In My Arms Tonight

by Bailey Bradford

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  IN MY ARMS TONIGHT

  Bailey Bradford

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  Glenn had finished peeing and had just started brushing his teeth when he heard the knock on the hotel room door. Figuring it was Adam, he sped up the grooming process, unease prickling the fine hairs at the back of his neck. He couldn’t say why he was worried for sure, hopefully Les would make sure Adam didn’t slip up and mention James, although he had a feeling it didn’t matter in the long run. Leaks wasn’t as dumb as Glenn had hoped he was. It was only a matter of time before he found James, and if he’d already told the senior Strattons Glenn was here, chances were good they were on their way. Obviously he hadn’t hid his interest in their son very well.

  Gee, what could have clued them in? Maybe the whole breaking into a shady mental healthcare facility illegally? Quitting your job and high tailing it to Texas? Drooling every time you looked at James? Idiot! Glenn spat and rinsed his mouth, listening to the drone of voices outside the bathroom door. When something changed in one of the voices, that feeling of unease swamped him again and Glenn nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get out of the bathroom. He jerked the door open just in time to see Adam lunge, cursing and swinging one fist. He landed a solid punch to Leak’s jaw that sent the man off his feet and onto his ass.

  Leaks hit the floor with a resounding thud.

  “Do you understand that?” Adam snarled as Les grabbed at his shoulders. The cop pulled Adam back as Glenn rushed over, preparing to put himself between Leaks and Adam, even if the PI did irritate the crap out of him. “He wouldn’t shut up about wanting to see Les naked—and that was one of the less crude things he said!”

  Glenn didn’t doubt it, although he would have to revise his opinion of Leaks’

  intelligence again. Even Glenn had known from the moment he met Adam that the man was dangerous. He smiled and laughed and was friendly, but there’d been the same air about Adam as there was about Chase—that electric energy that simmered under their skin, the kind that let an observant person know not to fuck with either man and expect to get away with it. Leaks either wasn’t observant or he liked poking at tigers. Glenn figured it might be more the latter than the former, but he could be wrong.

  “Wanna press charges,” Leaks slurred, holding his face in his hands as he curled into a ball on his side. Glenn’s stomach dipped. Had Leaks deliberately provoked Adam just so he could insist on pressing charges? Why would he do something like that? Just to cause trouble? Glenn was tempted to kick the man in the ass while he was down—definitely www.total-e-bound.com

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  uncharacteristic of him—but his nerves were pinging and Adam was cursing almost as loud as Les was snarling at Adam to stop.

  And Leaks, unless Glenn was wrong, was grinning under his hands. Asshole!

  “Enough!” Glenn roared, since his room had become the centre of chaos, if there was such a thing. “Adam! Calm down, and Les, quit snapping at him. And you,” Glenn glared down at Leaks, who was peaking at him through his fingers, “I don’t know what kind of bullshit you’re playing at, but it sounds like you did your best to provoke Adam. If you think anyone here will tell you anything to get you to stop insisting on charges being filed against him, you’re wrong.”

  Adam and Les shut up instantly, both of them gaping at Leaks. “I’d rather be in jail,”

  Adam snapped, baring his teeth at the downed PI. “And if I’m going to be, I should at least get to hit him again!”

  “Adam!” Les barely managed to hold onto his lover as Glenn moved to stand firmly between Adam and Leaks.

  Glenn pointed at Adam. “Stop it! That’s what he wants. The worse the damage to him, the worse trouble you’ll wind up in.”

  For once, Glenn wished he were a dishonest man, able to lie and swear Leaks had attacked Adam first, but he didn’t think he could, not like that. It was one thing to refuse to admit he’d broken in to help James, but this was something a shade different. “Adam, please, stop. Don’t put Les through having to arrest you. Don’t make him do that.”

  The plea reached Adam almost as quickly as it left Glenn’s mouth. Adam settled back against Les’ chest and glared down haughtily at Leaks. “It won’t come to that. Les isn’t thinking about it, and you and this idiot here,” he waved at Leaks, “don’t know it, but I happen to have a very influential step-daddy now. Almost step-daddy, but whatever. Chief Ewers, or Pop as I like to call him, well, he’d do anything to keep my mom happy.”

  Adam’s grin then was slicker and meaner than any Glenn had seen before. Even Leaks looked nervous as he lowered his hands. “Anything,” Adam purred, and Glenn kind of didn’t doubt him. Neither, apparently, did the PI, who sighed and slumped into the floor, looking every bit the picture of dejection.

  Glenn didn’t believe his act for one second.

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  Chapter Thirteen

  Chase moaned, the sound pulled from deep in his belly as Xavier pushed another finger into him. Four, oh God. How he was managing to keep track when his brain was melting was beyond him, but the stretch and burn of his hole, the pleasure flitting up from there to every part of his body, setting every cell in his system to singing, a large part of it came from knowing what Xavier was doing to him.

