Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Arden groaned but teased Mike by picking on hair sprouting from his big toe, his best puppy eyes in place. “You sure a break isn’t in order, teacher?”
The last two weeks had been a whirlwind including the trip to a clinic to get tested where Mike had promised Arden a ‘lolly’ for good behavior. Arden’s sexuality, which had been so painfully repressed since that traumatic event with Luke, was blooming again, even though he still wasn’t ready to go all the way and sometimes flinched when surprised by touch. Mike was there with him. All in. Dick deep in Arden’s mouth whenever it pleased them.
Doubts about Mike’s intentions had sunk so deep into the waters of Arden’s mind he hardly acknowledged their existence anymore and continued testing his lover. Mike wasn’t nearly as appreciative of gay porn as he was of Arden’s erotic drawings but still willing to explore, and Arden helped him out with his mouth more than once. Though he suspected Mike was way more into the blowjobs than the hot tough guy-on-twink action playing out on the screen.
The real-life Mike snorted, rolling Arden with his foot. “A break? Your mouth is just hungry for a plowing, baby.”
Arden groaned. He couldn’t get enough of Mike and anyone who cared to look would spot that. “Am I really that easy to read?” His fingers trailed up the muscular calf, over the knee, reaching to Mike’s thigh…
He loved being smooth all over, but there was something irresistible about body hair on other men, so it was a shame the fabric of Mike’s joggers was in the way.
“Yes. Now get up, you lazy ass. This lesson is so serious you should call me Professor Heller,” Mike said, spreading his feet on the edge of the mat. He took a deep breath and clapped. “Move. Move. Move.”
Arden whined but got up. He already knew that tone in Mike’s voice. This was Trainer Mike, and he wouldn’t give in to Arden’s pleading for cum. Which was frustrating, because he was a snack in the simple joggers and tank top thin enough to show off Mike’s pecs and nipples. “Why is it serious? Don’t I have you to protect me now?” Arden fluttered his eyelashes with a smile.
A frown passed through Mike’s usually smiling features. “I can’t always be there, so you need to know how to act in moments of danger. Don’t you see how important that is? What if someone came for you again?”
Arden flexed his bicep for Mike. He hadn’t developed much muscle, but his arm was still bigger than when he’d arrived almost three months ago. “I’m buff now. I can take on anyone.” He was joking, but he’d learned quite a few moves a small guy like him might utilize against a physically stronger opponent if push came to shove.
“Oh yeah?” Mike asked, as he grabbed a well-used body shield from one of the equipment hangers. He stepped closer and handed Arden a pair of boxing gloves.
Arden pushed his hands into the hot pockets that still held other people’s dried sweat and looked first at the target image on the body shield, then at Mike, who patted the shield, as if inviting Arden closer. “Hit me like I’m Luke.”
Hurt passed through Arden with a sudden intensity, the familiar face lurking at the edges of his vision like a shadow circling him to find all the weak points. Arden’s hands curled inside the gloves, heat flashing to his face at the memory of the motherfucker, who’d taken so much from him. Who’d broken him to a point where he still didn’t feel completely at ease when having sex with his new amazing boyfriend.
He punched the dense shield with everything he had, but Luke would have remained standing, so he attacked again, a lump rising in his throat. He used to regret breaking that lamp on Luke’s head, afraid that it made him a killer. But the world would have been better off if that bastard had bled to death. He kept punching even when he lacked air, even when his arms ached from swinging.
So he added kicks to the punches, grunting each time.
“Fuck you!” he growled, landing a kick hard enough to make his opponent take half a step back in a flurry of blond hair just a shade brighter than Luke’s own.
Arden wouldn’t give in when the tall man in front of him stepped off the mat and chased him. There could be no peaceful resolutions here. No truce. No forgiveness.
His head pulsed with dense, boiling hate that drove him forward until it became crystal clear that he would either see this through or choke on his own grief and anger. So he pushed on, screaming until his throat was raw while the shadow in front of him moved back, toward the edge of hell, where he belonged.