Textual Confusion

10. The person you are trying to reach is unavailable.

CHAPTER TEN

THE PERSON YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH IS UNAVAILABLE.

Asher woke up with a pounding headache, and a furnace pressed against his back.

Still half-asleep, Asher reached blindly behind himself and prodded at the sweltering heater that had somehow wrapped itself around him.

Since when did furnaces have arms? And why was it so… fleshy?

Asher’s eyes snapped open. Oh God. His heart was running a marathon in his chest as he fought back the urge to completely freak out.

He must have slept with someone last night – someone from the club.

As unlikely as it seemed, Asher had never had a one night stand before, let alone one he couldn’t remember, and he had no idea what to do. What was the proper etiquette for something like this? Sweat stuck to his skin and his mouth felt like an animal had died in it. Was he allowed to shower before he left? Or should he just try to sneak out? Was that considered rude?

Asher was so busy panicking that he didn’t even realize that he didn’t feel the telltale soreness that came after a night spent having sex. Or that the room he’d woken up in was familiar.

“I can practically hear you overthinking,” a voice, thick with sleep, mumbled from behind him, making Asher stiffen.

At least until his brain finally kick-started and he realized he recognized the voice.

“Markus?”

The arm draped around his middle tightened. “Who else would it be?” he asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

“No one!” Asher practically shouted in his haste to assure the man. “I’ve never even had a one night stand before.” Why did he think it was a good idea to share that? If Markus didn’t already think he was some pathetic, inexperienced loser, he definitely did now. “I was just… confused,” he decided on eventually.

“Probably all the tequila you had last night.”

Asher cleared his throat, embarrassed. “Yeah.”

They laid in silence for a few minutes before Asher finally gathered enough courage to turn around and face the man. When he did, he almost wished he hadn’t. Because it just wasn’t fair that Markus was somehow even more attractive when he was fresh out of sleep, hair artfully mused and eyes puffy.

Asher could only imagine how he looked in comparison, dried drool at the corner of his mouth and pillow case creases pressed into his cheek. (That’s what he usually saw when he rolled out of bed in the morning and looked in the bathroom mirror.)

Asher found it difficult to care about how he looked, however, when Markus wasn’t wearing a shirt. So much skin was on display, and it took all of Asher’s willpower not to ogle. Desperately searching for something to talk about so that he wouldn’t stare at the man’s dusky nipples, Asher went with the obvious.

“So… how did I get here, exactly?”

Markus frowned. “Don’t you remember?”

“I remembering being at The Hoy Grail. Sasha bought a lot of shots before dragging me and Danny out on the dance floor. Then-”

Then some frat boy attempted to buy you a drink before Markus arrived and chased him off.

That single thought was just the tip of the iceberg, the first sign of catastrophe as all of Asher’s memories of last night came flooding back to him.

All the embarrassing things he’d said and done replayed in his mind with crystal clear clarity. All the embarrassing things Sasha had said and done, too. (He couldn’t believe she’d sent Markus that picture!)

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, but one that had already happened, so you could do absolutely nothing to stop it, just sit and stew silently in your own mortification.

Why couldn’t Asher be one of those drunks that forgot all the humiliating things they did when they were inebriated?

“And then?” Markus pressed, tearing him from his thoughts.

“Sorry,” Asher blurted. “I was just contemplating the merits of fleeing the country and starting over somewhere new. I’m terrible at Spanish, so Mexico is out, but I hear Canada’s nice this time of year.”

Markus snorted. “It’s literally a frozen tundra right now. And you don’t have to be embarrassed. I thought you were cute.”

“I licked you,” Asher pointed out, as if Markus had somehow forgotten. Which was dumb, because if the fact that Asher had tongued his neck like a dog had somehow escaped Markus’s mind, the man certainly remembered the incident now.

“You also told my driver you like cocks.”

Asher covered his reddening face with his hands. “Oh God. How quickly do you think I could get a passport?”

Markus pried Asher’s hands away from his face, forcing him to meet his eyes. “You really think I’d let you get away that easily?”

Yeah, comments like that were not helping with all the blushing.

“Seriously, I’m so sorry. Sasha never should have sent you that picture last night. I’m sure you had better things to do than put up with me and my stupid bullshit-”

“I’m glad she sent it to me,” Markus interrupted before Asher could disparage himself further. He took Asher by the chin. “And if you call yourself stupid again, we’re going to have to talk about punishment, okay?”

