Chapter Eight
Adrián
There was no food in my house.
I remembered after we stepped through the door. I’d deliberately scrubbed the place down and cleared out my fridge before training camp, and had failed to restock even though I’d been back a few weeks. Food shopping was awful in general, but doing it in NYC was even worse. I had a car here, but driving to the grocery store was stupid, and pushing one of those grandma shopping carts down the street was out of the question.
“This is a great place,” Simeon said, looking around. “I didn’t even know they could tuck a penthouse this big into these cramped blocks.”
“I know, right? New York real estate is incredible.” I kicked off my sneakers and socks, sighing at the cool tiles on my bare feet. “The complex used to be a warehouse, but now it’s this luxury monster built like a giant rectangle with a huge courtyard in the middle. I bought this penthouse before the building was finished because I didn’t want to live in some snotty-ass town in Jersey or Long Island.”
“I feel you on that. I share a place with Hendricks on the Island, and we’re surrounded by stuck-up rich people with old money.”
I gave a thumbs-down. “Want a tour?”
“Yeah. Can I use your bathroom first? I’ve had to piss for two hours. Signing autographs was a nightmare.”
Laughing, I nodded in the direction of the hall bathroom, waited for him to go inside, and then hurried to the kitchen. A quick scan of my cabinets and fridge showed fruit, eggs, Italian bread, and two big plastic boxes of besitos de coco.
Simeon entered the kitchen and found me scowling into my fridge. I slammed it shut with an irritated sigh.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t actually have anything to eat.”
He snorted. “Tell the truth, Bravo. You were just trying to get me alone.”
“You got me. I was dying to spend my Friday night with the NFL’s golden boy.”
I did the pose Simeon had done on the Wheaties box—arm raised as if ready to launch a football across the field. Simeon just smirked. He had an I-know-something-you-don’t-know look on his face, and I didn’t even give a damn. I was just happy he was here, and that he wasn’t pissed at me. His little speech to the kids had bulldozed my last bits of resentment about him ghosting on me all those years ago. Our closeness hadn’t just been in my mind. It had mattered to him. I’d mattered to him. And I knew I should have been analyzing why the hell that was so important to me, but I’d never done well with rejection.
“Why don’t you go out and party instead of wasting your time with me? It’s Friday night. I bet you can even catch some of your boys out and about in Jersey.”
The idea had occurred to me more than once. Rocky had pressed the issue while teasing me about “switching teams.” My dumb ass hadn’t even caught on to the gay joke at first. I’d thought he’d been talking about leaving the Predators for the Barons. After a couple of weeks of hanging with Simeon, why were my teammates’ more obnoxious traits so much more obvious?
“Probably. They jet as soon as practice ends on Fridays and sprint to the nearest club, but Casey told me to stay low-profile. Wants me to look all contrite and solemn, not shaking my ass at the club.”
“You’d rather stay home and hang out with the homo people are already pairing you up with?”
“Yup. Maybe I wanted to up the stakes on our competition.” I gave him a little wink-wink-nudge-nudge. “Get that adrenaline rush of crushing someone with a stunning victory.”
“You could have gotten an adrenaline rush from going out partying and dodging cameras since you’re supposed to be keeping it low,” Simeon said. “That’s what always did it for me.”
“That’s not as exciting.”
“Why not?”
“Because people expect that shit. They don’t expect me to be trying my best to make Simeon Boudreaux sweat.”
“Then you must be partying wrong.” Simeon gave one of his famous grins and combed a hand through his hair, scratching the auburn curls. “Although I guess not everyone likes to fuck in the bathroom to get that rush.”
“Ha. Is that why you’d do something so stupid?”
“Kinda.” Simeon backed out of the kitchen and towards the living room, taking a tour of his own since I’d failed to make a move. “As much as it sucked, I can’t say I didn’t get a rush from playing the game, you know? Putting on one face in public—this nice boy from New Orleans who was living the dream on the cereal box and would someday be somebody’s straight-laced, Church-going husband, and then in private . . .” Simeon threw himself onto the couch, slumped down with his thighs spread. “I like to deepthroat random dudes with big dicks before getting dug out.”
I tossed my hat on the coffee table and dropped onto the cushion beside him. He was going for maximum man spread, and our thighs brushed together.
“You never worried about someone snitching to a tabloid before that night when Gavin wilded out?”
