Page 45 of The Fighter

He was like dead weight when I rolled him over onto his back. His hands flopped on either side of his head, palms up. He didn’t move, but his eyes followed me as I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed lube.

I brushed my lips against his as I opened the cap and squeezed some slick onto my fingers. “Keep your hands there,” I said.

I didn’t wait for an answer. I slid quickly down his body and swallowed his cock until my lips rested against his skin. He shouted, something that sounded like a curse.

I didn’t waste time, sucking hard, circling his hole with my other fingers. I kept one hand on his stomach to prevent him from thrusting into my mouth as I plunged two fingers inside of him.

He made a choked sound, and this time I swore it was my name. I crooked my fingers, easily finding his prostate and then I was relentless, pumping in time with my lips bobbing on his cock until he came with a strangled cry, shooting his release into my mouth.

I took care of him after that, like he’d done for me. I licked him clean, then wiped him down with a damp cloth while he lay just as I left him, his hands beside his head, eyes only slits.

I kissed his lips. “Sleep more. When you wake up, we’ll eat again.”

He closed his eyes.

I was in my office when I heard Tav emerge from the bedroom. I listened for him to call my name, but when his footsteps traveled down the hallway and stopped, I left my office to go look for him.

The door of the spare bedroom was open, and I leaned against the doorway while Tav stood near the desk, rummaging through a box. He wore only a pair of sweatpants that he must have grabbed from his clothes box. He glanced up at me, and I could immediately see that I had a much different Tav on my hands than the one this morning who’d woken me up with a blowjob and who’d bantered about movies.

His nostrils flared, and his eyes were more alert and less concuss-y. “Where’s my phone?”

It was in my office. I’d turned it off. From my own phone, I had texted Lary, but he wasn’t resting until he heard from Tav himself. Which would have to wait. “Why do you need it?”

His eyes bulged. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious.”

Tav turned slowly, and he had that coiled tension in his body that I recognized and didn’t like. “I might like you to dominate me when we fuck, Con. But I do not want this.” He pointed to the few boxes that held his possessions. “I don’t want you withholding my phone and moving my shit without asking.”

I matched his intensity as I straightened from my casual doorway lean and took one step inside the bedroom. I was ready to have this out. “I have zero interest in dominating you outside sex, but I have a very vested interest in protecting you, keeping you safe, and seeing you fucking happy and cooking eggs in my kitchen.”

His jaw worked. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He let out a harsh bark of laughter that turned my stomach. “You probably think, what, that you can throw some money around and that’ll be enough to make all my problems go away? So that I stop having to fight? Well fuck off, Con, because money can’t fix this.” He pointed at his chest. “Ihave to fix this, and this is already…” he flapped his arms helplessly before dropping them to his hips and staring up at the ceiling. “This is already too much. I need to leave before I cause you more problems than I probably already had.” His nose wrinkled, like he tasted something bad. “You got that Nik, guy, right? You should probably have him stick close for a while.”

Even now, he was thinking about my safety. “I don’t know what I’m dealing with?”

“No,” he spat.

I had more at my disposal than money. A lot more. He didn’t know it yet, but that warehouse would be burned to the ground tonight. I was confident I could deal with whatever situation he was in, but I needed the details. Then I’d give him that last part of me that I didn’t give anyone. “Then tell me.”

He shook his head, throwing up his hands like I was crazy. I had to get him out of this room and out of this mindset. He’d been forthcoming when he’d been between my legs hungry for cock, so I wasn’t above using his body to get him to confess his secrets.

“Come with me.” I turned and walked down the hall into my bedroom and then into my attached bathroom. I turned on the faucet for the tub, checked my watch, and waited. Almost five minutes passed before he stormed in, ready to battle, but softened a little when he saw the rapidly filing whirlpool tub with steaming water. I gestured for him to get in, and even though he rolled his eyes and snorted out his nose, he shucked his pants and slipped inside, biting his lip to hide a groan as his battered body sank below the surface.

“What do you remember from last night?” I asked as I undressed.

He watched me and didn’t bother to hide the wariness in his eyes. “I remember fighting.”

“After that?”

He gripped the side of the tub. “It’s hazy. Your voice. A few others. A car ride. Why the hell were you there?”

“We’ll get to that later. You don’t remember me talking to your handler, Chen?”

Tav frowned. “You talked to Chen? Was Lary there?”

I stepped into the tub and sat opposite from Tav. “Yeah.”

“I don’t…” his brow furrowed. “I’m not sure.”