Better Off Page 4

  But instead of taking advantage of the proximity of Hailey’s willing mouth to his eager cock, he heard himself say, “I’d rather go down on you. I want you naked. How come I’m the only one who’s naked?” He rolled Hailey onto his back so he could strip off his jeans, wrestling the tight fabric over his feet to reveal the cotton boxers beneath. “SpongeBob?”

  “I didn’t know I was getting laid tonight when I got dressed this morning. This is a pleasant surprise.” Hailey pushed SpongeBob down over his hips and Mac took his shorts the rest of the way off, leaving Hailey as naked as he’d wanted him, ranged out long beside him in erotic contrast to the silly sheets.

  Hailey’s cock formed a hard line angling out toward his left hip, prettily purple at the tip. The stomach beneath it was flat and hairless, his chest nearly as hairless but with a slight swell of muscle. The silver ring called attention to his right nipple, while the left was unadorned but just as pointy-hard. He lay without self-consciousness, a smile on his lips as Mac evaluated him by the harsh light of the overhead bulb. He was struck again with the urge to take Hailey somewhere else, somewhere worthy of him, not here on the floor.

  Hailey traced his hands across the caps of Mac’s shoulders. “You’re beautiful, you know.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing. Scooch up.”

  Hailey shifted higher to make room for Mac to get between his legs. Mac bent Hailey’s knees so he could get a full look at his balls and taint, at the pretty pink of his asshole. He nosed into the area behind Hailey’s balls for a moment, relishing the heady scent of man before moving his focus to Hailey’s cock.

  It wasn’t long before he had Hailey groaning and squirming. He kept a hand on Hailey’s hip to anchor him as he sucked and licked. His eyes flickered up to take in Hailey’s face—scrunched into fierce concentration—then back down to watch Hailey’s length move in and out of his mouth.

  “Mm, Greg.”

  A light burst of flavor told him Hailey was getting close, so he released him and crawled up his body to bring them face to face again.

  “You stopped,” Hailey complained. Mac sucked the pout off his face, relishing the quickness of Hailey’s breath.

  “A short break. You were about to come.”

  “I know.”

  Mac laughed as he brought Hailey’s hand to his own cock. He hadn’t been stroking himself while he’d been going down on him, but now that he had a moment’s pause, he desperately needed stimulation.

  “Oh, my turn, huh? Let me check out this magnificent beast.” Hailey pressed him down onto his back and got between his knees, his focus going directly to the object in question. “It’s just as straight as you are, isn’t it?”

  Well. Mac couldn’t credit his mother’s nagging for that, just luck of the draw. But he appreciated the greedy way Hailey regarded his cock.

  “I’m going to be just as ruthless with you, you know. If that’s the game we’re playing.” With that warning, Hailey bent down to inhale his cock. Mac choked back an ecstatic breath.

  Why did this feel so good already when Hailey had barely touched him? Because he’d been waiting for it—not just while he’d sucked Hailey, but this whole night. Ever since Hailey had peeked around that curtain, in fact, and his mind had gone exactly where Hailey had accused it of going. The whole day had been one long tease, and now Hailey was threatening to tease him more. God, he wouldn’t be able to take it.

  He put his hand into the rich tresses of Hailey’s hair and scooped them back so he could better see how Hailey’s pretty pink lips stretched around him. He wasn’t surprised by the enthusiasm Hailey brought to his task. He’d made it clear he wanted Mac physically, and though Mac wasn’t unaccustomed to being physically admired, there was something specific about Hailey’s lust that fed more than his ego.

  When those bright eyes flickered up to him, Mac wanted them looking at him always, just like that. Not only in the middle of sex, but in the middle of dinner, wherever they might be. He wanted Hailey to find him admirable, to be enamored of him, to really mean that look in his eyes.

  He tangled his fingers deeper into Hailey’s hair and thrust his hips up, urging him on. He was getting close now, chasing his orgasm, wondering if Hailey really did intend to tease him and thinking that if he did, he’d better pull of fast because Mac was almost at the point of inevitability. But Hailey kept driving him higher until Mac knew he couldn’t stop even if Hailey wanted him to.

