Chapter Ten

 

“Here’s another root beer, Brady.” Seamus set the bottle on the bar in front of him. “Are you sure you don’t want something stronger?”

Brady shook his head. He needed to stay in control. Now more than ever. “This sugar high is better than a rum blackout. I am hearing a strange pounding in my ears though.”

“Construction.” Seamus sighed. “I can’t wait to open up again. Owen’s crew has done great work and it’s only two days, but I’m ready for the dust to settle so I can reopen. I miss adult problems and drunks and appetizers that aren’t shaped like stars and dinosaurs.”

Brady couldn’t help but chuckle. Super Dad needed a vacation. He glanced over at the new stage that had sprung up by the dartboards. “A place for a band, bigger bathrooms, a fixed roof… That’s a lot for two days.”

“They get paid well, and they each get one free drink a night for life. Apparently that was the right incentive.”

Brady imagined it would be. “How’s your dad doing with all this change?”

“Dad is proud, and before you ask everyone else is fine.” His cousin leaned his elbows on the bar and frowned. “You, however, look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks,” Brady muttered. “At least I don’t have little mustard fingerprints on the back of my shirt.”

Seamus looked over his shoulder and swore. “How the hell did that happen? I put Penny and Wes in the shower and changed my shirt before I came here.”

Solomon appeared beside Brady, tossing a set of keys on the bar and taking off his sunglasses before he sat down. “Sol says he didn’t own a clean shirt outside of his uniform until Rory left home. Hey brother, what’s new?”

Brady ground his teeth together. Solomon was the last person he wanted to see. “Other than me being wrong about the pub being closed for construction? I don’t know, Chief. You tell me.”

“I can’t close to family.” Seamus shrugged, setting an iced tea down in front of Solomon, who nodded his thanks.

“Okay, let’s think about what’s happened since the last time you answered your phone. Uncle Shawn’s a little down in the dumps. Owen and Jeremy are coming back the day after tomorrow, and Badass has been staying with him for the duration. You know how much he loves that dog.”

Owen’s dog was going to come back spoiled rotten with no Brady-the-babysitter to look after him when Owen wanted a nap. Shame. “I’ll send a card.”

“I also heard from Rory that you went to the VA to talk to someone about your sleeping problems.”

Brady didn’t respond, reminding himself to sock Rory in the jaw for gossiping. As for the doctor, he’d had to do something. Waking up from memories of car bombs and innocent casualties had never been easy, but they’d never been this hard. Now, every time he realized he was awake, he remembered that there wasn’t a good reason to be. Ken wasn’t beside him.

Talking to the doctor helped. He’d even made another appointment.

“If it means anything, I’m sorry.”

“What?” Brady looked over at Solomon in mock-surprise. “Should I be taping this?”

Solomon frowned. “I’m not sorry I was worried about you. I am sorry if something I said made him… That wasn’t my intention.”

Brady looked back down at his bottle. He shouldn’t be taking this out on his brother. Solomon isn’t the one who sent him away. All he’d done was show up exactly when he needed him to. “You were there to help and that’s what you did. I appreciate it, and I should’ve said it before now.”

“I’ll always help you, Brady.” Solomon placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “And I’ll always be here if you need me, even when I’m worried, and even if I don’t agree. You know that, right?”

“I do.”

He never doubted his family. They didn’t always understand him, and he knew Solomon didn’t always approve of his decisions, but he stuck it out and never let him down. It was love, Aunt Ellen always said, more than genetics or Sol the Elder’s obsession with the Finn name. Love kept them together as a family. Love was the glue.

But Brady was no longer sure Ellen was right. Unless she’d only meant a particular kind of love. Not the kind that was intense and full of passion—not the kind that was obviously one-sided. Ken had sent him away so easily. Shut him out and moved on with his life without looking back.

Brady had spent the better part of a week going over everything that had happened, what they’d shared, and he was no closer to understanding how something so powerfully profound and life changing for him could mean that little to Tanaka.

It had happened so fast—falling in love. He knew it could—Ellen and Shawn were proof of that. But when he looked at Owen and Jeremy, at Tasha and Stephen, he saw a whole life of shared memories and experiences mixed in with the romance. Maybe that was the real truth, the real key. Maybe all that was between them was chemistry. Passion. Maybe Ken was right and time would make it fade.

