That coal-black hair was just thick enough to fist. The attraction had, at first, made Cross uncomfortable. He had been anticipating his attraction to Madigan, had looked forward to it, in fact. But wanting another of the angels had never seemed like a possibility when he’d signed up for the mission.
The leader of the angels had originally thought the true conflict would come from the strained relationship between Bren and Michel, but apparently, Cross was more suited to be the object of Bren’s animosity. Most of Lucifer’s angels tended to be a little standoffish when it came to the other choirs. Bren was no exception.
Bren closed his eyes and let Michel pull his shirt up and then off so that his muscled chest was bare. His sienna-colored nipples were already puckered as if begging for attention. Cross sighed. He wanted to put them in his mouth, suckle the tips until they were even more flushed with excitement. Bren would look beautiful astride Cross’s lap as he rode out his pleasure on Cross’s hard cock…
“Stop fucking thinking about fucking me, Cross!” Bren snapped, drawing Cross’s gaze upward to Bren’s flushed face. Was he being that obvious? “I’m not ever going to be your bitch.”
“I don’t recall asking you to be,” Cross returned dryly. A thought occurred to him. “That’s what all this anger is about? You think I just want to use you like my bitch?” His nose wrinkled at the word. It seemed so derogatory.
“Oh, why don’t you just admit it? You all want to put me in my place, and that would be the easiest way to do it,” Bren said. Michel backed off his chest and looked at him, wide eyed.
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“That is not at all what we want,” Michel said. He placed a soft hand on Bren’s chest. “We want you to be happy with us. This relationship isn’t going away, and it involves us all.”
Bren snorted. “Yeah? I don’t see High and Mighty Mr. Cross volunteering to bottom for me.”
“You think being on bottom means that you’re less of a man or something?” Cross asked. He was getting annoyed with Bren’s attitude and was trying very hard to keep his temper in check. What Bren really wanted him to do was say forget it and walk away. If he did that, Bren could go to Madigan and say that he’d tried. Really Bren had just tried to get out of this by goading Cross.
“Well, it certainly doesn’t help,” Bren snapped thoughtlessly. A look of hurt crossed over Michel’s face an instant before he smoothed it over to a mask of indifference. The fact that he’d hurt Michel finally pushed Cross over the proverbial ledge.
“You better say you’re sorry to Michel in three seconds, or else you’re not going to like what I do to you.” Cross’s voice was deadly, and he knew it. He was very close to losing his temper completely.
A downright nasty grin slid onto Bren’s face. “Why don’t you make me?”
Cross was on him before he finished his sentence, tackling him to the ground and pinning his arms over his head. Bren hissed, kicking his legs out, which only served the purpose of letting Cross between them. The hard press of Bren’s cock against him was not lost on Cross. He rubbed against the hardness deliberately, eliciting a yowl of denial from Bren. The other angel bucked, managing to half dislodge Cross from on top of him.
“Guys! Stop!” Michel shouted. “This isn’t helping anything!”
Cross looked over at Michel. Whether the angel saw it or not, this was going to have to happen this way.
“Go, Michel. I’ll not have him hurting you again. I’ll call you back in a bit. Go take a shower or something.” The shower was usually where they went to have a few minutes to themselves. Despite
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the relative spaciousness of the house, it was still crowded with six grown men.
The determination Michel saw in Cross’s face must’ve reassured him or something because he gave a nod and turned on his heels before disappearing into the bathroom. The shower started.
“You are going to learn how to play nice, or I’m going to kick your ass in whatever way necessary,” Cross said, tightening his hold on Bren’s arms until the other man winced.
“Screw you!” Bren snarled.
“Is that your final answer?” Cross asked. He watched as a look of absolute terror stole over Bren’s face. He was scared of this and scared of wanting this, and Cross knew it.
“You don’t really want me.” The words were quiet. “The only reason you’re doing this is because of Madigan. I understand that, but I don’t want that. I love Madi, and for his sake I tolerate the others but—”
“This is way beyond tolerance, Bren,” Cross interrupted.
“Madigan did not get your dick hard right now.” To prove his point he rubbed against Bren’s hard-on, eliciting a gasp. “What scares you is that you can actually care for us the way that we all want you to and the thought of the possible rejection is one you just can’t handle. So you snarl and bitch and act like an asshole to keep us at arm’s length, especially me. But I see you, Bren. I see through all this shit you put up around you and so does Madigan.”
