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Jack Addison vs. a Whole World of Hot Trouble - The Complete Series

Page 32

by K. A. Merikan


  Roux shook, his fur bristling, flesh tensing under Jack’s touch, and when his hole clamped down on Jack, it became so impossibly narrow Jack couldn’t catch his breath. Roux mewled, but he had to be biting on his tongue, because he’d usually be much more vocal.

  Jack didn’t care about neighbors or the police right now. He wanted to make Roux come and feel his ass throb with heat, milking Jack’s cock.

  The next thrust toppled Jack over the edge, and he bit on the dusty backrest of the sofa as tremors went through his body in waves. With his face hot and sweaty, as if he’d spent the past hour in a sauna, he curled around Roux, rubbing his cheek against the smooth fur as his dick slid out with a wet slap.

  “Oh, Roux… you’re definitely my kitty.”

  Roux snorted, breathless, and when Jack slid his hands to Roux’s chest, he could feel the fast beat of his heart. “I am.”

  Jack kissed his nape, but as exhaustion took hold of his body, he moved to lie down on the seat and pulled Roux with him until they cuddled up with limbs entwined and Roux’s agile tail curled around Jack’s knee.

  “You should definitely use catnip more often,” Jack said, chuckling as he kissed the cool, thin ear of his lover.

  Roux laughed, hugging Jack with his eyes closed. “Hn? Am I not sexual enough with you on a daily basis?”

  Jack shrugged and kissed Roux’s forehead, letting his lips rest against the smooth fur. “You’re always perfect. But I enjoy seeing you so completely relaxed. You aren’t like this very often.”

  Roux sighed, his warm breath tickling Jack. “Because there’s so many expectations I’m supposed to meet. I always have to look like the perfect representative of my species.”

  Jack met his soulful green eyes, and smiled at Roux. “You don’t have to be perfect with me. I want you just the way you are.”

  Roux nuzzled Jack’s sweaty cheek. “Jack, would you like to meet my family? They’re very rowdy, and loud, and too much, but I’d want them to meet you.”

  Jack’s heart started beating overtime. “Really? You’d like them to know?” he whispered, both joyful that Roux didn’t want to hide their relationship, and surprised by it after the reactions they’d gotten at the bistro.

  “Of course.” Roux stroked Jack’s arm. “I plan a future with you. I want to be with you, regardless of what they say. Jack, I’m the first non-human venator in Europe. I might not look like the rebel, but no one can stop me when I want something.”

  Jack’s breath caught, and he pulled Roux closer, suddenly itching for their reality to be different. To live in a world where he could introduce Roux to his own parents and make them understand what a wonderful man his Roux was. But that wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

  “I’d love to. I’m sure your family’s great, or they wouldn’t have produced a chat like you.”

  Roux groaned. “They might not be what you think. And there are a lot of them.”

  “I’m pretty sure they can’t be worse than my family, all things considered,” Jack said, stretching out on the long sofa. If he were to bring home a human, there would have been no issues, but he couldn’t introduce Roux, only to see them reject him. Roux didn’t deserve that, and neither did Jack.

  Roux just purred, not knowing the turmoil in his lover’s head.

  What Father didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

  Chapter 5

  The sun woke them up to a beautiful morning in Paris. The apartment didn’t have access to running water, so they ended up using public baths nearby. The city was only just waking up, and as more and more people walked the streets, Jack decided it was time for breakfast. They chose to go to a café they’d eaten at several times, and which had excellent options for both chats and humans. It was in another district, but with the weather so fine, instead of catching a metro train, they decided on a brisk walk.

  Roux looked beyond handsome in a long emerald scarf to go with his new green jacket. “It’s been a few months since Siberia, yet I still feel like there are so many more things to learn about you.”

  “About me? Really?” Jack asked, somewhat surprised. He knew he was fun to be around, but hardly mysterious. His gaze slid over a store with beauty accessories, and the sight of a collection of brushes meant for chat fur made him seek out the name of the street. Maybe he could surprise Roux with one of those later?

