“No, he won’t,” Kalin said dismissively, leaning back in his seat like he didn’t have a care in the world. “He wants his artists to be rested, especially if they’re representing the label at an event he’s sponsoring. Tor has spent the past several hours writing songs. He’s exhausted. Let him rest.”

  She clenched her jaw. “Sometimes, I hate that I got stuck with you lot.”

  Spike chuckled, shooting her a smirk full of disdain. “Feeling is mutual, I assure you,” he told her.

  She made an aggravated noise in the back of her throat. “Nine this evening. That’s more than enough time for you to rest, shower, and eat.”

  “That’s three fucking hours,” Dalton told her, annoyance lacing his tone.

  She shrugged. “I don’t care. Deal with it.” She slapped room keys on the counter. Tor, who had fallen back asleep already, his soft breath fanning my skin with every exhale, didn’t even stir. I knew his mind was drained. The lyrics he’d written were… exhausting, to put it lightly. When Tor wrote… he bled. Everywhere and out of every pore. “The keys are to the suite on the sixth floor.”

  With that, she flounced off the bus. I looked at Spike. “Mind grabbing my jacket and draping it over his face?” I asked. “Need to get him upstairs to a bed.”

  Spike stood and grabbed my leather jacket off the hook near the door before carefully draping it over Tor’s head so the light wouldn’t bother him. I stood from the couch, and Kalin held the bus door open for me. With a little maneuvering, I managed to get off the bus with Tor still cradled against my chest all without knocking his shoulder or his feet against the door frame.

  As soon as we were in our suite, I headed toward the first room and gently—so fucking carefully so I wouldn’t accidentally wake him—laid Tor on the bed. He grunted but just rolled over and hugged the closest pillow. I covered him up and headed out of the room. Dalton handed me mine and Tor’s duffel bag.

  Another thing that was suddenly our normal now. Just like we used to if we stayed at Dalton’s place before we all got our own place to share, Tor and I shared a duffel bag.

  It was the little things like this that I’d missed so goddamn much.

  “Thanks,” I told him gruffly.

  He nodded once. “He okay?”

  I nodded. “You know how he is when he’s spent too much time writing.”

  Dalton sighed. “Yeah. His songs are fucking amazing. Just wish they didn’t take so much out of him.”

  Shit, I did, too. But there was something beautiful about the way Tor squeezed out his heart onto those sheets of paper and then sought me out for a donation source to replenish the blood he’d lost. And the part of me that wanted Tor completely dependent on me… well, I fucking loved it.

  “Salem?”

  I spun around to face the door to our room. Tor was standing in the doorway, his eyes sleepy and heavy-lidded. Immediately, I walked to him and settled a hand on his hip, backing him into the room. Dropping the duffel bag, I kicked the door shut and led him back to bed.

  “You shouldn’t be awake yet,” I told him.

  He grunted when we fell to the mattress, me on top of him. Immediately—like it was pure instinct—his legs parted, cradling me between them. He licked his lips, looking a little more awake now. And that hazy look was entering his eyes—the one he got when he needed me.

  Christ, I couldn’t get enough of him.

  “You were gone,” he grumbled, a little bit of a whine to his voice. I had to resist grinding my hardening cock against his at the sound. Fuck, I loved it when he got all whiny on me.

  I hummed and brushed my lips across his. “Missed me?”

  He sighed and wrapped his legs around my hips, moaning when my cock pressed against his. A low growl rumbled from my chest as a shiver wracked down my spine. “Don’t be a dick, Salem.”

  I chuckled. “Not being a dick, baby. Just genuinely curious.” I kissed the corner of his lips. “I like the idea of you missing me when you’re asleep.”

  My nose skimmed along his throat. “I always miss you,” Tor rasped, angling his head so I had more access.

  “I’m right here, baby.”

  He shook his head. “Never close enough. Want you beneath my skin.”

  Christ.

  I rocked my hips against his, and fuck, the way he moaned. The way he whined. The way his fucking nails dug into my skin through my t-shirt…

  “Off,” he panted against my lips, tugging my shirt up. I let him pull it over my head, and then I yanked his off next, pressing our bodies together. He groaned deep in his throat, his chest vibrating with it. He rocked up against me, and we rutted into each other as we kissed and panted into each other’s mouths.

