“Fair. But just to let you know… my heart is what’s unchanged and that’s why my mind is made up. But I’ll give you the twenty-four hours you’re asking for. After that, I’m going back for my man,” I said. I was determined to get Aiden back by any means necessary. I was sick and fucking tired of living my life in fear of what others thought of me. My family included. The shit that happened with Rupert gave me an epiphany. He lived a lie. His wife had no idea he was bisexual and I was sure she didn’t know that he wanted to sleep with me, his number one client.
I was going to tell Barry about what Rupert had done the night before, but decided against it. I said last night that we could and should forget it ever happened. In spite of that lapse in judgement, Rupert was an amazing publicist and he was fair by me. He messed up, but he deserved a second chance. I messed up and I only prayed that Aiden would give me a second chance. If I wanted Aiden to forgive me, I had to be able to forgive Rupert.
When Rupert met us at the airport with a nervous expression on his face, I was happy I’d kept what happened between us a secret. Barry greeted him as he normally did and I saw the nervousness fade from Rupert’s face. When Barry made one last trip to the bathroom, Rupert turned to me.
“Did you tell him?”
I shook my head. “Like I said last night, it never happened. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Okay… thank you.”
“Just don’t try that shit again,” I warned.
He looked at me and nodded.
We sat in silence until Barry returned, then the three of us took our luggage and boarded our plane heading for New York. Not only was I excited to kick some ass and defend my title, but I was looking forward to flying to L.A. afterward and claiming my man.
My ten-day road trip felt more like ten months because I was still reeling from the acknowledgement that I wasn’t over Macio and might never be. New York was my final stop and I was beyond ready to conclude my interview with the starting lineup of the New York Knicks and get back home. I had been looking forward to the interview before things blew up in my face because I wanted to showcase the men’s charity work and good deeds for their community. I still wanted to do that, but I also wanted to get the fuck out of Dodge before I ran into someone I didn’t want to see.
I wasn’t ignorant of the fact that a major fight was going on in the city that never sleeps and I saw several members of the press who covered the fights in the same hotel I was staying at. The last thing I wanted was a run-in with Macio or anyone on his team. I kept my head down and made a beeline for the exit when it was time for me to head over to the basketball game. The plan was for me to watch the game, interview the starters, and head back to my hotel early so I could get some sleep before I needed to head to the airport for my ass-crack-of-dawn flight.
The game was a nail-biting, buzzer-beater win over their biggest conference rival so the guys were too excited to talk about their charity work directly after the game as planned. They talked me in to going out to dinner with them and promised I could conduct the interview over steaks and seafood. I was famished and it sounded like a good time, so I gladly went along. The interview went great and I had a better time than I would’ve ever predicted, but it was really late when I got back to my hotel room.
I was too wired to sleep once I crawled between the sheets, so I decided to get a head start on writing my article for the following week’s edition of Ringside. I laid everything out and then went into the hallway to get a bottle of lemon-lime soda from the vending machine near the elevator.
“Damn it,” I said when I saw it was out of order. Going downstairs to the one I had seen on the main floor seemed like such a pain in the ass, but I was thirsty and tap water didn’t sound the least bit appealing.
I trudged down the few flights of steps, rather than take the elevator, and entered the ground floor near the hotel gym. I could hear the whirring of the treadmill and the fast footfalls of someone who sounded like they were running from their personal demons. Hell, I knew that feeling all too well and commiserated with the person. I couldn’t help but glance inside the gym when I approached it and then stopped dead in my tracks, certain my eyes were playing tricks on me.
It wasn’t just anyone running from their demons, it was Macio – my tormentor and the other half of my broken soul. He must’ve sensed he was being watched because he looked in my direction. The cartoon-like widening of his eyes when he saw me would’ve been funny if I also didn’t notice the signs of distress written all over his beautiful face. I realized how true Kathy’s words were and it broke my heart.
I wanted to go to him, to offer some comfort, do something, but I wasn’t sure what he would accept from me. His actions four months ago said we were over and I had no reason to believe he felt any differently until he stopped the treadmill and crooked his finger for me to come to him. My body went to him on its own accord, as if drawn to him like a magnet.
He stood before me with his body glistening from sweat and his gym shorts riding low on his hips so the top of his V was on display for my lonely eyes. “Aiden.” There was so much feeling in that one word – relief, hope, and the same longing that had rocked my world for the past four months. “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”
I closed my eyes and reopened them, sure that I had been dreaming once again. Then I felt his fingers caressing my face and knew he wasn’t a figment of my imagination or a vision that would vanish the moment reality pulled me from my slumber. “Tell me you’re real,” I heard myself say.
“As it gets, baby.” Macio pulled me into his arms and held me tight. At first, I was so excited to be in his arms again that I forgot where we were and that someone could see us. I tried to step back from him, but he just held me tighter. “I was coming for you when I got back home, Aiden. I had decided enough was enough and I was going to claim what belongs to me.”
“Macio.” I honestly tried to focus on his words and not the masculine smell of his sweat or his half-naked body pressed against mine. I could feel Macio’s body reacting to my nearness just as strongly as mine was to his. “Show me,” I told him.
