The Other Man (Starting Over Book 2) Read online

  “Ooh, new baby!” Gabriel enthused.

  He skipped right past Kevin and hunkered down by Judith to peer at the new baby. He didn’t know anything. They hadn’t found out before the birth what it was and all Kevin had said was ‘healthy baby’ in his texts.

  “What’s its name?” Gabriel asked, touching a little fist and earning himself a surprised blink. Its complexion was closer to Judith’s than Kevin’s, and Gabriel guessed it would be a lot paler than Lily and Grace, but the fuzzy darkness haloing its head said that Kevin’s cornrow-captured locks had won the genetic battle for dominance for the third time.

  “She,” Judith said peaceably. “Another girl. I want a boy next.”

  “Who said anything about next?” Kevin groused.

  “I did,” she returned tartly.

  “You’re mad,” Kevin said seriously and heaved himself up. His abs flexed under his obscenely tight T-shirt and were strong enough to haul him and both girls up without pause. “I’ll get these two down. You and Gabriel get eating. I’ll join you in a bit.”

  “How you doing?” Judith asked.

  Gabriel winced. “I was sore when I got here, and I’m even worse now, thanks to your husband.”

  She laughed. “Well, he’s not allowed near me and he says Sophie’s had quite enough of him for a while.”

  “I’m not surprised!”

  They bitched and moaned about Kevin’s truncheon of a dick until the baby was done, then Gabriel was allowed to cuddle her and try to coax a burp out of her. She still smelled like new baby and she was a heavy lump of happiness against his skin. Aled might hate children, but Gabriel liked them just fine. At least when they were snoring and sweet, anyway.

  “Did you pick a name?” he asked.

  “Yup. You want spaghetti?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me.”

  He followed her into the kitchen and stood at the sink with the baby while she rustled up plates. The chaos from feeding the other two was still evident, but Judith moved around it all with practised ease. When Kevin came back down, they were both shooed to sit down and he took over.

  It was comfortable.

  It was home, even though Gabriel had never lived with them. Judith drew the line at having her husband’s other subs actually in her living space, but he was always invited for dinner, always allowed to stay the night if he needed it or pop round for a brew. He even babysat occasionally when they needed a break and Kevin wasn’t on speaking terms with Judith’s mum for the umpteenth time.

  He’d never lived here and yet it was home.

  “Right,” Kevin said, banging the plates down. “Swap you this for that. I’ll pop her up in her crib.”

  “Nope,” Gabriel said, nuzzling his jaw against the baby’s head. She’d fallen asleep, a fist clamped around the collar of his polo shirt. “Not until you tell me her name. If I have to name her, then I’m keeping her.”

  Kevin chuckled.

  “You won’t like it,” Judith said. “You’ll get embarrassed and won’t talk to us all evening.”

  “It can’t be that—”

  “Gabrielle.”

  Gabriel shut up.

  He handed the baby back.

  And he didn’t say another word, just flushed brilliantly red and mumbled throughout the rest of the meal.

  Chapter Five

  “Drink?” Suze suggested as they reconvened at the gym’s cafe. “Tom’s at a stag do, and I’ll get a right bollocking if I dare start a new boxset without him.”

  “Sorry,” Aled said, rummaging in his pockets for his car keys and trailing in her wake to the door, “but I’m going round to Gabriel’s. Going to talk to him about this Michael situation. He went round Kevin’s after work yesterday so he should be in a good mood.”

  Suze squeezed Aled’s arm as they reached their cars. “Good luck. And handle it delicately. Do not, whatever you do, make him think you’re going to be cutting off all of his regulars!”

  “Are you kidding? I’d have to take over what Kevin does and no fucking thank you. I’ve seen those videos.”

  Despite her encouragement and knowing he had no choice but to discuss the issue before it became an outright problem, Aled still felt nervous as he drove up to Belle Isle. Gabriel could be a touch unpredictable with his wariness. He would let Aled kidnap him, tie him up, role-play torture and rape, hostage situations and slavery—and yet sometimes he would slam the brakes on about something so small as Aled paying for dinner. They had to extensively negotiate every single time Aled wanted to film him, even though Aled kept the films for his personal use only and Kevin, one of Gabriel’s other regulars, put them up on the internet as homemade porn. And he would sometimes let Aled lock him in Aled’s bathroom, chained to the radiator and gagged, for entire weekends—and sometimes, he would bolt at the mere suggestion of staying over for a week.