  He mumbled something in warning, almost frantic with how badly he wanted to come right down Hailey’s throat but giving him the option to pull off, and then it was too late even for that. He came hard into Hailey’s soft mouth, stiffening all over, a relieved moan bursting from between his lips as he emptied himself.

  When his eyes opened again, they went immediately to Hailey, who was licking lightly around the base of his cock to catch the overflow. He cupped Hailey’s chin to turn his face up and soaked in the resulting smile. A sort of permanence washed through him, as though this moment had happened before and would always happen.

  Too satisfied to be bothered by how sentimental his orgasm had made him, he tugged at Hailey’s arms to draw him up and into his body. “You made me come.”

  “Couldn’t resist.” Hailey brushed his nose under Mac’s chin. “I’m trusting you here.”

  “You can trust me. Just give me a minute.” He ran his hand over the smooth flesh of Hailey’s flank, tracing the contours of his ass appreciatively. Hailey was hot against him, his cock pressing like a branding iron into Mac’s hip, his mouth painting eager kisses over everything he could reach.

  “I’m not in a big hurry.” Hailey butted him with his erection to make his point, so Mac shifted his hand to find it. As thin as Hailey’s wrists were, his cock felt like it was practically as big around, straining hot and beaded with precome at the tip. Hailey bucked when he touched it, definitely in a bit of a hurry.

  Mac should jerk him off. A few quick tugs would probably do it. But instead he rolled Hailey onto his back and went back to that careful exploration he’d been making earlier, a slow appreciation of everything Hailey—the tantalizing ring through his nipple, the concavity of his navel, the delicacy of his bones, the wild enthusiasm.

  It didn’t surprise him that Hailey gave himself wholeheartedly to the experience the same way he’d relished his dinner. Hailey was made of the moment, and he sucked Mac into it with him so that this pleasuring of Hailey’s body felt better to Mac than his own orgasm had. With the edge off his desire, he could give himself up as completely as Hailey did.

  They had a whole building to themselves. It didn’t matter how loud he made Hailey scream, though Hailey kept his voice low. His whispered pleas for mercy narrowed Mac’s world down to this mattress on the floor. The stark overhead lighting became a spotlight showcasing the beauty before him. The clutter faded into a painted backdrop. There was nothing but Spider-Man sheets and naked, squirming man.

  “So good, Greg.”

  That was his signal. When Hailey started talking, he was on the very edge, and this time Mac took him over it—reluctantly, because he wasn’t done, wasn’t nearly done, but unable to deny the plea in Hailey’s voice.

  “Fuck.” Hailey’s voice rose in pitch and volume and his fingers tightened in Mac’s hair, sending a tingle of arousal coursing through him. God, it was almost enough to have him ready to go again. As he swallowed Hailey’s release, one hand pinning his hip to the mattress to tame his thrashing, he wished he were young enough for that. This had been too good to only do once.

  Mac blinked up at the ceiling, only now noticing how it’d been painted. Someone had drawn galaxies, great swoops of color that trailed like meteors, round balls reminiscent of exotic planets—a fantasy version of some distant universe. But between the decorative swirls, he could spot the reason for the mural.

  “You’ve had water damage.”

  “Before I moved in, but yeah, looks like. I did the painting, though. Like it?”

&nbs
p; He nodded. It reminded him of his boyhood bedroom, when his mother had allowed him to paste glow-in-the-dark stars all over his ceiling. The stars had been lost during one of her redecorating sprees in his teen years. He’d pretended to be too old for them anyway, but every time he’d turned out the lights, he’d missed them.

  The mural above him and the Spider-Man sheets below him weren’t the only fanciful elements in the room. The sink was skirted with polka-dotted fabric, and the walls were adorned with all manner of pictures, from charcoal portraits to abstract landscapes worthy of Dali.

  “You’re an artist? Is that what you went to school for?”