  “Yes, you.” Roux nudged Jack with his elbow. “For example, why did you decide to stay in Europe? Weren’t there enough monsters to slay in America?”

  Jack’s mouth twitched, and he took hold of Roux’s shoulder as they ran across the street. There were many reasons. He liked the way things drastically changed from place to place, or the fact that he didn’t have to lie to his father’s face quite as often. “I think that most of all it’s… that here I’m not quite as much of an Addison as back home, you know? In Europe, people who know of my father are mostly those connected to hunting in some way, and even if his name is known, it doesn’t hold nearly as much power. People don’t treat me any different from other venators, and I learned to appreciate thaaaa—.”

  His eyes grew wide when he spotted his own face on a large poster a group of workers were attaching to a billboard. It advertised him as a speaker at the Versailles Symposium on Creature-Human Relations. He pushed on Roux’s shoulder, twirling him around so they changed direction.

  Roux laughed. “What are you doing? Aren’t we going to the bistro? They do that salmon pâté I like.”

  “Yeah, but I wanted to see that horse first. You know, the one that just went into that alley?” Jack babbled, his brain cooking from the shock.

  What. The. Fuck. He had not signed up for this. He only had one option now—take Roux to their hotel room, pack their bags and flee Paris in hope that Roux wouldn’t spot his face in connection to the reprehensible event.

  Roux cocked his head and he looked around. “What horse?”

  Jack’s heart pulsed in his throat. Couldn’t he just slay monsters and mind his own business? Why did Father have to pull him into this stupid symposium?

  “You know what? I wanna be spontaneous. Let’s go to the south today. I really wanna meet your parents. We can eat on the train,” Jack said, trying to keep his cool while on the lookout for more posters. The stress of it was pushing his blood pressure through the roof.

  Roux pushed on Jack’s arm. “Jack, I want the pâté.”

  “Jack Addison?” Someone asked behind them, filling Jack’s veins with dread.

  Roux huffed and stood aside with his arms crossed. “Go on, Jack, your fans await.” This wasn’t the first time, or the second, when Jack got stopped by the press, but this time, it could mean life or death. Or rather, Roux or no Roux.

  He turned around at a slow pace, like a stereotypical old vampire, only to see several people with notebooks and cameras. Flashlights flickered, but he did his best to appear unmoved as he faced the reporters. “This isn’t the right time. I’m on my way to a meeting.”

  To a train. Roux would eventually forgive him if he couldn’t have the pâté.

  “Just a few questions, Mr. Addison,” pleaded a young reporter with flushed cheeks. “Can you provide any details about your speech at the Versailles Symposium on Creature-Human Relations? We want to inform our readers, give them a glimpse of what’s to come.”

  “Yes,” said another reporter. “Many have been following your victories across the continent.”

  Jack was boiling. He just wanted to run. Turn around and straight up run, but when he turned to face Roux, his lover’s fur was bristled and his ears turned back.

  Roux cocked his head. His face was saying what the fuck, but he cleared his throat and spoke with the most biting politeness. “Oh, Jack, you didn’t tell me you were speaking at the symposium. So modest!”

  Several flashlights reflected in the fiery green of Roux’s eyes when Jack spoke. “I forgot to tell you. I’m supposed to talk about my travels and what different creatures one might encounter. And of monsters,
” he uttered, feeling his clothes dampen from the sweat beading on his body. His brain had no capacity to deal with this.

  A woman dressed head to toe in black smiled widely, making notes. “Oh, yes, monsters! The public will want to know all about those.”

  Roux rolled his eyes. “Monsters. Like tarantoids? Those are particularly horrific, aren’t they?”

  Jack squirmed under the molten lava of Roux scorn.

  “Please let Mr. Addison speak,” huffed a man with a bushy moustache.

  “No, no,” said the journalist in black. “That’s no onlooker, that’s Roux Chat-Bonnier. Are you friends, Mr. Addison? We like to keep track of such things in Paris.”