“Not until you’re truly mine. I won’t share you…”
“There’s no one else, Macio.” He looked so doubtful and I wasn’t sure why. “There’s been no one since you. I promise.”
Macio wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me behind him into the stairwell. He was on me as soon as the door closed. He pushed me up against the wall and pressed the full weight of his body against mine before he captured my lips in a fierce kiss. Macio’s tongue sought entrance and I opened to him immediately, eager to re-learn his taste and the texture of his tongue against mine.
I was panting heavily and my dick was leaking large amounts of pre-cum by the time he pulled away. The wicked smile he gave me promised me a night I would never forget as he took my hand and led me up the stairs to the next landing. He repeated his kiss until I was weak-kneed and shaking from head to toe.
Macio opened the door and looked into the hallway to make sure we were alone before he led me to the elevator doors. I could feel his need for me vibrating off him as we waited for the elevator to arrive. Once inside, he removed his penthouse access card from his shorts and pushed it into the card reader slot.
I wanted him to kiss me again, I was sure my eyes begged him to do it, but he wouldn’t risk getting caught on camera and I honestly understood how he felt. “Things will be different this time, Aiden. I promise you.”
Maybe I was stupid for getting lost in the depths of his dark eyes and wanting to believe in him once more, but I couldn’t stop myself even if I had wanted to. My soul cried out for him and it felt like my heart was whole for the first time since I’d walked out of his hotel room in Las Vegas.
Any miniscule amount of hesitation I might’ve had faded the second we were alone in his penthouse suite. I expected him to throw me over his shoulder and carry me off to his bed, but instead, he pressed his forehead to mine. Desire and longing
clawed my guts and I felt his answering need for me ripple through his strong body.
“I love you.” His declaration was a broken whisper against my lips. “Tell me you believe me, Aiden.”
I could’ve blamed it on my need to be with him, to be filled by him, but the truth was that I heard the difference in his voice. Hearing that he loved me wasn’t new, but the way he said it was; as if the confession had been ripped directly from his soul. “I believe you, Macio.”
It was the catalyst he needed to lead me to his bedroom where he removed his workout gear and my clothes, then laid me on the bed. “I’m going to wash the sweat off me. You better be here when I get back or I’ll search the entire hotel until I find you.”
I snagged his arm before he could walk away. “Don’t bother showering. I want you just as you are.” I proved it by lifting my head and licking a path of salty, wet skin from his collarbone to his jaw before I sucked his earlobe into my mouth. I tugged until he collapsed on top of me. “Show me with your body what words could never express.”
There wasn’t an inch of my skin he didn’t kiss or part of me he didn’t touch, including the ones deep inside my soul that a human hand could never reach. Macio took his time readying my body with oiled fingers to receive him, even though he shook with the desire to claim me. He was proving to me that things were different and that his needs went well beyond the physical.
Macio’s lips never left mine when he positioned himself between my spread thighs and pushed inside me. I couldn’t help but cry out when he penetrated me and I struggled to adjust to his girth. It had been so long since he had been inside me and he was harder than I’d ever felt him before.
Macio cupped my face in his hands and looked into my eyes. “Mine.” He began to move inside me in long, slow glides, making sure I felt every inch of him rasping over my sensitive, stretched entrance before he brushed against my prostate.
“Yours,” I replied. I lifted my legs higher and wrapped them around his waist, holding him as tightly as I could.
Macio slid both of his hands into my hair and lowered his lips to mine so he could make love to my mouth as surely as he did my body. I felt him in every part of me, from my curled toes to the tips of my hair.
From that moment on, most of the talking was done with our bodies. I touched him everywhere I could reach with my hands while he worked in and out of me. I felt my hot tears streaking down my face and tasted his in our kiss. My orgasm built inside me and I wanted to fight it off, to make it last, but I had been too long without him. I felt Macio’s desperation in the way his body shook against mine.
“I want you to fill me, Macio.”
“Aiden,” he groaned.
Pleasure coiled around my spine and spread through my veins until I knew I would come if he didn’t stop and pull out of me. The wicked gleam in his eyes told me he could tell how close I was to coming all over myself and he wasn’t about to let up.
Macio moved his hands to cup my ass and lift it higher so he could change the angle of his penetration. Instead of grazing my prostate, he pegged it repeatedly until I roared his name and came so hard my vision dimmed.
“Give me everything, Aiden,” Macio said as stream after stream of my cum hit my chest and stomach. He dropped down and licked a drop that even hit my chin. “How did I live without your taste? Never again,” he vowed.
Once my balls were empty, Macio growled deep in his throat as his orgasm ripped through him and he came inside me. He pumped his hips over and over until there was nothing left of him to give me before he collapsed into my waiting arms.
“Jesus, Aiden. Tell me you’re real,” he said, repeating my words from earlier.
Instead of using his same words back at him, I said, “As a heart attack, baby,” which made his body shake with laughter.
“I need a shower,” Macio groaned, but made no move to roll off me.
“I think we could both use a shower and maybe we should do some talking now that we took the edge off,” I suggested.