“Nah, I did. But I always figured I could just deny it, and I didn’t care a lot about rumors people couldn’t prove. I was more worried about getting it in, know what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I do. But so then . . . how’d you not notice that some dude’s phone was out?”
Simeon’s mouth twisted up into a filthy grin. “I was kinda busy at the time, boo.”
Oh shit. Was this it? The moment when he tried to blitz me with the details? I’d been waiting for it ever since we’d started poking at each other, and had already come up with strategies on how to make jokes instead of getting flustered. He thought I’d cringe at an all-you-can-suck anecdote? Pssh. I’d trounce him with the tale of me, Rocky Swoops and the triplets in Ibiza. As homophobic as Rocky was, you’d think he would be a little shyer about fucking in front of other dudes, but that whole trip had been group sex and utter debauchery. Usually instigated by him.
Wetting my lips, I shifted on the couch and tried to stop thinking about the funny feeling in my stomach. He was making me nervous already, and he hadn’t even tried. Or had he? Simeon grinned and flirted and teased so much I couldn’t tell how much came naturally and how much was on purpose.
“You can’t scare me, bro. You won’t win this round by describing the girth of some frat boy’s wood.”
“You sure about that?” Simeon’s gaze slid over me before centering on my face. “Because it was three frat boys and they took turns. Probably passed around the phone once one of them was balls deep. There’s details you’ve never dreamed of.”
“I dunno, man. I’ve dreamed of some pretty sick shit. Watched some pretty sick shit too.”
Simeon’s gaze lit up. “Is that a hint that you wanna watch the vid?”
“What? Fuck no.” I scoffed, shaking my head, but couldn’t break his stare. “You have it on your phone?”
“Nah. But it’s uploaded on a bunch of sites. Can find it in about ten seconds.”
My heart catapulted towards my chest and settled into a steady hammer. “That’s weird, man.”
“Yeah, it is, but it’s not like I can make it disappear forever. I did it and it’s out there.” Simeon knocked his knee against mine. “Upside is I know you’re pissing your pants right now at the idea of me whipping it out.”
“I’m really not.”
“Yeah, you are.”
Simeon dropped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, digging his fingers into the tense muscle. My dick twitched. I was seriously bugging.
“Look how stiff you are. All from the mention of a video.”
“I’m not scared of your little sex tape, Boudreaux.” The semi I had from him touching me while talking about it proved otherwise. It also proved something I was too out of breath and riled up to deal with right now. “Fuck it. Pull it up. Let’s see you in action. I’ll give you a critique on your dick-sucking skills.”
Simeon’s laugh, loud and deep and rolling, filled the room in a way that once again made my stomach clench. He smiled slow, dragging his teeth over his lower lip, and that clench escalated into an explosion of tingles that went straight to the stiffening heat between my thighs. What was he doing to me?
“Let’s get one thing straight. When it comes to sucking dick, I’m the professional here. The only time you’ll be in a position to give me a pointer is when your pants are around your ankles and you’re telling me whether you like it fast or slow.”
My lips parted, but no sound came out. I wet them and swallowed, and the clicking of my throat was deafening in the room.
“Stop talking shit and bring up the video,” I croaked.
He winked and whipped out his phone. While he tapped out a Google search, or whatever the hell one did to locate their own vid, I stared at his profile and tried to figure out what sorcery he was using on me. Yeah, okay, so this game had been my idea. I’d started it. But I’d never pushed boundaries and limits with any other guy. Just him. From the start, even back in the Predators when we’d spent some Friday nights together kicking it in my apartment instead of partying with the others, I’d only ever considered doing that with him.
Simeon glanced at me and that devilish smile played around the corners of his mouth again. “You’re supposed to be looking at the video.”
Fuck. I was tripping.
He’d not only found the video, he’d projected it onto the wall. My curiosity about the technological capabilities of his phone went out the window as the projected image came into sharper focus. He hadn’t hit play yet, but the picture displayed Simeon crushed against the wall by a man about my size. I couldn’t see Simeon’s face yet, but I’d know those reddish-brown curls anywhere.
“You ready?”
I licked my lips again, shifting on the couch. “You sure you want me to see this shit, man? It doesn’t piss you off?”
“Heh. No. What’s done is done. I can’t take it off the Internet. Might as well own it.” Simeon shifted closer in a movement so slight I shouldn’t have noticed it, but I did. I noticed everything he did. Every time he glanced in my direction or chewed on his lower lip or adjusted his balls. “But it’s cute that you asked.”
“Shut the fuck up and press play.”
