Page 53 of One More Time

Tyler nodded, but I didn’t miss the warning in the look he shared with Cal. “Protect him at all costs.”

“I’ll bring some food back for us. Hunter, are you staying?”

I looked to Tyler for guidance, and he took my hand.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Cal answered. “See you two hunks soon.” He winked and Jamie scoffed.

“Please don’t corrupt my brother!” Tyler called as they disappeared through the wooden door.

The soft click was like a wall going down. The man who was holding everything together turned to look at me, and I saw every ounce of pain behind those eyes. I took his hand and led him into the room I presumed to be his. I don’t know how I knew my guy would be the stupidly organized type, but I did. His bed was made so tightly you could bounce a coin off it. It was much like him as a person—the outward display of perfection, but only a cover for old worn sheets of someone who has gone through too much.

The moment his door closed, I grunted at the impact of his body hitting mine. He snuggled into the crook of my neck, his breathing heavy enough to make me sweat.

“I’ve got you, baby. I got you.”

His cries were spontaneous and unforgiving. I held onto him tightly, even as he began to buckle under the weight of his grief. “They’re gone,” he wailed. “They’re both gone.”

I held him silently. I couldn’t say anything—there was nothing to say. Nothing made any of this okay. Voicing that wouldn’t make anything better. It sucked, that was the reality of it. The shittiest things happen to the best people. He never deserved to lose one of his parents, let alone both.

“I don’t think I ever really processed it, you know?” he sniffled. “That fact he was gone. Because right after Mum was diagnosed with cancer, then it became about looking after her while protecting Jamie and pretending that I was okay. Fuck, Hunt—all I’ve done is pretend to be okay.”

The tears that fell from my eyes were as much for him as they were for me. I knew what that was like, putting on a mask for everyone. Though I could handle it—my burden was nothing like that of Tyler’s. I led him to the bed, laying down and pulling him close.

“I just keep thinking about how I won’t be able to call back home and tell her about my day. She’ll never be at my games; she will never get to see if I go pro.”

“You will go pro. And whether you believe in an afterlife or not, baby, I believe she’ll be watching. She’ll see you shoot that first NHL goal, win that first game—and she’ll see you win the Stanley Cup. That I know for sure. You’re impossible not to keep tabs on, even in the afterlife.”

I wasn’t sure if I was saying the right things. But when those teary blue eyes looked at me, they told me something I said helped at least a little.

He dipped forward to kiss me, and all the emotions he couldn’t put into words were instead tattooed upon my lips. I felt every hint of grief, but I also felt his affection towards me. I didn’t stop him because selfishly, I wanted any bit of Tyler Riley he would give me. He lifted onto his elbow and the kiss grew in passion. When he rolled on top of me, I placed my hand on his chest to make him pause. His heart beat fast and heavy under my palm.

“Baby, are you sure? We can just lie here together.” Again, I questioned the right and wrong of supporting the person you loved through grief. If there was a textbook it likely would say “Don’t let them fuck the emotions away.”

“Yes. I need you. I need to feel you, feel something that will bring me back from this all. I need to be grounded. You do that for me.”

My heart stilled in my chest. I wanted him to feel that, because he was more than wanted. He was becoming my center—my home and that was scary. Despite the voice that told me I shouldn’t, I nodded. I let him take off my clothes, then I did the same for him. I kissed every freckle, every groove of muscle, hoping he had the ability to know how I felt for him with my touch alone.

He matched me touch for touch and when it was time, he leaned over to his side drawer and pulled out what we needed.

He rolled the condom onto me before I took my time prepping him. I stretched him, getting him good and ready for me as his head fell back. The cords of his neck were taut with the pleasure I gave him. His breathing was heavy, his groans bouncing off the bare walls of his bedroom.

He tugged my hand from his ass in silent demand and I watched, entranced as he took control, angling my cock to his entrance. My breath came out in short, stuttered pants as he sank down, enveloping my shaft in the warmth of his body. My balls drew tight.

Tyler paused, but only for a moment. I didn’t know whether it was for him to adjust or to keep me from blowing my load right then and there.

Then, he began to move. He rocked his hips at a tantalizing pace. I fought against letting my eyes close, desperate to keep my eyes on the image of Tyler riding me like he was designed for it. I brushed away the hair that fell over his face so I could fully appreciate the soft light from the window filtering through the curtain to highlight every perfect angle.

I sat up, needing to be closer. With my arms wrapped around his waist, I let him take everything he needed from me, occasionally bucking up to hit just the right spot. His lips molded with mine, and we let ourselves get lost in one another. It wasn’t lost on us that this was no longer just fucking, and with it, our orgasms didn’t hit hard and fast like before. The build was slow, but twice as euphoric. The tingle of pleasure built until we crashed over the edge together, melting into each other with our mutual climaxes.

We stayed there wrapped up in each other’s embrace, sweat cooling on our skin and the scent of sex heavy around us. As our noses brushed and our foreheads rested together, I thought about the amazing man laying on me. His strength was beyond admirable. He showed impeccable strength in the darkest of times. But despite all that, I wanted to be there for him, through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I leaned in to give him one more kiss before we eventually fell asleep.

The creak of the front door jolted me awake. A gentle knock followed that signaled Jamie’s arrival.

“Dinner’s here,” his youthful voice called out through the door.

Tyler mumbled back a drowsy response, prompting me to steal a glance at him. His hair was tousled, eyes tired, yet a newfound relaxation graced his features.

---