What did he know? He’d never been in love until now.

Brady forced the painful memories down and glanced up to find Seamus and Solomon watching him with matching expressions of concern. “I’m fine. Stop hovering.”

“You know what Jake would say to that?”

“Jake is twelve.”

Seamus ignored him. “Jake tells me fine never means fine unless you’re talking about a girl. Or in your case, a man. He says whenever people say they’re fine, it means that they are too worn out from crying to go over why life sucks so bad.”

Solomon snorted. “He’s a prophet, that one.”

“I think so,” Seamus replied with a glance at Brady. “He’s also an eavesdropper, and overheard me mentioning Terry Wahl to Noah. When he found out Tanaka had a foster brother, he told me it made sense.”

Brady frowned in confusion. “How’s that?”

Seamus took out a rag to wipe the sawdust from days of construction off the bar. “You weren’t around when my kids came into my life. Jake was the first. He was six going on sixty back then. Introverted and in pain, but smart. He was at my side when Penny and Wes were born a year later, and he was the first to hold Little Sean when I agreed to help Mira out of a tight spot. He’s a special boy and he’s always been a people watcher. He usually figures things out long before I do.”

Brady would have described Seamus exactly the same way.

“You should get his advice before you date again,” Solomon joked.

“Nice, Younger. I’m working here.”

Brady sent him a look. “What did he say about Ken?”

“He said Tanaka was good at everything because he has to be. When you don’t know what it’s like to have family to rely on and people you trust, you’re all you’ve got.”

There was a lump in Brady’s throat. “He’s a smart kid.”

“He likes Uncle Necky,” Seamus said chuckling. “All the kids do. Lord knows I owe him a kidney for the way he helped with Little Sean.”

“We all owe him for that,” Solomon agreed. “And I owe him for giving me back my brother.”

Brady lowered his brows and looked at Solomon, wondering if he’d gone crazy. “What are you talking about, Younger? I’m back now? Forgetting the fact that it’s been eight months since I took off the uniform, I’m still homeless and unemployed. I still have bad dreams and I’m still not returning to the police force the way you and Sol want me to. Nothing’s changed.”

Solomon’s smile was subtle, but for him it might as well have been a parade. “I never cared about that. Dad might still give you shit about it, but that wasn’t what I was looking for.” He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again his voice was thick with emotion. “You were gone a long time, Brady. Even when you got home… Don’t tell me I wouldn’t recognize my own brother when you finally came back.”

Damn it. “Don’t start, Solomon. I can’t…” His laugh was watery and rough. “Great. I’m back to my old self again, just in time to get kicked in the teeth by everybody’s favorite hacker. What am I supposed to do now? He’s smart and sexy and I love him and none of that means shit because he sent me away.”

“He’s a fucking idiot for being such a genius,” Seamus frowned. “But I expect more from you. You heard what I said right? He isn’t used to family. Isn’t used to having people to lean on.”

“Yeah?”

“Let me remind you about the advice you gave to Owen a few weeks ago after taking a bath in rum. You’re a Finn, you said. We go all in or not at all. All in or not at all. Do those sound like the words of a man who’d let a little thing like being sent away for your own good get in your way?”

“You think he sent me away for my own good?”

Seamus glanced at Solomon, who nodded. “A part of you thinks it too, otherwise you would have taken my calls. Think about it, Brady. You were there, looking into those men’s eyes, close enough to touch them. And Tanaka is the one that put you there. The same men who smiled at you were responsible for that blood-soaked crime scene we found only hours later, and erasing your connection to Grimes. It crossed my mind they could erase you just as easily, which is why I lost my temper.”

Still… “He told me to leave so casually, like I’d just been there to install a fucking light bulb.”

“My guess is he knows you,” Seamus offered kindly. “You’re a big man with a big heart, Brady. If he’d showed you how much it hurt him, nothing he said would have convinced you to leave.”

That big heart started to race. Like it was waking up for the first time in days. He looked over at Solomon. “What about you? Do you think I should go all in? What if things aren’t over with the Slaver’s Club? What if we have to deal with those bastards again?”

Solomon shook his head. “I hope that day never comes, but I’m not an idiot. And I know you’re not the kind of man that walks away from a fight. Not when it matters.” He lifted one shoulder. “If it gets too dangerous… If that happens, don’t forget you’ve got family who loves you. And some of us own guns.”