The video started with an explosion of sound. Heavy breathing and the wet sound of tongues sliding together punctuated by the distant pounding of bass from music playing elsewhere in the club.
The camera was positioned oddly, as if one of the three dudes in the bathroom with Simeon had been holding it at his hip to keep it hidden. The angle gave a perfect view of Simeon being pressed against the wall by the blond-haired frat boy Gavin had later punched in the face. It was hard to believe this guy had been planning to set Simeon up all along. The first thirty seconds of the video were nothing but the two of them kissing each other with a hunger usually left for something you’d been craving for years.
“Fuck,” someone muttered, out of frame. “He’s hotter in person.”
On camera, Simeon pulled away from the kiss with a low laugh, but the blond yanked him closer again. That one movement was the first tell that he hadn’t wanted Simeon to see the phone. A protective streak tore through me, but it was razed by heat when Simeon reversed their positions and shoved the blond against the wall. He wasn’t gentle. To me at least, the message was clear: I’m about to suck you off but I’m not anyone’s bitch. The way he effortlessly pinned the dude in place announced it loud and clear, even as Simeon shoved the guy’s shirt up and began kissing his way down.
“Yeah,” that voice whispered again. “Suck his dick, Boudreaux.”
The blond buried his fingers in Simeon’s hair, gripping tight, and panted loudly. There was a smirk on his face I’d have loved to wipe off. Because he didn’t deserve that moment. He didn’t deserve Simeon’s kisses or touches. He deserved what he’d gotten from Gavin Brawley.
The words wound up in a knot wanting to pop out of my mouth, but I swallowed them once on-screen Simeon swallowed the blond’s cock. He took it all the way down without a hesitation, and then glanced up at the blond.
My breath gushed out in a whoosh, and my dick went from semi-hard to sliding down the thigh of my sweatpants. I draped my hand over it in a half-assed attempt to hide it.
The blond slumped against the wall as Simeon went to work, sucking that dick like he’d been born for it, as the surround-sound speakers blasted every slurp and wet sloppy sucking sound.
“Oh fuck.”
Had that hoarse whisper come from my mouth or one of the guys on the video? I froze in place, too afraid to glance over at Simeon and too turned on to stop watching the video. I was panting just as hard as the blond jackass while my dick pulsed beneath my hand. A spasm went through my fingers.
I ignored it.
Simeon draped his arm over the back of the couch and that brief graze of his skin against my neck caused them to spasm again. This time, I pressed down.
One of the other guys on the video undid his jeans. “Let me get a turn.”
Simeon pulled off the blond’s dick, his mouth wet and open, before turning to the guy beside him. He grinned, filthy and promising, right before grabbing the dude’s cock by the root and guiding it into his mouth. He jerked the shaft while sucking on the head, moaning around it.
“Fuck, Simeon,” I said thickly. “Look at you.”
“Look at you,” he said, right in my ear. “I see that dick print, Bravo. Guess you weren’t lying about how big it is when it’s hard.”
I stared straight ahead, mouth still ajar and fingers betraying my self-control to massage my dick through the thick cotton of my pants. If I looked at Simeon, with his face this close, something was gonna happen. It was easier to watch him blow randoms. Or it was, until on-screen Simeon sucked Asshole Number Two to climax and extended his tongue to catch each drop of semen.
I grabbed the base of my dick through my sweats and squeezed.
Simeon went back to the blond, taking him all the way in to the sound of echoing moans, and I went for it. Self-control out the window, no thoughts except focusing on how horny I was, how much I needed to get off, and how much I wished it was me in that bathroom. I jerked my dick through my sweats and watched from beneath my eyelashes. It wasn’t nearly enough friction with the thick fabric swaddling me, but even that stimulation had me panting like a dog.
Beside me, Simeon inhaled sharply.
“My dick making you uncomfortable?” I asked hoarsely. “Sorry not sorry. Watching someone get used has a way of getting to me.”
“Uncomfortable is a word for it.” Simeon squeezed my shoulder in a light massage. “You can take it out, you know. Won’t be the first time I’ve seen your piece.”
I glanced at him once and found dilated hazel eyes and parted lips centimeters from me. His eyebrow lifted in a challenge, and damned if I didn’t take that as my cue. Leering back at him, I yanked the elastic of my waistband down and pulled out my dick.
“Nice.”
I shuddered and rolled my head back to watch the projection. The blond was gripping the back of Simeon’s head but not moving. He just stood there passively with his eyes rolled back.
