Fortune's Favor (A Power Up! Story) (8 page)

Avery still wondered exactly how Nathan had overpowered his uncle all those years ago. He’d had to have been all of thirteen, up against a mature man who’d been trained to kill. He had a feeling Nathan hadn’t told him the whole truth about the incident.

He sighed and moved back into the kitchen, needing something to do. After a few moments spent gathering tools, he began sanding the kitchen cabinets in need of a new stain. While he worked, he tried to think how he might have handled the situation in Nathan’s place.

So say his aunt died, and he found out she was really his mother. He had no other siblings, no family, just her. According to Jack, Nathan and his aunt were really tight. Just great. Avery would be missing the hell out of his aunt, angry she’d lied to him, and then thrust back into the nightmare of his past. He’d have to work with a partner he didn’t really know or even like, truth to tell, but one who made his cock hard nonetheless. At the mercy of his hormones, his grief, and a danger coming closer day by day.

Was it any wonder Nathan had wanted to drink his worries away? Hell, Avery couldn’t blame him. Nathan hurt, and he reached out, wanting to feel better. Sure, sex was an easy cure. But like the booze, it was also a crutch. Avery swore at himself as he sanded chipped paint off the cabinets. He shouldn’t have given in to desire and been with Nathan yesterday.

So what that he couldn’t remember any of his past lovers after that brief interlude? And sure, Nathan was sexier than hell. The man didn’t know what he was doing. Despite the attraction between them, Nathan had never acted on it before. Shit, just days ago he’d been trying to fuck anything that moved. Strangers would do. Was Avery really any different from those available partners?

Why did it fucking piss him off to think he was just like all the rest of the men in Nathan’s life—disposable? Avery felt as if he’d lost something in their sexual exploration. Coming twice, kissing the man, feeling that taut flesh against his… He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Him.

With a disgusted curse, he threw down the sanding block and made his way back up the stairs toward Nathan’s room. A peek inside showed his partner sound asleep. Thank God. Avery walked next door and decided to make better use of his time than fixing up a tired house. Instead he tried to piece together the puzzle that was Malcolm Dixon. What made the man tick? Why had he turned from loving his wife to almost killing her and her nephew? Why abuse a small boy the way he had? Had the government been responsible for his change? Or had he always been bad to the bone? What would he be like now?

Hours later after pouring through every nugget Ian had sent him, Avery came back to the same clue that puzzled the hell out of him. Why had Danielle sent her son to live with her sister? Who had she slept with while Malcolm worked abroad? He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he had a feeling the answers to everything lay with Danielle Dixon. And only one person could help him solve the questions that plagued him.

The poor bastard getting some much-needed rest next door.

* * * *

Nathan woke feeling deeply rested. A glance out the window showed night had fallen. Hell, he must have slept the day away. He rose, took care of his needs, and dressed. After a hurried race through the cold hallway and down the stairs, he entered into a cozy living room. The gas fire burned. The lights had been turned low, and the smell of Chinese food made his mouth water. Then he noticed Avery sitting in an oversize chair reading a book and had to check himself for drool. Good God, the man did wonders for jeans and sweaters.

Avery glanced up and put the book aside. “Finally awake, I see. Feeling better?”

“Yeah, I am, actually.” Nathan rubbed his stomach, famished. “What’s to eat?”

“Take your pick. Noodles, rice, chicken, and shrimp. It’s in the kitchen.”

Nathan left Avery, loaded up a plate, and returned to the living room. Avery watched him with an intent look that discomfited him. “What?”

“Just wondering if you being here is the right thing.”

Nathan groaned. “Not this again. You already saw me here. What the hell, man?”

“In a vision. But you said it yourself. I don’t know when I saw you. Might be a year from now that you confront Dixon.” In a low voice, Avery added, “You need time to get through all this.”

“You sound like you care.”

“Don’t be an ass. Sure I care.” At Nathan’s raised brow, Avery added, “I don’t want to get my head shot off while you’re moping over your loss and thinking up ways to kill your uncle.”

“That’s really sweet of you, Avery.”

Avery grinned, and Nathan’s heart raced. “That’s me. Mr. Caring. No, seriously. I was thinking about it a lot today. You lost your mother. It’s a big deal, man. Take the time you need to get through this. We should go back to Bend. We’ll figure out another way to get Dixon to show himself.”

“What about the job? We’re supposed to get that blade back for our client.”

