Married for a Month

by Cate Ashwood

  It could be difficult to find qualified fabricators who didn’t fuck off anytime they wanted. The brothers currently welding in my shop were worth their weight in fucking diamonds as far as I was concerned.

  “Alec! Phone!” Blair called from the back of the warehouse.

  “Keep at it. I won’t be long,” I told Jason, before walking across the floor to my office. I shut the door to muffle the sound of metal grinding and picked up the receiver, choosing the line that was flashing as I did.

  “Alec Montero,” I said.

  “Mr. Montero, this is Dr. Emmett Lewis from Sacred Heart Hospital. I’m afraid I have some terribly bad news. Your sister has been in a horrific accident, and we need you to come here immediately to donate a kidney, maybe both.”

  “Chase,” I scolded. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

  I could hear him laughing through the phone. “Well, maybe not you, but that sweet-sounding girl who answered might believe it.”

  “Pretty sure Blair knows I don’t have a sister.”

  “Details,” Chase said. “Is Jewel there today?”

  I narrowed my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “Of course. Why?”

  “Take the afternoon off and come play hooky with me. I faked a case of explosive gastric distress to get out of a bullshit departmental meeting.”

  “How did you fake explosive gastric distress? Is that even a thing?”

  “I have no idea, but everyone here seems to believe it is. It was all very dramatic. And disgusting. But in any case, I’m not at work, they are, and right now so are you. I need you not to be.”

  I looked at the Excel sheet that was already up on my computer screen and paused a moment. We were on time or ahead of schedule with all our production objectives for the week.

  “Give me an hour to get things squared away and I’ll meet you at home,” I said.

  “Perfect.”

  An hour and a half later, I’d ditched work, showered, and changed. I found Chase in the kitchen drinking coffee.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked, leaning against the counter next to him and taking the mug from his hands. I took a sip as I waited for his answer.

  “We’re going to Cascade Hills.”

  “You want to shop?”

  He shot me a dubious glance.

  “Right. I know better than to take you shopping. Remember last year, when we were trying to find a Christmas present for your dad? Never again, my friend. I’m leaving you to your own devices and your Amazon shopping cart.”

  I laughed. Two hours at the mall a week before Christmas had almost ended our friendship. Chase had been so exasperated with me by the end of it, I was surprised he let me in the car.

  It wasn’t my fault I was an impatient shopper. Chase and I approached the task with vastly different strategies. Mine was to get in and get the fuck out as fast as possible, grabbing only what I needed and escaping before being pulled into the vortex of retail hell. Chase liked to peruse, to take his time, and to touch fucking everything. I had no idea why putting his hands on something was the litmus test for whether or not it was worth purchasing, but that was the approach he took. And when the city’s entire population was crammed into stores, credit cards in hand, his habit was more than a little frustrating.

  “I’m okay with the online shopping thing. Much easier, and it doesn’t require pants.”

  I licked my lips in an exaggerated gesture as Chase looked me up and down. I hoped he was imagining me without pants.

  “No shopping for us today.” Chase took his coffee back and finished it off. “We promised we’d go on at least one date per week, and since we don’t have anything planned for the rest of this week, I’m taking you to a movie today.”

  “Which one?”

  Chase shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I plan to make out with you in the back row through the whole thing anyway.”

  I slid my arm around his back and pulled him in, tilting my head down to kiss him. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get enough of this, the easy flirtation that seemed to have spontaneously developed between us.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever made out in a movie theater before,” I admitted.

  Chase tsked me. “You’ve been missing out, Mr. Montero. It’s one of the best ways to spend an afternoon.”

  “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” I said, trying not to think about Chase making out with anyone but me.

  Being his best friend, I’d been privy to more of the dirty details of Chase’s life than anyone else. I’d been the first person he told about his first real date, first kiss, first time having sex. I’d sat and listened to him dish all the particulars and it had never bothered me. I prided myself on being the person he confided in, the one who knew everything about him. Now, I tried to block the latent memories out.

  It was ridiculous that I was getting myself worked up, thinking about Chase making out with Dylan Granger in the tenth grade. Dylan was most likely married with a family by now, but that didn't stop the irrational feeling I needed to break the guy’s neck for touching what I now realized I considered to be mine.

  I stepped back from him and tried to shake off the sudden wave of possessiveness. “Let’s get going, then,” I said, moving toward the door.

  Chase bounded ahead of me, grabbing his shoes and pulling them on. I took the opportunity to smack his ass before stepping into my own shoes.

  The mall was busy for a Monday afternoon, the parking lot near the entrances almost full.

  “Don’t these people work?” I asked, having flashbacks from Christmas shopping.

  “They’re all going to be at the movie. Cascade Hills Cinema is an underground brothel we had no idea existed.”

  “Could be. It’s always the places you don’t expect.”

  “It probably wouldn’t be the worst business model—like those theaters that play porn, but the full package.”

  Chase laughed at his own use of the word “package,” and I laughed right along with him. “Jesus, what are you, ten?”

  “You laughed too, dickhead.” He poked me in the ribs.