  “I used to do caricatures and charcoal portraits when I was a festival follower with my parents, but no, I don’t paint commercially. I’m happy to call it a hobby now. I’m not that good.”

  Seemed good enough to him, not that he was any judge. His eye continued around the room, seeing it more favorably through his endorphin haze. The floor was wood and paint-splattered, but the walls were a pleasant shade of lilac, and though there was no mistaking the years of accumulated wear-and-tear, the surfaces were clean enough. God knew what kind of mold C&G would find when they opened the ceiling.

  “You see why the place needs to be renovated.”

  “Absolutely. Carlos meant well, but he never had the funding you have. You’re planning to renovate, then? Not just tear it down?”

  “The shell will stay, and we’ll keep what we can of the old woodwork, but there’s not much worth salvaging. Rotting pipes, electrical completely out of code, insufficient ductwork, and probably layers of lead paint.”

  “I’m familiar with the building’s failings.”

  “Got any trouble with pests?” The sheets were soft with age, but they smelled like a mixture of clean and Hailey.

  “No fleas or lice, if that’s what you’re worried about. Patchouli is also an insect repellant—or so my parents claim—and Carlos didn’t allow the tenants to have pets. We did used to have rats, but they seem to have moved out. Not much to eat around here now with the bodega gone and all the apartments empty. I couldn’t bear setting out traps myself—rats are just living creatures trying to survive like all of us—but I can’t say I’m sorry to see them go.”

  “Cockroaches love paper.”

  “Don’t I know it. It’s the bane of running a bookstore. Cockroaches I do not feel sorry for, but they like paper bags and cardboard boxes best—something about the glue. That’s why everything’s just in piles. I know it looks haphazard, but it’s better this way.”

  Mac grunted in response. “I doubt you need more books.”

  “It’s an addiction. I’ll admit it.”

  “Do you sell any?”

  “Sure.”

  When Hailey didn’t elaborate, Mac let it go. The worse Hailey’s Comic did, the more eager Hailey would be to take C&G’s offer. It wasn’t Mac’s job to rescue this hapless venture.

  “I should get going.”

  “This bed would be a tight fit for the two of us.”

  True enough. They’d managed to have sex on it, but now they were pressed up against each other without any room to separate, which was why he kept Hailey curled into his side, not because he wanted snuggles. They’d both gotten off. It was over. He should leave. Hailey wasn’t even asking him to stay. In fact, Hailey was rolling away from him, despite the firm arm he’d had tucked around him, and was pulling those SpongeBob shorts back up over his hips.

  Mac got to his feet when Hailey tossed his own shorts at him. “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry, huh?”

  “Sorry, were you wanting a second round? I don’t open the store until noon on weekdays, so I can sleep in if you want to go again, but you look like the early morning type, and also….”

  “Also what?”

  “You’re not exactly twenty, are you? I figured you might have more of a refractory period.”

  “Doesn’t mean I couldn’t make you come again,” Mac said with a scowl as he pulled his shorts on, though why he’d be interested in nonreciprocal sex, he couldn’t imagine. But the continual reminder that Hailey didn’t want anything from him except to briefly borrow his body rankled.

  He finished dressing, then sat on the wooden chair to put on his shoes. Hailey still had on nothing but his boxers, making a tempting sight even if Mac’s refractory period was longer than half an hour.

  This hadn’t been wasted time. He’d gotten his rocks off. He’d picked up a few lines of inquiry for Declan to consider with respect to getting Hailey’s lease invalidated. And he’d done personal reconnaissance on the neighborhood, which he probably should’ve done earlier. Being more involved with the conception and financing of C&G’s projects than their actual implementation, he generally didn’t get down to the building site until the ground-breaking ceremony so he could have a few photos taken of himself in a hard hat holding a rolled-up set of blueprints. The papers loved those pictures.

  “I can drop you somewhere,” he offered when he was fully dressed. “I know you said you’ve got your bike here, but considering the time and the neighborhood—”

  “It’s my neighborhood, Greg. I don’t need a ride anywhere.”