  Jack could barely hear them over the pulsing noise inside his head. Paris spun around him like the inside of a kaleidoscope, and his only wish was to dismiss them.

  “We’re colleagues. And his name’s Roux Chat-Bonnes.”

  “Colleagues,” Roux repeated in an ice cold voice before turning to the journalists. “At best. We were just discussing how I don’t agree with what the symposium stands for. I am also a member of JUSTICE, the Jolly Union for Sovereignty, Truth and Interdimensional Creature Equality, and I hoped that Mr. Addison and JUSTICE could form some kind of alliance, but after the conversation we have just had, I highly doubt that’s going to happen.”

  Invisible claws stabbed into Jack’s chest one after another.

  Fuck.

  Hell.

  “I wouldn’t say cooperation is out of the question,” he said, gravitating toward Roux on weak legs. He could barely hear the reporters, completely focused on his lover’s face while everything else blurred.

  “I’m afraid JUSTICE is incompatible with the Addison agenda. Good day, Mr. Addison.” Roux turned around, his tail swishing.

  Jack wanted to grab his shoulder, but the moment he took half a step toward him, Roux jumped on someone’s balcony on the first floor and proceeded to climb up a drainpipe before disappearing on the roof.

  Reporters gasped. “Chats are so agile!” a young one said, but they all blurred into a mass of notebooks and cameras.

  “Any comment, Mr. Addison?”

  Jack had none. None at all.

  Next time on Jack Addison vs. A Whole World of Hot Trouble:

  Will Jack give up on Roux and join Drake in London?

  Does Jack’s father have an illicit affair with a vampiress?

  Will JUSTICE attack the Symposium?

  Jack Addison vs. Doing the Right Thing

  Jack Addison Vs. A Whole World of Hot Trouble #9

  K.A. Merikan

  “Mr. Addison… I’m so sorry to impose, but I was hoping you would sign my venator card?”

  Jack thought he had it all: a powerful family ready to offer a helping hand in times of need, success and fame, and the most amazing lover in the person of Roux Chat-Bonnes. Problem is, his family would never accept a nonhuman as Jack’s life partner, so for months he was stuck trying to keep his relationship hidden. But when Roux found out Jack had given in to his father and agreed to give a speech at an anti-creature conference, Jack’s beloved chat left him.

  Ashamed and heartbroken, Jack needs to choose whether he should go against what he believes in and support his Father’s cause, or follow his heart and try to win Roux back.

  Deep down, Jack knows what’s right, but choosing to do the right thing is a whole other matter when it means standing against the world.

  POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

  Themes: pride, love, trust, self-discovery, tolerance, fame, monster hunting, interspecies relations, deception, lies, keeping secrets, Paris, France, rejected lover, lack of acceptance, prejudice

  Genre: M/M romantic erotica, horror-comedy

  Erotic content: Scorching hot, explicit scenes

  WARNING: This story contains morally ambiguous characters and scenes of sex that might be considered taboo.

  Previously on Jack Addison vs. A Whole World of Hot Trouble:

  Jack Addison might come from a line of legendary monster hunters and scientists, but real life has taught him that the world isn’t anything like he’d been told. After encountering the alluring Nessie during the annual hunt, he’s opened up to the idea of dating nonhumans, and eventually focuses his interest on fellow hunter, the catlike Roux Chat-Bonnes.

  Following a period of mistrust, Roux warms up to Jack, and they end up spending a night together. In the morning, however, the beautiful chat gives Jack the cold shoulder after discovering a diary of Jack’s sexual conquests. Disillusioned, Jack agrees to be Roux’s friend, and they travel together after accepting a dangerous job in Siberia. It is there, during a confrontation with a deadly kitsune, that Roux is finally honest about his feelings for Jack, and they decide to become a couple.

  Content, and for the first time certain of one another’s feelings, Roux and Jack are about to board a train back west when Jack receives a parcel. Unaware of his son’s real opinions, Jack’s father has invited him to an anti-creature event in France.