“I’d have fucked your mouth so hard,” I breathed. “Watched those pretty lips stretch around my cock while you took it. Made you fucking gag.”
“I don’t gag.”
“Then you must not fuck around with people who will ride your face, baby. I’d make you choke.”
Simeon grabbed the side of my face and jerked it around. He looked me over intently, face flushed and eyes still wild.
“Wanna try me?”
Three words, and I almost came. My whole body jackknifed up, dampness pooling at my slit.
“You know I’m not gonna back down.”
Simeon’s fingers tightened on my face, gripping so tight I’d probably have bruises the size of his fingerprints tomorrow, before pulling away. The video was still going, but watching him suck someone else held no appeal when his lean, muscular body was kneeling between my thighs. His hands were yanking down my sweats, and he was licking his lips in preparation for me.
He glanced at me again, a flash of indecision shining through the lust.
“Suck it,” I whispered. “Show me what you got.”
I flexed my hips up, pressing the tip of my cock against his wide, soft mouth. Again, he hesitated and just stared at me with narrowed, untrusting eyes. Was he going to leave me hanging? If I went by the hardness straining in his own shorts, I knew he wanted it. Wanted me.
“Come on, Simeon. Don’t get scared—”
The words died in my throat when he took me in, pressing forward so my meat could surge in deep and lodge down his throat. He opened wide to accommodate me and hummed around my length. No gagging. Not yet, anyway. I cradled the back of his head to help it along. With both hands splayed and sliding through his curly hair, I guided him forward while humping his face. He sucked with thirst, eyes closed and mouth working as the wet sounds of his lips smacking and my dick plundering his wet throat filled the air.
I hunched forward, panting loud enough to drown out the video, and surged down his throat faster and with more force. And bless my dude, he took it down. Even with his lips stretched wide and his nose buried in my pubic hair, he didn’t once panic or pull back for air.
“So good at taking that dick,” I muttered. “So fucking beautiful.”
Simeon glanced up at me, and I realized what I’d just said. What the hell?
I snapped my hips hard. He gagged and backed off with watering eyes. That should have been it, right? He’d lost the game. That was a wrap. I should have been laughing and jerking myself off the rest of the way or something, right? That was how this went in other universes where straight dudes let their gay friends suck them off as a challenge?
But it didn’t happen here.
I guided him closer and nearly convulsed when he wrapped his big hand around my shaft. He jerked it while suckling the head and, just like in the video, he wound up with his lips and hands smeared with precum and saliva.
“Come on, baby. Faster.” I gripped his jaw as he complied. My dick swelled larger and an unmistakable ache started in my balls and spread. “Yeah, just like that. Suck that dick, Simeon.”
He opened his eyes again and looked up at me while I fucked his mouth with increasing urgency.
“Oh fuck.”
He yanked me closer, moving faster.
“Oh shit, oh fuck, Simeon—”
My brain went on the fritz as my dick released stream after stream of semen into his waiting mouth. I wanted to keep watching as he swallowed it down, but my eyes rolled back. I shuddered.
There were a dozen witty statements trying to gather their forces and march to the forefront of my brain, but I couldn’t get it together enough to crack a joke. Or absorb what had just happened. I lay there in a daze until Simeon sat up and brushed his lips to mine.
I froze. For just a second, I felt those velvet lips and tasted the heady combination of his saliva and my semen. And for half a second, I felt his tongue against mine.
Then I sat up and shoved him away so violently he fell backwards, nearly slamming his head into the table.
“What the fuck?”
He remained on the floor, not moving except for one hand that balled into a fist. He was staring at the ceiling but not speaking. I stood over him, breathing hard.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Simeon slowly raised his arm to rub it against his still damply glistening mouth. His jaw clenched.
“Bro, we were just fucking around,” I said. “You get that, right? It was just a game.”
Finally, he looked at me. And goddamn if he wasn’t trying to freeze my soul.
“Listen, I’m not trying to be—”
“I get it.” He pushed his shoulders against the floor and bounced to his feet in one movement. “Guess you won. Congrats.”
Simeon turned away, fixing his own clothes. I grabbed his shoulder, but he shoved my hand way.
“Come on, man. Don’t be that way.”
“I gotta go, Adrián.”
He strode out of the living room and to the front door as I followed.
“Dude, don’t be pissed. I’m just saying—”
Simeon cast me a scathing look over his shoulder. “Get your life, boy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”