The Other Book Read online

  “Bullshit! You say you need me, but you treat me like shit. I want to know why. I wouldn’t bother, but you’re an intelligent man, and I respect you for the way you do business. I haven’t ever done anything to provoke you. For the third time, what is your problem with me?” My voice grew louder—I couldn’t help it. I pushed off the counter, getting into his space. I was frustrated with his stubborn denial. He never behaved like this with anyone else. Only me. Snide remarks, cold stares, avoiding me in the halls and in the kitchen, a stiff nod instead of a hello. He didn’t fucking know me! And I did good job, great even—he never complained about any aspect of my work performance. I had won him prizes, for fuck’s sake!

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he insisted sternly. He put the papers he was holding on the kitchen counter and looked away.

  I’d had enough. “I can quit tonight, Joel. If you treat me like dirt one day and like an idiot the next, I have zero motivation to stay. I can earn the same money elsewhere and even get some appreciation for it.”

  Something flashed across his face, and I smiled. Fear. Joel was afraid.

  “What the hell are you scared of, Joel?”

  “You’re insane,” he muttered.

  “Usually, I’d think it’s because I’m gay, but you don’t strike me as the type.”

  There it was again. Fear. Genuine fear. His jaw twitched, his cheeks went pale, and he clenched his fists. Then it hit me. My mouth fell open.

  “Oh, wow,” I gasped.

  He met my gaze, and I must have missed the moment it all clicked into place. Because now he obviously knew that I knew, and his face went from pale to red in two seconds.

  Joel Sandstrom was closeted. I would never have guessed.

  His expression morphed from fear to anger, and he moved lightning fast. Suddenly, I was with my back to the fridge, Joel’s forearm over my chest and his knee between mine. His fist banged loudly into the fridge door next to my head. My eyes wide, I gaped. Joel was only a half a head shorter than me—we both towered over the crowd most of the time. He was broad and muscled, where I was wiry. A brutal, physical strength pulsed within his form. Yet I wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t violent. He was terrified. I felt sorry for him.

  “I’m not going to tell anyone, boss,” I said, smiling a little.

  His perfect lips parted as he breathed, hot air fanning my mouth. His face changed again, and this time, I could see perfectly the instant he lost his cool. He pushed harder against my chest, his jaw clenched. He didn’t say anything, just grunted with exertion. He could crush me like a bug—well, break my ribs at the very least.

  And I, the sicko I was, found him incredibly hot right then. The way he lost control was so…erotic. I licked my lips, and he caught it, his eyes widening.

  Letting him hold me against the fridge even though I could have thrown him off me, I bucked my hips until our groins met. He was hard just like me. He grunted, and I grinned wider.

  I rocked my hips into him, and he gasped, his eyes closing. His grip on me loosened, and I moved my hands to cup his ass. He braced himself, jaw locked tight, eyes squeezed shut, hands flat against the fridge, bracketing my shoulders.

  He didn’t move away.

  Holding his hips, I thrust against him, feeling his erection through his slacks and letting him feel mine. His breathing intensified, and he started meeting my thrusts. He still wouldn’t look at me, his expression pinched and nostrils flared.

  Tightening my grip, I swung him sideways, surprising him. He grunted as his back hit the wall next to the fridge. Not wasting any time, I unzipped his pants and mine, and caught our cocks together, squeezing and stroking. Joel’s mouth fell open and his moan echoed through the old warehouse like a gunshot.

  I unlocked the cage, and the beast broke out. He was spectacular.

  Gone was the rational businessman. This Joel was out of his mind with arousal and uninhibited passion. He moaned and rocked his hips, his hand fumbling over mine as I stroked our cocks, the other disappearing behind his back and down between his ass cheeks. I realized he was fingering himself. Fuck, yeah!

  I grabbed his wrist with my other hand to trace the movement, and then I pushed, using his hand to fuck him harder. He threw his head back, and it banged against the wall. His exposed throat begged me to suck and bite, but I didn’t. I wanted to watch his face as our hands jerked our cocks and fucked his ass dry.