Brady got up from the bar stool and slung his arm around Solomon’s shoulders. He got a lot of flak for being too uptight, but Brady knew that he’d been the one to raise them. Not their father. Solomon had forgone fun and a life of his own because he had five brothers to take care of. “Thank you, Younger.”

“I told you I hate that nickname. Now stop drowning in your root beer and act like a man. And just be happy, damn it.”

 

A few hours later, he wondered if Chief Finn would approve of the fact that his first attempt at being happy included breaking and entering.

He hadn’t really had a choice, Brady told himself as he jabbed with his left, the force of his blow jarring his shoulder. Ken wouldn’t answer his phone and Brady had never thought to make a spare key to the warehouse.

Throwing out another punch, he wiped the sweat off his face with his forearm—since his hands were encased in Ken’s MMA sparring gloves—and scowled. Where was Tanaka right now? It was still light out, but maybe the club was already open. Maybe he should call Tasha and see if she knew someone there who could find out. Someone who could tell Brady if Ken was busy “playing” with someone. If he seemed relieved to have things back to normal.

And maybe you could act like a grown man with balls instead of a teenage girl. Tighten up, Marine. He’ll have to come home eventually.

He hadn’t been planning it. Breaking in. But Trick wasn’t the only one who knew how to pick a lock, and when the police didn’t show up in the first twenty minutes, Brady knew Ken hadn’t reset his security systems since he smashed the hell out of his hard drives and disconnected the cameras. It was going to take some elbow grease to get this bat cave up and running again. Ken would need help with that.

“Jesus,” he muttered, punching the heavy bag more aggressively and finishing off the combination by driving his knee hard into his imaginary opponent’s ribcage. He was pathetic.

Brady danced around the bag, throwing kicks and elbows, trying his best to wrench it from the steel anchor it swung from. Trying and failing to work off his nerves. He’d been doing a lot of that since he got here. Push-ups. Pull-ups. Jump rope. Weights. He’d gotten so drenched he’d taken off his t-shirt, and then his jeans, until all he had on were his boxers.

“If he doesn’t get home soon, I’ll go for a naked run, get arrested and he’ll never know I was here.”

And now you’re talking to yourself.

He couldn’t help it. Couldn’t shut down his mind. There was a part of him that worried he was making a fool of himself. That coming here on secondhand advice of a twelve-year-old and his perpetually single older brother was not the smartest move. Particularly since it hadn’t been his decision to leave in the first place. Ken had said they might not be the best fit. Ken had said that they both needed time to think about everything that had happened.

Ken had asked him to leave.

But he hadn’t asked Brady what he wanted. He drove his knee deep into the bag, then swung his other leg around in a powerful kick that rung the iron rafter above his head. He reached out his hand to stop the wild swaying of his canvas enemy.

Ken didn’t know what Brady was feeling, because he’d never gotten the chance to tell him. There’d been too much going on.

He’d wanted to. In the middle of the ugly mess they’d fallen into—a mess that still wasn’t cleaned up—Brady had wanted to tell Ken he loved him.

Seamus was right. He was an all or nothing kind of guy. He couldn’t just turn his feelings off because they might put him in high-risk situations at some point in the future. He wouldn’t live like that. And Ken might call him a fool, but Brady wasn’t going anywhere until that man knew exactly what he was sending away.

“Finn?”

Thank God. Brady brought down his gloved hands and looked over his shoulder. “Tanaka,” he acknowledged. “Busy day?”

“What are you... Did you forget something?”

Not exactly a warm welcome, but Brady would work with it. “I didn’t forget anything. What’s in the box?”

“My new office.” Ken set down the box of computer parts he was carrying and stalked toward Brady, those usually wicked lips tight and thin. “You don’t have a key.”

“No, I don’t. We’ll need to fix that when I move back in.”

“I told you to go.”

“And now I’m back.”

When Ken’s torso twisted and his leg swept out, Brady was ready for him. He side stepped the kick, wrapped his arms around Ken’s shoulders and they fell together. Brady rolled until he was on top, his legs straddling Ken’s hips and arms so he couldn’t move. “This feels familiar,” he laughed.

Ken bucked beneath him. “Damn it, Brady, this isn’t funny. Why are you here?”

“Because you need me.”

