“Okay, first off, I wouldn’t put my mom in danger like that if there really was someone after me. Do you want to make her another target or something? And secondly, no, I can’t anyway. She moved into a studio apartment a while back to save money, and there isn’t room for me. I love my house. You know that. I like living out here. And these assholes aren’t going to scare me away from it.”
Anger, or at the very least annoyance flashed through his eyes. He made a frustrated sound. “You’re miles out of town, alone in the woods, and you’re obviously unarmed. Your ex has already been targeted, and two redneck assholes, who may be a completely separate problem, have made it their priority to fuck with you. It wouldn’t be scaring you away, it would be you being smart.”
I stood my ground. “Fuck you, are you calling me stupid?”
He snarled, “If the shoe fits . . .”
I wasn’t hot for him anymore. Or if I was, it was overpowered by rage. I got right up in his space and poked my finger at his chest. “Fuck you, Mason! How dare you come into my home and call me stupid. I bought this house. I fixed what was wrong. I made it like new, and I did it all on my own. I chose everything because I loved it. It’s mine. I like the solitude and the woods and I always have. You know that.”
“And it’s bit you in the ass more than once,” he growled, grabbing my wrist to hold my hand back. “Don’t think I haven’t heard about your hospital trip. Don’t think anyone is stupid, Elijah. Even Chris told me he knew it was Brandon. And you were alone with him in the fuckingwoodsyou love so much!”
I hesitated, because I hadn’t been aware he knew all that.Fucking Chris.It didn’t matter anymore, though, I guessed. Brandon was gone. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I practically yelled. “Like being in town would have made a difference! It wouldn’t have changed a thing. It didn’t only happen in the woods. Brandon was a dick. Everyone knew. I know they did, because I’m not stupid either. They watched him get mad at me at the bar more than once. They watched him grab my arm and drag me out. No one stopped it, no one stepped in, they just watched it happen. No one gave a fuck. Being in the woods isn’t what bit me in the ass. We were both guys, so some didn’t think it mattered, and to others, we were just a couple of queers and they didn’t give a fuck what happened to either of us. Brandon never told anyone he was gay, but they all knew he was parking his dick in my garage every night.”
Mason’s face darkened, but it wasn’t anger so much as... possessiveness that took over. I wasn’t deterred.
“So don’t you dare come in here after all these years acting like you know me and you know everything about me. You don’t. It doesn’t matter anyway. It doesn’t fucking matter where I go or what I do. It’s coming for me. I see it all the time. I’ve seen it play out in so many ways, but running, hiding, yelling, none of ithelps. I can’t avoid it, Mason, so I might as well be happy until it comes. Andthis housemakes me happy.”
He paused, my wrist still in his iron grip. “What’scoming for you?”
My shoulders slumped, all the fight leaving me suddenly. “Death, Mason. Death is. Soon. I see it almost every night. I’ve been warned, but I can’t stop it. I don’t know when or where or who, but I know they’re after me too.”
He let go of my wrist, and suddenly the bodyguard from earlier was back. He sounded upset, though, because he knew better than anyone that my visions were always true. “No. Fuck that. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You can’t stop it,” I sighed.
He grabbed my arms and yanked me toward him. “Yes. I can. And Iwill.”
His lips crashed into mine just like on Saturday night, except a little less violently.Aw, fuck. I melted into the kiss, into his body. Was I really that powerless against him? Was it because I’d had a crush on him for so long, or because I was still pissed at him? Maybe I could see a little bit of the Mason I used to know, somewhere in there, no longer hiding behind popularity and asshole friends. Whatever the reason, he already had me wrapped around his finger and he seemed to know it. I was aware that I was an idiot to let my guard down, especially with someone who’d hurt me so badly. I knew what he was capable of, but here we were.
He was still kissing me, but he was walking me backwards, toward my bedroom. I didn’t put up a fight. God, I was so weak, especially for him. I’d always been a sucker for the wrong kind of man, but never like I was with Mason. He was on a whole other level. I knew he had it in him to give me what I needed, but I doubted it would turn out any better than the others.
The back of my legs hit the bed and I paused. When I didn’t immediately move to climb onto my bed, he shoved me down. I landed on my back, but immediately started to sit up. “What the fuck, Mason, you can’t just push—” But then his lips were onmine again, silencing me. He climbed over me on the bed, and the fact that he hadn’t paused to let me question my decisions made me hard as fuck. That definitely meant something was wrong with me.
