Micah
Micah settled back onto the navy blue sofa in Adrien’s basement apartment.
“Beer okay?” Adrien asked, popping his head up from behind a bar area that he’d disappeared behind after inviting Micah to have a seat.
“Yeah, beer sounds great,” Micah said, running damp palms down his pants legs.
When he’d pulled Adrien into his arms after the man’s confession, he’d been acting on pure instinct. Seeing Adrien look so broken down and alone had flipped on Micah’s protective instincts, and he’d reached for his friend without a second thought.
He’d doubted himself when Adrien was initially unresponsive to his touch, but then the man had returned his embrace and sunk into him. Micah had wanted to hold him all night and absorb his pain.
The thought of someone hurting Adrien enraged him. If this Reggie guy weren’t already dead, Micah would have gone out, found him, and beat him to within an inch of his life, even with the risk of going back to prison. Instead, he’d have to settle for finding his grave marker and shitting on it. Seriously.
But alongside the rage were feelings of pride.
Micah’s chest swelled at being able to give Adrien comfort and support. Their friendship had been so one-sided, with Adrien giving him a job he’d desperately needed, then later listening to Micah’s worries and fears about his relationship with his son. But holding Adrien as the man clung to him brought a sense of deep satisfaction and joy; he had a friend. One who could rely on Micah as much as Micah could rely on him. He hadn’t felt that kind of connection to another person in a long time.
He loved Caleb and Rhina, but they didn’t need him. They didn’t get anything from Micah as a person. But tonight, Adrien had needed Micah for support he couldn’t get anywhere else. He felt honored to give it.
And now, here he sat at his boss’s apartment at close to midnight. The boss he’d just held in his arms. The boss he found incredibly attractive…and occasionally thought about while he jacked off.
“Here you go,” Adrien said, handing Micah a long-neck beer bottle with a blue, black, and orange label on it before joining Micah on the couch. “Cheers.” Adrien tapped his bottle against Micah’s before taking a swig.
Micah followed suit, drinking a long gulp and moaning as a hoppy, spicy, and sweet liquid hit his tongue, the flavor much different from what he’d anticipated.
“Since I know you have a sweet tooth, I thought you might appreciate this pumpkin beer that my mom is obsessed with,” Adrien said, setting his bottle down on the low, light-wood coffee table in front of the couch.
“It only comes out in the fall so she stocks up on it at the grocery store,” he explained. “I like IPAs, but this is pretty good, actually. What do you think?”
Micah took another long drink, polishing off half the bottle.
“Meh, it’s okay, I guess,” he said, folding down the corners of his mouth as he leaned back against the couch.
Adrien smirked. “You love it, asshole.”
Micah laughed, relaxing as he checked out the basement apartment. It was about the same size as the guesthouse at Rhina’s place, but the ceilings were a bit lower. The staircase leading up to the ground floor was in the middle of the room and directly behind the couch where they sat.
When they’d come in, Adrien had pointed out a bedroom with an en suite bathroom to the left of the stairs which was directly across from the entrance they’d used to access the basement. Adjacent to that was the bar where Adrien had gotten their beers.
For a basement, it was spacious and modern.
“This is a pretty nice place,” Micah said. The walls were a dove blue and the wood floors were stained gray.
“Yeah, my parents recently gutted the basement, added a full bedroom and bathroom, and moved the washer and dryer upstairs, so they don’t have to go up and down.”
Micah nodded and sipped his beer, looking over the back of the couch. There was built-in shelving along the far back wall and what looked to be a couple of closets as well. Even so, there was still plenty of space down there. If he had to live in a basement, he’d want it to be like this.
“How long have you been here?” he asked, then looked back at Adrien as the man swallowed and peeled the label on his almost empty bottle.
“Since Reggie died,” Adrien said, before turning up his bottle and chugging the rest of his beer. “I couldn’t be alone in our apartment after…” Adrien trailed off without providing more details, giving Micah the distinct impression he didn’t want to discuss it further. Micah didn’t push and moved on to more innocuous topics.
“So how many siblings do you have aside from your brother who stopped by earlier today?” he asked as Adrien rose from the couch and headed back toward the bar, quickly returning with the rest of the six pack.
Micah lifted his eyebrows as Adrien plunked the cardboard carrier down on the table, looking over at Micah.
“Have anywhere else to be in the morning?” Adrien asked, grinning, his rich voice rolling over Micah like honey.
Micah shook his head, and Adrien smiled, cracking open another bottle of beer and passing it over.
“Great. So, how many siblings do I have? Two too many. A sister besides my brother Gabe, who came in earlier.”
Micah nodded, opened his mouth to ask a question, but thought better of it and stopped. He didn’t want to push Adrien any more tonight. But Adrien leaned back against the couch while putting his feet up on the coffee table.
“Go on,” he looked over at Micah.
“What?” Micah asked, trying to act casual.
“Some burning question crossed your mind, and you held back because you don’t want to upset me,” Adrien assessed, dropping his head to the back of the couch and turning it to look at Micah.
Micah lifted a shoulder. “It seemed like the idea that you and I might be dating bothered your brother…” He let the question hang while he picked at the label on his bottle.
Adrien inhaled beside him. “My family thinks I’m a naïve moron.”
Micah looked over at him, frowning in confusion.
Adrien nodded. “They do. And for good reason. I’ve dated staff members in the past. It didn’t end well either time.” Adrien ripped the label completely off his bottle. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re right. I can run a business just fine. Plenty of book smarts, not a lick of common sense,” Adrien said on a self-deprecating laugh.
