KAGE CAME home just after four, soaking wet and reeking of sweat. I was glad to see he’d been working out instead of sitting in that office of his. He was always in a better mood after a workout, not to mention he had a fight coming up before long.

I knew he had been blowing off his training, and I was afraid he was going to mess around and lose for the first time. I didn’t think he could handle that on a good day, and certainly not in his current agitated state of mind.

For the millionth time since lunch, my mind wandered back to what I had witnessed in Kage’s office. I had no idea what he’d been up to. All I knew was that he had hidden something in his desk drawer and looked at me like he’d just been caught cheating.

I knew he wasn’t cheating. Or at least I hoped I did. Kage was a lot of things, some of them dark and confusing as hell, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t a cheater. He had a lot of integrity for someone who was raised by a crook. In some ways, he had more integrity than I did.

I thought back to the way he’d acted when we’d slept together at my parents’ house. He really wanted to respect their wishes not to have sex in my room, and when he’d finally given in to temptation he’d felt so guilty it made me ashamed that I’d acted the way I did. I couldn’t help it, though. The thought of not having him after three months of separation was unbearable.

He was all I thought about those last six months of school. During the day, I struggled to concentrate in class, and every night after we talked on the phone, I’d lie awake in bed and contemplate quitting school.

Every damn night. And sometimes I’d cry.

I hadn’t confessed that to Kage. He had been determined to see that I finished school and got my degree, and if he’d had any idea how depressed and anxious I was, it would have made him feel awful. He’d had enough to worry about without adding my misery and tears to the mix.

I’d thought if only I could get to Vegas and move in with him, everything would be perfect. We’d eat out, go to shows, watch movies, get drunk at night clubs, and fuck each other’s brains out. He’d teach me the business, and we’d run the Alcazar together. When he fought, I’d walk out with him and cheer like an idiot from his corner, and when he won, I’d let him take out his aggressions on my body.

But the reality was turning out to be very different from the fantasy. Our alone time was fantastic, full of cuddles and kisses that made my heart feel like it would burst. Of course the sex was as amazing as ever, because I was living with the sexiest man alive. Unfortunately, between running the Alcazar and training, Kage didn’t have as much time for me as I’d thought he would.

It couldn’t all be boiled down to time, though. We had spent plenty of time apart when I was interning for him, especially after he got his UFC contract and had to travel and make appearances to promote himself. It had bothered the hell out of me to be away from him, but this time it was different. He was different.

I didn’t think he loved me any less, and I certainly didn’t think he regretted asking me to live with him. He said such sweet things to me sometimes I couldn’t doubt his feelings were genuine. He’d even just come out on national television and told everybody in the world I was his man.

So what was it, then? It was so hard to put my finger on the problem.

And Kage didn’t help matters. He didn’t seem to want to acknowledge the elephant in the room, or maybe he didn’t notice. Maybe I was the only one who felt it. He just acted like everything was cool and left me stewing in my own doubts.

“I’m gonna hop in the shower, babe.” He sauntered over to the couch, dropped his cell phone onto the coffee table, and kissed the top of my head before heading into the bedroom. “Get that movie cued up,” he called loudly from the bathroom.

No mention of what happened at lunch. No apology. No explanation.

What had he been hiding?

I sighed and fiddled with the remote, looking for something to watch that we would both enjoy. A few minutes later, Kage’s phone started ringing, and Steve’s name came up on the screen.

I grabbed his phone and ran to the bathroom. “Steve’s calling,” I said.

“Well, answer it, babe,” Kage said, as if I was stupid for not doing it in the first place.

“Hey, Steve,” I said in greeting.

“Oh. Hey, Jamie. Are we handling the boss man’s calls now?”

I laughed. “No. He’s in the shower. What’s up?”

“What’s up is that I have a very pissed off Victoria’s Secret model down here in the lobby, and she says if I don’t give her a key card to your apartment, she’s going to cut off my balls and make a necklace out of them. I told her it might be worth it if she’d wear it on the runway in the next Vicky’s fashion show.”

“Ewww,” I groaned. “Go ahead and give her the damn card. I don’t want to have to worry about the safety of your balls.”

