Travis lifted his head, stared down at the man beneath him. “You don’t.” He shook his head to emphasize his words. “You don’t fuckin’ understand.”
Gage stared, his eyes imploring him to explain.
“For fuck’s sake, Gage. I love you equally. The kids … you … Kylie…” Travis was unable to hide his frustration as he tried to spell it out. “All of you make up my whole heart. All the pieces.” He shifted, sliding over Gage so that he covered him fully. “But you … you’re my best friend, my lover, the man I want to have my back for the rest of my life. You, Gage.”
He could feel the emotions churning between them, knew Gage was listening.
“I can’t lose you, too,” Travis whispered, pressing his lips to Gage’s. “I won’t survive it.”
Gage’s hand caressed the side of his face as their lips melded together. “I’m not goin’ anywhere, Trav.”
It wasn’t the hard, furious kisses they’d indulged in recently. This was slow and sweet and more than a little sad.
And exactly what Travis needed. This was what they both needed. A minute together to share their pain, to know someone else was there, someone would hold them up when the weight of the world became too much. They’d avoided this for weeks now, avoided opening themselves up because the emotional turmoil was already more than they could bear.
“Love me, Gage,” Travis mumbled.
“Always,” he whispered.
Gage’s hands moved first, lifting Travis’s shirt, forcing him to rise. They moved together, rolling and shifting but never releasing one another. It wasn’t long before they were skin to skin, limbs tangled as their lips remained locked, tongues searching, seeking. On their sides, legs twined, neither of them made a move to pull apart, in tune with one another on a deeper level.
When Gage slid his hand between them, fisting Travis’s cock, he hissed in a breath, pressed his forehead to Gage’s as his hips automatically pumped to increase the friction. And when Travis did the same in return, fisting Gage’s cock, stroking, teasing, they lost themselves.
Travis hadn’t been looking for this when he came in the room. He hadn’t been seeking Gage out for this type of comfort but it happened. There, in one another’s arms, they touched and claimed, stroking one another to a climax that wasn’t just physical. It was the release they both sought, solidifying the bond they’d had all along, strengthening it.
When Gage grunted, Travis gripped him more firmly, stroked harder, drawing him closer and closer until it was inevitable. Only then did he nip Gage’s lower lip, as they both came.
Afterward, Travis dragged Gage into the shower with him, where they spent another few minutes together. Nothing sexual, only love this time. Only one heartbeat to another in a moment that would give them the strength to make it through one more day.
Chapter Eighteen
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Gage awoke slowly for the first timein more than a month.
From the moment his brain came back online, he was aware of where he was and who was wrapped around him. He felt stronger this morning, more complete. The exact opposite of every morning since that fateful day.
“You awake?”
He shifted, answering Travis without words.
Warm lips caressed the back of his neck and his body came alive.
He had missed this. The intimacy, the connection. Sure, they’d been fucking like rabbits for days on end, but it had been a distraction, not a mating. Gage had used Travis as an escape, desperately trying to get through one more minute of one more day, to convince himself that his entire world wasn’t shattering because they’d lost the woman they both loved.
He felt different this morning. Not altogether whole, because he knew he would never be that way again, but he was definitely on the path to mending. Or moving in the direction of it, at least.
Gage was aware of Travis moving, rolling away from him, then back. He didn’t have to open his eyes to know what the man was doing. They’d spent numerous mornings just like this, coming awake together, seeking pleasure to start the day. Sometimes with Kylie, sometimes when she had taken a turn with the kids in the morning.
“I need to be inside you,” Travis whispered in his ear, his body moving up tight behind him.
Gage pressed back against the big, warm body that was so familiar, so comforting.
When Travis reached down, Gage moved higher on the bed, adjusting their positions so Travis could lift Gage’s leg and slide his cock along the crack of his ass. He didn’t have to do more than that, because Travis took control, sinking inside him in one slick, controlled move, filling him completely.
Gage felt the weight of Travis at his back as he pumped his hips, slow, gentle, bringing them both awake fully, together, as one.
But as was the case whenever they came together like this, their bodies knew what they needed, and slow and gentle ceased to exist as lust and passion took over. With Travis behind him, his hard, hot body and those desperate grunts, Gage blanked his mind and let the pleasure consume him. For the first time in weeks, Gage felt … hope.