He stilled at that. “I don’t. I’m backing off, for the moment anyway. I’m rebuilding and recoding and— They won’t try anything now. I have time to find out who—”

“No.” Brady shook his head, cutting off Ken’s words. “Not for that.”

“What else?” Ken’s eyes were slightly dilated and his breathing was shallow. “I mean, I don’t need any—”

Brady kissed him. Closed his eyes and felt everything inside him melt when Ken sucked his tongue deep into his mouth as if he couldn’t help himself. As if he’d missed him just as much. Yes. Something that strong didn’t go away overnight.

He lifted his head and Ken moaned, shaking his head. “That doesn’t prove anything. I don’t I need you. And you don’t need the trouble I’d come with.”

Brady looked into Ken’s eyes and smiled. “You thought you knew what we needed before. You thought sending me away was the right thing to do, but you were wrong. I know exactly what you need.”

“Sex won’t solve these problems.”

“You need someone who isn’t intimidated by that brain of yours, or that mouth,” Brady was trying to ignore that mouth so he could finish. “You need to be dragged to chaotic family dinners and get the third degree from people who care a little too loudly. You need someone who’ll take you by the side of the road, in the shower, anywhere he can have you because he can’t get enough.”

Ken opened his mouth as if to interrupt. Brady couldn’t touch him like he wanted through his gloves, so he kissed him again. When they were both breathless, he lifted his head and whispered, “You don’t need to be alone, genius. What you need is someone who loves you. Someone who didn’t think he could love like this. Not this much. Not so completely. And that’s me, Tanaka. I’m the right guy for the job. The only guy. I also still happen to be unemp—”

“Shut up.” Golden eyes closed and Ken took a shivering breath. When he opened them again, Brady saw something in them that gave him reason to hope. “I need my arms back, Finn.”

“Shit. Sorry.” He rolled, getting to his feet and bringing the strap of one glove up to his teeth. He was already edgy, and aroused from being this close to Ken. He didn’t need to add stuck in boxing gloves to that list.

Ken stood up with him. “Give those to me.”

Brady held out his arms.

“How long have you been in here?”

“A few hours.”

“Why didn’t you wait in the loft?”

Brady’s cheeks heated. “I thought this way I wouldn’t really be invading your privacy.”

“So you’d only be breaking in my gym, not my house?” When he nodded, Ken chuckled and reached for the other glove. “You really are a giant Boy Scout.”

He shrugged. “Cops…Marines…we’re all just bigger, older versions. We still get badges when we’re good and everything.”

The last glove came off and then Brady felt Ken’s hand slip inside his boxer shorts, his fingers sliding over his erection. “Have you been good, Brady?”

Fuck. “I might lose my badge if you keep doing that.”

Ken stopped touching him long enough to drag his own shirt off over his head, and then he was pulling Brady’s head down for another kiss. “Fuck the badge.”

Brady groaned and wrapped his arms around Ken’s hot body, turned to press him against the gym wall. That mouth. Damn, he’d missed that talented mouth. He tilted his head and let their tongues tangle, his hands brushing Ken’s as they both fought to get his pants unbuttoned.

“I should shower.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

“Upstairs,” Brady gasped. “The lube’s upstairs.”

Kicking off his pants, Ken turned in Brady’s arms to face the wall and then thrust back with his hips as he bent forward. “Now. Fuck me right now, Brady. I can’t wait that long.”

Brady shuddered. “Tanaka…”

“Finn, please. Don’t make me take you down. Fuck me.”

That was all he needed to hear. He gripped Ken’s hips, spread his cheeks with his thumbs and dropped to his knees, sliding his tongue wetly over that tight hole he loved. So good. He wanted to make this good.

“Yes,” Ken moaned. “Damn it, Finn you make me crazy. You don’t know how many times I thought about th—God. Do you want me to beg again? I’ll beg.” Brady pushed his tongue inside Ken’s ass.

“Christ, yes, okay, I’m begging you. I need that big, thick cock in my ass. Don’t you remember how tight it was? How good? I need it. I need you to fuck me until I forget my name, forget you weren’t here—yes. Brady, baby, please.”

Climbing up to stand on shaky legs, Brady wet his palm with his tongue, sliding it over his erection. Ken’s cries had destroyed the restraint he’d been clinging to, and now Tanaka was going to get what he’d asked for.

