Page 66 of From Best To Bested

“I told you I haven’t done more, not that I wasn’t open to more,” Levi corrected. “I’ve made it very clear that for the right person, I’m definitely open to be opened.”

Roman chuckled. “Yeah, me too. Um, it’s just I haven’t done this. I mean, I’ve done this. I have fucked people. Women. Mostly. Um, men, too, but I wasn’t the one doing the…yeah. But I have done anal. Like a few times. Um, I just, um…it’s been a while. Like before prison, which is ironic, right?”

“Well, it’s been sort of nonexistent for me...you know.” Levi wiggled his eyebrows. “Wanna help change that?”

Roman had willed himself to stop craving such things. So much of his sexual desires had been lost and forgotten and surrendered in order to ensure he always pleased his partner.

“Let’s give it a whirl.” Levi tossed a lube packet at Roman.

“Yeah.” Roman swallowed hard and approached the bed. “I’ll go easy.”

Roman steadied himself between Levi’s spread legs, readying himself, and slowly moved closer until the head of his cock brushed up against the crack of Levi’s hole.

“I trust you.” Levi leaned forward as much as he could, waiting for Roman to fill the space.

Roman did. He leaned forward, pressing his head against Levi’s and swallowing the sound of his moan as he thrust into him. Each push sent waves of euphoric pleasure through Roman’s entire body. He couldn’t remember ever feeling like this in his entire life. He wondered if this was what love felt like, what trust felt like, what happiness felt like. Real happiness. God, he couldn’t fathom ever surrendering such a feeling.

Each time he slammed himself against Levi, he studied his friend’s breathing, he listened to the sounds of Levi’s grunts, he stroked Levi while he fucked him, hoping to get him off a second time.

“Whew, whew, whew.” Levi breathed heavily, struggling to take in all of Roman, so he did his best to ease up.

It helped him last longer, but it didn’t feel half as good as when he’d pushed all the way to the base inside Levi. Still, he focused on stroking Levi more, helping him find the pleasure of getting fucked, and limiting the pain to the best of his ability.

Roman wanted this to be a wonderful experience for Levi. He wanted his first time to be special, something Levi wouldn’t be ashamed to think back on, even if it was just with Roman in a dirty cell, on a cheap bed.

“You know I love you, right?” Levi looked up at him like he could read Roman’s mind, like there wasn’t a thing in the world Roman could hide, and that Levi would accept him for anything and everything.

Roman thrusted hard, allowing Levi to steady his quickly rhythmic strokes with a well-placed hand. Levi held a hand at Roman’s stomach, off to the side, and another pressed to Roman’s shoulder. It guided him, held his pace from overexerting inside Levi, and it allowed Roman to sink into Levi and let himself be consumed by the love Levi held for him.

“I love you, too.” Roman kissed Levi, staring into his glossy eyes, his questioning eyes. “I mean it. You’re the only person forme. You’re my everything. You saved me more than I could ever explain.”

Levi wrapped his hands at Roman’s hips and pulled him in tight with so much force and pleasure he erupted. Roman groaned, lost and delirious as Levi swept him into passionate kisses, swallowing the sound of Roman’s orgasm. He bucked a few times, unwilling to surrender the sensation of cumming in Levi. He collapsed atop Levi, both men sweaty and pleased and happy to have each other.

Roman hoped Levi would remember him when he got out. He hoped to relive this joy when released. He hoped more than anything to make a life for himself and Levi.

Roman had finally found his way back to himself and found someone to be himself with, and that made him wake up every day a little more excited than the last.

Epilogue

Levi Pierce had been released for two weeks now, and finding ways around his parole schedule turned into a grueling jigsaw puzzle of overly complicated bullshit. Thankfully, he had a nest egg of cash he’d set aside for the fees that came with freedom. Partial freedom. It’d be three years before he was truly free of oversight. It’d be seventeen months and two weeks until he was reunited with Roman. Really reunited. Not phone calls. Not glass panel visits. Not letters. No, he’d have to wait for what felt like an eternity before he could truly touch Roman again, before they could embrace, but it’d be worth it. He’d wait a million years for Roman.

On the walk to the hospital, Levi walked with a bit of a limp, an injury he still carried from when he had his ankle slashed. But he found himself ignoring the pain and lost in the bliss of being inside Roman, of having Roman inside him, of being united and together and in love. He never wanted those feelings to end. He’d worked so hard for so many years to bring it to fruition. But if he wanted to keep the happy ever after he’d carved out of blood and bone and the lives of cruel men unworthy of even breathing the same air as Roman, then he needed to handle one more loose end.

He checked in at the hospital, a bit surprised and disappointed no one asked to see his ID. He’d pissed nearly fourhundred dollars on a solid forgery, ensuring no one knew he’d come to this hospital. He even wore sunglasses and a cap and the plainest muted colors to an outfit he’d never wear again. All the same, he suspected no one would care much about what he had planned, but that didn’t mean he needed to get sloppy now.

Levi waltzed into Ezra Delgado’s room on the fourth floor to a wing few staff checked and even fewer during shift changes Levi had studied. After Ezra’s accident, his blood-soaked defeat at the hands of Roman restoring his honor, the state released Ezra and shipped him off to a hospital. Levi wasn’t sure who footed the medical bill now, and he didn’t care.

Ezra was a loose end Levi needed to tie. Few things frightened Levi Pierce, but the idea of losing Roman sent chills through his body. The things Ezra knew, the power he had at his fingertips. No, no, no. Levi couldn’t allow that.

“I hope you can feel this,” Levi said, running his hands over Ezra’s unkempt beard. “I hope every day has been a prison of your own making.”

Levi didn’t believe in hope, finding it arbitrary and useless, but after so much time watching Roman from afar and waiting for just the right opportunity, he’d learned to lean into the concept. After all, he’d done a lot of hoping the day Ezra was shipped out of the Marlow Penitentiary infirmary.

He’d hoped Ezra wouldn’t wake up.

He’d hoped Roman wouldn’t learn the truth.

He’d hoped he could make Ezra and the only thread of knowledge to his plan disappear.

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