Page 6 of Merrick

The corner of Wilder’s mouth quirked up. “And you speak.”

Merrick laughed under his breath. “You have no idea.”

“A talker, then?”

He nodded.

“So the gag is a necessity?” Wilder asked.

“Yes.”

“What if I want to hear you?”

Merrick traced his tongue across the backside of his top teeth. “What if I didn’t want to hear myself?”

“Is that it?”

“Sometimes.”

Wilder made an amused sound in the back of his throat, and Merrick stepped into the house. The door closed behind him and he took in the space. The living room was small, a loveseat and a coffee table, a mid-century styled entertainment center with a TV on top and a stack of books to the side. There was a lamp on the side table that illuminated the room, but Merrick didn’t see light from anywhere else in the house.

“I do talk a lot,” he admitted. “I don’t know how to be with myself when it’s quiet sometimes, but the constant conversation frustrates everyone.”

“Not me,” Wilder said simply.

Merrick scoffed, tucking his chin toward his chest. “You don’t know me.”

“No,” he agreed. “Not yet.”

A painful silence fell between them, and that was exactly why Merrick used the gag and made the sign. There was no need to pretend there were things to say when there were no wordsthat needed to be said. They both were there for the same thing. There was no point in formalities.

Merrick reached into his pocket and pulled out the condom, holding it up between his first and middle fingers.

“Where do you want me?” he asked.

“Are your rules the same as from Rapture?”

Merrick thought hard about the things he’d read on Wilder’s profile, about the kinks and the rough play. He imagined they’d engaged already in the latter when Merrick had fucked him, but he also imagined that wasn’t quite what Wilder had in mind when he made the post.

“Maybe it’s safer that way for now,” he said, “since you have to be up soon for work.”

“I can do both,” Wilder said softly, taking the condom out of Merrick’s hand and tearing it open with his teeth. “Take off your clothes.”

Merrick kicked out of his shoes and stripped out of his pants and shirt. He left it all beside the couch, waiting for Wilder to tell him what to do next.

“What can I call you?” Wilder asked next.

It was careful wording, Merrick recognized, not specifically asking for a name but still asking for something.

“Merrick,” he answered.

“Wilder,” Wilder said back.

“I saw,” he said. “On your profile.”

“What else did you see?”

Merrick’s mouth went painfully dry, and that was answer enough for the both of them.