Available [Marked 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (9 page)

Ryan pulled from his mouth with a groan and an audible pop. “Fuck. Christ, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

Bradley shook his head, a lethargy seizing him. “No,” he said hoarsely. “Don’t.” He needed to be in this moment for a while, needed to savor it.

“Are you all right, sweet?” Ryan asked, tucking himself back in his jeans before kneeling in front of Bradley.

He licked his lips. “Fine.” A little shaken but otherwise fine. A blow job had never been so intense before. If this was an indication of how things were going to be with the two of them, then Bradley was pretty sure that he was going to die when they actually had sex. “My jeans are wrecked though.” He looked down at the stain slowly spreading through his blue jeans. His cheeks heated.
Damn
. He didn’t want to walk back out there like this.

Ryan cupped his cheek. “Is there something else you could wear in your bag? I could go out to the car and get it.” The thoughtfulness of the gesture should not be making Bradley feel like he was going to melt into a puddle of infinite happiness.

He swallowed and nodded. “My work overalls. They’re splattered with paint, but it’s better than cum. Just bring me the bag so I can stash these in there?”

“No problem. I’ll be right back.” Ryan pushed himself to his feet, and Bradley’s throat tightened.

“Wait.” The word was out of his mouth before he thought of a reason for why Ryan would wait. He opened his mouth but froze as Ryan paused. What was he supposed to say?
Give me a cuddle? Let me know you felt that? Let me know that I did a good job?
All those options seemed stupid and made him look weak. He balled his fists up on his thighs as unreasoning fear hit him. He didn’t want to fuck this up. It was his one chance at being with Ryan.

Ryan dropped to his knees in front of him again. “Hey now, shhh, what’s wrong, sweet?”

He shrugged helplessly. What was he supposed to say?
Goddamn it
.

Ryan wrapped his arms around Bradley and pulled him into his lap. Instant calm infused him as the scent and feel of the other man permeated his senses. Ryan kissed his temple. “The best part about being my submissive is that you don’t have to be strong all the time, Bradley. You give your burdens to me always. Don’t ever think you can’t tell me something. What is going through your head?”

“It’s hard,” Bradley hedged.

“I know. But that’s part of the control you’re holding onto. Let me in, Bradley.” The soft command undid the final knot in his chest, and he all but sagged against Ryan.

“I’m not entirely sure. You just popped up to get my bag, and I felt, I don’t know, abandoned, maybe. I know that’s stupid, but I didn’t know if you liked it or if you regretted it or anything. I know it’s dumb. I mean, you came. So I must’ve done something right,” Bradley muttered, hiding his face in the crook of Ryan’s neck. He wasn’t trying to be whiny or clingy, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

Ryan nodded like what he said made sense. “That’s a natural reaction. I topped you, and you’re still unsure of where we stand. I didn’t give you any indication of where we were going or if we were going to continue. That was my bad. I got overeager listening to you. I thought talking about it here would help, but I underestimated how badly I wanted you. We are going to do this, Bradley. I am going to teach you how to be a sub, and for the duration, you will be
my
sub. That means I take care of you and will not walk out on you. Period. Does that make you feel better?”

Bradley kissed the side of his neck. “Yes.”
Sir
. The promise seemed to make his former concern silly. “I’m all right now. You can go get the bag.”

Ryan chuckled. “Why thank you for giving me permission.” He disentangled them and stood once more before helping Bradley up and sitting him down on the stool that was in front of the vanity. “I’ll be right back. We’ll continue our conversation when we get back to the table. Think about anything you want to try and any questions you have.”

Bradley nodded and smiled at him in the mirror. Someone in heaven must’ve been listening to his pleading over the past few months. He looked at the two of them side by side in the mirror before Ryan turned to the door and left out of it. They looked like they fit together.