Vanessa showed up a few minutes later and let herself into the apartment with the key card Steve had made for her. She didn’t even say hello before she launched into a tirade.

“What the fuck is he thinking?” she demanded, her eyes blazing. “He’s so stupid. He just doesn’t think.”

I gave a half-hearted smile. “I assume you’re talking about Kage.”

“Of course.” She threw her hands up. “Who else?”

I nodded. “And I assume the stupidity you’re referring to is him coming out on the Grace Howard Show?”

“Duh,” she said. “Why didn’t you talk some sense into him, Jamie? You’re the only one he listens to.”

Kage’s voice came from behind me. “It wasn’t his choice to make, Nessy. It was mine.”

She whirled on him, eyes blazing and claws coming out. “You’re not the only one it affected. There were other people involved. Did you not think how your actions would affect them? How they would affect me?”

“Has something happened I don’t know about?” he asked, stepping out into the living room wearing only a towel around his waist. I glanced at Vanessa, feeling jealousy rise up in me. She didn’t need to be seeing him that way, all wet and sexy and nearly naked.

Even as angry as she was, she took a few seconds to check him out before continuing her rant. “It’s all over the internet, Kage. Everybody is talking about it. TMZ, Twitter, Instagram… I’m ruined.”

Kage laughed mildly and held up a hand, gesturing for her to calm down. “I think you’re overreacting. If anyone is ruined, it’s me. I’m the one who came out, not you.”

“But I was your fucking beard, Kage. For months everyone was talking about us as a couple. One minute we were getting married, and the next minute you’re gay. How do you think that makes me look? Either I’m pathetic, or I was knowingly covering for you all that time. Either way it doesn’t look good. There’s no way for me to win in this scenario. I might as well kill myself.”

“Sit down on the sofa and take a deep breath,” Kage said. “Things aren’t as bad as they seem right now. We’ll figure this out.”

She sat down, but it did nothing to dampen her ire. Her delicate hands trembled in her lap.

“You did this, Kage. What right do you have to tell me things aren’t that bad?”

He sat down beside her, and I saw his features harden just a little bit at her words.

“I’m the one who did this?” he asked. “As I remember it, my uncle and my PR team concocted the plan to use you as a diversion. I was minding my own business, planning on coming out, and the next thing I know I’m being bullied into doing photo ops with you. I never agreed to anything. Hell, I never knew you were going to be there until you showed up. Remember the press conference? I had Jamie with me, and then you made a surprise appearance.”

Vanessa started crying. “It’s not my fault. They just kept telling me it would help your career.”

Kage ran a hand through his wet hair and sighed. “I know. That whole situation was all fucked up. I didn’t fight hard enough. I should have told Santori to kiss my ass and refused to do it. Everything was just so damn confusing, and I wasn’t thinking about the repercussions when people eventually found out the truth. I just didn’t want to fight him.”

Vanessa cried even harder and leaned against his shoulder, sobs shaking her entire body, and and he ran a comforting hand up and down her back. When she was able to get herself under control enough to speak, she sniffled and looked up at Kage.

“I knew you didn’t want to do it. I should have refused, too. We both let him manipulate us into doing something dishonest. Now he’s dead, and we’re the ones who have to pay the price.”

“You’re speaking the gospel, honey,” I said with a laugh.

Both Kage and Vanessa stared blankly at me, and in retrospect my tone had been a little flippant. I reached out and patted her awkwardly on the arm, trying to ignore the fact that she was sucked up to my boyfriend’s near-naked body like a sheet of cling wrap. A streak of her mascara was smudged across his shoulder, and I resisted the urge to wipe it off.

“Would anybody like a beer?” I asked. “I think we have some left over from our gangster movie marathon.”

“I would,” Vanessa said.

Kage extracted himself from Vanessa and stood up. “Bring me one, baby. I’m going to get some clothes on.”

“It’s about time,” I muttered under my breath as I went to the kitchen to retrieve the beers.

It wasn’t that I was jealous of Vanessa exactly. It was just— Oh, who did I think I was kidding? I was jealous as hell.

