Page 52 of Gratification in Gluttony

“What? No! I definitely shouldnotput you down. Gem needs to leave!”

Gem had the audacity to be offended. “What about game night? This place is a mess!”

“It is not. I cleaned it before I went to the station.”

“Really?” Gem looked around, face screwed up in disapproval. “It smells.”

“Like air freshener,” Toni defended.

“What scent? Because I’m picking up stale ass,” Gem said. “When was the last time you opened a window?”

“The windows are open!” Toni gestured violently at all the open windows.

“Oh,” Gem said, drawing out the word. “It’s the outside that smells. It’s trash day, and your neighborhood is always last for pick-up. And in this heat… Yeah, we should shut those windows right now.”

As Gem started doing just that, Toni morosely let Jude slide down his body until he was standing on his own two feet. Jude straightened his clothes, double-checking that his shorts were still closed. Like a child deprived of his birthday presents, Toni pouted.

“Toni,” Jude said.

“What?” Toni said miserably.

Smiling, Jude framed Toni’s face in his hands and pulled him down, pressing a sweet, chaste kiss to his mouth. Toni’s mood improved instantly, and he kissed Jude back, following Jude’s lead and keeping it gentle. Jude’s lips were soft, softer than Toni’s, and full. Toni wanted to suck on his lower lip like a lollipop.

Instead, he simply licked across the seam of Jude’s mouth, only once, just for a taste. Jude disconnected them, eyesnarrowed chidingly, though the smile curling his mouth softened the reprimand. Toni smirked and winked.

“Point me to your bathroom,” Jude instructed, and Toni motioned to the hall.

“End of the hall.”

Toni watched Jude until he was out of sight, and only then, turned to face his best friend. Gem was simpering at Toni, top hands clasped together in front of his chest, all eight eyes watery.

“That was beautiful,” Gem said.

“You’re the universe’s biggest cockblock,” Toni said.

With a nod, Gem sniffled. “Hurtful, but fair.”

“Would you get out of here? I can probably still salvage this.”

“But game night starts in, like, an hour and a half, and you know Zef is gonna be on time,” Gem said, pointing at the clock on the wall.

“I can be fast,” Toni said.

Gem frowned. “Um, selfish. Are you sure you want your first time with Jude to be rushed? You want your skills to shine, babe, and a time limit is never good for anyone.”

In Toni’s mind, an hour and a half was more than sufficient, but maybe he was doing sex all wrong? Shit, was he a selfish lover? He prided himself on his partners always having a good time, and he’d never gotten any complaints.

“Wait, how long do you have sex for?” Toni asked, and Gem shrugged.

“Depends on who’s doing it with me. When I’m alone? If I’m in a time crunch, a solid thirty will do me, though I prefer forty-five.”

“Forty-five minutes to masturbate?” Toni cried. “What the fuck are you even doing for that long?”

Gem’s jaw dropped. “Don’t cum-shame me, Tonus! I just said I get self-conscious.”

“Don’t call me Tonus. Only my mother calls me that.”

“Is that your name?” Jude asked from behind him, and Toni startled. Damn, the human could be quiet when he wanted to be. Or maybe Toni was just too distracted right now to have heard him approach.

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