Chapter Forty-Three – You Went for the Heart
The food he'd ingested over dinner tasted like nothing. Lyn couldn't help the emptiness he felt in the pit of his stomach. Although he had tried a couple of times to drag Brad away to have a serious conversation with him, he'd been completely out of luck. As expected, a lot of people were swarming around the soon-to-be couple, so Brad didn't have time for Lyn's plans.
There was still tomorrow. The wedding was closing in, and Lyn knew the timeframe for setting things right was shrinking.
Still, Luke's words kept churning in his head, always coming back to him the same way.
Are you going to do this to Brad?
Regardless of Luke's motivations, those words solidified into a thorn sinking deep into his left side, right under his upper arm. What did he have to gain if he pressed Brad to tell his future wife the truth? Or worse, if he was forced to be the one to tell Bella about what had been going on behind her back?
He could only lose. Luke, the prick, must have known exactly what to say to rile him up. Brad would, most likely, hate him for meddling. Lyn owed nothing to Bella, whom he hardly knew.
But – and it was a big 'but' – she was the innocent in what was going on. She didn't deserve this. Lyn couldn't help putting himself in her shoes. Wouldn't he want to know if the person to whom he was about to say 'I do' was a cheating bastard?
His mom had been an escort and showed rich men a good time in exchange for financial reward. That didn't mean Lyn had grown up without a moral compass. Throwing it out the window for the sake of Brad's happiness didn't seem like a valid option.
Presumed happiness.
During their hike to the highest peak on the island, Brad had expressed his doubts. Lyn wondered if his best friend had been trying to confess his transgressions then. He wondered, above all, if he'd presented himself as someone to be trusted with such secrets.
Lyn the inquisitor must haven't seemed like that at all.
Damn. He rubbed his face and groaned.
"Tired?"
Alexander placed his hands on Lyn's shoulders, squeezing the tense flesh between his skilled fingers. They were back at the cottage, and instead of thinking of a hundred ways to sex up his roommate, Lyn had to struggle with this horrible moral dilemma.
"You knew," he said.
A jolt from Alexander surprised him. Lyn turned to look at his friend. He studied the aristocratic face carefully. He could read nothing there, so maybe he had imagined the jolt. Maybe he had moved too fast, causing Alexander's fingers to slip from his shoulders.
"How did you know?"
"Know what?" Alexander asked. His face remaining impervious to scrutiny.
"That Luke is—ah, dammit," Lyn said, running one hand through his hair in exasperation. "That Brad and Luke are fooling around like two idiots, with the wedding only a few days away."
"I didn't know."
"For real?" Lyn lifted his hands like he was about to strangle Alexander. The demon made no move to resist as Lyn went to wrap them around his throat. That really took the fun out of attempted murder.
"I only suspected something was going on between them, and now, you're confirming it." Alexander shrugged his shoulders. "How did you learn the truth?"
"I stumbled upon them by accident," Lyn chose to lie, turning to hide his face. His belongings needed a bit of packing. Or unpacking.
"Oh," Alexander said. "Is that why you let me fuck you?"
The words weren't said with any malice, but they struck true. Lyn stopped.
"To be honest, it played a part," he said. Lying was a dangerous game around Alexander. And what happened between them didn't deserve lying. "But us fucking was, I want to believe, inevitable. After all the dicksucking and jerking off, you know."
Alexander remained silent. Okay, so he'd been too harsh, Lyn decided. Again, he began folding and unfolding the same pair of shorts that could've done with a little less of it.
"You've tempted me since day one," he continued. "My finding out about Brad and Luke only sped up the process, so to speak."
"Hmm. If you say so."
"Dammit, Alexander, just speak your mind for a change."
"Speak yours, and I'll do the same."
What was it that Alexander wanted from him? Lyn gave up on his folding and turned to face his roommate again.
"All right. You indicated that you wanted me. It was pretty damn easy to realize I liked it. And it looks like I want you, too."
"Only because you saw Brad fucking Luke," Alexander pointed out.
Wow. The demon looked wounded. It was quite a sight, and Lyn wanted to take a picture, but not even he was that callous. Instead, he felt like a douchebag.
"They weren't fucking. Luke was blowing Brad."
"Thanks for the image. I didn't need it," Alexander said, crossing his arms.
It was his turn to move away and turn his back to Lyn.
"I'll be damned," Lyn whispered. "You're pouting."
"I am not," Alexander denied, keeping his back stubbornly to Lyn.
"You so are." Lyn snuck behind Alexander and wrapped his arms around him. "You have no reason to be. I mean, you are so irresistible. So beautiful." He drawled the words for comic effect.
"This is all a joke to you," Alexander reproached him.