  “You’re so goddamn perfect,” I growled as I moved my lips to his neck. I forced his legs to unwind from around my hips and maneuvered down his body. Once his sweats and boxers were off, I licked a line up the underside of his cock before wrapping my lips around his tip, his precum tasting bitter but so fucking good on my tongue.

  He moaned like a fucking whore, and I had to grip my cock through my shorts to keep from coming from the erotic sound alone.

  “Salem…” he rasped, his fingers sliding into my hair. He thrust up into my mouth, forcing his cock deeper, and I moaned around him, urging him on.

  The number of guys I’d been with… Fuck, none of them nor any time with them could ever compare to Tor and what it was like being with him. We’d done nothing more than this in the past two weeks—touching, rutting, sucking—but goddamn, it was so perfect.

  I sucked him deeper, swirling my tongue around his thick, throbbing length as he lost himself in the bliss of being with me. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed the small bottle of lube I kept on me since Tor loved being fingered so fucking much and squirted some onto my fingers before slicking up his hole and sliding two fingers inside of him.

  “Fuuuuuck,” Tor moaned, his voice no doubt carrying past the four walls of our room. “Christ, Salem,” he growled. “More. Give me more. I need your cock.”

  My eyes snapped up to his as I hollowed out my cheeks. Slipping out my fingers, I added a third before sliding them back inside of him, stretching him more. I’d been waiting—waiting so goddamn patiently—for him to utter those words. To tell me he wanted me to fill him up.

  I popped off his cock before he could cum, my throat a little sore and my voice raspy. “I’m clean. Got tested,” I panted, my cock throbbing at the sight of him riding my fingers, his thick length bobbing across his flat stomach. “I want you bare, Tor. I swear to fucking God, I’ve never fucked anyone bare before.”

  “Just…” he moaned, “get inside of me, Salem.”

  I slid my fingers free and wiped them on my shorts before shoving them down, kicking my shoes off as I went. Hooking the backs of his knees over my arms, I bent him back a little. He reached between us, his eyes locked on mine as he pressed the blunt tip of my cock against his hole.

  And then, I was sliding inside of him. Both of us moaned. Groaned. I whispered his name reverently. Like a fucking prayer.

  His eyes rolled back in his head as I slid out until just the tip of me remained inside of him and then slid back in. Deeper this time. Sliding against his prostate. His lips parted on a silent moan—like he couldn’t manage to utter a word when I was stuffing him full of my cock.

  He reached for me, and I let his legs fall as I lowered my body over his. His legs wrapped around my waist. We touched. Kissed. I rocked into his body over and over, never speeding up. Needing to prolong our first time together. Needing to fuck him so slowly, I took him apart piece by fucking piece.

  Until there was nothing left of him but the pieces that solely belonged to me.

  “I love you,” I growled into his mouth. “Say it, Tor. Your lyrics tell me, but I need to hear you say those fucking words to me, baby.”

  He whined, his nails clawing into my back. “Would I—” he grunted, “let you fuck me—” a moan, “raw if I didn’t love you, too?”

  I nipped at his jaw, a bead of my sweat dripping to his lips. He flicked his tongue out, licking it up, humming low in his throat as the salty flavor exploded on his tongue.

  “Just say it, baby.”

  He shook his head. I grabbed a handful of his blonde strands and pulled, no doubt making his scalp smart. He hissed a breath through his teeth, his hole clenching around me. He was close—I could fucking feel it. But I also knew how to prolong his orgasm if he wanted to play this fucking game with me.

  “I will withhold your orgasm,” I warned him, narrowing my eyes at him.

  He laughed softly. “I like your pain and your suffering,” he reminded me. “Try again.”

  I kissed him again and then pulled out of him. Before he could voice anything, I rolled him to his stomach and slid back inside of him. Bracing my arm against the back of his neck, I pinned him to the bed and proceeded to drive my cock in and out of him hard enough to make the headboard slam against the wall over and over.