They both shouted when he thrust inside, muscles wound tight and shaking as he filled and stretched Ken’s ass until he was all the way in.

“Brady.”

“Fuck. No, Ken don’t move.”

But Ken wouldn’t listen, pushing his hips back and swiveling them seductively. He looked over his shoulder and Brady saw the wild need, the mischief in his eyes. “If you don’t want me to move, Finn, then hold me down.”

Brady dragged them both to their knees and pushed Ken down until his face met the floor, then held him there with a hard grip on the back of his neck, under his braid. “Like that?”

“Yes.”

He’d needed this so much. Needed Ken. He’d wanted this to be perfect, instead he was covered in sweat and pinning his lover to the ground like an animal ready to rut.

“Fuck,” he swore, gripping Ken’s shoulder tightly with his free hand as he gave in to the call of the damn wild.

“Yeah. Oh, Brady, you’re so good. I can’t get enough. Faster. Yes, like that. Don’t stop fucking me. Don’t stop. Never stop.”

Never. He would never fucking stop. Brady flexed his ass and pumped his hips in a rhythm that was no longer controlled. He felt primal. Possessive. His fingers tightened and Ken quaked beneath his touch.

“Mine,” Brady muttered low and dangerous.

“Yes,” Ken moaned back. “Yes, you bastard, I’m yours.”

Ken’s easy submission stole the last of his control. “Say it again.”

“Anything you want. I’ll do anything. I’m yours, Brady. Fuck, I’m—”

Ken cried out and Brady knew he was coming. Knew he had to join him. “Yes.”

Mine.

 

Brady wasn’t sure how long he’d laid there on the floor, wrapped around his lover, his cock still buried inside him.

His. Ken was his.

He hasn’t said it back.

“You’ve started thinking already,” Ken murmured, clearly amused. “I’m impressed, Finn. I’m still not sure I have.”

“I was thinking about negotiating a scene.” Hopefully he’d worded that correctly.

Ken tensed against him. “Brady, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“I think it is.”

Rolling away, Ken leaned on his elbows and looked down at him with wary golden eyes. “I don’t have the right to ask after the things I said, but tell me the truth. Do you really think you’re ready, or do you just want to please me?”

Brady hesitated. “That’s a trick question. Of course I want to please you. And I want to share in the things you love because I…” He swallowed. “If you’d asked me a month ago, I would have said it was never going to happen, but now I can’t stop thinking about it. I have been for a while. I want to know how it feels to have your hands on me, to have you in control. I want so much, with you, from you, but I’m always getting in my own way by thinking too much. The psychiatrist said something about me carrying too much weight. Not physically but—”

Ken pressed a finger against his mouth. “You went to see someone? About the nightmares?”

He nodded.

“And did you tell him you were thinking about being tied up?”

Brady blushed. “Surprisingly? He was not surprised. And he knew more about it than I did. Even printed out some articles on the subject.”

Ken lowered his hand to Brady’s chest, tangling his fingers in the hair there. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Okay then.” Ken leaned down to kiss his chin. “Hold that thought.”

Ken got to his feet and walked quickly toward the stairs. Brady watched his ass from beneath his lashes, unable to keep the smile off his lips. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Ken never would have approached this on his own. He had no desire to push Brady into something he didn’t want.

He was the better man.

Brady was anxious, but excited. He’d read about the cathartic release of rope for people with PTSD and the feeling of safety, but anytime he thought about Ken tying him up and touching him—well, his thoughts weren’t all that therapeutic.

He heard Ken’s footsteps echo on the gym floor and looked over to see him carrying a large cloth bag. “Brady? Why don’t you take the heavy bag down and set it against the wall.”

Brady frowned, his stomach knotting. “Why?”

Ken’s lips curled in a little smile at he set his bag down. “We haven’t negotiated yet so I’ll answer. When you don’t have all the amenities that are available at the club, you have to improvise. You’re a big man, Brady. I’m improvising, but I think you’ll enjoy it.”

Brady jumped to his feet and wrapped one arm around the bag and used his free hand to open the catch of the metal D-ring that secured it to the rafter. He grunted as he lifted it and slipped the ring out of the eye-hook above. As he set it where Ken had indicated, he looked back up at the hook. It was thick, heavy-duty steel—strong enough to hold the weight of the bag, and strong enough to bear his weight as well. “Huh.”

