The air burned between them, static as Axel dropped his head, his lips so close that Sam instinctively opened his. It was wrong, he knew that as they stood bathed in the shadows. And yet his pulse raced, blood a roar in his ears that drowned out his conscience to leave nothing but a strained promise.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, and Axel seemed to tremble at his voice, all sin and threat wrapped tightly in leather. Fighting clothes. Why was Axel in fighting clothes?
Axel’s breathing hitched, and Sam froze as one of his hands moved to grip his hip. “I don’t know.”
“Axel you’re high, you don’t want –” Sam’s words were swallowed, and he all but groaned at the first touch, pressing against Axel, who kissed him like a man starved. Sam wanted to purr, embrace the force at which Axel pushed him, pinning him to the wall as his other hand wrapped tightly in his hair.
Axel tasted like fucking heaven, his tongue sweeping across Sam’s lips in a dominant swipe. In any other situation he would have embraced it, would have even gone to his knees right there in the alley because that was what he did, what he was good at. Sex was a language Sam was fluent in, but as he pulled back for a breath, he realised Axel’s eyes were open, vacant. Sam could have been anyone, and while that usually worked fine with all his other lovers, right then it pissed him off.
Sam bit Axel’s lip when he went in for another kiss, drawing blood. “Get the –” A sharp pain along his scalp, and then suddenly Axel was a few steps away, breathing heavily with Sam’s hair tie and a few blonde strands wrapped in a tight fist.
His smile was crooked, his eyes hazy. “Here kitty, kitty,” he chuckled, but the sound was hollow. “You know you want to come play.”
Sam released a hiss, stepping forward to shove against Axel’s hard chest. “Aye, if you carry on, I’ll happily sharpen my claws on your bones.”
A pause, Axel’s voice deepening. “Is that a promise?”
Sam’s jeans tightened, but his anger was stronger, hotter than the desire that clenched his stomach and had him wanting to stroke his naked body against the man who literally looked like a sex god.
Off limits,he reminded himself, opening his mouth to reply. The retort caught on his tongue just as the door to the bar opened.
“What’s he taken?” Kace asked as he appeared.
Axel tilted his head towards his brother, a fake smile curving his lips. “Hey there K, you joining the party?”
Sam scowled, knowing his leopard prowled behind his eyes. He shared the same colour iris as his animal, a bright amber that glowed slightly when he called on the instincts of his leopard. It was rare, and Sam always lied about the reason his eyes were that of a predator.
No one but his best friend knew the truth, and even then, he never went into detail, and she had never asked.
“I don’t know,” Sam said as he dragged a hand through his hair, tugging the loose strands behind his ears. “I found him slumped in the fucking toilets.” He felt Axel’s attention, his gaze a brand that Sam refused to meet. “He’s high as a fucking kite. He won’t tell me what he took, but I found a needle.”
“Sam, can you give us a minute?” Kace was rigid, his temper barely controlled.
Axel tensed, but Sam simply nodded, his own anger an acidic taste on his tongue. “I’ve never seen him like this.”
Kace clenched his fist. “I’ll deal with it.”
Sam didn’t look back at Axel, not when his lips were still sensitive from their kiss.
* * *
The music and dancing hadn’t slowed down, and Payne waved at him from across the room as Sam parted the crowd. This time he didn’t return the flirtatious smiles, the attention like oil on his fur, unwanted and hard to get off. He held up his finger, asking for a moment as he made his way back to the bathroom and to the same stall where he found Axel. Closing himself inside he crouched, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes.
It wasn’t the first time he had caught Axel sneaking pills, powders and alcohol. But it was the first finding him on the hard stuff. Brimstone, he guessed, from the acidic scent that still polluted the small space.
Sam understood the need for a release, an escape, but drugs were never a vice he could lose himself in. So instead, he fucked like it was a catharsis, not caring who he was with as long as he felt good, and for those few moments he was nothing but pleasure. It wasn’t exactly an approved method of therapy, but it worked. His nightmares were all but gone, and he lived life to the fullest.
His past was his past, and he refused to let it dictate his future.
Drugs would take away his control, and he would never put himself into a position where someone could take advantage.
No. Never again.
“Fuck’s sake,” he whispered, glancing up at the needle. He grabbed it, wrapping it in tissue paper before he took it with him behind the bar to discard safely later. He took the phone too, placing it in the lost and found box for Axel to deal with when he sobered up.
Payne frowned at his expression when he returned, but knew not to push. “Did you see those creeps dressed as skeletons outside?” she said, trying to lighten to mood. “It’s like they don’t realise Samhain isn’t for another five months.”
Sam didn’t bother with an answer, instead turning to the next customer, who was a woman barely five foot, and who blushed when he smiled. She pulled back her shoulders, presenting her breasts while she asked for a drink. She would be easy enough to talk into his bed, and he could lose himself in her gorgeous body while thinking about the one Guardian that he had no business desiring.