Micah moved closer to Adrien on the couch, putting a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re not naïve or a moron for trusting someone you loved. For wanting to be loved. All humans want to be loved. And you deserve it, Adrien.”
Adrien’s eyes widened behind his frames, and Micah saw his pupils dilate as his full lips parted, revealing the slight gap between his two front teeth. Micah’s belly tightened in response, and he wondered if Adrien’s lips felt as plush as they looked.
But then he remembered what Adrien had just said about dating employees, and he forced himself to put some distance between them.
Adrien pulled away too, clearing his throat. “So, do you have a condescending older brother too?” Adrien asked.
Micah snorted. “Yeah, actually I do.” He told Adrien about his older brother, Kellan. They’d lost touch years ago, and Micah’s parents wanted nothing to do with him after he’d gone to prison. So, aside from Rhina and Caleb, Micah had no one.
Adrien reached out and put his hand on top of Micah’s, briefly squeezing it. Micah’s instinct was to roll his hand over, palm up, and intertwine their fingers…but instead, he asked Adrien about the business and how he came to own it.
Five beers later, the two had kicked off their socks and shoes and were laughing, their shoulders, arms, and thighs brushing occasionally as they had drifted closer and closer together.
“Yeah, man, I thought I was bad ass in high school, trying to have lines in my eyebrows, like all the thugs and gangbangers I saw on the block,” said Micah. “I messed around and shaved off my eyebrow.”
Adrien lifted his glasses and wiped tears from the corner of his eye.
Micah loved the smooth deepness of Adrien’s voice as he laughed, especially when those happy noises were elicited by Micah. His laugh pulled Micah in, made him want to be closer to Adrien and drown himself in the sound.
It also made his dick twitch with want. And that was just his voice.
Adrien was gorgeous. His dimples were on full display in his russet-hued face as he wiped his black-rimmed glasses on the hem of his wine-colored long-sleeved pullover.
His full lips, stretched to reveal that slight gap-toothed smile, were damp and shiny from the beer. Micah wanted to get closer, feel those lips on his, run his fingers through Adrien’s soft, short, loose curls…
Oh fuck. His breath hitched slightly as his dick grew to a full erection.
“Oh, uh, um…” Micah looked up to see Adrien staring at the obvious bulge in Micah’s pants.
Micah jerked forward and went to cover his crotch with his hands, straightening out a leg he had bent under him on the couch. But as he stretched out, his leg caught Adrien’s hand that held the beer and brown liquid splashed all over the couch, floor, and table.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—” Micah stood halfway, but then sat again, because he was still pretty hard.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Adrien insisted, his eyes darting around the room. “Both things, the beer and the, uh—the other thing.” He waved his hand in the general direction of Micah’s crotch.
Micah felt like he was being scorched from his neck to the crown of his head as he covered his face in mortification.
What was he, thirteen? He got hard from the sound of a guy’s voice?
“Just a second,” Adrien said before the sound of feet slapped against the wood floor. A few seconds later, items rustled and shifted against wood and then footsteps approached the couch before a cloth landed on top of Micah’s bare feet.
Micah uncovered his face to find another cloth over the spill on the floor, Adrien down beside it, wiping the coffee table with another cloth.
Immediately Micah dropped to the ground with Adrien, between the couch and coffee table, grateful that his hard-on had wilted.
The blood had probably all gone to his face.
He reached for the cloth on the floor to wipe up the beer only to have Adrien’s hand land on top of his.
Micah went to pull his hand away, but Adrien tightened his palm over the back of Micah’s hand, making Micah’s chest constrict and sending a jolt up his arm. He looked up to find Adrien staring at him, his breathing labored, his glasses skewed.
“Adrien?” Micah whispered, leaning toward the other man.
Adrien mirrored his actions and slowly leaned in until they were so close Adrien’s warm breath caressed his lips, the spicy sweetness of the beer fragrant and enticing.
But then Adrien jerked away, cursing. “Fuck.”
A faint buzzing sound became louder as Adrien reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone.
Sitting back on his haunches, Adrien sighed, then typed out a message using his thumbs. A couple seconds later, his cell buzzed again and Adrien rolled his eyes before shoving the device in his back pocket.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, standing and holding his hand out to help Micah up. “It was my parents. They heard us talking down here and wanted to know if I was okay.”
Micah nodded, trying to push down his feelings of disappointment.
They’d almost kissed. Micah had wanted to so badly. Needed to feel Adrien’s lips like he needed his next breath. And he felt cheated that they had been interrupted.
But as he accepted Adrien’s hand up, he realized how stupid that would have been in the long run. He needed this job, and getting involved with Adrien was too big of a risk. If things went south, what would he do?
Micah should be grateful Adrien’s parents were busy-body snoops. They’d probably saved him—both of them—from a world of trouble.
Standing, Micah reached for his jacket, which he’d tossed on the arm of the couch, and shoved his feet into his shoes before reaching down to pull the backs over his heels, his emotions a muddle of disappointment and longing.
“No worries, man,” he tried to sound casual as he avoided Adrien’s eyes boring into him. “I should probably get going anyway. I know you have brunch with your family in the morning. Thanks for having me over. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Micah headed toward the door and Adrien followed behind him.
“Hey, Micah?”
He turned around, finally looking at Adrien. The man had stuck his hands in his pockets, observing the hardwood floor.
“Do you maybe want to come over again next Saturday?”
Micah should say no after what they’d almost done tonight, but the possibilities of that almost-kiss drew him in, because he secretly hoped that next time they wouldn’t be interrupted. And Micah really wanted there to be a next time. Clearly, their friendship was morphing into something else, and he was dying to know what that was. So he ignored his head and listened to his heart.
“Of course, can’t wait.”