"Ugh, you're impossible. My ass doesn't think it's a joke at all. Even now, it's pretty much on fire, and that's not very conducive to engaging in serious activities such as parsing my current moral dilemma. Aren't you going to help me with that?"
"Do you need any help?" Alexander turned to embrace Lyn. His eyes were honest and open. They still made Lyn feel guilty for some unfathomable reason.
"I do. I mean, I haven't confronted Brad about it yet, but that little shit Luke is a total asshole about it. I think he wants me to drop the bombshell so the wedding gets canceled. I don't like feeling used."
Lyn felt his anger returning the more he talked about it.
"Used how?"
Lyn returned his attention to Alexander. It was so easy to get caught in a lie when he happened to be around the guy. He sighed and pulled out his phone. "Okay, so it wasn't by accident."
Alexander took the phone from him and examined the message. "Ah, the spam text."
Lyn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the spam text. I have no idea what Luke was thinking when he sent that to me."
"I think it's fairly obvious," Alexander pointed out.
"Obvious how?"
Alexander gave him back his phone. "Brad is drawn to you the way the Earth gravitates to the sun whenever you're around. Luke, in his disregard of people other than himself, considers this unjust."
"Gravitates--" Lyn scoffed in disbelief. "That's not true. It's the other way around. I mean, I've always chased after Brad and he was--"
"No, not true," Alexander interrupted him. He continued to keep Lyn under the scrutiny of his famous magnifying glass now.
"Come on. I mean, in college at least, I was the guy who was seen as cool only because I was hanging out with him. And you."
Alexander shook his head.
"Explain it to me, then," Lyn said, throwing his hands in the air in defeat.
"This isn't how we're going to do this, Lynton."
"Okay, you're using my full name now, which means I'm in trouble. Fine. What makes you think such an incredible thing about Brad?"
"He hunted you down. To invite you to his wedding."
"True," Lyn admitted. "But before that happened, it wasn't like that."
"Glasses or not, you're still so blind," Alexander said. "Bradley told me, on more than one occasion, that he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he weren't friends with you."
Lyn pinched the bridge of his nose. "Was he drunk when he said such an unbelievable thing?"
"Yes."
"There you have it."
"In vino veritas," Alexander countered. "He's always been surrounded by so-called friends, but in the final analysis, he has only had the two of us. To accept him. To set him straight sometimes."
Lyn snapped his fingers. "Great. That setting him straight thing. You can do it now."
Alexander shook his head, a smug grin brightening his otherwise serious face. "It's your moral dilemma."
"Come on," Lyn begged, although he knew it would be in vain. "You're already cold and unfeeling. You can do it without breaking a sweat. Scare Brad into confessing, get Luke in line. Or just tell Bella!"
"Cold and unfeeling?" Alexander's eyes were set squarely on Lyn, making him feel like a butterfly that had just been stuck through with a pin.
Lyn bit his bottom lip hard. "I take that back. I mean, that's your image on the surface. In bed, you're… well, you're pretty hot."
"Flattering me will get you nowhere," Alexander warned him.
"Fair. But it was worth a try." Lyn dropped onto the bed and lay on his back, covering his eyes with one arm. "I can't believe I just landed in the middle of this mess."
"Luke did that. You were too blind to see it. And now you can't ignore the unmistakable proof of Brad's transgressions. How does it make you feel?"
"Like shit," Lyn murmured. He felt the bed dip by his side and Alexander's warmth as he moved closer. "If I keep my mouth shut, I'll feel guilty forever. Bella is a stranger to me, but it still doesn't feel right. I'm not in the habit of hurting strangers. She's no exception."
"Of course. You only hurt people you know."
Lyn took his arm away from his eyes and stared at Alexander. He was so handsome up close. It made Lyn want to forget all about the issue at hand and kiss Alexander until nothing else mattered.
"You shouldn't look at me like that if you don't mean it," Alexander warned him curtly.
Lyn grabbed Alexander by one shoulder and pulled himself up. His kiss was hard and harsh. "I mean it."
Alexander scoffed. "You don't know what you're saying."
"I want you, asshole. Of course, I look at you like you're good enough to lick from head to toe. Where's the misunderstanding? You're a great lay."
"Do you look the same at anyone you consider to be a great lay?"
"No. It's a look I reserve only for you," Lyn declared, completely convinced of his words.
"How do you know?"
"I know," Lyn insisted. "It's the way I feel on the inside. It's different from anything else."
Alexander nodded slowly. "I suppose that's progress."
"Ugh, why are we talking about the way I look at you when I'm being tortured by what I should do?"
Alexander wrapped one arm around him, making him lean back against his arm. "You will do the right thing."