  He moaned. Whined more. Fucking screamed for me. And goddamn, it was beautiful. The perfect soundtrack. The only one I wanted to hear for the rest of my fucking life.

  Tears burst from his eyes, and I yanked his head to the side, leaning down to lick them up, getting a sick satisfaction out of making him cry like this. For making him lose himself in us and everything me.

  “Oh, God,” he cried. His hole strangled my cock as he came, spilling onto the pristine, white blanket beneath us. I shouted his name and spilled inside of him, sinking my teeth into his shoulder hard enough to make him bleed.

  When I pulled out of him, he rolled to his back and reached for me. Immediately, I covered his body with mine, wrapping my arms around him. I knew I wasn’t light, but I pressed my body weight into him, letting him feel every bit of me.

  “I love you,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “You’re my beginning and my end, Salem. I love you.”

  I kissed him softly then, working him down, cradling him close.

  He was my beginning and my end, too. He had been since we were mere kids just trying to survive in a shitty, fucked-up, broken world.

  A life without Tor wasn’t a life worth living.

  13

  Tor

  “Rise and shine!” Delia shouted as she shoved open the door to the room Salem and I had taken over. I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head, trying to block out her and the light from the main sitting area of our suite. “Out of bed. Now!” she barked.

  “Fuck all the way off,” Salem growled, his arm tightening around my waist.

  Cold air washed over me when she flung the blanket back. “Christ!” she yelped, stumbling back. I curled in on myself to hide my dick, and Salem moved so his body was covering me as much as possible.

  “Get out!” he yelled at her, throwing a pillow in her direction, his voice booming and bouncing off the walls of our room.

  She stumbled out of the room, her hand over her eyes, the door slamming shut behind her. I heard Jesse and Kalin laughing their asses off in the main room, no doubt at Delia’s expense.

  “Oh, God,” I groaned, looking over my shoulder at Salem. “Do you think she saw everything?”

  Salem sighed and pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but yeah. I’m pretty sure she saw everything.” I groaned. He leaned over me and pressed his lips to mine. “Come on. Let’s hop in the shower and go do this bullshit community service thing.”

  I frowned at him as he slid off the bed. “Community service is not—” I whined at the sight of the red, digital numbers staring back at me from the alarm clock by the bed. “It’s not even six A.M.” Delia had told us yesterday that she would be waking us up early, but fuck, I hadn’t realized she meant four fucking A.M.

  Salem chuckled and walked over, grabbing me beneath my arms and hauling me off the comfortable and warm mattress. “Come on, baby.” He grabbed my hand, linking our fingers together. “If you get a move on, I’ll even blow you in the shower.”

  My cock hardened so fast, it made me a little dizzy. I stumbled, but Salem only smirked, quickly latching onto my hip and catching me so I wouldn’t fall on my face. A low moan crawled up my throat when he dragged my body against his. “Promise?” I asked, my voice husky and low.

  He licked his lips and ran his eyes over me, those dark irises lingering on my cock long enough to make precum bead on the tip. He pulled me in for a kiss hot enough to melt an iceberg within seconds. I groaned—long and low—into his addictive mouth, blindly allowing him to lead me into the bathroom. I barely felt the frigidness of the tiles beneath my feet as Salem reached behind him to turn the shower on, his lips now working their way down my neck and across my shoulder, nipping at my collarbone hard enough to make it sting.

  I moaned.

  “God, I can’t get enough of the fucking sounds you make,” Salem rumbled, kissing me again. We carefully stepped into the shower, and then Salem turned me, pushing me beneath the water.

  “What—” I spluttered. “Oh, fuck,” I moaned when he sank to his knees and flicked his tongue over the tip of my cock, licking up the precum there before he stroked his tongue along the underside of my cock. And when he swallowed me to the back of his throat, no gag reflex there at all, I cried out his name in surprise, my head falling back on my shoulders. My fingers slid into his hair, and he moaned, his hands grasping my thighs, his fingers biting into my flesh as he encouraged me to use him.

  And I did. I fucked his face, chasing my release. When Salem slid his finger between my ass cheeks, stroking his finger over where he’d just fucked me the night before, I fucking lost it.

