Feel My Pain (Curse Bound 1)

Zane didn’t want him to walk off, but he couldn’t focus with Michael’s dense cologne soaking into his clothes.

“You smell good. What is that?” Michael asked, rubbing his face into Zane’s hair.

What was he to say? That Michael smelled awful because he must have bathed in perfume? “It’s this shampoo bar I use.”

Roach watched them like a hawk as he stuffed a whole muffin into his mouth in one go. It took him a while until he was able to speak. “Oh yeah… Zane smells like lemons and a hot summer day that you wanna fuck.”

Zane’s heart did a little flip, and he stared back, so surprised by the openly given compliment he wasn’t sure how to react at first. A hot summer day. Everyone wanted to be that.

“Roach smells like a pack of cigarettes you wanna fuck,” he said, chuckling at the confusion passing through Roach’s handsome features. There was also the caramel cologne/beard oil smell Zane couldn’t pinpoint, but Roach didn’t need to know how much it was appreciated.

Michael pushed away Zane’s hair to press his face against the crook of his neck, but Zane kept his gaze on Roach, who licked his lips, hovering his hand over the next muffin on the table.

“I’ll take that. So where’s the boyfriend?”

Michael snorted. “I’ll get him. How about you two wait for us in the living room?” he asked, leading Zane past the kitchen and into a cozy room with two sofas and a gas fireplace. It wasn’t anything special, but the theme of movie posters as decor continued here too, with a huge Frankenstein print on one of the walls.

“Sure,” Zane said, squeezing Michael’s hand before spinning straight onto the sofa. He didn’t have to engage in wild guessing games to know Michael wanted to push his partner at Roach so he could get Zane naked. Which Zane wasn’t as excited about as he wanted to be.

Maybe the boyfriend would be more his type, and Zane could maneuver Michael into a buddy fuck with Roach?

“Is it just me, or is it really hot in here?” Roach asked and took off his suit jacket, rushing through the buttons of his shirt next.

Zane’s gaze trailed to Roach’s midsection, and the skin flashing between the folds of fabric made him salivate.

What the hell had this damn curse done to his brain?

Roach stared back at him. “You not hot?”

Zane pulled the loose fabric of his shirt into a ball at the front of his body, making the garment cling to him. “Maybe.”

Roach licked his lips and approached Zane with eyes trained on him as if he was hungry for something more substantial than a muffin. “Zane…” he said before straddling Zane’s lap as if he’d done it a thousand times already. As if they really were boyfriends.

The heat of his body made Zane’s blood run faster, and he took hold of the firm thighs without thinking. He slid his fingers along the fabric-clad muscle and met Roach’s gaze. “What?” he whispered, overwhelmed by the cloud of caramel and nicotine Roach brought with him.

Roach rubbed his nose against Zane’s cheek, his soft beard tempting Zane to push his fingers in. “I never stopped thinking about you these two years…”

Zane sunk deeper into the upholstery. The weight of Roach’s body didn’t feel oppressive, but his words brought the reason for all the anger in Zane’s life to the forefront of his mind. He exhaled, dug his fingers hard into Roach’s flesh and clenched his teeth. “Me neither. I’ll never forget what you did.”

When Zane’s nails bit into skin, he was once again reminded of the bond they shared. Infuriating. And despite the pain, despite Zane’s words, Roach still leaned in for a kiss, as if bodily pleasure could ever wipe away the suffering Zane had been through.

But it did help him forget. Roach’s lips were softer and gentler than they should’ve been, and Zane didn’t feel like resisting, his head light with promises made by alcohol and coke. He opened his mouth and heard himself moan. Roach wrapped his arms around Zane’s neck, and the connection wasn’t something Zane knew how to deny himself.

When Zane closed his eyes, he could imagine a life where the shit between them had never gone down. Roach, a sexy, tatted-up biker, slipped his tongue between Zane’s lips without inhibitions. Wet, hot and ready, he pulled Zane’s hand to his ass. Zane was a sucker for straight-acting guys, and he’d fallen into the closet trap too many times, but Roach had no way back into hiding.

If Roach and Zane had stayed together that night, their life wouldn’t have become the mess it was. And maybe they could have left together, gone on an adventure and become friends. Maybe they could have become more, if that sizzling chemistry wasn’t merely the result of the black magic? They would never find out, because the past could not be taken back.