“I don’t know how to save the world.”
“I know.”
“I just wanted a break, you know? I just wanted….”
“Okay.”
Bruce stilled; then he turned back to Laddin. “What?”
“I said okay. We can fuck.”
“Don’t do me any favors or anything.” Bruce’s tone was angry.
Laddin gave him a lopsided smile. “I’ve had a hard-on for you since the moment we met.” Then his gaze slid to the floor. “I just wanted you to want me.” He lifted his gaze again as he struggled for the words. “I mean, you saved everyone. You’re a superhero that way. I wanted to be more than some random guy in the crowd.”
Bruce stared at him, his expression torn between tender and horrified. “You did not just call me a superhero.”
“I’m pretty sure I did.”
Bruce fell back against the dresser. “I thought you—out of everyone—were paying attention.”
“I was. What did I miss?”
“That I’m a monster who beat the crap out of my little brother. A lot. That I’ve fucked tons of women I didn’t respect and couldn’t care less about. That I ate fairy fruit so that I could get powerful. Don’t you get it, Laddin? I’m the monster, not Josh. My father guessed wrong. It wasn’t ever Josh. It was me the whole fucking time. I’m the monster.”
He really believed that. After everything he did to help people, he still thought of himself as a monster. “That’s a whole lot of guilt you’re carrying around. I can’t remember ever meeting a more remorseful monster in my life. And in the few weeks I’ve been with Wulf, Inc., I’ve met a few.”
Bruce lifted his chin and shot Laddin a glare. “Saying sorry doesn’t excuse what I did. Ask Josh.”
“I don’t care about what you did, Bruce. I care about who you are now. And nothing I’ve seen says you’re a monster.”
Bruce didn’t say a word. He stayed hunched against the dresser with his gaze on the floor, the picture of misery. He hated himself at a really deep level. He despised who he’d been as a kid, felt like he could never make up for his mistakes, and flat-out believed the bullshit his father had spewed for years.
“I’d really like to beat the crap out your father,” Laddin muttered.
“I’ve thought that a thousand times.”
“Then why haven’t you? You’re bigger than him, even without the werewolf or fairy stuff. You could probably put him on the ground by the time you were eighteen.”
“Sixteen.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Because it would kill my mother. Because he was paying for Josh’s education, and I didn’t want Ivy to come home from war and find a broken family.”
“Because you made sure everyone got out without destroying your mother or committing murder.”
Bruce shrugged. “My dad had his good moments too. He came to my games, he protected Ivy from asshole boyfriends. I think he really loves my mother. It was just with Josh that he was crazy.”
“And Josh got out.”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds like you were protecting them all. Sounds like you were a kid with a fucked-up father and you did the best you could.”
Bruce raised his head. “You’re forgetting one important part. I liked it. I liked beating up my brother.”
“Who doesn’t? Especially after having a forced vasectomy. I’d be pissed and whaling on anything I could too.” He stepped forward and set his hand on Bruce’s chest. The man flinched, but he didn’t draw back, and in time, he inhaled deep enough that Laddin’s hand could slide across the muscled contours. “I think you’re a pretty amazing guy. But what I think doesn’t make any difference. You’ve got to like who you are before anything I say will sink in.” He pressed his lips to Bruce’s hard jaw, then whispered his next words. “You have to love yourself before my love will make a difference.”
Bruce blew out a long, slow breath. That was good, because Laddin had feared that the guy would run at the first mention of the L-word. Instead, he pressed a tender kiss to Laddin’s mouth. “I’ve hated myself for a really long time, Laddin. I don’t think there’s any love left in there.”
“You sure about that? I mean, we know you love this, right?” Laddin stroked his hand across Bruce’s chest again, using a nail to cut across that hard nipple.
Bruce gasped and his dick twitched where it lay heavy against Laddin’s thigh. “That’s not the same thing, and you know it.”
“I do, but we’ve got to start somewhere, right?” He rolled his hips so that his cock rubbed against Bruce’s, and they gasped together. “Tell me one thing,” he said as he pushed off Bruce’s sweatpants, allowing Bruce’s thick, ruddy cock to thrust up between them. “Tell me that it’s me you want to fuck, and not some random guy you saved from the fairies.”
Bruce caught Laddin’s mouth with his. He gripped Laddin’s shoulder and angled his mouth so that the play between their tongues was fast. It made Laddin’s breath catch and his dick pulse with need. And then Bruce ripped his mouth away.
“It’s you, Laddin,” he said. “It’s definitely you.”
Laddin grinned. “Then let’s clear your head.” He grabbed Bruce’s arm and whipped him hard toward the bed. He couldn’t have done it if Bruce was unwilling, but the guy practically flew onto the mattress. When he finished bouncing, he gripped Laddin’s sweats and jerked them down too. Laddin’s cock leaped forward, wet and so eager it hurt.
But when Laddin went to join Bruce on the bed, Bruce held up his hand. “Stay right there,” he ordered.
Laddin froze. “What? Why?”
“Because I want to show you that it’s you I want. No one else.” Then, while Laddin was still standing there with his heart beating so fast, Bruce climbed off the bed, got down on his knees, and wrapped Laddin’s cock in his big hand.
Pleasure zapped through Laddin’s body, and he hissed at the sensation. Then Bruce put his glorious mouth on Laddin and sucked him right in. He knew what to do. He
