Down by Contact (The Barons 2)

His father was younger than what seemed average to have a kid Brayden’s age. He had blond hair and pale eyes, and more or less looked like an aging Adonis. He also did a quick once-over of me that made it plain as day this dude wasn’t all the way straight. No wonder he was always up under Simeon’s fine ass.

My lips pulled into an automatic sneer that I tried to smooth. I looked down at Brayden.

“See you on Tuesday afternoon, little man?”

“If you haven’t killed yourself after losing to the Barons.”

“Wow.”

Simeon appeared next to me and frowned down at Brayden. “Dude, suicide jokes aren’t cool. Come on, now. You know better than that.”

Brayden rolled his eyes. “Sure.” He walked backwards to the door and waved sarcastically before turning away.

I snorted. That kid hated my ass, but I still found him funny as fuck. Good thing Simeon was here to be the role model.

“Have a good weekend, guys,” Mr. Whatever-the-Hell-His-Name-Was said. He sent a separate smile to Simeon. “If you don’t end up going to the game, let me know.”

Simeon nodded, eyes twinkling with his usual big grin. “You got it, Judd.”

Brayden’s father left, and I shot Simeon the most incredulous glare I could muster.

“‘Judd’?”

Truth be told, I thought he’d ignore me like he had for the past five days, but this time he didn’t.

“Yeah. Judd.”

“What, are you friends now?”

“He’s trying.”

“He’s trying to push up on you in case you didn’t notice that shit.”

Simeon’s lip curled. “Thanks for the heads-up, Bravo, but my gaydar is extremely on point. Extremely.”

“So if you know he’s trying to push up on you why are you even leading him on?”

Simeon’s eyes narrowed into hazel slits framed by long lashes. “Because he’s hot, deeply closeted, and there is zero harm in letting him fuck me.”

He gave me the ill once-over, like he was willing me to die on the spot, and turned away. I grabbed his forearm and dug my fingers in.

“Hold up.”

Simeon looked down at my hand then up into my eyes.

“Get off me,” he said, voice low. “Now.”

“Just give me a second.” I squeezed tighter and took a step closer. “Please?”

He wet his lips, and my pulse jump-started like I’d been given fifty thousand volts straight to my heart. With my galloping heart rate came panic. Not because my body reacted to his the same way it had when I’d met my first and only serious college girlfriend, but because I couldn’t think of a way to make him listen to me.

“We’re closing down, guys!”

I dropped Simeon’s arm and stepped away just as Sheila and Yaritza entered the hallway. I forced a tight smile, aware that Simeon was still staring at me.

“Everything okay?” Yaritza asked.

“Uh, yeah. I was just, uh—” I cleared my throat and ran a hand over my jaw. “I was about to ask Simeon to watch the game with me on Sunday. Had it all planned out and everything.”

Yaritza gave me a side eye so powerful it was amazing she didn’t tear her optic nerves. Sheila became very interested in her phone.

“Well, you guys have a great weekend,” Yaritza said at length. “See you Tuesday!”

Simeon nodded at them, but he hadn’t yet taken his gaze off me.

“Why do you want to watch football with me?”

“Why not? I’m not allowed to go to the games, and I don’t have any friends who aren’t on my team.”

Simeon crossed his arms over his chest, causing his biceps to bulge in the tight, black, long-sleeved Dri-FIT he wore. “What’s that got to do with me?”

“You can’t just take an olive branch, can you?”

“Fuck your olive branch.”

The front door shut, and I heard the sound of clicking locks. Simeon didn’t react to the sound, but it reverberated right down to my core. We were alone for the first time since I’d watched him slob my knob to the tune of sloppy, wet sucking sounds. I took a deep breath.

“You said I won that round, but I didn’t.”

Simeon arched a brow. “What does that mean?”

“It means you said I won, but I didn’t.” Another deep breath as the words fought me the entire time I tried to force them out. “I was okay with the other stuff, but the last part got me pretty damn nervous.”

Simeon snorted and looked up at the ceiling. “Lord, please save her from denial and protesting way too much.”

“Her? What?”

He smirked. “Never mind. I forgot you don’t speak gay just yet.”

“You lost me.”

“You’ve been lost for a while.” Simeon was smiling evilly, but he hadn’t walked away, which I took as a good sign. “So you’re saying me blowing you and swallowing your come was A-okay, but putting my tongue in your mouth made you nervous?”

My mouth went dry. All moisture in my body pooled at the tip of my dick. I fucking hated him. I swear I hated him and the effect he had on my traitorous asshole of a body.