Bradley was smaller than Ryan, but he was toned, cut. His piercings, each one given by Ryan, saved him from looking too innocent with his mop of blond hair that he was always forgetting to cut and his big hazel eyes. Ryan was huge, towering, and just as cut as Bradley was except his muscles were probably more from the gym than from his natural build. He was tattooed on both arms, and when he wore a tank top, the line of dermal piercings that ran the length of his spine was visible. He looked edgy without trying but with the extras looked like he was the last person someone would want to run into in a dark alley. His dark hair and eyes complemented Bradley nicely. His eyes skated over his arms. He hoped to become a part of the story on the half-sleeve of ink that was on his right arm.

* * * *

“I’ll be right back, Mac. I’m ducking out to the car for Bradley’s bag,” Ryan said, letting the owner know that he wasn’t ditching out on his meal. Kira was keeping their plates under a hot lamp, thank God.

Mac rounded the bar and matched his steps. “I’ll walk with you.”

Uh-oh
. He was in trouble.

“What’s up, Mac?” Ryan asked as they passed the double doors and came into the parking lot.

“How long have you been with that sub you’re interviewing?” The question wasn’t unexpected. Despite being inferior in the pack hierarchy, Mac was older than him by ten years and had been settling down when Ryan had been an unruly pup. That gave him the right to tell the beta exactly where to get off as far as Ryan was concerned.

“He was a client at Howlers the past few months.” He couldn’t even lie and say he’d “known” Bradley. Other than the thirty-minute flirtations they’d engaged in when Bradley came in, every time Ryan had run into him in public, he’d made it abundantly clear he didn’t want to know Bradley in a more intimate setting. He’d been running away from Bradley’s advances ever since he first realized he was genuinely attracted to the boy.

They made it to Mustang’s work truck, and he hit the unlock button on the key. Mac slapped him on the shoulder and turned him around so they were facing. “Do you think ducking into the back during negotiations to scratch an itch is the best way to go about getting to know him well enough to Dominate him in a scene?”

“I’m not hurting him, Mac. I’m going to train him as an available and then turn him loose.” It was his new mantra. He would find the strength to walk away at the end of it all. He had to. For his salvation and for Bradley’s. He would make a fine mate for someone else. The low growl in the back of his mind told him that his wolf was telling him he was out of his fucking mind.

“You don’t look at a sub with all that want and trepidation without them being your mate. It’s plain as day for anyone with eyes. You’re going to hurt the both of you if you keep denying the instincts God gave you. Fair warning, you hurt a new sub and you and I will have more than words. Got it?” Mac asked, his voice deadly.

Ryan resisted the urge to snarl. He knew Mac was just being protective of a new sub in the pack. Even if they weren’t really pack members, availables were an intricate and valuable part of it. However, it felt a lot like his territory was being invaded, and he really didn’t care for it. “I will care for
my
sub as I see fit,” he bit off.

Mac crossed his arms over his chest. “Stupid pup, look at what you just said. Your sub. Yours. Trainers don’t own availables anymore than the men and women that the availables cater to do. Your job is to teach him to be a submissive. At the end of the night, it’s not supposed to be an intimate tussle. Read your training manual before you jump in headfirst without looking. There are precautions to take—”

“Don’t lecture me, Mac,” Ryan interrupted. “I’ve had enough people doing that today. You, Kira, Mustang, and my brother have all given me hell over that boy, and I didn’t even want him to begin with! He followed me. He inserted himself into
my
life. I didn’t pursue him! As far as I’m concerned he should be grateful I’m even taking the time and energy to indulge him in training after the shit he’s pulled!”

Mac didn’t flinch from Ryan’s bellowed statement. “If you resent him that much, you need to walk away now, Ryan. You don’t deserve his submission.”

Ryan gaped. “
What
?”

“Get in your damn truck and go. Leave his bag and I’ll give it to him,” Mac demanded, holding his hand out supposedly for Ryan to hand over Bradley’s bag.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? He’s my responsibility!”

