The Rebel (Red's Tavern 2)

“You didn’t. I was about to go to sleep, because I still feel guilty as hell being a night owl, but… I hadn’t even tried sleeping yet.”

“Were you as wired as I was after that storm?”

“Completely,” he said.

I pulled in a long breath. “Liam,” I said. “Listen. I’ll do your video.”

He paused. “What?”

“I’ll do the damn video. Whatever you want me to do. Jerk off wearing a cowboy hat and boots. Jerk off into a cowboy hat. Hell, I don’t even care if you show my face. Let ‘em see me. I just need the money.”

“Whoa, whoa, Red,” Liam said. “I appreciate that. I really do. But I don’t want anyone doing videos for Hardy Productions who doesn’t really want to do it.”

“I do want to.”

I heard him let out a slow sigh. “Believe me, if you’re only in it for the money, you might regret it later.”

“I won’t regret it, and I’m not afraid of doing it,” I said. “I mean it when I say I have no problem with the idea of… somebody jerking off to videos of me.”

“Red, you didn’t want to do this at all until now—”

“Because I was afraid of being with you,” I blurted out. “I mean, not with you, but… working with you, I mean.”

“And you aren’t anymore?”

I breathed deep. “I think now I’m more afraid of not seeing you again than seeing you again,” I said. “Can’t fuckin’ believe I just said that.”

He was silent for a moment.

“I wish like hell I knew what expression you had on your face right now,” I said.

“Well, you know what I look like when I’m shocked. Just picture that.”

“Are you sitting straight up in bed?”

“I am, actually,” Liam said. “Are you?”

“Yes,” I said. “I had a nightmare. Now are you going to let me do the video?”

He sighed. “I need to know you wouldn’t be doing it for the wrong reasons,” Liam said. “I desperately want you to do it, of course. It would be the best way to launch Hardy Productions. But don’t make a snap judgment just because today was terrifying. Think about it this week and we’ll see how you still feel. Okay?”

I felt a smile spreading across my face. “I used to make you sleep on decisions like that,” I said. “Now you’re the one making me do it.”

“It’s a very effective method,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice, too.

“It can be.”

“I’m not convinced you really want to do it. That’s all,” he said. “I was always a very eager porn star. You were more... indifferent to the idea of being filmed.”

I let out a sigh, sinking back into my pillow. “You’re going to make me admit it, aren’t you?” I said.

Now that my nightmare had worn off, the darkness of my bedroom and the cozy sheets were making me feel partially intoxicated. Dreamy somehow, like I could say things to Liam I normally wouldn’t dare.

“Make you admit what?” he said.

I pulled my lower lip between my teeth, cradling the phone between my shoulder and ear. “You’re gonna make me admit that I kind of want to be on film.”

He hummed in surprise. “Is that right?” Liam asked.

I breathed deep. “The idea of making myself come on camera for you is actually making me get hard right now.”

Fuck.

Fuck.

I’d really gone too far with that one.

It was one thing to kiss Liam earlier, when he’d just poured his heart out to me and I thought it might be the last time I ever saw him in the bar. But this was different. I was officially being bad right now, yet I couldn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

“Jesus, Red,” Liam whispered finally. “You are?”

I reached down under the covers, holding my erection in my fist. “Very.”

I faintly heard him swallow on the other end. Suddenly the air felt electric again, like it had earlier before I’d kissed him, even though we weren’t even in the same room. Everything felt charged, like I had a direct line connecting me to him.

“Fuck. Now I am,” Liam said.

“Are you holding yours, too?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice low.

I started to pump my fist along my cock, slowly at first. It was like a goddamn relief.

“Are… are you better than you felt earlier?” Liam asked.

“This feels a whole lot better than the pure terror I woke up to just now,” I said. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“No, no,” he said. “It’s okay. I get it. Please keep going?”

“I am,” I said. I was stroking myself a little harder now, unable to get the image of the good part of the dream out of my head.

“What was your dream about, anyway?” Liam asked.

I swallowed. “You got taken away from me. And it was horrifying.”

“Shit,” he said. “Was it all that bad?”

“The first part was better,” I said.