Asher bit his lip. “You mean, like… spankings?”

“Mm-hm,” Markus hummed in agreement, leaning in until their noses nearly touched, until Asher could count the man’s eyelashes if he wanted. “When I got that text last night, you have no idea the urge I had to find you and bend you over my lap. I wanted to spank your ass cheeks red right then and there. Show everyone in that club who you belonged to.”

Asher swallowed audibly, praying that Markus couldn’t feel the way his cock twitched and began to harden at his words. “’M sorry.”

Markus shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t send it to me. I know that now.” Markus ran calloused fingers down Asher’s arm, causing goosebumps to break out on his skin. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to fuck you raw right in front of that friend of yours, though. The one you were dancing with. The same one who was referring to you as his date at the gala. Danny Volesky, tenth floor accountant.” A pause. “Tell me right now that he’s just a friend, and I’ll never bring it up again.”

“Danny’s like a brother,” Asher immediately assured. Even if the conversation between Markus and his friends last night was mostly a blur, one thing he recalled was how nervous Danny had been acting around his boss. “I swear.”

Markus stared hard into Asher’s eyes for a long moment before finally nodding, relaxing against the sheets. “Okay.”

Asher blinked. “You mean… you believe me?”

Markus raised his eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, before frowning. “Has someone not believed you before?”

Asher shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he immediately deflected.

“It does to me,” Markus refuted.

Asher worried his bottom lip between his teeth, wondering what, if anything, he should say about his ex, Trent. “My last boyfriend just had some… issues with how close I was to my friends,” he decided on finally.

“What kind of issues?”

Clearly, Markus wasn’t about to let this go, so Asher sighed. “He accused me of cheating on him with Danny and Sasha,” he revealed. “I mean, I don’t even like women like that, and I’ve known Danny since I was a kid. The thought of being with either of them in that way makes me want to gag.”

“Sounds like your ex, whoever he was, was an insecure manchild,” Markus said bluntly.

Asher shrugged. “Maybe. I think he was probably just projecting, since it turns out that he was the one cheating on me.”

Markus tensed, the arm wrapped around Asher noticeably tightening.

“What sort of braindead moron would ever cheat on you?”

Asher picked nervously at his cuticles, refusing to meet the man’s eyes. “He said since he was bisexual that it was unrealistic for me to expect him to stay away from pussy for the rest of his life. Basically implied since it wasn’t another man he was cheating with, it wasn’t cheating at all.”

“What?” Markus deadpanned, voice toneless. But Asher wasn’t an idiot. He could tell the man was steaming.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I hope you didn’t buy that absolute load of bullshit.”

Asher shook his head. “No, I left him the same night I caught him. It wasn’t easy, though,” he admitted. “We lived together, and our apartment was under his name, so I had to move in with Danny and Sasha for a while before I could get my own place. Luckily, I had enough money saved up to find an apartment pretty quickly. All the furniture and appliances and stuff belonged to him, though, so I’m still in the process of furnishing everything…”

Asher wasn’t sure why he was sharing all of this with Markus. He hated talking about his ex, even with his friends. But now that he’d started, it was like he couldn’t stop.

At least he wasn’t loose lipped enough to bring up Trent’s stalking tendencies.

Asher was torn out of thoughts by fingers grasping his chin. “I’m proud of you. It couldn’t have been easy leaving everything behind, even knowing that he was no good for you.” A pause. “Want to tell me this guy’s name?”

The dark look on Markus’s face promised revenge, and Asher imagined the man had more than enough money and resources on hand to give Trent a taste of his own medicine. Maybe he’d have him kicked out of his apartment. Maybe worse .

But after a moment of contemplation, Asher shook his head. “No, it’s in the past,” he said, ignoring the frustrated glint in Markus’s eyes. “Besides, Danny already bloodied his nose for me, so…”

Markus raised his eyebrows. “I would have done more than bloodied his nose. I would have destroyed his entire life,” he said, like it was a perfectly reasonable response to Trent’s actions. “Still, I’m glad you have friends that look out for you.”

Asher’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really? You like them? Even after last night? I mean, thanks to Sasha, you ended up wasting your entire night looking after me…”

Markus frowned. “I already told you that I like looking after you.”

“Still, I’m sorry that-”

Markus pressed a firm hand over Asher’s mouth. “Do you think you know my own feelings better than I do?”