“Go ahead, tell me to stop,” he whispered, pulling back to look at me. But I didn’t. His hand trailed down my body and gripped my dick through the pajama pants I was wearing. I honestly couldn’t remember how to care if there was something broken in my brain. I moaned into his mouth and he sat up, pulling me up with him and yanking my shirt over my head. He pushed me back down, still hovering over me, but reached over to open my nightstand drawer. I thought he was looking for a condom or lube, but I felt a blush creep into my cheeks as he stared at the dildo in there, the one he’d smirked about on Saturday night. He hummed. He fuckinghummed,then said, “I think we should let your friend join in.”
I balked immediately. Brandon hadn’t even known I had it, let alone used it on me or watched me use it. He’d been my longest relationship, and no one else had seen it either. I refused to tell most of my hookups where I lived, but the few who’d been here hadn’t opened that drawer. It was something I used when I was desperate, which was fairly often because of my poor taste in men, but alwaysalone.
I started trying to talk my way out of it as I sat up and tried to push the drawer closed, pulling away from Mason as I did so. It was when I reached for my shirt that he suddenly reacted. “No, no, no you don’t,” he said, grabbing my hands in that steel grip he had.
“Mason, I don’t think . . . we shouldn’t . . . let go. I think I’m going to just . . .”
Faster than I could comprehend, I was flat on my back and my wrists were above my head. He had them in one hand and I heard a clank and aclick, and I was fuckinghandcuffedto my headboard.
I gaped at him. “What thehell, Mason? Why thefuckdo you even have handcuffs? Did you think you were going to findsomeone and arrest them? You aren’t even a damn cop here.” I was panicking a little bit, realizing I’d completely lost control of the situation and thinking about the reason he was here in the first place. “You can’t fucking do this, you ass! Haven’t you ever seen a horror movie? You’ll hear a noise, go to investigate, they’ll get you somehow, and then I’m here, handcuffed to my fucking bed and at their mercy.” Suddenly the dildo was in my mouth.
“That was too many words to be ‘stop,’” he huffed, removing the dildo long enough to let me speak. I said nothing. “That’s what I thought.” He smirked, and the dildo was back. “Why don’t you put that feisty mouth of yours to good use and get this nice and wet for me, huh?” He pushed it in and out, far enough to hit the back of my throat. I gagged and my eyes watered. “That’s better,” he said. “And don’t worry, I’m not leaving to check on anything. If they want to come in, they can watch me fuck you with this piece of silicone. Or my dick, depending on their timing. Right now, you just be a good boy and take what I’m giving you.” His empty hand slid down to the waistband of my pants. He glanced down, and when he saw the very obvious tent in them, he grinned and looked back up at my face, which was on fire.
He reached down and rubbed my dick through the material. “That’s right,” he practically purred. “I know what my little cockslut likes, don’t I?”
Out of everything he said, my mind zoned in on the fact he called mehis. And I... wasn’t that. But he was touching me and I didn’t want it to stop. He was right. He did know what I liked already, unfortunately. No one else had ever understood me so quickly, and I had no idea how he did, because we’d both changed so much since we were kids. I just nodded. He hummed again and it made my dick twitch in his hand. He moved suddenly and the dildo was gone, but all the things I’d been saying were gone with it. He scooted back and grabbed the waistband again, yanking my pants off me as easily as he had the shirt.
Suddenly I was bare and bound to the bed beneath his still fully clothed frame, my hard dick flopping onto my belly as he watched. His eyes gleamed and the smirk told me he was enjoyingboth the view and his power role. He moved back between my legs and grabbed them, shoving them up until my knees hit my ribs, and before I knew what was happening, his tongue was circling my hole. I let out a strangled sound, but it only encouraged him, and he swirled his tongue until I relaxed a little and he slipped it inside.
The handcuffs rattled on my metal bedframe as my arms strained, and I could feel him smile down there. “Fuck, Mason.” I’d never even guessed that he was gay, let alone that he’d know what the hell he was doing. But hedefinitelydid.
He teased me with his tongue for what felt like forever, until he had me panting and sweating and whining embarrassingly. He finally, slowly sat up. He let my legs drop but they stayed spread around him, and I was still trying to catch my breath when he grabbed the dildo and reached into the drawer again. He coated it with lube but didn’t bother prepping me. “I know you now,” he said, pressing it against my entrance. “You can take it without me getting you ready.”
My eyebrows shot up, because it was much bigger than his tongue, but he was already trying to work it inside me. I kept grunting, my hands clenching and unclenching above me because it was uncomfortable, but not painful enough for me to tell him to stop. I knew my face was beet red as he watched from above and hadn’t even bothered taking his shirt off yet.