“No,” Bren protested. Were those tears in his eyes? “Let me up.
Let me go. I don’t want this.”
Cross smiled wanly. “Bren, you’re just as strong as I am. If you wanted up, you’d be up by now.” Cross watched as Bren’s resistance crumbled and was replaced by a reluctant resolve. Once he felt the last fight go out of him, Cross loosened his grip. He brought his hands up and cupped Bren’s face. “I’m not asking for an overnight change, Bren. I’m asking for a chance and for you to try.
Really
try.”
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Bren sighed. “I’ll try,” he allowed. He licked his bottom lip. “I think I dislike you most because you make me the most jealous.” The admission was unexpected. “Everyone likes you, respects you, loves you. Even Yuri looks up to you. They want me, but they don’t like me.”
“I think you’re wrong about that. When you’re not being a snarling ass, you’re actually quite loveable.” And he was. Bren in a good mood had a wicked sense of humor and a delightful playfulness that teased and provoked everyone near him. He’d taken to showing Madigan magic tricks in the living room after supper, and he had great taste in movies. He was also thoughtful, though he tried really hard not to let anyone know it. Cross genuinely enjoyed watching him with the others and had felt a little excluded because Bren changed the instant he realized Cross was present.
“Really?” Bren seemed so vulnerable to him at that moment.
Gone was the warrior angel that could give Cross a run for his money when it came to physical strength. This was the man underneath.
“Who hurt you, Bren?” Cross wondered, pressing a kiss to the side of Bren’s neck where Michel had been kissing moments before.
“Who made you feel like you couldn’t be loved?”
“It was a long time ago. I don’t want to talk about it now.” Bren sighed and tilted his head to the side to give Cross better access. It was an improvement from his earlier attitude. Cross pressed another kiss to Bren’s jumping pulse, this time using a little tongue.
“Hmmm, you’re beautiful, Bren,” he whispered against his flesh.
Bren gasped and started moving restlessly. “Think I want to suck you.
Is that okay?” Bren closed his eyes and nodded, trembling. He was so damn beautiful like this. The wall between them was down at last.
Even if it went back up after this, Cross would hold on to this memory like a shield for future battles with Bren. They would have this moment.
Cross kissed his way down Bren’s chest, finally getting a sample of the puckered tips of Bren’s nipples as he went. The other angel
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gasped softly and arched a little into his mouth. He was sensitive there.
Good
. Cross went down the center of his lover’s chest, tracing the tops of his abdomen with his lips and his teeth. Bren’s skin was surprisingly soft. It was an unexpected delight.
Bren squirmed as Cross moved farther south. He tongued the indent of Bren’s navel and the other angel laughed. “Ticklish,” Bren admitted with a sheepish smile. He was loosening up. Cross smiled against his skin and unbuttoned the top button on his jeans. Bren lifted his hips to help as Cross slid the heavy denim down his thighs and off his feet. He sighed happily as Bren lay beneath him in nothing but a silky pair of blue boxers.
“When you first came into my lord Raphael’s study to do the binding, I imagined what you’d look like like this.” Cross couldn’t resist the impulse to nuzzle his cheek against the silk of the material, burying his nose in the apex of Bren’s thighs. Bren made a noise of want. The soft skin of his sac was just beneath Cross’s mouth, and Cross indulged himself by taking first one delicate ball into his mouth to suckle through the material, then the other. Bren moaned then, the noise low and needy. Cross lifted his head as his fingers began to peel back the silk. “You seemed so removed from everything that was happening. So frigid. I wanted to devour you.”
“I hated you,” Bren whispered. He was panting lightly now, anticipating what Cross was going to do next. “I thought you’d take Madigan away from me before I even had a chance to court him.”
“When did you stop hating me?” Cross asked. He peeled Bren’s boxers the rest of the way off and sighed in appreciation at the gorgeous cock inches from his face. He’d seen it before. They’d been sharing a bed with Madigan and the others for weeks now. But he’d never been this close. He inhaled the musky jasmine scent that was all Bren.
“Fuck. Me. Are you going to stare at it all day?” Bren demanded, he was trembling harder now, like he was already on the edge of
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pleasure. Cross reached out and took a lick, his hand going between Bren’s thighs to fondle his balls expertly.