  So Gabriel was either going to cheerfully agree and bin off Michael without batting an eyelash, or he was going to go absolutely ballistic.

  It was late, black as midnight, as Aled pulled up outside the flats. The lights were on in Gabriel’s. He jogged up the stairs, hoping Gabriel wasn’t busy with someone else, but when he knocked, he heard a TV programme suddenly pause and the distinct shuffle of bare feet on carpet.

  “Aled!”

  Gabriel offered a quick peck on the cheek before letting him in. He was dressed for a lazy evening in, wearing nothing but a T-shirt so large and baggy that it could have served as a dress. His hair was wet and when Aled closed the front door behind himself and ducked in for another, longer kiss, he could smell limes.

  “Fresh out the shower?”

  “Yep,” Gabriel said, smiling against his cheek and running his nails down Aled’s jaw lightly before stepping back. “What’s brought you here?”

  “Just—wanted to see you,” Aled said, deciding to go in gently. He offered a hug and, on a whim, hoisted Gabriel up and spun him in a circle before dropping him again. “Had dinner yet?”

  “Dinner yes, dessert no. Ice cream and telly?”

  “Please.”

  “You staying the night?”

  “If that’s all right? I’ll just to go work straight from here, if you don’t mind.”

  There was a drawer full of Aled’s clothes now, although he hoped to persuade Gabriel to move down to Wakefield with him rather than come up here to Belle Isle. He didn’t fancy living in such a shit part of Leeds and had never liked Gabriel doing so either.

  “Fine by me, but if I don’t get at least a sighting of that cock of yours for an overnight visit, I’ll be upset,” Gabriel teased.

  Aled rolled his eyes, leaning a hip against the sofa as Gabriel headed for the kitchenette to check on the food situation.

  “How’s Kevin?”

  “Oh my God,” Gabriel muttered. “They only went and did it.”

  “Did what?”

  “You know what they’ve called the new baby?”

  “We don’t really talk unless it’s about you,” Aled admitted.

  “Gabby.”

  “Oh, that’s ni—”

  “As in Gabrielle.”

  Aled laughed at the colour flooding Gabriel’s cheeks. But when Gabriel didn’t join in, it trailed off. He frowned.

  “Is that—that’s not your deadname, is it?”

  Gabriel blinked.

  Then flushed even more darkly. “Oh, God! No-no-no-no. Kevin knows better than that. No, just—really? Gabrielle? They named their baby after me!”

  “They’re practically your family, of course they did,” Aled said dismissively. “Face it. You have family.”

  Gabriel whined in an exaggerated manner.

  “You’ll be lucky if Suze doesn’t name one after you too. I’ve already had to persuade her to use Alex instead of Aled if she has a son.”

  “She’s banned.”

  “Good luck with that,” Aled said dryly.

  “I’ll change mine again,” Gabriel insisted, bending down to open th
e freezer. The shirt-dress rode up—and Aled froze.

  A deep bruise, a bite-mark, was visible on Gabriel’s arse.

  Fresh.

  His eyes flickered over Gabriel’s skin and found another just peeking out of the neckline of the T-shirt. There was a shadow on his wrist, too, perhaps from a hand.

  Jealousy flashed, rising like a solar flare, hot and bright in his chest. Michael had been here. Kevin’s were bigger. Darker. More. And if it were a stranger, Gabriel wouldn’t have permitted bites that deep.

  Michael had been there.

  Aled balled his hands into fists and forced down the aggression. They’d not talked about it. Gabriel hadn’t betrayed him. He’d done nothing wrong. It was just—just a regular. Just another regular. Just Michael.

  Just Michael.

  Gabriel turned from the freezer and stilled. Slowly, he leaned back against the counter, knees parting, elbows rising to rest on the granite behind him and tow the shirt-dress gently upwards, exposing long, bare thighs. One of them was bruised. A handprint.

  “Like what you see?” he whispered.