  “Fuck, you’re taking it so beautifully, stretched so wide,” Xavier murmured, and Chase gasped as knuckles grazed his gland. He wondered if this time Xavier would do it, would take him and own him in a way he’d never thought to let happen. But with Xavier, there were so many things he wanted to do, wanted to give, experience—

  “Oh, holy—” Chase’s eyes fluttered shut as Xavier pushed into him harder, faster, doing some sort of twisting thing that stole his breath. He dug his fingers into the backs of his knees as he jerked, trying to open himself more, silently begging even as his heartbeat doubled and fear edged his thoughts. He didn’t know if he was capable of going much further. The pressure inside and to his hole was so intense, it was almost unbearable, but it felt so good.

  Xavier pumped his fingers into him again, then they were gone and Xavier was on him, shoving his way between Chase’s legs and crawling up his body. Chase shouted, his eyes snapping open when Xavier slammed his cock into him. His inner muscles spasmed, the tissues sensitised from the long foreplay session, and Chase arched up against Xavier’s sweat slicked chest, his hands sliding and slipping as he sought purchase. He locked his ankles around Xavier’s hips, his legs open wide, not yet gripping. Xavier cursed, then that hot mouth was on his, Xavier’s tongue plunging deep, owning Chase there just as he did everywhere else.

  Xavier bit Chase’s lips, sucked them, then thrust his tongue in again as he began fucking Chase, hard and deep, branding him inside in ways Chase knew no one else ever could have done. His ass ached, burned, and he needed more. He dug his heels into Xavier’s crack, spurring him on, demanding more and more as his nails scored Xavier’s back.

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  “Yes,” Xavier hissed, his lips brushing Chase’s. “That’s it, let me feel it. Show me how much you want me.”

  Chase wanted to say something witty, but he couldn’t fucking think when Xavier was like this, or when he was making slow, tender love to him, or any time Xavier and he were fucking. The man decimated Chase’s ability to do anything other than feel and react, and come until he thought his balls would shrivel up and beg for mercy. Even when Chase was leading, it didn’t matter, Xavier just did it for him and that was all there was to it.

  Xavier’s dick dragged over his gland and Chase bucked beneath him. “Again,” he demanded, only to find himself immediately pinned by Xavier’s weight. While he still couldn’t handle being bound, there was something about feeling Xavier’
s weight on him that drove Chase crazy in the best way, some innate sense of being safe and cared for like this and it drove him wild. Without thought he latched on to Xavier, tightening his legs around him, one arm going behind Xavier’s neck, the other lower on his back, holding him as surely as Xavier held him down. “Fuck me, come on, fuck me!” Chase rasped, goading, begging, demanding all at once.

  Xavier snarled something then bit Chase’s neck hard enough to hurt in a way that never failed to make Chase’s dick throb. It pulsed between their damp, hard stomachs, friction and moisture and the zing of pain working his erection so that Chase sobbed as he gulped in a breath. Instantly Xavier’s lips were back on his, that thick cock splitting him open, burying in deep as Chase came, his body convulsing with the force of it even under Xavier’s weight.

  Xavier’s hips stuttered, jerking and grinding against Chase’s ass, the rough scrape of his groin as he filled and stretched Chase’s hole feeling so maddeningly perfect. Chase lost several seconds in a state of fucked out bliss. When he was able to think, he could feel the warm trickle of Xavier’s seed leaking out, as Xavier’s cock softened then slipped from his ass.

  “Jesus Christ,” Xavier muttered, sliding half way off Chase in a boneless heap.

  “Damn, you’re gonna kill me.”

  Chase snorted and shook his head. “Gonna go together. You just—”

  The rumbling sound of an engine cut off his next words. Even faint, it sent a jolt of adrenaline through him, and, judging by the way Xavier rolled off the bed, coming to his feet in a stumbling, arm flailing mess, Xavier was startled as well.

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  “Are we expecting anyone?” Xavier asked as Chase peeled himself off the sheets, absently wiping his stomach and chest with the material.

  “No,” Chase answered, his senses tingling in alarm. He couldn’t say why, but whatever—whoever—was pulling up had him on edge. Ever since Les had called and told them about the PI he’d busted hanging around Glenn’s hotel, Chase and Xavier had been expecting trouble. “Do you think—”

  “It’s a goddamned limo,” Xavier muttered, peering out the window. “Of course I think it’s them. Goddamn it!”

  Chase was dressed and right on Xavier’s heels as he left the bedroom.

  He was learning to take it minute by minute, hour by hour, and eventually day by day, then on from there. James kept telling himself that was his goal every time he wanted to hide away. He still hadn’t left his apartment, but the idea of doing so was no longer terrifying. In fact, he was starting to really want to go out, just to walk in the sunshine for a bit, even if the temperatures were in the triple digits. He wanted to be able to go talk to Chase and Xavier, and to have a life again, onehe could enjoy, one outside of these four walls that were, instead of being a comfort as they had been at first, closing in on him more and more each day.

  Dr Shariva assured him all of those things were possible. She said he could get past the things that had happened to him, and James knew she was right. Other people survived worse things and eventually got on with their lives. Of course, maybe they were just stronger than he was, more determined and less cowardly.

  “Stop it,” James scolded himself. He’d never been a big partier, and he’d despised pity parties in particular. He’d be damned if that changed now. Think about my goals and aspirations and all that crap like Shariva said. Focus. James tried, he really did, but as usual when he thought of what he wanted in his future he just saw one thing, one man, and it confused the hell out of him.