  All right, then. Nothing to do but leave. He paused at the metal door festooned with decades’ worth of peeling stickers. Hailey stood next to him, waiting for him to get the hell out so he could lock up probably. He looked like a man who’d gotten what he needed tonight, peaceful contentment radiating from him, his hair tumbled wildly around the soft satisfaction of his face.

  Mac brushed their lips together, resisting the urge to draw Hailey deeper into him, wishing he could feel as contented as Hailey looked. For a moment there’d been a connection, but now they were only two guys making a posthookup farewell with more than the usual awkwardness.

  “I guess you’ll be hearing from me.”

  “Wish I could say I look forward to it.”

  Yeah, Mac did too.

  Chapter Four

  Declan put his tablet down on the corner of Mac’s desk and slouched into one of the guest chairs. For a big man, Declan was remarkably floppy, always draping himself over furniture like he was a cat melting in the summer sun.

  Mac straightened his own shoulders. He hadn’t consciously thought about his posture since his mother stopped reminding him about it sometime in his late teen years, probably around the time he’d stopped being embarrassed by his own existence, but he would never forget the way Hailey’s eyes had devoured him last night.

  “How’d it go at the comic store?” Declan asked once he’d gotten himself situated. “Any good news?”

  Those two questions had two different answers. It’d gone very well by some measures, but he didn’t have any good news for Declan.

  “Afraid not. We might have to use more extreme tactics to get him out of there.”

  “Him?” Declan frowned. “I thought you were going to meet with the owner.”

  “Who turns out to be a him.”

  “Shame. I was hoping you’d be able to use your charm. Is that why you don’t have good news? Mr. Green wasn’t impressed?”

  “I wouldn’t say that.” Mac regretted the comment as soon as he made it. Not that he and Declan weren’t in the habit of exchanging information about their hookups in the spirit of competitiveness, but because last night had been different. And also inadvisable, as Declan’s raised eyebrow reminded him.

  “If he’d been impressed, you’d have good news. You’re telling me you whored yourself out and still failed to seal the deal? I thought you had more skills than that, brother.”

  “Whatever happened between us was separate from business.” He waved off Declan’s taunts with a frown. “We agreed to put it aside for the time being.”

  “You mean he distracted you from it. I can’t wait to meet the man who talked Gregory MacPherson II out of pursuing his goals, see if he can work some magic on me.”

  Mac frowned harder at the implication that Hailey might also fuc
k Declan. There was no question Declan was handsome—almost too handsome, his features having a symmetry so perfect it verged on pretty.

  He and Declan had never hooked up with each other because they’d realized early on that they could forge a friendship more beneficial than a night or two of sex, but Declan was the type Mac usually went for—about his size and straight-passing with a vicious sense of humor, left-leaning because fuck racism and homophobia and all that shit, but wishing that a fiscally conservative party really existed.

  They both had dark hair worn short. Mac had the fair skin of his Scottish ancestors and a reddish tint to his hair and beard, whereas Declan was clean-shaven with skin that matched his hair color, but Mac couldn’t imagine Hailey being prejudiced. Declan did have a very relaxed posture, though. Hailey wouldn’t like it. Mac straightened his shoulders again.

  “You get anything useful out of your meeting with him?” Declan asked. “Other than your dick sucked?”

  Mac glanced down at the list he’d scrawled of possible lease violations for Declan to look into, then pushed it aside. “I got to know him.”

  Declan snorted, which Mac ignored.

  “I learned he’s not money motivated.”

  “Did you actually try offering him some financial rewards? Or did you go straight for sex?”

  “I tried. Not even a nibble. He thinks he’s standing on principle.”

  “Oh, principle.” Declan rolled his eyes. “Let me do some digging, and we’ll see how good his principles are. You know these people always cave once they’re threatened with having their indiscretions exposed.”

  Mac shook his head. He couldn’t imagine Hailey being so hypocritical. “I went about it wrong last night.”

  “Sounds like you went about it exactly the way he wanted you to.”