  He roared when he came, spurting all over my hand and soiling the hem of my T-shirt. I let go off his spent cock but kept stroking myself hard and fast, his come easing the way. My other hand was still locked around his, and his middle finger, I realized, still in his ass. I gripped it tighter and pushed deeper, making him groan and rock his hips. I imagined turning him around, bending him over the table and pushing my long cock up his ass to the hilt, using only his own come as lube. He circled his hips and ground on our hands, on his finger, spent but still turned-the-fuck-on, making me think he’d love it. Joel would love me using him, fucking him raw, and he’d beg for more. I came to the fantasy, and he watched, rocking on the invasion in his hole, his cock half-hard.

  ***

  The next day, he acted as if nothing had ever happened. Except when Tina left in the evening, and Joel and I walked into each other in the hallway in front of the conference room, he just looked at me and sank to his knees. He unzipped my pants and swallowed my cock without a word. That was two months ago.

  Since the first time, I had learned I could count on him. The more stressed out he was, the more overworked, the more likely was he to seek me out. It didn’t seem healthy for him, but selfishly, I made myself available. A better man might have stopped him. But I just…didn’t want to.

  2

  Thursday was a long day.

  I messaged Christoffer to say I wouldn’t be able to make it this weekend because my boss was a slave-driving ass.

  At least it’s a good-looking ass, Christoffer replied.

  Tina knocked on my booth at half past eleven.

  “Tyler? Joel says he wants you in the conference room at one for the meeting with Mercury.”

  I scowled, my mood getting worse by the second. “He could have emailed me, messaged me, or come here to tell me himself. You’re not his secretary.”

  Tina rolled her eyes. “Calm down, Avenger. I bumped into Joel in the kitchen. He mentioned you might need to be there. I told him I’d let you know.”

  It took a me a while, but in the end, I had to admit I had no comeback to something so…normal. Damn it. He didn’t even give me valid reasons to hate on him.

  “I’ll be there,” I mumbled, turning back to my screen.

  “He’s a good guy, Tyler. Cut him some slack,” Tina said.

  “Me?” I pivoted on my chair to face her. Joel was the one being a jerk. And he was the boss! How was I supposed to cut him slack?

  “You know what I mean,” Tina threw over her shoulder, walking away toward her desk.

  “What?” I called after her, but she didn’t reply.

  Two hours later, I parked my butt in the conference room, opposite Joel. He was looking at his laptop screen intently, not acknowledging me. He never talked to me unless he absolutely had to.

  “Nice tie. Matches the ice in your chest,” I commented.

  “They will be here in three minutes. Please behave,” Joel said evenly, still not lifting his gaze from the laptop.

  “You don’t like it when I behave,” I told him, leaning back.

  His eyes flashed to me for an instant, and his lip twitched. Otherwise, expression Number One: immaculate control and contained rage. “Tyler, can you act professionally for ninety minutes?” he hissed.

  That was it. How come I was suddenly the unprofessional one?

  “How’s your throat today, Joel? Sore?” I asked loudly just as the door creaked open.

  Joel sucked in a breath and clenched his jaw. Red stain crept up his neck, but he stood gracefully and offered his hand to the forty-something woman who entered the room. A tall young man in a lovely dark-blue suit followed her. He had high cheekbones and porcelain skin, and he blushed fiercely when he saw me. Nice. I made sure to smile at him when we shook hands. His eyelids fluttered. Matt, who held the door for the Mercury people, gave us a tight greeting and closed it.

  We sat, and my attention shifted from the young beauty back to my boss. Joel’s stare became glacial. I smirked. This was going to be fun.

  ***

  It wasn’t fun. At all. Their requirements were unspecific, their expectations exaggerated, and the pretty boy was a pretentious jerk. I suffered through the hour and a half trying not to let them know they had only wasted my time.

  Joel accompanied the Mercury people to the hall and shook hands with both. I tried to slip past them back to my soundproof sanctuary, intent on closing myself in there for the rest of the day. I hated client meetings with a passion—even when they involved pretty young things. But Joel called after me, ruining my escape.