  “Salem!” I shouted, spilling down his throat. He moaned again, swallowing around me as he greedily drank everything I poured into his waiting mouth.

  He grinned up at me and licked his lips, his dark eyes a little lighter. I sagged back against the tiled wall, my chest heaving. I’d come embarrassingly fast, and I couldn’t even bring myself to care.

  Salem’s mouth was fucking sinful. His mouth should honestly have been illegal. Because holy fuck.

  “You good, baby?” he asked, rising to his feet and pulling me into his arms.

  “Uh-huh,” I mumbled, leaning into him and letting him support me. “I think you sucked my brain out of my head through my dick.”

  Salem barked out a laugh and tightened his arms around me, pressing a kiss to my blonde strands.

  “Jesse, you and Tor will be going to a food bank. They’re doing cooked meals today, so you’ll be serving people.”

  “You’re not separating me and Tor,” Salem told her immediately, his arm curling around my waist. My heart was racing in my chest at the thought of being apart from Salem for something new—something I’d never experienced before. Even when we’d hated each other, I’d been comforted knowing he was there. That my rock was still there.

  A panic attack or two—or fuck, maybe even a dozen—were going to happen if Salem wasn’t with me. He was my crutch, and I knew that was unhealthy, but I needed my crutch if I was expected to make it through today.

  “Don’t you argue with me, Salem,” Delia snapped at him. “I don’t have time for this today. You’re terrible with people, and Tor and Jesse are the best with them. You’ll go with Dalton and help pick up trash off the side of the road.”

  “You’ve got be fucking⁠—”

  Jesse slung an arm around Salem’s shoulders, giving him a look I didn’t understand before he grinned. “I’ll take perfectly good care of Tor. I promise,” Jesse assured him.

  Salem just ground his teeth together, his arm tightening around me, but he didn’t say a word otherwise. Delia sniffed. “Kalin and Spike, you two will be helping set up for the festival tomorrow. There are three vehicles outside waiting to take you all to where you need to be. You have fifteen minutes to get breakfast and coffee in your systems before you’re expected to leave.”

  She walked out of the suite, the door clicking shut behind her. Jesse cleared his throat. “We’re switching,” he told Salem. “I’d rather be outside picking up trash than be surrounded by a bunch of old ladies who want to gush about how adorable I am and how chubby my cheeks look when I smile.”

  I snickered, my shoulders relaxing at his words. Salem clapped him on the back in thanks before leading me over to the kitchenette, where plates of food were waiting. He handed me one before we settled at the small table, all of us silent as we worked on scarfing down our food and downing our coffee.

  I was still not ready to be up yet, but hopefully, I could get enough caffeine in my system to make it through the day.

  “We’ll grab you a cup of coffee to-go from downstairs,” Salem told me as I placed my empty plate on the stack on the counter for housekeeping to grab. “There’s a small coffee shop—I noticed it last night when we came out of the conference room.”

  I smiled at him. I was pretty sure there were hearts in my damn eyes. Salem knew how miserable I was without enough caffeine in my body to fuel a whole city. “You’re the best.”

  He snorted. “Come on. You inflate my ego anymore after this morning, and I⁠—”

  “Jesus fuck,” Spike groaned, shooting Salem a dirty look. “Can you two not?”

  I shot him a sheepish smile, but Salem didn’t seem to care and towed me out of the suite, heading toward the elevator. I leaned my head on his shoulder once the doors closed. Jesse crooned at us, poking me in the side hard enough to make me jump. Salem smacked his hand away, scowling at him.

  “You two are so fucking cute, it makes me want to vomit,” Jesse teased.

  Salem lifted his middle finger.

  Salem pressed a kiss to my neck before moving around me to come stand at my side, nodding once at an older man as he handed him his plate of food. The older lady next to me—Sandra, Samantha, Sally? I couldn’t remember her name—made an aww sound next to us that had my cheeks staining red.

  These women did not care that we were famous. Instead, all they cared about was how adorable we were. My cheeks had been pinched way too much and were now sore. And if one more old lady tried to touch my boyfriend’s solid muscles one more time, I was going to flip this table of food.

 

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