Page 40 of A Sip of Sin

“Let me finish.” Adair sniffed, wiping the beginnings of tears from his cheeks. “I know what people become when they go down that path. They don’t just talk to themselves—they scream. When they aren’t scratching at their skin and pulling their hair, they’re lashing out, hurting everyone around them with the cruelest words you could ever imagine.”

“Your mom?” Hollen asked softly. He sucked in a breath at Adair’s nod. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I swear—”

Adair let out a soft huff, pulling Hollen in for one last squeeze. “I’d rather not talk about it. One hell of a therapist later and I still can’t get over it.” He squeezed Hollen before letting go. “Tell me about this guy you had last night. Looks like it was quite the ride.” Adair grinned, the tears on his cheeks drying. “This is so exciting. It’s been months for you, Hollen.Months.Do you know how happy this makes me? Tell me about him. I have to know if there’s a potential threesome in my future.”

George choked, the sound echoing in his head.

“He’s a vampire,” said Hollen, bracing himself for Adair’s reaction. He did seem to deflate a bit, some of the glow fading in his excitement. “And he’s also my boss.”Probably two types that I shouldn’t be fucking. Oops.

“Ask him about the threesome,” said George, his presence strengthening.

“You don’t even want me to get with Munro again and now you want him to have a threesome with Adair and me?” Hollen lowered his voice, but Adair could apparently hear him, loud and clear.

Adair took a slow step back, his excitement fizzling out. No matter what he had said before, there were deep lines of concern etched in his face that were accentuated by the tiredness.

“Just you, Adair and me,” said George. Hollen snorted, shaking his head as another yawn took him. He was too tired for this.

“Is he—talking to you?” asked Adair, taking another step back. “What did he say?”

“He likes the threesome idea,” said Hollen, taking a moment to make sure the door was locked before kicking off his shoes. “But I think he’s more interested in seeing you naked.”

Adair swallowed, smoothing his hands down the front of his shirt. “Was hetherethe last time we were together?” He stared at his hands, chewing his lip.

“No way,” said Hollen, shaking his head. “He’s only been around for a few months, and he is the sole reason for my dry spell.” He let out a soft sigh. “It’s impossible to stay hard when he’s telling me all about the bigger ones he’s seen.”

Adair scoffed, lowering his hands. “You are above average, baby. Don’t sweat it.” A smile flickered at the corner of his lips, but the concern hadn’t left. “It could be worse?”

“I know.” Hollen waved him off. “But it really kills the mood.” He headed for the couch, Adair following close behind him. He was yawning again as he collapsed onto the surface, squishing his face into the soft cushion. Exhaustion pulled at every part of him, sleep beckoning.

“It was good sex, though.” Hollen turned his head so Adair could hear him. Adair lowered himself cross-legged in front of the couch, leaning against the cushion. “Likereallygood. You remember Alec?”

Adair nodded, his eyes going wide. “How could I forget that man? He was responsible for one of the best nights of our lives. I don’t think I’ve come that many times so quick before. I mean, my dick actuallyhurtat one point.”

That makes two of us.“Munro was better.” He grinned, reaching for a strand of Adair’s hair and twisting it through his fingers. Adair had started to wear his hair longer since they’d moved into this apartment, the tips curling out over his ears. “Sorry I didn’t call you. I’ll do better.”

Adair reached for him, threading their fingers together. “I haven’t been a good friend these past few weeks. I wouldn’t have called me either.” A smile touched his lips. “But, now that we’ve made up, I need to know every detail.”

Hollen leaned into the cushion.Sleep is a long way off.

Chapter Sixteen

Munro

Munro licked his lips as he reached for the empty space on the bed next to him. Hollen’s scent still lingered, along with a few dark hairs, but there was more than that. An imagined wound in his own chest had twisted deep as soon as he’d realized he was alone, heat fading to a syrupy thickness.

The messy scrawled note did little to stem the wound, the half-drained pen failing to capture the essence of its wielder. It wasn’t often he found himself alone when he pleasured his lover into unconsciousness. It was even rarer that he followed suit.

Despite his absence, Hollen lingered in every bit of his senses. It was in the way his tongue tingled every time he swallowed and the warmth of his belly still brimming as he rested with his eyes closed, listening to the sounds around him and hoping for the sounds of soft breaths to return.

His mind was calm and better rested than he’d been in a century, hunger nothing but a confusing memory. His blood—hell.

I have to taste him again.He’d only taken a few sips—a quarter cup at the most, each drop a pleasure on his palate to overwhelming degrees. The depth of it was fuller than any wine, a bouquet of the best flowers dim compared to the pure and untainted scent of it. He knew without asking that there was nothing else like it in the world.

There was so much left he could indulge in, savoring one drop at a time like sucking from a tiny paper cut. He could bite into Hollen a thousand more times, torturing him with desire until he whimpered and came on his cock, his head thrown back in sweet ecstasy.

The possibilities were endless…unless theyweren’t.

The note he left said he’d had a wonderful time and that he’d be back for work that night. But there was still the empty bed, the most telling of any signal he’d ever received.

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