"How do you know? If Bella finds out, Brad gets hurt. If she doesn't, she gets hurt in the future. And when that happens, I'll feel guilty. I'll feel guilty anyway. Fuck Luke," Lyn said through his teeth.
"Would you prefer not to have known about it at all?"
It was a good question. Lyn ran one hand over his eyes. "I don't know. Honestly. I mean, I've always thought he was straight as an arrow—wait a minute." He half-turned to look at Alexander. "Did you suspect him of liking guys before?"
Alexander's face was the same impenetrable mask, but Lyn had no trouble reading it this time. Silence was, after all, an answer, too.
"What the hell, Alexander," he mumbled.
"Liking is not the right word."
It was Lyn's turn to pout. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Bradley prefers women. That will never change. He is, as you may call him, an opportunist."
"For real now," Lyn continued in the same tone. "As long as he gets his dick sucked, it doesn't matter who is on their knees in front of him. That's what you're telling me."
"A crude way of putting it, but yes. He doesn't want to ride into the sunset with Luke."
Lyn didn't want to accept that things were that simple. "Since you like me being crude, I'll continue. I doubt Bella doesn't suck Brad's dick, thereby forcing her future husband to search for that particular pleasure elsewhere. Why does he need her brother to do it, too?"
Alexander shrugged, Lyn could tell by the movement behind him. He was still lying with his back against his friend, and it felt good despite the inconceivable conversation they were having.
"The more available hot orifices, the better."
"Oh, fuck off, who's the crude one now?" Lyn grunted. "But even in college—I mean… how the hell? Where was I? And why didn't you say anything to me?"
"I only had suspicions, not certainties when it comes to Bradley and his penchant for getting his dick sucked. But I don't need to see him getting blown by a guy to know it to be the truth. After all, it may be just a kink for him. Are you willing to kink-shame him?"
Lyn sighed. "This isn't about kink or whatever. It's about being a good person. If he were free to do whatever the hell he wanted, with whoever the hell he wanted--"
"You would've still been pissed at him," Alexander supplied. "Don't make it about something else."
"For once in your life, Alexander, accept that you can be wrong."
It was more than about Brad fooling around with guys, and not fooling around with him. For their whole lives, Brad had been this person who could do no actual wrong. It was the image Lyn had always had of him getting hurt now.
"That's why it could never be you," Alexander insisted. "Tell me you think you would have survived being used by Bradley as a means to get off, and it will mean that I've always been wrong about you."
Lyn sighed. "No, you're right. You've never said anything directly, but you knew I was… I mean that I…"
"You were crushing on him. But was it ever true love, Lyn?" Alexander asked softly, just as he supplied the words Lyn didn't have the guts to say out loud.
Was it true love? Had it ever been that?
Lyn didn't answer, because he didn't know what the answer was. His soul was being wrung out and hung to dry, but because it was Alexander doing it, he was okay with it.
He took Alexander's hand and admired the long strong fingers. He kissed them one by one. "You have such capable hands," he said. "No wonder people trust you with their hearts."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You went for the heart, after all," Lyn remarked. "Weren't you all about brains, Mr. Reason Incarnate?"
"I was on the fence, really. Just flipped a coin, and there it was. The heart," Alexander said.
"How flippant of you," Lyn said with a soft snicker. "I like that there's this part of you I don't know at all. It's exciting."
"Oh, really? How exciting is it?"
Lyn shivered as Alexander released his hand to run his fingers slowly across Lyn's arm.
"I've never experienced anything more exciting in my life," he admitted. "You're good in bed, too."
"Tell me you don't find that surprising. It would hurt my ego."
Lyn took a moment to ponder his next words, choosing them carefully. "Maybe it's just me who's surprised about liking it so much. Fuck, I hope I don't get addicted to you."
Alexander rolled him onto his back with expert moves. "I hope you do," he said tenderly while pushing Lyn's shirt up and kissing his belly.
Moral dilemmas and whatnot could wait. It was night anyway, and Lyn needed to sleep on it. In the meantime, he could relax and enjoy this. He pushed Alexander's head down playfully and released an uninhibited moan of pleasure as the sensual lips of his otherwise cold friend brushed across his skin, moving lower and lower.
Now that he had experienced Alexander's blowjob technique, and the initial shock had worn off, Lyn could tell his friend wasn't that experienced. But he had good control of his gag reflex despite occasionally choking.
He snickered while caressing Alexander's head. "You're cute when you're not exactly on top of the situation."
Alexander let Lyn's cock slip from his mouth. "What do you mean by that?"
"You sucked me off before, and I was so shocked that I thought you must have blown who knows how many guys. But now that I can observe you without the shock, I can tell you're a beginner."
"What am I doing wrong?" Alexander asked.