Asher’s eyes widened at the stern tone. He shook his head.

“Then listen to me when I tell you that I’m glad she texted me. Believe me when I say I was happy to see you, okay?”

Markus released the hold he had on Asher’s mouth, encouraging him to respond.

Asher nervously licked his lips. “I… okay.” A deep breath as he worked up his nerve. “But then why did you ignore me yesterday? Not that I expect you to answer right away every time I text you!” he hurriedly tacked on. “And I know that you pay me for my company, not the other way around, obviously-”

“Hey, sweetheart, relax,” Markus ordered, interrupting Asher’s embarrassing spiel, and like his body was wired to obey him, Asher immediately calmed. “I’m sorry for not responding yesterday when you texted me,” he said, looking him straight in the eyes. “I understand if you’re upset with me because of it.”

“That’s okay,” Asher offered quickly, unused to receiving apologies and giving in to the instinctive urge to smooth things over.

“No, it’s not,” Markus said. “I hurt your feelings and that’s unacceptable. All I can do is tell you what happened and hope you can forgive me.” He tucked a wayward curl behind Asher’s ear. “My father surprised me at work yesterday, under the guise of congratulating me on the big acquisition. But it was more to check in on me – to see if the way I was running things at Kingston Enterprises met his standards. You see, he only retired and handed the reigns of the company over to me last year. I saw your messages, and I intended to respond to them after my father left, but he never did. Before I knew it, morning had turned into afternoon and afternoon into evening, and my father insisted on going out to dinner to celebrate.” He shrugged. “It’s not an excuse, but the day simply got away from me."

Asher blinked.

“Oh.” That was a surprisingly mundane, very reasonable explanation as to why he hadn’t replied to Asher. It didn’t sound at all like the empty excuses he used to get from Trent when they were still together.

“I’m deeply sorry. Can you find it in yourself to forgive me?”

Markus hadn’t seemed to like it when Asher had absolved him so easily the first time around, but Asher didn’t see the point in even pretending to think about his answer. “Of course I can. Trust me, your explanation is way better than what I was imagining.”

Markus seemed relieved. “Thank you. May I ask what it was you were imagining?”

Asher pressed his lips together. Why couldn’t he ever just keep his mouth shut?

“Oh… um, I guess I thought that maybe you had found someone else to handle your… needs,” he decided on, awkwardly stumbling over his words as an embarrassed flush crept up his neck. “That you thought I was immature and clingy and had lost interest in me…”

Honesty could be an uncomfortable thing, and for a moment, it was quiet between them.

Then Markus took Asher by the wrist and carefully maneuvered his hand until it was pressed against a very large, very hard bulge in his boxers. “Does this feel like someone who’s lost interest to you?” he asked.

Asher’s breath hitched. “N-no,” he stuttered.

“Sweetheart, all I have to do is think of you, and I have an instant erection. Your name pops up on my phone with a new message and my balls ache with the need to pound you full of my seed. I don’t think I could lose interest in you if I fucking wanted to – if I tried to stop.”

“Do you?” Asher asked quietly.

“Do I what?”

“Want to stop.”

Markus shook his head. “Never,” he annunciated with purpose.

Asher swallowed. “Me, neither.”

“I’m going to kiss you now.” Their faces were mere inches away when Markus made the announcement. Still, he gave Asher time to pull away or tell him to stop if he didn’t want it. But, of course, Asher wanted it – wanted him – desperately.

Something inside Asher that he hadn’t even realized was coiled and uncomfortable came loose as soon as Markus’s mouth connected with his, unfurling as their lips moved against each other’s. The kiss was soft and made Asher feel almost unbearably warm, different from any other kiss they’d shared thus far.

Breathy little moans escaped as Markus licked the inside of his mouth, and the man nipped playfully at his bottom lip before pulling away. Asher waited with bated breath for instruction, expecting Markus to take charge, like he always seemed to do – even when they were sexting.

“What do you want, baby?”

The question was unexpected, and Asher blinked in surprise.

Then a half dozen ideas flitted through his brain. One was particularly insistent, and Asher blushed at the thought of it, but he quickly shook it off, not daring to say it aloud.

“Whatever you want,” he assured Markus instead.

It wasn’t even a lie. More than anything, he just wanted to please the man.

“That’s not what I asked, sweetheart.”