Avery shrugged. “It’s been missing for a year at least. What’s another few months? Hell. If he wants it so bad, Jack can put someone else on the case. Let Aidan take it. He’s been a real pain in the ass lately, wanting to get out and do some field work.”

Nathan chuckled. “You have to admit, working in the gym isn’t nearly as exciting as undercover ops.”

“Oh yeah. House-sitting in Bloomville is a huge thrill.”

Nathan’s held his fork over his plate as he studied his partner.

Avery frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You really mean it? You’d drop this mission and go back? For me?”

“So what?” Avery quickly amended, “Not just for you. It’s a safety issue is all. Better for both of us if we deal with Dixon when we’re more focused.”

Nathan slowly put his fork down. “I know I’m fucked up. But what’s your problem?” He had a feeling he knew. His cock filled out, and his nipples grew hard when he thought about Avery’s issues.

Avery glared at him. “You’re my problem.”

“I knew it.” He grinned, and Avery’s expression grew even darker.

“You don’t follow orders on a good day. But now you’re sad and hurting, and it’s not good that you’re here.”

“Oh?”

“Fuck it. We need to pack up and head home.”

Nathan rose from his seat and stood over Avery, still slouched in his chair. “I think you’re worried about me.”

“You’re my partner. Of course I’m worried about you.”

“It’s more than that, isn’t it?” Nathan ran a hand over Avery’s cheek, attuned to the bigger man’s expanding pupils, the breath he sucked in, and the body that looked tense, poised to spring.

“Cut it out.” That husky voice turned him on like clockwork.

“I want to fuck you.”

Avery shook his head and grabbed Nathan’s hand when Nathan wouldn’t move it away. “You want to fuck to forget. Just a few days ago, you were going to do that dickhead in the bar. You think you want me, but you really want comfort.” Avery swallowed hard. “I can’t give you that.”

“What can you give me?” Nathan knew Avery was wrong, but he couldn’t resist the hint of unease in his partner’s eyes. Avery always appeared so sure of himself, that to see him the slightest bit unsure was mesmerizing.

“A good, hard fuck. I’d ram it deep in that ass, Nate.”

“So what’s—”

“But the problem is, I don’t know you.”

Nathan frowned. “Sure you do.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t know who you’ve been with. I want to fuck you bare, but I won’t chance it. Hell, even going down on you is a risk.”

Nathan’s desire pulsed with anger. “I might like to play the field, but I don’t fuck with my safety.”

“Oh?”

Nathan recalled the other night when he was drunk off his ass and flushed. “Cut me some slack, dickhead. My mother just died. So I was out of it a few nights ago.”

Avery’s expression softened, and Nathan wondered if he was aware of it. “I know, man. You’ve been through a lot of shit in the last few weeks. But Nathan, that’s just one more reason we should wait.”

“I’m done waiting.” Nathan would be damned if he’d let anyone or anything get in his way. Time was just too short. “I could be dead tomorrow. I want you now. Tonight. You don’t know me? I don’t know you. What’s so hard about wearing condoms?”

Avery’s jaw clenched tight. Oh yeah, he had a hard-on going strong in those jeans.

“Come on. You know you want me. If it makes you feel better, I always wear a condom. Always. And I don’t blow just anyone.” He wanted to suck Avery again. “I’d be worried about you, except you’re the poster boy for safe sex. Hell, for safe everything.” He snorted. “Have you ever taken a chance in your well-ordered life?”

Avery exploded out of the chair and knocked Nathan back a step. Before Nathan could complain, Avery powered him over his shoulder and took the steps two at a time to his room.

“Holy shit. You’re strong as a bull,” he rasped as he bounced over Avery’s shoulder.

“You just won’t quit. Fine. We’re gonna fuck. All night long. And you’ll do what you’re told.”

“A closet dom. Figures.” Nathan couldn’t for the life of him think about anything but obeying Avery to the letter. He felt faint, feverish with desire. His deepest fantasies were about to come true. Submission to a stronger man. But not to just any man. To Avery Holton, the one person he’d never been able to get out of his mind.

And now, if he was lucky, out of his body.

Avery could barely see straight. He hadn’t meant to commit to this, but damn if Nathan would stop picking at his control. He had tried to do the right thing, tried to give the man time and space. But Nathan, being Nathan, had to have things his own way.