  “Tyler? Can you wait in the conference room? It will only take a minute.”

  I let out my frustration by making the face of a backstabbed warrior and slowly turned around.

  Back in the conference room, I sat down on the same chair, which was still warm from my butt. Hopefully, Joel would only want to go through the details of the meeting and then I could go hide again.

  He stepped inside and closed the door.

  “I have a request,” he began slowly. He stayed by the door, as far from me as possible.

  I leaned forward and supported my chin in my palm, waiting.

  “I can’t let the situation get out of hand,” Joel continued, suspiciously vague. “I have some serious private matters going on right now. I hope you will understand and help me to…handle this gracefully. I can’t afford any added complications.”

  Oh, it was that kind of a request!

  “Joel, I told you, I won’t out you. I’m not a complete shit,” I said with disgust. What the hell did he think of me?

  Joel flashed me a disturbed look. “No, I know that. I only need us to…stop being personal.”

  “You mean you won’t suck my dick anymore, boss?”

  He had the grace to wince, yet he didn’t reply.

  I stood. “I haven’t initiated anything between us for the past month and a half, Joel. It’s always been you. We can stop. No problem. Is that all?”

  His eyes finally met mine, and he stared. I searched his expression for a hint of regret, but there was nothing. His eyes were empty—disturbingly so. The look lasted for five seconds. I knew because I counted in my head.

  “Yes. That’s all,” he finally said.

  “Good. I have work to do,” I told him, and he all but jumped out of the way. The door shut with a thud, closing Joel in the large sterile conference room by himself.

  Why? Why did it itch and burn in my stomach when I imagined not touching him again? He was arrogant, cold, closeted, and not interested.

  Damn it. Fuck it all to hell.

  The blinking green light on my phone broke the downward spiral of my thoughts.

  Adam says you should come to our place tonight. Dinner, drink, relax, Christoffer wrote.

  Just what I needed. Hell yes. I’d love to unwind.

  Him: The boss again?

  I sighed at my screen. Christoffer knew me well. The boss again.

  Him: It’s not worth it. You should quit before it gets complicated.

  Too late for that.

  Thanks for the invitation. I’ll be there at seven, I wrote.

  Him: See you :)

  ***

  I sat in Christoffer and Adam’s kitchen, drinking their expensive wine and watching as they cleaned up after dinner. Well, Christoffer was doing most of the cleaning while Adam chatted and flitted around, occasionally grabbing Christoffer’s ass or kissing his cheek.

  Small and lithe, dark-haired, with milky skin and big innocent eyes, Adam was a lovely guy. They looked great together—my old friend, burly Christoffer, and him.

  “You want to play?” Adam asked innocently when he refilled my glass.

  “Not today,” I said, and he pouted his pretty lips.

  “He’s hung up on his boss,” Christoffer muttered, drying his hands on a dish towel. Adam’s huge doe eyes widened even more.

  “On Joel Sandstrom?”

  “No,” I protested tiredly, faking disinterest.

  “Yes, he is.”

  “I’m exhausted, that’s all. But I’d love to watch.”

  Adam grinned. “You can watch,” he said. “Right, baby?” He turned to his partner, put a hand on his shoulder and, stretching on his tiptoes, licked Christoffer’s ear.

  Christoffer hummed. “Oh yeah.”

  ***

  Lounging in a low armchair on their patio, I looked on as they kissed, still dressed. The spacious house stood at the foot of a cliff; the sea hummed in the distance, and the closest neighbor was a mile away. Their home was perfectly secluded and totally worth the forty-five-minute drive to work they did daily.

  The night was humid, the air unmoving. Under the patio roof, surrounded by rhododendrons and pine trees, the sounds didn’t travel. When Christoffer bit Adam’s nipple, the young man’s yelp ended sharply with no echo. The small hideaway behind their house felt cut off from the rest of the world, and I just drifted away in my mind—away from the city, from work, from demanding clients, from Joel Sandstrom—far away from everyday reality and into this hot little bubble of erotic perfection.