Asher worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “But I’m happy to do whatever you say,” he said honestly.

Markus was paying him for it, after all.

Asher swatted that thought away before it could take root in his brain and threaten to kill the raging boner he was trying hard not to grind against Markus’s leg.

“You’re a fucking dream,” the man praised. “Such a sweet and accommodating boy.” Markus’s beard scratched against Asher’s neck as he kissed along his jawline.

Asher sucked in a breath at the sensation.

“But surely there’s something you want?” Markus pressed. “What’s your deepest desire, hm? Should I stuff you full of my fingers? Feed you my cock? Make you ride my face until you’re fit to burst?”

Asher whimpered, inadvertently giving himself away.

“Aw, that’s what baby wants, huh? You want to sit on Daddy’s face and ride his tongue?”

“I… I’ve never done it before,” Asher admitted in a hushed voice.

Markus stiffened, pulling back just far enough to look Asher in the eyes. “I already knew your ex was a goddamn fool, but you’re really telling me that this moron had all this- ” – Markus groped Asher’s ass cheeks through his underwear – “-in his grasp and he never once insisted you sit on his face?”

Asher was sure his face was as red as a tomato at this point. “No,” he muttered. “Sorry.”

Markus pressed forward until he had Asher trapped beneath him in bed, smothering him with his body heat. “Don’t ever apologize to me for that asshole’s shortcomings,” he said, dark eyes boring into him before they abruptly softened. “I’ll walk you through it, okay?”

Asher swallowed. “Okay.”

“We’ve got to take these off first,” Markus said, fingers playing with the waistband of Asher’s underwear. It was all he was wearing. So fixated on Markus’s lack of clothes, Asher hadn’t even noticed he was in the same state of un dress. The man must have stripped him of his jeans and crop top after he’d passed out last night. “Is that okay, baby?”

Asher nodded shyly.

“I need words, sweetheart.”

That’s right. Markus liked crystal clear communication. Asher licked his lips. “Yes.”

A second later, Markus was pulling Asher’s underwear down his legs and tossing them to the floor. Asher’s cock bobbed as it sprung free from the waistband, the sensitive head slapping against his stomach and making him gasp.

Asher’s breath caught in his throat when Markus unexpectedly took him in hand, running a thumb up the underside of his cock. Embarrassingly, a bead of precum immediately pooled in the slit.

“How is it that every part of you is so pretty?” Markus asked.

Asher couldn’t help but preen at the compliment.

He’d never thought his cock was particularly impressive. Sure, he took care of himself and was well-maintained down there , but his dick was pretty average for the most part. Not too big or too small, slightly curved, and tip flushed pink when it was hard.

Markus continued to toy with him, and Asher was seconds away from saying screw it to the whole riding Markus’s face thing and just begging the man to stroke him to completion instead when he released him.

Markus’s eyes were even darker the normal, the irises nearly completely eaten up by the pupils, when he met Asher’s gaze. “Sit up,” he demanded, voice like gravel, “before I change my mind and swallow this cute, little cock whole instead.”

That didn’t sound so bad to Asher. However-

“It’s not little,” Asher whined petulantly, even as he obediently sat up and scooted over, making room for Markus to lie down on his back.

“Your cock is as perfect as the rest of you,” Markus assured. “Now, get that ass of yours over here. Put your knees on either side of my head.”

Embarrassment ran as hot as the blood in his veins as Asher did as he was told, carefully situating himself until his ass was hovering over Markus’s face. “Like this?”

“Just like that,” Markus assured, and Asher tensed when the man spread his butt cheeks apart with his hands, putting his puckered hole on display. It was both mortifying and the hottest thing Asher had ever experienced. “Now sit on my face, baby. I’m going to eat out this pretty hole, and I’m not going to stop until you’re covered in your own cum, alright?”

Asher’s belly squirmed with anticipation. He wouldn’t have thought that coming from this alone would be possible if Markus hadn’t already proved him wrong the last time they’d had sex, so he just nodded and hesitantly did as he was told, carefully lowering himself on the man’s face.

A part of him was worried that he’d literally suffocate Markus with his ass, but the man obviously didn’t share the same concerns as he latched onto Asher’s hips and pulled him the rest of the way down, brazenly pressing the flat of his tongue against Asher’s ass crack and lapping at this hole.