Mac snorted. “And I’m sure Alpha will find someone who won’t think of him as a burden to be tolerated. He didn’t let you be the hunter in your relationship. So what? Would you be any less persistent in your pursuit of someone you liked? I seem to recall a time when you followed David around like a goddamn puppy. You showed up here more than once with only enough money for a coffee just so you could sit in his section. He said ‘no’ how many times before he went out with you?” Each word felt like an ice pick being driven into his chest over and over again.

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice brittle. “Look how that turned out. It’s not healthy to like someone that much.”

“Love turns us all into fools,” Mac said softly. “You’re a grown-ass man. Stop being afraid of being a fool. You’ll only end up looking more like one if you deny it.”

Ryan turned away and grabbed the bag out of the floorboards. “I’m trying.”

“I don’t mean to be harsh on you, Ry. I just want you to be aware of how you’re goin’ about this. Your heart is not the only one who
stands to be crushed under your boots if you let it. If you need help—”

“You’re here. I got it.” Ryan shut the door and locked it back. “I’m lost with him.”

Mac nodded. “Ain’t no finer place to be, boy.”

Ryan disagreed. It felt awful to be in this position.
A few weeks. A few weeks of normal Dom/sub stuff and then I’ll walk away
. The memories would keep him warm. They would have to.

Bradley pulled the overalls up his hips and fastened the first shoulder then the other. It wasn’t the height of fashion, but it would do in a pinch. He stuffed his other pants in the bag and straightened. Ryan leaned against the doorframe, looking at him with an odd expression on his face. Bradley smiled. “Okay. I’m ready to eat. I’m starving.”

“I need to apologize to you,” Ryan said. Bradley’s heart clenched. God, what now? He didn’t think he could take anymore of Ryan’s yo-yoing today. He was more confusing than any man Bradley had ever met, bar none. “I haven’t exactly given this a fair shot. Yes, you came to me unconventionally, but it doesn’t mean I should treat you like a freak. I’m sorry about that.”

Relief scalded him. “Thanks. I just want to make you happy.”

“I know. I’m a little leery of anything that looks like a permanent collar, but that is my issue. I’m going to treat you right, Brad.”

“Bradley,” he corrected automatically.

The corner of Ryan’s mouth lifted in a semblance of a smile. “Not Brad?”

“No. I hate when people shorten my name. It’s Bradley.”

Ryan openly laughed then. “All right. I can respect that. I won’t call you Brad.” He offered his arm up for Bradley, and he looped his arm in the wolf’s almost instantly. “Did you think of things you want to try?”

“Yes. I thought about a few things that I wouldn’t mind trying. I read about this flogging scene in my book, so I’d like to feel that,” Bradley said, trying not the blush as he answered Ryan’s questions.

“That’s doable. What else?”

Bradley swallowed and took the plunge. “I really want you to fuck me.” He saw Ryan’s shoulders tense and hurried to finish. “I know that it doesn’t have to go there, but I want it to. I need to know if it’s on the table and if I got a vote, what I wanted to vote for.”

Ryan hesitated. “Fine. It’s on the table. When we’re ready and not until.”

“Tonight?”

“Don’t push it, smartass.”

Bradley sighed. “You take all the fun out of teasing you.”

“I’m the second-highest-ranked person in my pack. I don’t usually get teased by availables,” Ryan said, cutting a pointed look over in Bradley’s direction.

“What do they usually do?”

“Swoon,” Ryan rumbled. It took him a minute to register that Ryan was teasing him back. He laughed, loving this side of the Dom. “Flogging and fucking. Anything else?”

Bradley shrugged. “I’m not sure really. I don’t know a lot about it. What’s that long thing that people use to smack horses with?” They’d made it back to the table, and Ryan motioned for him to regain his seat. Kira came over a second later with their food.

“I went ahead and put in Mustang’s order. It’ll be up when you guys finish up,” Kira said as she sat the plates in front of them. It seemed like sheer BBQ heaven, and Bradley’s stomach rumbled in admiration.
When was the last time I ate
? He couldn’t remember. Not since yesterday afternoon. “Someone is hungry.” She winked. “Wave me over if you need a refill. I’ll let you two talk.”