  I drank more of the wine and let my head fall back, enjoying the tingling in my groin. Adam’s T-shirt slid to the wooden deck, and he sat in Christoffer’s lap on the large sofa in front of me. Christoffer’s hands kneaded his ass as Adam ground against his partner for a while, kissing and suckling on his tongue. They were beautiful together—the contrast between them inexplicably arousing—both exquisite but completely different.

  Christoffer was broad and heavily muscled with thick body hair. His barrel torso was covered with light freckles, and he had a slightly protruding but firm belly and a distinct V-shaped abdomen. When Adam stood to take off the rest of his clothes, the bulge in Christoffer’s jeans looked threateningly large. I knew the size of that cock, the girth. Christoffer was a similar length to me, but heavy and impossibly thicker at the tip, the veins even more visible when he was hard. And he was circumcised.

  I couldn’t wait for when he pulled the monster out. I could suck him again. I knew I said I only wanted to watch but damn it…I could feel the familiar itch, not just arousal, but small tingly bubbles of freedom whispering through my bloodstream. I could do anything. I could touch and taste, and it would only make us all feel glorious.

  Adam looked fragile in his lover’s massive arms, his milky skin blemish free, his hairless chest smooth and wiry. He had a small, but gorgeous butt with dimples above, fitting perfectly into Christoffer’s palms. He was naked now, rubbing his cock against his lover’s belly. Their bodies had the quality of classical art, outrageously beautiful—a harmony of curves and angles, fitting together with ease like old, familiar lovers do. Their obvious affection for each other was most beautiful of all.

  Christoffer caught Adam in his arms and flipped him on his back. He licked a swathe up Adam’s cock, and his gaze turned to me as he hovered above the glowing, lean body laid out in front of him.

  “Sure you don’t want to join us?”

  I shook my head. Later. “I’m loving the view,” I said, smiling, and rubbed my groin with my palm.

  Adam tugged Christoffer’s head back down, making him suck his cock and moaning as he bowed his back, stretching his arms above his head. He got off on me watching them. He loved Christoffer deeply and unconditionally, but he enjoyed attention. And Christoffer knew how to give it to him.

  They started playing with threesomes and other couples two years back. It only solidified their relationship. They had rules they were both comfortable with, and they knew how to stay connected at all times as if there were an invisible wire between them. I envied them.

  I opened my pants and stroked my cock. My hand felt cold and it dampened my arousal, which was a good thing. Adam grabbed his legs under his knees and opened up for his lover, sighing loudly as Christoffer licked over his pucker, balls, and up his cock several times.

  “You’re making our friend so hard, sweetheart,” Christoffer told Adam between licks, and Adam groaned, grinding onto the tongue fucking his ass.

  I shifted in my seat so I could see better, watching where Christoffer’s beard brushed the soft skin of Adam’s taint. My hard cock in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, I was at ease with myself after what felt like weeks of constant tension.

  “Turn around, baby,” Christoffer said, and Adam obeyed, turning onto all fours so I could see his pucker, wet from saliva.

  Christoffer slid two fingers inside him, and Adam moaned.

  “Jesus, Adam,” I sighed. He was exquisite, so hot and horny. His erotic abandon was a harsh contrast to his innocent eyes. “I want to come watching Christoffer’s cock plow your ass.”

  “That’s…the plan,” Adam said, grunting.

  Christoffer licked again around his fingers and then he used both hands. Pushing two index fingers inside, he stretched Adam’s hole open and added his tongue. He was careful to angle his head so I could see. I squeezed my cock.

  Adam hissed and swore, rocking back on Christoffer’s fingers and tongue. I caught glimpses of his neglected hard shaft between his thighs.

  Suddenly Christoffer stopped and stepped back.

  Adam whined. “No!” He reached behind him and pushed his own fingers into his hole as if he couldn’t bear the emptiness. I knew how he felt. God, I hadn’t been fucked in ages.

  Christoffer stripped out of his jeans, naked underneath them, and stroked his giant tool, watching his partner writhe in frustration.

  “You need me that bad, sweetheart?” he asked.