Asher lurched at the sensation, a half-squeal/half-whimper escaping, but Markus squeezed his hips, refusing to let him move away as his tongue moved against his hole with firm licks. He positively bathed it with his saliva before sucking the rim into his mouth and releasing it with a lewd pop .

Asher was already shaking by the time Markus’s tongue finally wormed it’s way inside.

Asher’s hole clenched at the intrusion, clamping down on Markus’s tongue. “F-feels – ah! – feels so good,” he babbled, hips twitching as he instinctively rocked himself back and forth on Markus’s face.

It didn’t take long for Asher to feel like his body had caught fire as Markus slurped at his insides, his cock rock hard and leaking against his stomach. Asher’s shameless moans and whimpers filled the room as he spread his legs as far apart as they would go and rutted over Markus’s face. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice warned Asher that his thighs and ass cheeks would be covered in beard burn come morning, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as Markus tongued that little bundle of nerves inside him, pushing him to the brink.

His orgasm approached embarrassingly fast.

“’M close,” Asher warned, his brain feeling akin to mush as he chased the feeling building inside him, legs trembling as he dragged his ass back and forth against Markus’s face. All the while, the man held onto Asher’s hips with a bruising grip and speared his prostate with determined precision, feasting like a starving man on Asher’s insides.

Still, it wasn’t until Asher could feel teeth on his rim that he lost it, his hips stuttering and entire body shaking as his orgasm rocked through him. His cock emptied itself all over his stomach, hot jets of cum making a mess of his belly as he rode it out.

He probably only lost himself to the feeling for a few seconds, but by the time he came back to his senses, Markus was already manhandling him into a new position, maneuvering him until he was on his hands and knees. “I need to fuck you so badly, baby. My cock’s aching to be inside you. Can Daddy fuck your pretty hole?”

What person in their right mind would ever say no to that ? Certainly not Asher. Fucked out and dazed as he was, the feeling of Markus’s hot cock pressing against his ass, even through the man’s boxers, was enough to have his spent cock twitching with interest.

He must have taken too long to answer, however, because after a moment, Markus’s voice, gruff and pained, offered to back off. “It’s okay to say no-”

“No!” Asher interrupted.

Markus froze.

“I mean no to saying no,” Asher hurriedly clarified – or attempted to clarify, anyway. His brain still wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment. “Just… will you please, please fuck me, Daddy?”

There. That was coherent (and desperate) enough.

A string of cuss words escaped Markus’s mouth as he all but catapulted himself into action, leaning over Asher to dig through the top drawer of the nightstand. He pulled out a bottle of lube and carefully coated his fingers before bringing them to Asher’s hole.

An involuntary shiver racked his body when the first finger rubbed against his pink pucker before carefully slipping inside. “Fuck, look at you, taking me so good.”

Asher whined at the praise, embarrassed yet pleased all at once.

Obviously anxious to fuck him, Markus worked quickly but thoroughly as he prepped Asher, opening him up with one, two, and finally three fingers.

“I wish you could see how pretty your hole looks swallowing my fingers,” Markus said, voice strained. “So eager to be filled. Do you think you can take my cock?”

Asher was already fully hard again from his ministrations and nodded eagerly. “I can take it, promise.”

Instead of removing his fingers from his hole, however, Markus spread Asher open with his thumbs, creating a tiny gape so he could spit a wad of saliva directly inside.

Asher stiffened, so turned on his brain malfunctioned for a moment. When he came back to himself, Markus’s fingers were gone and the telltale sound of a condom wrapper being ripped open hit his ears.

A sudden influx of energy zapped through him, and Asher quickly twisted his neck around. “No condom,” he blurted before he could second guess himself.

Markus raised his eyebrows, but stopped what he was doing. “Are you sure?”

Both of their health checks had come back clean, so Asher didn’t see any reason to deny either of them the pleasure of Markus fucking him bareback. “Yes, I’m sure. I want to feel your cock inside me, your hot cum filling up my insides.”

Unsurprisingly, Markus didn’t need further convincing.

He positioned himself behind Asher, muttering obscenities to himself all the while. “Look and act so sweet, but you’re actually a fucking demon.” He lined up the head of his cock to Asher’s drooling entrance with one hand and wrapped the other around Asher’s stomach, holding him in place.

“You want to feel me inside you, do you?”

“Yes, please.”

“Try not to tense,” Markus advised, and that was the only warning Asher got before Markus thrust into him, all the way to the hilt.