Ken laughed. “Changing your mind already?”

“No.”

“Good. We need to set some ground rules. What don’t you want to experience?”

“Whips,” Brady answered quickly. “No whips.” He would never be curious about that.

Ken nodded, pulling out several lengths of blue nylon rope.

Oh God.

“You’re new at this, so let me tell you what I want. Nothing but you, me and the rope. We’re going to start very simply. Just so you can feel the weight of it and understand that, though ultimately you’re in control, you’re giving that control over to me temporarily.”

Shit. Focus. “Yes. Just us and rope. Got it.”

“It might be an emotional experience for you. You hold back—everyone does, and sometimes things come out. I’m telling you now so you know it’s okay with me. You can trust me with that.”

He’d read about how deeply affecting rope could be. “I trust you completely.”

Ken nodded, looking pleased. “You can’t argue or question my commands, but you can stop me with a safe word.”

“Apple pie,” Brady said without thinking. Then he laughed. “Don’t tell Tasha that’s my safe word.”

Ken’s gold eyes were sparkling, his cheeks slightly flushed. “I promise. Now about sex.”

“Sex?” Brady swallowed hard.

“I’ve told you I don’t usually mix the two, but in your case I’m making an exception. While you’re tied up, would you be okay with me touching and sucking your cock?”

“God, yes.”

“What about your ass? Can I use my tongue? My fingers? Can I give it a tap or two with my hands?”

He swallowed. “Okay.”

“That’s good. Then we can begin. From now on, Brady, I’m in charge. You need to do what I say and answer my questions honestly. Can you do that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then step directly under the hook and hold out your arms, wrists together.”

When Brady obeyed, Ken began to swiftly and expertly bind his wrists together. Brady tried to focus on the knots but his eyes were blurring a little.

“Breathe, Finn. Breathe for me. I’m here.”

Realizing he’d been holding his breath, he inhaled deeply and tried to relax. His breath caught again when Ken dragged a chair over and climbed onto the seat so he could tug Brady’s arms over his head. He slipped the rope through the round metal anchor on the rafter above and dropped it behind Brady. Ken looked into his eyes and smiled, stroking his cheek before he hopped down and strung the rope over to a large bolt sticking out of the concrete wall. Brady had to stretch his arms and felt like he was one tug away from his heels leaving the ground as Ken tied the nylon cord off.

It exposed him. Made him vulnerable. Open to whatever Ken wanted to do to him. He let out shaky breath as he felt adrenaline push his heartrate up a notch.

“That is sexy as hell, Finn,” Ken murmured hotly as he stepped back in front of Brady and moved the chair out of the way. Caressing Brady’s hip with one hand, he added, “Your body was made to be displayed. Used. Enjoyed.”

Hardly. “More like made to carry heavy things and knock down doors.”

“I don’t think I said you could disagree with me.” Ken’s fingers dug into his hip in warning. “You have this image of yourself that’s all wrong. You’re no clumsy ox, Finn. And you’re not just a battering ram. You’re a big strong man who knows how to protect the people he loves. Who knows how to move to make his lover scream his name.”

Brady’s erection was getting harder to ignore. Ken noticed and wrapped it tight in one fist.

“Oh God.”

Ken chuckled. “I’d say that’s a good sign you’re still with me. Are you ready for more?”

More of what? Did it even matter when Tanaka was touching him? “Yes.”

Ken went back to his bag and stood behind Brady. He resisted the urge to turn and look behind him, instead focusing on his breathing. He could feel the weight of the nylon sliding over his shoulders, his stomach, between his legs, as Ken wove the rope around his body. Whenever Brady tensed, Ken would gentle him with a hand on his back or hip until he relaxed. Then he would start again.

There wasn’t much talking so all Brady could do was feel. The weight of the knot in the center of his chest and the matching one on his back. The slide of two lines of nylon slipping between the cheeks of his ass.

This was starting simply?

“There.” Ken tugged something and the rope around his waist and between his legs tightened, separating his ass cheeks. Rubbing against his increasingly sensitive skin.

A strange feeling traveled through his body and something started to shift in his mind, like a light turning on in the dark. With every heartbeat he felt more alive, more aware. The pressure from the ropes, the coolness of the air on his skin, the heat radiating off Ken’s body…his awareness of everything had heightened in a way he’d never experienced. It was revelatory.