  The marquee outside didn’t offer many appealing options, so we chose a historical biopic about a newspaper reporter during the Korean War. Neither of us was particularly interested in it, but it was either that or a kids’ movie about talking dogs, and I figured if we did end up making out in the back, it’d be a lot less creepy if it happened during a movie intended for adults.

  “I’ll get the tickets if you grab the popcorn?” Chase said as we stepped into line.

  “Sure.”

  “And a Coke.”

  I nodded.

  “And Milk Duds,” he added.

  “Naturally.”

  “And Red Vines.”

  I laughed. “Anything else?”

  Chase paused. “Make sure there’s extra butter on the popcorn.”

  “You got it.”

  I stepped out of line to walk toward the concession stand, but Chase grabbed my arm and leaned in close.

  “I mean extra butter. In case we need to improvise and use it as lube,” he whispered.

  “Jesus Christ, Chase. I’m not fucking you with butter lube.” I laughed again, but honestly, I wasn’t completely certain he was kidding.

  He shrugged. “It’s not real butter anyway.”

  I rolled my eyes as I walked away, unsure if he thought that was better or worse than the real stuff. As disgusting as the thought was, I could still feel my cock start to stiffen in my pants as I made my way over to the concession stand. I concentrated on pushing thoughts of fucking Chase from my mind as I lined up behind a dad and his kid.

  With popcorn—and half the candy from the concession in hand—we walked into the large theater. Every seat was vacant.

  Apparently, biopics were not the activity of choice for people on a weekday afternoon. I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t much want to spend two and a half hours watching it either, but this late in the month I was beginning to feel the pull of the end
of our arrangement.

  Chase and I would always be friends, even if there were some remaining feelings from the time we’d spent together. We’d be okay. We had to be. This was not the last afternoon I would spend with him, and definitely not the last movie we would see together. It was, however, one of the last things we were going to do as husbands, and I wanted to make the most of it.

  I knew that reaction meant there was more to my feelings for him than a deeply rooted friendship. I wasn’t naive enough to deny that. I just had no idea what to do about it. This was uncharted territory with Chase, and as well as I knew him, as easy as it was for me to read him most days, I had no idea where we stood.

  The logical thing to do would be to talk to him about it. And I would. But not yet. If asking him if he’d fallen as hard for me as I had for him was going to tarnish the remaining time we had together, it wasn’t worth it. Yeah, I was chickenshit to ask—terrified he would deny any feelings had developed for him. And then what would I be? The asshole who went and did what he promised he wouldn’t do.

  The asshole who went and fell in love with his best friend.

  I held back, waiting for Chase to walk ahead of me. He had always been particular about choosing where to sit during movies. I didn’t much care. I was tall enough my view was almost never blocked by whoever sat in front of me, and as long as I could see the screen, it didn’t matter to me.

  Chase always took his time, pausing at the end of a row and glancing at the screen to determine if we were the proper distance away for optimal viewing. Today, though, he marched right to the top of the stairs and across to the middle of the back row.

  “You were serious about making out in the back row,” I said, laughing as I plopped down into the seat next to him.

  He shot me a look that said “no shit” as he rubbed the palm of his hand up along the inside of my thigh. He brushed his fingertips against the outline of my dick in my jeans, and as he did he licked his lips. Just like that, I could feel myself getting hard. The effect he had on me was insane. What was more insane is how quickly my feelings transitioned from strictly platonic to completely infatuated.

  I looked at Chase, his eyes trained on me, dark and intense.

  “We should have stayed home,” I said. My voice already sounded sex-strained and he’d barely touched me. How the fuck was I supposed to keep this PG when he was looking at me like that?

  “Where’s your sense of adventure, Montero?” he teased.

  I glanced around the still-vacant theater, my mind already summoning the possibilities. From where we were sitting, if someone was in the projection booth, they still wouldn’t be able to see us. The only way we’d get caught is if someone came into the theater and looked up at us. “I suppose if no one else comes in—”

  I hadn’t finished the sentence before a couple strode in and started up the steps toward us. They stopped about halfway up and chose seats in the middle of the row.

  “Of fucking course,” I muttered.

  Chase rubbed harder, and when the lights dimmed a few moments later, I felt the warmth of his breath on the side of my neck right before he dragged his lips across the skin there, sending a shiver through me. Such a simple touch from him was all it took to get my pulse racing and hormones surging through me.

  I turned, meeting his mouth and kissing him. His lips were salty from the popcorn, and I suppressed a groan as his tongue stroked along mine.

  The images on the screen were already forgotten. I was lost in the feeling of him as he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, biting down just hard enough for me to take notice. I wanted to get closer, to put my hands on him, but the chairs were not designed for this, and the armrest between us was making things difficult.

  Chase’s hand was still on my cock, stroking through the thick fabric of my jeans and making me crazy with the combination of just enough pressure and not enough friction.

  The screen went dark, followed by a swell of music. In the blackness, I felt Chase’s hand at the button of my pants, working it through the hole. I reached over and mimicked his actions, no longer caring if we were going to get caught. The feeling of his mouth on mine, his fingers working at the zipper, the hushed sounds of his moans when I finally managed to get inside his pants, it all made me crazy.