“You’re a brat,” Avery snapped and tossed him down on his bed. Avery’s room. Avery’s rules. “Always what
you
want when
you
want it.”

Nathan propped himself up on his elbows. His hair slid over his forehead, hiding one eye, and he’d never looked sexier. Avery could see the hard cock pressed against the back of Nathan’s fly. He knew how Nathan’s chest would flex, how his nipples would stand on end, taut and rosy with arousal.

“Take off your clothes.” He stood with his arms crossed, glaring down at the playboy. “Tonight you do what I tell you to, or you’ll get punished. No safe words, no stopping this. We do it my way. If you can’t take that, get the hell off my bed and out of this room. Now.”

Nathan’s answer was to shrug off his sweatshirt and start on the button of his jeans.

Avery shifted his stance, ready to blow with each revealed bit of skin.

“You look hard, buddy. Pretty needy.” Nathan chuckled as he slid out of his jeans and underwear. Then he removed his socks and lay back, completely naked. “What now, Master?”

“Smart-ass.” If only the bastard would mean it, Avery would insist he use the term. “Now you lay there and let me look at you.”

He took his time, lingering on the washboard abs, the crunch of muscle in those rock-hard biceps. “You have long legs. Muscular. I like those thick thighs. I wonder what they’ll feel like wrapped around me while I fuck that hole of yours.”

Nathan’s cock pearled at the tip, the creamy bead of dew a testament to his desire.

“Nice sex talk. You’re good at this.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” Avery took his sweater off, not feeling a bit of the cold. He couldn’t, when he was on fire to fuck Nathan. “You’re the one with all the fantasies of me being a prude. I like sex. A lot. And I haven’t been getting enough lately.”

“So that’s what this is? Desperation?” Nathan snorted.

“No. You make too many assumptions, dimples. I like to fuck, and I do a lot you’ve probably never dreamed of.” He liked the way Nathan’s eyes widened. “I always wear a rubber. And I’m clean.”

“Yeah, well, so am I.”

“Reason I’m telling you this is because I don’t want you to be concerned when I come in your mouth again. Or in that ass without a condom.”

Nathan’s breathing increased, and his cock jumped. “You just said you don’t know me. That I could be some disease-ridden fag.”

“You need to tone back on the drama.” Avery unbuttoned the top tab of his jeans, pleased to see Nathan’s gaze glued to his fingers. “One, I know you’re clean, unless you fucked someone between the fifteenth of December and now that I’ve missed.”

Nathan frowned. “That was the date of my physical. That info is confidential.”

“Yeah, right. Two, I don’t like the constant references that I’m a homophobe. I’m bisexual, Nathan. And I like myself; therefore, I don’t hate gays.”

“So women too, huh?” Nathan licked his lips as Avery eased the buttons open on his jeans.

His dick felt like it was about to explode. “Sure. A warm, wet pussy can be nice. And sucking on a pair of tits is hot. Usually.” He lowered his jeans and underwear and sighed at the relief in his balls. “But there’s something about a hot, tight ass lately that’s been exciting me. And a nice broad chest. You’re getting more definition.” Avery didn’t remove his clothes, but he did step closer to the bed.

“Take ’em off,” Nathan rasped. “You want to fuck me? So do it.” He spread his legs wide and held up his dick, showing Avery his plump balls.

“See, that’s the problem. You giving orders.” Avery shook his head. “Come over here and suck me off. I want you on your hands and knees. No touching, except with your mouth.”

“You really are a prick, aren’t you?” Nathan rolled onto his hands and knees and crawled to Avery.

“I am. And that’s why you’re so fucking hard for it. You like me mean.”

Nathan groaned. “And so arrogant. I must be a masochist.”

“We’ll see,” Avery murmured, intending to know all about Nathan before the night was through. God, he’d been wanting this forever. The timing absolutely sucked, but he planned to teach Nathan the art of patience. Since his partner couldn’t wait until they got home, when
Avery
had wanted to get together, he’d give him something to remember for a long time to come.

“Now,” Avery said and held his cock out. “Open that mouth, dimples. Let’s see you suck some cock.”

Nathan kissed the head of his cock and winked up at him while he did it.

“I said suck it.” Avery gripped Nathan’s head and shoved between those lips. He gagged the pretty boy on his dick and groaned. “That’s it. Let it hit the back of your throat. Bad boys don’t get to play. They follow orders.”