  Once they reach Paris, Jack meets up with his father and reluctantly agrees to take part in the symposium to talk about his travels. Disgusted by that, Roux leaves Jack and disappears from sight.

  Chapter 1

  Jack sat in his opulently decorated room with hastily made notes. How had he even gotten here in the end? He should have ditched the conference being held for an idea he despised and tried to find Roux, but if he made Father look bad by ignoring the keynote speech, their relationship might not survive. He would never spew anti-creature nonsense the way he used to before he discovered the truth, but stories about his travels could hardly do any harm. After his family supporting him for so many years, he owed Father that much

  It wasn’t a big deal.

  So why was his stomach in knots? Even the view of the grand Versailles gardens couldn’t lift his mood.

  That was pretty clear, no matter how much his mind tried to deny facts. Ditching Roux like this and, trying to hide the truth from him made him a lousy person, and an even lousier partner. The only thing keeping his heart from collapsing was the thought that maybe his stories could shed a different light on creatures and sow the right seeds in at least some minds. Ones that weren’t completely hardened yet.

  He squeezed the paper as his chest tightened again.

  He didn’t want to be here, socializing with people who’d likely treat Roux like trash or with polite hostility, at best. He wanted to be at Roux’s side, stargazing and walking the narrow streets of Montmartre, cuddling into his warm, fragrant fur.

  The knock on the door made him groan. Was it really his time already? He glanced to the tall window. Despite the cold weather outside, the garden beckoned him with promises of freedom.

  “Come in...” he groaned without enthusiasm.

  A hotel worker in a neat burgundy uniform entered, carrying a tray of food and two glasses of wine. “Good afternoon, Mr. Addison.”

  Jack offered him a smile, because what was the point of unloading his frustration on anyone but himself? “What is it?”

  Cute dimples appeared in the man’s cheeks when he smiled. “Mr. Addison… I’m so sorry to impose, but I wanted to treat you, and I was hoping you would sign my venator card?” He put the tray on the bed and fished a little collectible wallet out of his pocket.

  Jack’s shoulders slumped, and he grabbed a pen from the nightstand before scribbling his name on the back of the card featuring a photo of him holding a whole bundle of necrorats.

  He didn’t deserve the high stats he had in the Game of Venators.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thank you very much!” The man blew at the ink to make it dry faster, but he didn’t seem ready to leave. “About the symposium… I cannot wait to hear you speak, Mr. Addison. I’ve read so much about you.”

  Jack’s lips tightened. “The reporters exaggerate all stories. I’m just a venator like many others.”

  The man licked his full lips. “But also… not like many others, right
?” His breath quickened, and he brushed his fingers against Jack’s, staring into his eyes with a slow-burning fire in his own.

  Oh. OH.

  Jack gave a startled chuckle and looked into the handsome face. “I don’t think I understand.”

  “I thought I could… express my appreciation? I got this job just so I could meet you, Mr. Addison.” This time, his fingers drifted to the front of Jack’s pants, and feigning ignorance was no longer a possibility.

  Jack’s body stiffened, and as a flush crept up his neck, all the way to his face, he thought of how tense he was feeling. Sex would have surely provided relief.

  But as pretty as this young man was, Jack felt very little toward him, even physically. Five years ago, he’d have jumped on any opportunity for sex with someone decent-looking, but he’d grown up, had much more experience, and the human form felt inexcusably dull in comparison to the softness of fur, the agility of a tail, the depth of green chat eyes.

  But if it had been a chat member of staff who’d approached him this way, Jack wouldn’t have been up for it either. His thoughts were still with Roux, still full of hope and desperation for him. He’d done enough to betray Roux already.

  “I’m afraid I’m already taken,” he said, awkwardly spreading his thighs to take a step sideways and escape the touch, which did feel physically arousing.

  The guy’s shoulders sagged, and for once Jack was happy to hear his father’s voice and a knocking on the door. “Are you ready, Jack?”

  Father left just enough time for the hotel worker to take a step back. The guy mumbled an awkward goodbye and passed Father as he made his entry.

 

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