  I needed to touch him, to feel the weight of his cock in my hand, to wring every ounce of pleasure out of him.

  Watching Chase fall apart was undoubtedly my favorite thing, and knowing it was me making him that crazy amplified the experience so much more.

  I reached into his pants, pulling his cock free at the same time he wrapped his fist around my length. I tried to stroke him, my arm bent at a difficult angle to accommodate the armrest between us. Chase kissed me deeper, shifting in his seat, his hips lifting off the plush chair to meet my strokes. I heard him growl, the sound more frustrated than turned-on.

  He broke the kiss and panted against my shoulder. “Maybe we should have stayed home, after all.”

  I wanted to touch him and to have his hands on me, but the thought of trekking all the way home before I could seemed unimaginable.

  Taking my hand back from him, I tucked my dick back into my pants before I leaned in to whisper, “Meet me in the men’s room in two minutes.”

  I zipped as I stood, then slipped out of the theater without looking back. I knew Chase would be right behind me.

  The men’s room was, thankfully, empty. Past the urinals was a short row of cubicles, with one of the halogen lights overhead only working at half capacity. I slid into one of the stalls near the back and waited, listening for Chase’s footsteps.

  The restroom door opened and closed, and then I heard someone approaching. I poked my head out of the stall, realizing too late that if it was someone other than Chase, how weird I’d look spying on the men’s room from my cubicle. Thankfully it was him, and when he saw me, his eyes narrowed in on me, a predatory look on his face.

  He stalked toward me, then slid into the tiny space with me, closing the door and locking it behind him.

  “Maybe we should move to the handica—”

  My words were cut off, and then I didn’t give a shit how small the space was when Chase slanted his mouth across mine. He pushed his tongue inside, devouring my mouth in a hungry kiss. I groaned at the feeling of it, the intense passion that was zero to sixty in less than a second.

  We both went to work, tearing at each other’s clothing, getting our hands on as much skin as we could in the confined space. I pulled at the waistband of his pants, which he hadn’t bothered to rebutton when he left the theater, and shoved them down over his hips. His cock sprung up at me, heavy and full, and I wrapped my hand around its length, squeezing to hear the hiss I knew would come.

  I echoed the sentiment when Chase pulled my cock free and lined it up with his, the hard length of his erection matching mine as I wrapped my fist around us both and began to stroke.

  Struggling to keep my eyes open against the sudden influx of sensation, I watched him, his face a mask of lust and concentration. Up and down I slid my hand, the slickness of our precome mixing with each down stroke.

  “Fuck, Alec… tighter.”

  I tightened my grip and he moaned, his hips rocking against mine as he fucked against my cock. Friction and heat and the possibility of getting caught made what we were doing feel sexy and dangerous. I latched my mouth against the side of his neck, just above his clavicle, and sucked hard.

  Chase whimpered. “Christ, yes, like that. You’re going to… make me come.”

  I sped up the pace and Chase’s moans got louder, echoing off the tiled walls. Reaching up with my free hand, I held it over Chase’s mouth, muffling the porn-star soundtrack, and slid my mouth along the side of his neck. The stifled sounds and vibrations of his throat, along with the feeling of his cock pulsing against mine, threw me into orgasm.

  I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out as I came, come splattering against Chase’s stomach. Chase pulled my hand
away from his mouth and kissed me, his lips going slack as he followed me over, his come mixing with mine as I slowed the movement of my fist.

  Our breaths were raspy and uneven, and as I heard the door to the restroom open, my heart skipped a beat. We both held our breaths as the footsteps approached. I heard whoever it was step into a stall not too far from ours, the door latching with a soft click.

  “You want to finish the movie?” I whispered.

  “How about home for round two instead?”

  The idea definitely had merit. Any day I had Chase in my bed was a good day. “Let’s go.”

  After a quick washup, we snuck out of the bathroom, and I realized belatedly we both still had come stains on our shirt. Oh well. Hopefully, no one would notice as we made a break for the car. I turned to head to the parking lot, but Chase went the opposite way.

  “Where the hell are you going? The car is this way,” I said.

  “To get our stuff. I left all the snacks in the theater, and if you think I’m leaving without my Milk Duds, you’re fucking insane.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chase

  “How was your day?” I asked, suppressing a groan knowing the Chase from a month ago would have had my balls in a vice for asking that question. I sounded like half of a married couple I’d always felt sorry for—nothing left to talk about other than the mind-numbingly monotonous details of their boring fucking workdays. The worst part was that now, I didn’t mind being that half of a couple. I wanted to know how he’d spent his day. I wanted all the tedious little mundane details about what he’d done in the hours since I’d said good-bye that morning.

  “Long,” Alec replied, taking a sip of the water the waiter had brought a minute earlier.

  We were sitting in Tsuki Sushi House, Alec’s favorite restaurant in the city. We’d ordered about half the menu, as was typical for us when we visited this particular establishment. I wasn’t sure if the rolls they made were conjured with some sort of magic, but they were so fucking good I could eat eighty of them.