It didn’t make any sense considering the fact that Kage was gay and in a committed relationship with me, but that didn’t stop the little jealousy worm from burrowing in under my skin. I didn’t like anybody hanging all over my boyfriend, much less a vixen like Vanessa Hale. I hadn’t been gay or bi or whatever I was for long enough to shake the conditioning that made me think, Of course he’s attracted to her. She’s a fucking Victoria’s Secret model.

Still, she was hurting, and I ought to at least try to show some compassion. I popped the top off of her beer before I handed it to her, hoping that would be enough. Then I went to the bedroom and closed the door behind me.

I found Kage sitting on the bed, still in his towel, with his cell phone pressed to his ear. His expression was unreadable as he listened.

“Here’s your beer,” I whispered, and he took it from me and he guzzled half of it down without stopping. After he took a breath, he sucked down the other half and set the empty bottle on the bedside table.

“I understand,” he said to the person on the phone. He paused for a moment, then chuckled. “Well, I don’t think Jamie would appreciate you referring to my coming out as screwing the pooch.”

I raised my eyebrows, but I didn’t interrupt. Whoever he was talking to was obviously not pleased with the recent turn of events, but Kage wasn’t screaming or cussing, so I figured that was a good sign.

He looked up at me and smiled, then opened his towel and flashed me. That made me smile, too.

I got down on my knees in front of him, wanting to see more than a little flash. Peeling his towel back, I took in the sight of his perfect body. The washboard abs that weren’t quite as defined as when we’d first met, the sexy V that seemed to make the entire world swoon, and the happy trail I loved to trace with my fingers. I did that now, following it all the way down to the nest of dark hair where his dick lay snoozing. Waiting for my touch.

“Marco, I’m not an idiot,” he said, his voice still oddly serene. “I knew the UFC wasn’t going to throw me a coming out party, but don’t think the worst yet. It could go either way.”

I leaned in and ran my tongue along Kage’s dick, then wrapped my lips around it, trying to coax it to life. I suckled it gently and was rewarded with the feel of it firming up in my mouth.

When it was at about half mast, I started slurping at it in earnest, not at all worried about the sounds I was making. It was kind of hot knowing Marco might hear me giving Kage a blowjob. God knows he had given me enough hell to deserve it.

As if on cue, I heard Marco’s voice get louder, though I couldn’t tell what he was saying.

“I get it,” Kage said. “But all we can do is wait. In the end, it’s their decision. To honest—” He sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed onto my hair, pulling me off of his dick, which was fully hard now and slick with my saliva. “To be honest, I don’t really care at this point. If they don’t want to give me the fight because of my sexual orientation, then fuck ‘em. I’m sure Rodriguez would be thrilled if they gave the fight to someone else.”

He looked down at me, still gripping my hair tightly in one hand. I returned his gaze, my lips slack and my eyes lazy with lust. I was dying to get my mouth on him again, and I was sure he could see it in my eyes. Finally he took mercy on me and on himself and pulled me back down to his cock.

I worked it greedily, and he started to buck his hips, fucking my mouth and using my hair to guide my movements. In seconds, he was burying himself to the root, and I was choking on it.

He suddenly stopped moving, making me wait.

“Yeah, Marco,” he said, his voice shaky. “Listen, I need to go. Vanessa’s here, and she’s upset. Call me when you hear something.” He clicked off and dropped his phone onto the bed.

“Jesus Christ, you’re gonna kill me,” he said. Then he started fucking my mouth hard and fast.

I moaned and grabbed onto his legs, bracing myself for the onslaught. I could barely breathe, but I dug my fingers into the muscled flesh of his thighs and urged him on, whimpering around his massive cock. As hard as he was, and as frantic as his movements had become, I knew he was on the edge.

“Fuck, yeah,” he whispered hoarsely. “Oh, fuck yeah. Swallow my cum, baby.”

He buried the head of his cock deep in my throat and unloaded, his legs tensing to stone beneath my grasping fingers. After he had emptied every drop into me, his legs relaxed, and he pulled out of my mouth and took a deep, shuddering breath.

I looked up at him and licked my lips deliberately. “I can’t believe we did that with Marco on the phone.”

He ruffled my hair and smiled. “Yeah, well I figured if I’m gonna crash and burn, I might as well get a blowjob on the way down.”