  How could he want Glenn Shearing? It was true that before… Well, before things had changed, James had always been attracted to older men. There was something he found www.total-e-bound.com

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  highly erotic, empowering even, about covering an older man’s body with his own, taking him and owning him, at least for the time they were fucking. He was sure there was some psychological mumbo jumbo about it, some deep-rooted symbolism or something Freud would have had a field day with had the weirdo been alive still, but it didn’t really matter.

  James liked the men he liked, and he could admit that if he’d met Shearing under different circumstances—if he himself hadn’t been so fucked up—he’d have already had Shearing under him, moaning and begging for more.

  It wasn’t like he used to jump every older guy who offered, and Shearing hadn’t exactly offered, but there was some guttural pull that set him to tingling in places when he saw Shearing. Or thought about him. At first it had terrified James, because dealing with lust after what he’d been through just wasn’t possible.

  And Shearing had seen him at his worst multiple times, the last being when James had went psycho on him—Shariva could tell him not to call himself that until she was blue in the face; she also told him to be honest about his feelings and he felt like he had lost his damned mind along with his pride and everything else. He hadn’t told her about how he’d attacked Shearing, or his attraction to the man, or the way that still unnerved and scared him, or… He hadn’t mentioned Shearing at all, and didn’t intend to. Besides, how could he explain to her what he felt about Shearing when he didn’t know himself? Everything was such a mess, a hopeless tangle of contradictory thoughts and feelings and James didn’t think he could ever get it figured out enough to share it with Shariva.

  What would be the point, anyway? James hadn’t heard a word from or about Shearing. Well, other than Chase letting him know the man wasn’t seriously injured. James hadn’t asked, after that, had been too afraid to find out Shearing had cleared out. Hell, he wasn’t even sure why Shearing had come around. It was hard to believe the spark of interest he’d thought he’d seen in Shearing’s eyes was real, because there was no reason for the man to be interested in him.

  “Stop it,” James grumbled, remembering Shariva’s lecture about putting himself down. Okay, it wasn’t exactly a lecture, it was more along of a good suggestion, but still. If he—

  Shouts from outside cut off his internal rant. Goosebumps pebbled his skin as he realised he knew every one of those voices. He stood and ran to the door, where he gripped www.total-e-bound.com

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  the knob with one hand while flipping the first lock open with the other. His heart pounded in his rib cage and his breath shortened as his chest squeezed tight. He’d wanted to be able to leave his safe little world, but as James listened to his mother’s shrieking voice and Xavier’s booming, angry one, he didn’t know if he’d ever be ready to step outside the door.

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  Chapter Fourteen

  It wasn’t only his knees trembling as he turned the doorknob. James felt every bone in his body rattle, and he was sure they’d all just pop right out of his skin, right along with his jackhammering heart and his pride and every damn thing else. I can do this, he thought, then went light-headed when the door opened a fraction of an inch.

  Or maybe not. James stood there, hovering uncertainly, fear spiking through him with every beat of his heart. He could just stay here, inside, safe in his own little world—except the voices were louder now, the sounds of shouting slipping through the crack between door and frame. Xavier was cussing more than James had ever heard him do before. Normally Xavier seemed very calm, cool, professional even in leathers, but there was none of that now as he cursed James’ father and threatened to break the man in half.

  “You wouldn’t dare! You’re no better than that little street thug!” James didn’t have to look to know his dad was talking about Chase. Chase had pretty much always been ‘that little street thug’ to Larry Stratton, no matter that it was untrue. “I wouldn’t put it past him or you to keep James here, to brainwash him and
get him to sign over his trust—”

  “What the fuck would be the point of that, Mr Stratton,” Xavier barked, “when I can guarantee you I have enough money to own your judgmental ass if I were so inclined? I at least had enough sense to do some digging on you and your wife, and your finances don’t stack up to mine. I don’t need your son’s money and neither does Chase.”

  “You had no right to snoop!” There was something that sounded like a scuffle, but it was over so quickly James wasn’t sure he’d actually heard it. He tried to work up enough courage to look out of the opening but couldn’t quite, not yet. He heard something muffled, his mother’s name mentioned, then that scuffling again, and—

  “Take one more step and I’ll have you both arrested!”

  That from Xavier, his voice thundering over the others, silencing them all for less than a second before more yelling again.

  “He’s my son and my responsibility!”

  James shivered and he wondered when exactly he’d become afraid of his own father.

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  “You don’t know who you’re messing with,” his father continued, and was he—?

  James strained to work it out, but it sure sounded like the man was closer. “We have enough money to make sure James is taken care of—”

  “Like you had him taken care of in that mental hospital?” Chase said in the calm, furious way he had. It usually signified a coming bout of whoopass for whoever he was speaking to, and James, no matter how betrayed he felt by his parents, didn’t want them to provoke Chase any further. “Even a common street thug like myself could tell he was drugged and shouldn’t have been. He wasn’t a danger to himself, and he sure as shit didn’t want to be there. You should have seen his smile when I got there.”