Lyn ran his fingers along Alexander's perfect jaw. He traced the shape of his lips and pressed against them to feel their softness. "You're doing nothing wrong. But the slight choking is cute," he added with another snicker.
Alexander gave him a murderous look. "I hate you," he said, but the corners of his lips were twitching.
Lyn laughed as if he were tickled. "Now, I know that's a lie. And you don't usually lie… which means that… oh, you're joking? Is that what this is?"
"Maybe." Alexander grinned with his whole mouth.
"And you're, ah, damn, what's the word? Flirtatious. Oh my god, you're flirting with me. Was this how you made all those girls trip over each other to get you when we were in college?"
Alexander smiled with superiority now. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Two could play that game. "I might like to know. Actually, I'd like to know more about you. Even everything."
Alexander flashed him another smile, but a fond one now. "We'll get there, Lyn. For now, how about I get back to blowing you with my horrible, imperfect technique?"
Lyn tsked. "Self-deprecation doesn't suit you. And let's make it a sixty-nine, because I need to get high on your wonderful cock after today."
"Because you saw--"
Lyn covered Alexander's mouth with his hand. "Don't say it. Consider this space a sanctuary. Let's not talk about other people while we're sucking each other off. What do you say?"
Alexander nodded in agreement. Lyn was all too happy to move and adjust his position until he was the one on top, facing Alexander's crotch.
With eager fingers, he released the wonderful cock he had come to enjoy so much from the confines of the underwear which Alexander seemed to like wearing only when he wasn't wearing anything else.
He took the head in his mouth and licked it thoroughly. He wasn't talking smack when saying that he wanted to know everything about Alexander. Getting to know his cock well enough to discover all the techniques he could use to make it blow its load was a great starting point.
At the same time, Alexander was carefully licking his balls. Hopefully, he wasn't becoming shy about sucking cock now, because Lyn wanted to end tonight with thoroughly fucking his friend's gorgeous face.
He adjusted his position again to make Alexander aware of his intentions, by lifting his hips and brushing the tip of his cock against his partner's mouth.
As expected, Alexander didn't need further hints. He opened wide enough to engulf Lyn's cock.
It felt so good he didn't have anything else to compare it with. Lyn didn't want to compare it, anyway. That sex sanctuary thing he'd just come up with was for real. Here, they were alone. Just the two of them.
He began moving his hips while he swallowed more of Alexander's thick cock. Damn, if it didn't make everything seem so much simpler. There was nothing but pleasure between them. Lyn felt it from both ends. The act of sex had never felt this good before. He no longer worried about performance or making his partner experience the greatest pleasure possible.
It was selfish, he thought. But Alexander took him well, even as he moved his hips to fuck his partner's mouth. To offer a similar incentive, he took Alexander's cock as deep as he could manage. He moved his head to the same rhythm as his hips, and pleasure rushed from his head and his crotch at the same time, meeting in the middle, or maybe lower, at the base of his spine.
Alexander now had both hands on Lyn's hips, accepting his mouth being used as a sex toy. Lyn thought he was running the risk of going completely nuts as he was choking himself of his own accord with the wonderful sex in his mouth.
He sensed Alexander's fingers close to his hole. They were too dry to attempt anything reasonable, but Lyn wished they would be more daring than this light teasing.
When Alexander moved one hand to tease his balls, Lyn thought he'd be a goner sooner than expected. But he focused all of his attention on the cock he fed on and managed to control his impending release.
Alexander, however, was cheerfully racing ahead. Lyn made a surprised sound as his mouth filled with cum. It tasted so good he wanted to gobble it down forever. He wrapped his lips tightly around Alexander's cock, bent on not spilling a drop.
And somewhere, in his effort to prolong the pleasure coating his tongue, he lost it, too. He heard Alexander moaning and felt him increasing his suction efforts.
When Alexander's river of jizz dried up, Lyn allowed himself to drop to one side. But he kept one hand around his friend's cock and pulled it along with him, still kissing and licking it while the warm body by his side shivered from over-stimulation.
Lyn whimpered as Alexander did the same to him. "You can stop now," he moaned.
"Not before you do," Alexander warned him, giving the head of Lyn's cock another good lick.
"Okay," Lyn said and kept only the tip in his mouth to suck the last drop out of it if there was still anything there. A grunt from Alexander warned him that they were not shying away from torturing each other with too much pleasure. "On three, then?"
Alexander laughed. He licked the head of Lyn's cock all around. "One," he said with satisfaction.
Lyn chuckled and stuck his tongue in the small eye. "Two."
He then pulled himself away quickly and reached for Alexander to kiss him hard.
"And three," he whispered, his face stretched into a smile.
Alexander covered him with his body and kissed him back.
Tonight, he'd sleep well again.
Tomorrow could wait.
TBC