“Now we can play.”

Brady slammed back into the present and gasped when Ken pressed up behind him, rising on the balls of his feet to grip the rope that bound Brady’s wrists with one hand. Ken’s cock—wet with lube—slid over Brady’s skin. He rocked against him, his other fingers slipping between the ropes and rubbing the tight ring of his ass.

“Fuck.”

“Someday.” Ken whispered the promise against Brady’s shoulder. “I’m greedy, remember? I never want to give up the feeling of your big cock breaking me open, but I’m man enough to admit I’ve thought about returning the favor. Tell me the truth if you want a badge, Boy Scout. Have you ever let anyone bend you over?”

“Once.”

“Did you like it?”

“I would with you,” Brady breathed, knowing it was true.

Ken’s body stopped pressing against his as he took a step back. “Someday,” he repeated. “But now I need to know how you feel. Can you wriggle your fingers? Blood flowing?”

All his blood was flowing to his cock. He took a deep breath and forced himself to focus. “It feels a little like a dream,” he said honestly. “Like I’m not entirely in my body, and when I am, I don’t know what sensations are real. But everything is more sensitive, if that makes sense.”

“I know that feeling,” Ken soothed, stroking his skin and circling around to face him. Brady’s body shivered under his delicate touch. “You may not think so, but I think you and these ropes were made for each other.”

“I know who I was made for.” He hadn’t meant to say it, hadn’t known he was going to, but it was right. It felt right.

Ken looked up and gave him that Lucifer-before-he-fell smile. “I think someone deserves a reward.”

Brady cried out when Ken leaned over and sucked in the head of his cock. It was so much more intense. Every lick, every light scrape of his teeth, was heightened. He took Brady all the way in, swallowing when he hit the back of his throat and moaning, sending the vibration to the base of Brady’s spine. “Fuck, Ken. Oh God.”

He couldn’t move his hips, couldn’t move. He couldn’t lower his hands to Ken’s braid and guide him. All he could do was breathe and groan and take whatever Ken gave him. All he could do was feel.

Brady couldn’t stop moaning, the deep sounds rumbling endlessly in his chest, forcing their way out as Ken’s lips brushed the base of his shaft. Taking it all. Fuck, baby you’re taking it all. When Ken’s hands slipped around to squeeze and massage the cheeks of his ass, Brady knew he wasn’t going to last.

“Ken…Ken, I’m close.”

Tanaka moaned again and sucked hard, and Brady started to shake. “Please. Please, baby. Deeper. Oh yeah, I’m so close…I can’t—Ah, yes. I love it. Love it so much. Love you so much. Fuck!”

Live wires and lightning and fucking rockets shooting into the sky. It was too much. Everything he was feeling, like he would shatter, like he had never been more whole…all of it happening at once and sending him hurtling into space.

His first thought, when he could form one, was that if this was what rope was like, he might definitely be kinky.

 

A few hours later, after a shower and dinner in bed, Brady rose up onto his elbow and looked down at Ken. “I was thinking…”

“Again?” Ken laughed, his body curled around Brady’s in a loose embrace.

“I was wondering if you’d given any more thought to letting me have that job.”

He didn’t say Do you love me? He didn’t want to push.

No, that was a lie. He didn’t want to push Ken away. It might take time for someone as independent as Tanaka to embrace the idea.

Ken lifted his hand and slid his fingers through Brady’s hair. “You want to know all my secrets, Finn?”

Brady tried to smile. “Just the one would do for now.”

“That night when I brought you home, the night you can’t remember? You were a perfect gentleman. You just talked. About your family, about not knowing where you fit anymore. You told me that you were waiting for the right thing. To do something that mattered. To have someone love you the way you were now.”

Brady felt his throat close. “I’m really glad I don’t drink anymore.”

Ken shook his head. “No, it was beautiful. Everything you said was beautiful. And I knew that night that I might be falling for you. I wanted you since I saw you standing in the doorway guarding Tasha, but in that moment I wondered what it would be like to be loved by someone like you.” He pulled Brady’s head down to kiss him passionately, making his cock stir and his mind go blank before easing him away again.

“I don’t have to wonder anymore. And neither do you. I love you and I need you. I belong to you. Whatever happens next, I want it to happen with you.”

Brady groaned as Ken pulled him down for another kiss. “Good answer.”