Page 86 of Tied Over

In moments, we were joined by Stiel, who was fidgeting with his collar and a scarf where a tie normally was.

“You look uncomfortable,” Bodhi offered, grinning.

“Yeah, whatever this is, cravat, ascot—fuck. I hate it. I’m being slowly choked to death.”

I smiled at him because he just swore over a piece of material. I liked him already.

Bodhi wanted to leave the house for more than one reason, and so he asked, “Should I go get Mr. Sutter or—”

“No,” Stiel said, tugging off the offending garment. “As soon as he notices I’m not there—yeah, see? Here he comes.”

The billionaire was jogging to where we were, which surprised me.

“That lasted longer than usual,” Sutter teased his husband, taking the material from him, putting it quickly to his face, inhaling, and then folding it around his hand as Stiel held the door open.

Walking behind them toward a large SUV, I saw how tightly Stiel clutched his husband to him and how much the billionaire leaned. They were relationship goals right there.

On the plane, Sutter directed us to the back so we could have our privacy and they could have theirs.

“Thank you so much for the ride, sir,” I reiterated. “Our boss wants us back, and we need to be there.”

“Is something going on?” Sutter asked me.

“Not something you can know at the moment,” Stiel told him, tugging his husband close before glancing up at us. “Take a seat, gentlemen.” He was a police commander; he was used to giving orders, just like my boss.

In the back, on a plane that made Hayden’s father’s look shoddy by comparison, Bodhi and I sat together, pressed close, and I loved having his hand curled around the inside of my thigh.

After several moments, I asked him if he was okay.

“I am,” he answered with a sigh. “Which makes me a horrible person, but Hayden did agree that I was saving him more heartbreak down the line.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he knew, Jed,” he said with a rueful smile. “He could tell from looking at me look at you, hearing my voice when I speak to you, and how, like always, I can’t keep my hands off you…that I’m stupid in love with you and that will never change.”

“He said he thought you were stupid in love with me?”

“No, idiot. I added the stupid.”

I smiled at him, and his breath stuttered.

“What else?”

“When we first started talking, he asked if I planned to ever fuck him again.”

“That’s charming,” I said, hating that Hayden spoke to him like that.

“Well, I fucked him a lot, and he liked it.”

“Thanks for that.”

“No, I’m just telling you the truth. I did, and then, as soon as you were in the hospital, I didn’t leave your side, and everything, including that, stopped.”

“Just like that?”

He nodded.

“Why?”