’t worth the drama it would have brought to my life.”
I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but I knew he wasn’t. Liam raged about this very thing every time he worked with a male victim of sexual assault. I made myself let it go. “How did he take it when you ended things with him?”
“Not well,” Jeremy replied. “He told me I was blowing things out of proportion, that I was the one who was always asking for things to be a little rough.”
“What the…?” I pulled him over until he was almost on my lap. “You know what? It’s a damn good thing I’ll probably never meet this guy because I might be tempted to rearrange his spine for him.”
Jeremy blinked at me and tilted his head a little. “Strangely enough, I believe you could do that.”
“It’s the tattoos,” I quipped.
“Hmm.” He ran his hand over my bare chest, stopping to tug lightly on my piercings. “Or maybe these lovely muscles.” His mouth followed his hand as he placed open-mouth kisses down my body until he reached my abdomen. He slipped his hand beneath the sheet and wrapped it around my semi-hard dick. Those talented fingers brought me to full hardness in seconds. “Is this okay?” he asked.
“Oh yeah.” I grunted my pleasure as my hips bucked, shoving my cock through the circle of his fingers. I felt his hard length pressed against my thigh. I grabbed him and pulled him on top of me. “That’s better.”
Jeremy moved until our dicks were aligned and then took us both in hand. “Like this?”
“Yes. Baby, that’s so good.” I cupped his ass while we found our rhythm. As our cocks pushed through his fist, he gathered some precum to smooth the glide. He was so good. There was no way I would last very long. I pulled him into a slow, sensual kiss and felt my body coil in anticipation. Jeremy moaned into my mouth and his rhythm faltered. His body stiffened as warm jets of cum sprayed up my abdomen and chest. His orgasm set mine off. It was so intense that it took me by surprise. I threw my head back and wrapped my arms around my lover while I groaned through my release.
We lay wrapped in each other’s arms until our breathing got under control. Jeremy chuckled. “So much for taking a shower.”
I reached between us, swiped my finger through our combined spend, and ran it over his mouth, paying particular attention to that pouty bottom lip. He sucked my finger into his hot mouth. Incredibly, my dick twitched and tried to join the party. I withdrew my finger and kissed him. “Totally worth it.”