Asher jolted as he was skewered on the man’s cock. It was so hot and deep inside him. Asher felt like he could feel him in his stomach.

“You okay?” Markus had the presence of mind to ask, although his voice was undoubtedly strained as he ran a soothing hand up and down one of Asher’s arms. His other was still wrapped around Asher’s middle in a death grip.

“Move,” Asher begged, “p-please move.”

Markus obliged – slowly. He barely pulled out at all before shallowing thrusting back into his hole. He did this until Asher’s tense muscles relaxed and his body began to accept the intrusion. Then Markus picked up speed, the lewd sound of his balls smacking against Asher’s ass filling the air.

“Fuck, you have no idea how good you look impaled on my cock,” Markus said, filth spewing from his mouth as he pounded into him. “Your hole is so fucking pretty stretched around me.”

Asher mewled at the praise, but those sounds soon turned into an embarrassingly loud wail when Markus’s cock suddenly struck his overstimulated prostate. He jerked away involuntarily at the sensation, but Markus’s grip on him didn’t let him get far.

Nor did he let up. Markus struck his prostate again and again, pulverizing his insides, until Asher’s arms gave out from under him and he was crying face first into Markus’s sheets. (He was sure his legs would have given out, too, if Markus wasn’t holding him up.)

Asher was more than content to lie there and take it, let Markus use him as his own personal cock sleeve until the man inevitably came.

But Markus wasn’t finished wringing orgasms from him. The man was greedy, and one wasn’t enough. That was made abundantly clear when he snuck a hand around Asher’s front and wrapped it around his cock.

“One more, baby. You can do it.”

“C-can’t,” Asher whimpered, stuttering, "it’s t-too much.”

Markus’s hand stilled. “Color?” he asked, breath hot on Asher’s neck.

It took a moment for Asher to understand what Markus was asking, but when he did, he instantly replied, “G-green.”

Markus immediately resumed stroking Asher’s cock.

Asher felt almost unbearably warm trapped between Markus and the bed, and was quickly being driven into a frenzy from the dual sensation of Markus simultaneously pounding his overstimulated prostate and fondling his cock.

He could feel himself tittering on the edge of another orgasm, but it refused to come.

“I- I don’t think I c-can,” he whined.

“You have another one in you, I know you do,” Markus said from where his face was buried in the side of Asher’s neck. He pressed a tender kiss there – the soft touch a complete juxtaposition to the way his cock violently split him apart. “You can do it, baby. Show Daddy how good he’s making you feel and cum on his cock.”

Markus pressed his thumb hard into Asher’s slit, and that, combined with his filthy words, was enough. Asher convulsed around Markus’s cock as the man pried another orgasm out of him.

“Fuck,” Markus cursed as Asher’s spasming hole triggered his own orgasm. Asher could feel it as the man’s hot cum splashed against his insides. “That's it, baby, milk Daddy’s cock. Take it all.”

After several more jerky thrusts, Markus collapsed on top of him. Instead of resting his full weight on Asher, however, the man used the grip he had on him to roll them both onto their sides, ensuring Asher’s back remained glued his front, his ass continuing to squeeze the man’s twitching cock for all it was worth.

For an immeasurable amount of time, it was quiet save for the sound of their heavy breathing. Neither of them felt the need to fill the silence with useless words as they rode the high of their orgasms. Even as the feeling slowly faded, and drowsiness took its place, Asher was content to remain there in Markus’s arms, the dried sweat and sticky cum covering his body be damned.

He was already half asleep, limbs too heavy to move, when Markus suddenly shifted behind him, obviously intent on pulling out, and Asher whimpered in distress.

Markus stiffened, immediately halting his movement. “What’s wrong?” he demanded. “Was I too rough? Does it hurt?”

His obvious concern made butterflies awake in Asher’s stomach, and he forced himself to pry his eyes open. “No,” he assured. “I just… I want to keep it inside,” he confessed shamefully.

“You mean my cock?”

Asher bit his bottom lip. “Well, yeah, but also, you know… your cum,” he admitted.

Asher held his breath, waiting for the inevitable string of derogatory comments, the familiar words “ cumslut ” and “ filthy freak ” bombarding his brain.

But Asher should have known better. Markus had never once put him down or made him feel less than. “You should have told me,” he said instead of making fun or calling him names. “I could have had a plug ready for you.”