  “No,” Aled returned, voice hard. “There’s marks. Where’ve you picked up teeth and hands on your skin?”

  Gabriel toyed with the neck of the T-shirt, dropping his eyes. “The hands were Kevin last night.”

  “And?”

  “And—and Michael came over,” he breathed. “I was alone. He’s not you, but—”

  Aled crossed the room in three strides and seized Gabriel by the throat. Gabriel gasped, stiffening, and Aled raised his hand a little higher, forcing Gabriel up onto his tiptoes.

  “No, he’s not me,” he said. “You’ve let someone touch you that isn’t me. Do you think that’s right?”

  “N-no, sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “I—I’m yours, sir.” Gabriel’s eyes were nearly black with lust, his voice beginning to shake. “I belong to you. I—I should only open my legs for other men if you tell me to.”

  “And did I?”

  “No, sir.”

  “I think you need reminding of your place,” Aled said smoothly. “Take off my belt.”

  Gabriel swallowed, his throat bobbing against Aled’s palm, and dropped his hands. He fumbled clumsily with Aled’s belt, sliding it out of the loops, and when it was out, placed it into Aled’s free hand.

  “Please, sir, don’t beat me,” he whispered.

  They’d been playing long enough that Aled heard the veiled warning, and he rubbed the leather across Gabriel’s lips.

  “You do need reminding,” he sneered. “It’s not your place to make demands. It’s mine to give orders. And yours to obey them. No matter what they are.”

  Without warning, he slid his hand around to the back of Gabriel’s neck, twisted and propelled him forward to the sofa, shoving him down on his knees in front of it and pinning his upper body by the neck to the cushions. Then he wrenched both arms up behind Gabriel’s back and tied them together with the belt.

  “Your place,” Aled grunted, resting his full weight onto Gabriel’s bound arms and drawing out his own cock with his free hand, “is on your knees, with your mouth and legs open. For me. Just me.”

  “Y-yes, sir.”

  “What do you want?”

  “You t-to remind me, sir. To fuck me, sir.”

  “You deserve that, do you?” Aled mused, pressing the head of his swollen cock to Gabriel’s arse. Slowly, he dragged it down to the other opening, then back up. Shallow, teasing strokes. Threatening ones—because he was still completely dry.

  “No, sir.”

  “No, you’re right.” He felt the tell-tale looseness, the traces of smoothness indicating lube at the front, and settled there. “What are you?”

  “A sheath for your cock.”

  “What are you?”

  “A body for you to fuck.”

  “What. Are. You.”

  Gabriel’s voice shuddered. “Yours.”

  Aled pushed.

  Dry, he forced his way into a wet, clinging tightness, already used but already keen for more. Gabriel cried out but clenched down and pulled all the same, opening up and drawing Aled deeper. It was like wet silk, satin-smooth and intensely hot, and Aled began to thrust without giving Gabriel time to adjust. In long, powerful strokes, he drove Gabriel into the cushions, ploughing him, using him, fucking in the basest sense of the word.

  Gabriel writhed, gasping and whimpering. He rutted against the sofa, seeking pressure, seeking pleasure, and Aled forced more weight down onto those bound arms until new bruises bloomed. Reaching under, he started to grind and twist Gabriel’s flesh between finger and thumb, torturing him until he yelled, stilling when Gabriel’s thigh shivered with the beginnings of a climax—and started again when the danger passed, until Gabriel was nothing but incoherent begging, limp and helpless, under him.

  Only when Aled’s balls tightened and his vision dimmed did he pull out and drag Gabriel to the floor, twisting him over and shoving his cock into that slack, pleading mouth. He came messily, Gabriel choking on the sudden flood of it, cum spilling over his lips and chin. Aled laughed, rubbing the spent head across his lips, then seized his hair and pulled his head back against the cushions, long neck exposed.

  “You like this, don’t you?” Aled hissed, rubbing his lips along Gabriel’s neck, tasting salt where his cum had spilled. He rubbed his fingers against Gabriel’s wet dick too, but his position between Gabriel’s spread legs prevented his caught toy from closing his legs and rubbing himself off. “Legs open, covered in someone else’s pleasure, held down and ready to be used.”

