Page 39 of A Life Chosen

He got out of bed and stalked to the kitchen, where he opened a bottle and poured himself a drink. It didn’t so much as take the edge off. Staring at the red light on the stove, Mathias watched it click from02:32to02:33.

If you need something…He picked up his phone.

Rayan answered after several rings, his voice thick with sleep. “Oui?”

Mathias felt a familiar stirring. He’d felt it earlier when Rayan had pressed the razor to his throat, lips parted in concentration.

“Where are you?” Mathias asked, as if he didn’t already know.

“Home. What time is it?” Rayan replied, sounding uncertain.

“Two thirty.”

There was a pause. Mathias watched the numbers flick from02:35to02:36.

“Come over,” Rayan said as though it were the simplest thing in the world.

Mathias downed his drink, disarmed. He thought of returning to his empty bed and realized that was the very reason he’d called.

He was not kind in his conquest, bridled rage making him rougher than usual. Rayan did not push back at first but soon made his objection clear, cues Mathias purposefully ignored until Rayan slammed the heel of his hand into his jaw, throwing him onto his back on the bed.

Mathias felt his fury drain as he looked up at the clean lines of Rayan’s chest, the swell of his cock curved against his stomach. But it was his face, marred by anger yet unable to hide his arousal, that lured Mathias from the blackness in his mind.

“Try again,” Rayan said sharply.

Mathias reached up and placed a hand on the man’s neck, guiding him back down, kissing him.

“Better,” Rayan murmured when they parted.

He lowered his mouth and trailed his lips along Mathias’s collarbone then down to his nipples. He reached for Mathias’s cock and drew it through his hand. Moving, Rayan mounted him from above, straddling his hips, and resumed their coupling.

Time dissolved as a deep pressure built between them, Rayan slowing, stopping, edging them both, in complete control before continuing, muscles taut as he ground himself against Mathias again and again. He could not tear his eyes from the man, who had one hand around the head of his own cock, his restraint evident in the stiff clench of his jaw. Rayan lowered his chin, a growl escaping from between his teeth. His breath stalled, and Mathias came abruptly, on the other side of release before he knew how he’d gotten there.

Rayan stilled, placing his hands on either side of Mathias as he caught his breath. Mathias realized his fingers were pressed hard into Rayan’s thighs and relinquished his grip, sliding his hands around his waist. He rolled the man over, still inside him, and Rayan winced.

“Enough,” he said, a hand against Mathias’s chest, pushing him away.

The anger now appeased, Mathias felt a splinter of remorse. He had hurt him, and he’d done so willingly. He withdrew, and Rayan exhaled, slumping back into the pillows. Mathias looked down at Rayan’s still-hard member and, without a second thought, captured it in his mouth. Rayan’s body arched, the low curl of a moan in his throat. He was close, and Mathias finished him quickly, lingering over the tip as he swallowed and let the spent man slip wetly through his teeth.

Chest heaving, Rayan looked at him, eyes wide, face flushed. His lips moved as if to speak but said nothing as Mathias reached for his cigarettes. Lighting one, he was almost sorry at how it masked Rayan’s taste on his tongue. They lay beside each other in the darkness, Mathias discovering his mind blessedly blank. As though wiped clean.

“You knew about the transfer,” Rayan said.

Mathias closed his eyes with a sigh.So much for that.“What does it matter?”

Rayan turned to face him, reaching for his damaged hand and running a thumb along one of the cuts on his knuckles, still fresh. “Seems like it mattered.”

Mathias studied him for a moment before withdrawing his hand.

“How much business does the family have in Hamilton?” Rayan continued.

“Not much. Russo likes to keep a foot in the door.”

“I’ve never been out of Quebec.”

Mathias stared at the flicker of his cigarette. There was a reason he hadn’t told Rayan about the move to Hamilton. He didn’t plan on taking his second with him.

Mathias tossed the butt into an empty glass on the nightstand and pulled himself up onto his elbow. “You’ve never left the province? That’s pathetic.”

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