Asher blinked at the suggestion. “I… really?”

A soothing hand ran up and down his side. “Have you ever worn a plug before?” Markus asked.

“No,” Asher answered honestly, “never.”

A kiss was pressed into his hair. “I’ll buy you one,” Markus said. “Hell, I’ll buy you a dozen. That way you can keep my cum inside you as long as you want, okay?”

Asher had no idea how to react to the man’s easy acceptance of a kink his ex had been disgusted by. “Does that mean you aren’t weirded out?”

“Hell, no,” Markus immediately denied. “It’s hot as fuck to think of you walking around, doing domestic shit like baking cookies while my cum sloshes around inside you.”

Asher’s face reddened at the graphic image the man’s description brought to mind.

“Did someone make you feel like it wasn’t okay?” Markus asked, yanking Asher’s mind from the gutter. “That waste of oxygen you call your ex, perhaps?”

The man was too perceptive.

But Asher was sick of talking about Trent, so he merely shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” It truly didn’t. Not when he was wrapped in Markus’s protective embrace. Taking the initiative, Asher carefully shifted, allowing Markus’s deflated cock to slip out of his hole before turning and wrapping his arms around the man’s neck. Then he placed a shy kiss on his lips. “ He doesn’t matter.”

“That’s right, baby,” Markus agreed, eyes boring into Asher’s own.

It was all very romantic. Until Asher felt a dribble of cum escape and run down his leg.

He must not have done a very good job of hiding his resulting wince because Markus’s mouth twitched with barely concealed amusement. “Let’s get you cleaned up, sweetheart, hm?”

Asher loosened his hold on the man’s neck and opened his mouth to agree when he suddenly caught sight of something shiny on his wrist.

It was a watch. Asher recognized it as the one Markus always wore: gold with a diamond-encrusted face. It glittered in the sunlight shining in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Asher’s frowned. “What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s my watch.”

Asher shot the man an unimpressed look. “I know it’s your watch,” he deadpanned, bringing his wrist – and the watch – closer to his face so he could examine it. “But why do I have it?”

Markus tilted his head. “Don’t you remember?”

Asher pursed his lips, forcing himself to relive the events of the night before. Being dragged out to The Holy Grail. Pouting and complaining to his friends because Markus had yet to answer any of his messages. Sasha texting the man and his subsequent arrival. He recalled how Markus had scared off the guy in the letterman jacket, and getting in the man's car with him. What had happened between the last two events was a bit fuzzy, though.

Unfortunately, Asher did remember how fascinated he’d been by the strobe lights reflecting off the diamond-encrusted face of Markus’s watch.

“Here, darling, you like this? Want to keep playing with it?”

“Did you just give him your fucking Rolex? You know what? I take back what I said. You’re clearly whipped as fuck.”

Asher fought to hide his embarrassment as he recalled how he’d acted like a frickin’ toddler, easily distracted by a shiny toy. He turned his wrist over and began fiddling with the clasp. “You should take it back.”

A big, warm hand placed over his own stopped him. When Asher glanced up, it was to see a furrowed brow, and a frown pulling at Markus’s mouth. “What’s wrong?” the man asked. “Don’t you like it?”

Asher snorted. “Of course I like it. It’s a frickin’ Rolex , for fuck’s sake. But it’s yours.”

Markus shook his head. “Not anymore. Keep it.”

Asher stiffened. “I can’t do that,” he denied.

“Why not? You said you liked it.”

“It’s a Rolex , Markus,” he said, repeating himself, like Markus was a particularly slow child and had somehow missed it the first time.

The man shrugged, unperturbed, as he ran his fingers over Asher’s pulse point, right beneath where the watch sat on his wrist. “Consider it part of my apology for ignoring you yesterday.”

Asher pressed his lips together in indecision. It didn’t seem right to accept such an expensive gift from the man. Especially since he really hadn’t done anything wrong. On the other hand, Asher couldn’t deny that he liked the idea of wearing something that proved Markus’s… ownership over him, for lack of a better word.

It was like Markus could read his mind.

“Unless you’d rather me buy you a collar to wear instead…” the man whispered into his ear, moving his hand from Asher’s wrist to his throat, gently thumbing his Adam’s apple.

Asher’s face reddened, and he swallowed. “I’ll keep the watch.”

“Good boy,” Markus rumbled.