  Gabriel was breathing harshly, eyes black and wide and dazed. He was barely there and Aled rubbed his thumb slowly over the head of that swollen cock, even as he pushed three fingers at once into the well-fucked passage.

  The climax hit. He squeezed and massaged through it, the pressure almost enough to break his fingers, Gabriel’s shuddering almost convulsive—then a shiver passed over his face, the most beautiful bliss that Aled had ever seen, and Aled’s breath caught in his lungs.

  “God,” he breathed, and kissed Gabriel’s throat when it was over, releasing his hair. “You look so beautiful.”

  Suddenly, an intense sense of shame washed over him. He fumbled with the belt, slipping it free and discarding it to one side, not wanting to see it. He had come over to talk reasonably about this jealousy issue. Instead, the sight of a single hickey had him dragging Gabriel down to the sofa and using him like a whore, saying he was owned—

  Gabriel’s arms looped around his neck, cutting off Aled’s thoughts, and his lips, wet and sticky, brushed along Aled’s cheek.

  “‘Mazing,” he whispered throatily. “God, that was amazing.”

  “You okay?” Aled breathed, resting his hands cautiously on Gabriel’s wrist, over the sweat-soaked shirt.

  “‘Mazing,” Gabriel repeated. His eyes were still foggy, but the smile was wide and peaceful. “That was—love you.”

  Aled’s heart staggered.

  “I do,” Gabriel murmured. “Was all passion and fire and you…”

  Aled swallowed, and nuzzled at Gabriel’s ear, slowly daring to hug him back. Gabriel’s thighs, still spread over Aled’s knees, slid up and locked around his waist until he was almost in his lap.

  “Not too much?” Aled dared.

  “God, not enough,” Gabriel breathed, gnawing at Aled’s shoulder almost absently. “Stay the night. Ice cream, and showers, then—then tie me to the bed, proper bolt me down so I can’t even move, and can you fuck me again like that? Like you’re a machine? God, I thought you were going to split me in half, it was incredible…”

  Aled hoisted them bodily onto the sofa, curling up under Gabriel’s form until they were cuddled together, too-hot and covered in body fluids, Gabriel’s skin sticky and almost clammy under his hands.

  And breathed. Gabriel like this, nuzzling into him and whispering for more of the same, brushed off Aled’s fears like as though the
y were nothing. They were nothing. Gabriel had played along. Gabriel wanted to play along some more. And he had issued that warning, that veiled threat of a word. The how was more than fine.

  Aled’s anxiety settled, mollified, and he smoothed down Gabriel’s hair, pressing that dark head into his shoulder for a moment, before kissing his forehead and sighing softly.

  “Ice cream and showers,” he whispered.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Just—yeah.”

  Gabriel’s arms tightened. His lips grazed the top of Aled’s shoulder.

  “Need some aftercare?”

  Aled closed his eyes. Gratitude bubbled up inside, warm and soft and smoothing over the jagged edges left by the searing heat of his aggression.

  “Yeah,” he murmured.

  Gabriel squeezed. “What do you need?”

  “This. You. Cuddle. Ice cream and a shower.”

  “Deal.”

  “And if you’re really bad, another reminder.”

  Gabriel laughed, and it was the most effective balm in the world. Aled relaxed, rocked their heads together gently, and the final traces of anxiety eased. It was fine. It had been fun. And—

  And they could talk about the why later.

  Chapter Six

  Something was wrong with Aled.

  Gabriel wasn’t stupid. Aled could—did—get aggressive when he wanted to fuck, and it was why they’d started out on this relationship in the first place. But it wasn’t usually so sudden. He liked to build up to it. He liked to play games with plenty of warning, not just launch from ‘how’s Kevin?’ to fucking a cheating slut on the sofa.

  Frankly, Gabriel wasn’t surprised Aled had needed some aftercare.

  He’d stayed the night and there’d been no more sex. Just cuddling and lounging around in jogging bottoms. Gabriel had ripped the piss out of some shit sci-fi Aled had wanted to watch and woken up around three in the morning when Aled had come back to bed from the bathroom and wrapped himself around Gabriel like a touch-deprived squid. Less slimy, but Gabriel swore the man grew extra limbs in the night.