“When did you stop hating me?” Cross repeated, blowing gently on the wet spot he’d made. Bren’s cock jumped, smacking Cross in the face. They shared a laugh at that.
“Sorry,” Bren said. Cross continued to knead him, but he wasn’t going to let up until Bren answered him. “Ugh, fine. The first night we were all together. When Michel sucked you off while we all masturbated for Madigan. It was the way you talked to me. Made me so hot.”
Cross rewarded him for the admission by sucking the entire length of Bren’s dick into his mouth. He worked his throat muscles to clench over the mushroomed head. He suckled hard, getting a suction going that put a Hoover to shame. Bren’s hands immediately wound themselves into his hair.
“Oh! Christ! Cross!” the other angel cried out. He humped Cross’s face helplessly as Cross worked him with his mouth. Vaguely, Cross was aware of the shower turning off. Michel was in for a hell of a sight when he stepped out of the bathroom. Bren moaned, and the sound was echoed by Michel over Cross’s right shoulder.
“God in Heaven, that is hot,” Michel breathed. Cross pulled off Bren’s prick with a soft pop.
“You have something to say to Michel for being an ass earlier?”
Cross asked as Bren made a sound of protest at the loss of sensation.
His body leaked pre-cum in a steady stream that ran down the length of his arousal. Cross kissed Bren’s head but otherwise gave no stimulation. Bren made a strangled noise, and his eyes turned to Michel.
“I’m sorry, Michel.” He gasped as his shaft was again engulfed in Cross’s mouth. The reward system seemed to work really well for him. Cross knew that Bren would have a fit if he ever heard Cross’s thought aloud, but it was a funny one to think about. Then Bren went further than Cross had expected him to. “Let me suck you, baby. Let
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me show you I’m sorry.” Cross heard rather than saw Michel’s hesitation.
“Is that what you want?” Michel asked finally. Cross understood his reluctance. He was also afraid that Bren would freak if he were made to submit even a little control to someone else. The progress he’d made was good, but he was still seemingly in control of the situation. Cross hadn’t yet taken him to the next level.
“I’m not glass, you two,” Bren grumbled in frustration. “I want to suck you, Michel. Let me.”
Cross caught the image of Michel walking toward them out of the corner of his eye. The male just had a pink towel on that covered less than it showed. He dropped it on the floor beside them and knelt down on the hardwood.
“How do you want to do this?” Michel asked as he surveyed the two of them. Cross knew it probably looked deliciously wicked, him on his elbows deep throating Bren while the dark-haired angel asked for Michel’s cock.
“F–Fuck my mouth,” Bren stammered. Cross wasn’t sure if he was nervous or if the fact that he’d chosen that moment to lave the underside of Bren’s dick with his tongue had anything to do with it.
Probably a combination of both. Michel gave a growl of approval over Bren’s words and immediately straddled Bren’s head.
“Just let me know if anything gets uncomfortable, love,” Michel murmured, cupping his lover’s cheek gently. “Just tap my hip or something.” Bren nodded and opened his mouth.
Then Cross couldn’t see anything but Michel’s tanned ass as it fucked into Bren’s mouth. It was a beautiful sight. Cross just wanted to sink his teeth into Michel’s flexing buttock as it propelled his cock forward into Bren’s hot cavern.
Within minutes, Bren was crying out around the thick length in his mouth and jetting his sticky pleasure into Cross’s mouth. Cross sucked dutifully, not spilling a drop of semen as it gathered in his mouth and threatened to seep out of the corners of his lips as Bren’s
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hips jerked, wringing the last bit of pleasurable sensation from the organ. Cross reveled in the taste of Bren, a taste he’d never been granted before. He wasn’t as sweet as Madigan, and he wasn’t quite as musky as Dex. Bren had a completely unique flavor that had a pleasant tang to it. Cross licked his lips, looking for errant drops of cum. He would definitely be doing this again.
“
Ah
, sweet. Hmmm, you’ve got a nice mouth, Bren,” Michel moaned, his hips working a little most desperately against Bren’s mouth. Cross growled at the scene. Without thinking, he leaned up, parted Michel’s cheeks, and plunged his tongue against the flexing entrance to Michel’s body. Michael’s angel cried out, his body shaking at the two stimuli. Cross lifted his head.