Macio inhaled deeply as if he either didn’t want to talk or feared what would be said. If we were really going to make a relationship work between us, we needed to communicate openly or we were destined to repeat our breakup. I, for one, doubted my ability to recover if that happened again.
Clean up time turned into playtime, which resulted in earth shattering blow jobs that left us both leaning against the shower wall, gasping for air. “Too much for the champ?” I asked teasingly. I knew he had to be running on fumes by that point after a fight and two powerful orgasms.
“I got your champ right here,” he said, cupping his cock and balls.
We got back in his bed once we had toweled off, and laid down, facing one another on our pillows. I fought sleep because I was sure that he wouldn’t be there when I woke, that everything that had transpired was a cruel visage of things I wanted to happen, not the life I would truly have. Macio’s eyes softened with understanding as he brushed the back of his fingers over my cheek.
“I’ll be here,” he promised, “and we can talk in the morning.”
“I have a flight to catch in like… two hours,” I told him after a huge yawn.
“You’ll just have to catch a later one, because I’m not ready to turn loose of you yet. I… can’t. I need more time.”
“Okay.” I snuggled tighter against him and let the heat of his body and the solid rhythm of his heartbeat lull me to sleep.
Sunlight streamed through the windows when I next opened my eyes. I was a bit disoriented at first and confused when I woke up in a hotel room that clearly wasn’t mine because my accommodations weren’t nearly as luxurious. Then I recalled every second of my reunion with Macio when it played through my mind like it was a movie. I was disappointed that he wasn’t sleeping beside me and a bit annoyed because he promised to be there. Then again, he didn’t necessarily promise to be in the bed, just that he wouldn’t disappear.
I heard a familiar voice coming from the living area of the penthouse suite and I whipped back the covers in furious indignation. Dread didn’t begin to describe the feeling in the pit of my stomach as I yanked open the bedroom door and locked my gaze on Rupert, who raked his eyes up and down my nude body. I had been too fucking pissed at his presence to bother with putting on clothes or a robe.
“You again,” we both said accusingly, at the same time.
I hadn’t been this happy since that night in Vegas when I last held Aiden in my arms. I couldn’t believe I let him walk out of my life four months ago. I’d done some pretty stupid shit in my lifetime but that was the dumbest. All that seemed to be behind me now, because I had him in my arms once again. This time, I wasn’t going to give him up. I nuzzled my face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his natural scent along with the refreshing smell of soap. Aiden stirred with a soft moan and I smiled as I pulled back a little, not wanting to wake him up.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked up and saw him standing on the other side of the glass wall of the gym. In that moment, I knew for sure there was a God, because he was giving me the opportunity for a second chance. And when Aiden came to me, I saw the look of longing in his eyes. He missed me just as much as I had been missing him. The moment I touched him, my heart swelled so much inside my chest, I thought it might explode. Then, when we kissed… it was like we were never apart. I’ve never loved anyone as much as I loved Aiden.
I was just about to tighten my grip around Aiden and go back to sleep when I heard a knock on my hotel door. With an agitated groan, I released Aiden, then climbed out of bed. I quickly donned a bathrobe and made my way to the door, opening it once I saw it was Rupert.
He took one look at me, eyes traveling down my body as if he was drinking me in. I thought about the last time he’d had that look in his eyes and what almost happened between us and decided to close my robe just a little bit more to hide what skin I could. When he saw me adjust my robe, he seemed to come out of a trance.
He gave me a quic
k smile. “You’re still in bed? That’s not like you.”
“I had a late night. What’s up?” I replied, wanting him to get to the fucking point of why he was here.
“Your fight last night was amazing, Macio. So much so, I was able to get you a meeting with another possible endorsement.” Rupert gestured towards my hotel room. “Mind if I come in and go over the details?”
“Now is not really a good time,” I said.
“It will only take me a few minutes. They want to meet with you in two hours, I just want to go over a few things.”
Shit… I didn’t need this right now, but since it was business, I let him in. “Fine.” I stepped to the side and he walked into my penthouse and took a seat on the sofa. I took a seat far opposite him. I knew I could defend myself if he somehow lost his mind and tried to make any moves on me, but I felt it was best to keep our distance.
“All right, I know you’ve heard of OnyxTime,” he began.
Oh yeah, I’d heard of them. They had some of the hottest sport watches on the market. Stylish and functional. “Yeah.”
“Well, with your winning streak and marketability, they are looking for you to be their spokesman. They want to see their watches on your wrist and are willing to offer you a substantial amount of green for the privilege,” Rupert said.
“Well, shit… that is amazing. I love their watches, so this is actually an endorsement I can get down with,” I said, feeling a little excited about this one. I had turned down one two months ago, after my last fight, because the company was known to be anti-LGBT. No amount of money would make me sell my soul anymore. When Aiden left me because I was afraid of losing my career, I felt like a total loser despite my winning streak. I had lost more than my integrity that day. I’d lost half of my heart and soul. I’d lost my partner and the love of my life. Never. Fucking. Again.
I had done a lot of growing up in the last four months, that was for sure.
Undisputed Page 19
