“There’s one left.” Gage nodded at the fourth rib.
“That’s yours,” Ulric muttered. But gods, did he want it, too.
Gage laughed. Then he picked up the last serving, and Ulric’s heart sank. Yeah, that was fine. He should share his food.
Gage stepped over, wrapping his arm around Ulric’s shoulders.
“Are you seriously going to eat that in front of me?” Ulric blurted.
Gage huffed. “Do you think that poorly of me?” And he leaned in, rubbing the juicy fourth rib against Ulric’s lips.
Heat blazed through Ulric’s face. “What—”
“C’mon.” Gage smiled. “I want to hear you eat it.”
“There’s nothing to hear!”
Gage pushed the end of the rib into Ulric’s mouth. Ulric’s thoughts ground to a halt. Gage had done that. He’d actually pushed his meaty bone into Ulric.
Ulric tried not to think about what else Gage could push into him. This was just food. Nothing sexual.
He wrapped his lips around the pork, biting off whatever he could. Its decadent flavor burst through his mouth; Ulric moaned and sucked that meat off its bone, working to get every last scrap off.
“Fuck,” Gage growled. “Do you suck on meat like that all the time?”
“Just yours,” Ulric said around the clean end of the bone. Then he realized what he’d blurted, and he wanted the floor to swallow him. “I mean. Just your meat. Your ribs. Fuck.”
He shoved Gage off, so pissed with himself that he wanted to storm out of the kitchen. No more ribs.
“Hey,” Gage said, stopping him in his tracks. “Just one question before you go.”
Ulric turned, wishing he could stop humiliating himself in front of Gage. “What?”
“The real question, the one that we were betting on. You haven’t answered it. Were these ribs better than the best sex you’ve ever had?”
Ulric froze. They were. Gage was watching him carefully, and Ulric didn’t know if Gage could read it from his face, just like that.
He glanced out the kitchen doorway, wanting to say that, yes, all the sex he’d ever had was pretty mediocre. Except he glimpsed the dining room, the spot on the floor where he’d ridden Gage to orgasm.
That was the exception. And it had been even better than Gage’s ribs. Better than Gage pushing his meaty bone into Ulric’s mouth.
“The short answer is yes,” Ulric muttered, his ears prickling.
“The long answer?” Gage smiled; Ulric’s resolve weakened.
He shouldn’t tell Gage how much he’d enjoyed that romp. Ulric pulled out his wallet, lobbing it over. “There. Take your two hundred bucks. Leave me alone.”
Gage caught his wallet. Ulric stalked out of the kitchen, flopping onto the living room couch. He would’ve gone back to his work, except he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he’d fucked up in one single day. So much for dressing up.
A couple minutes later, Gage emerged from the kitchen, scrutinizing something. “Were you eighteen when you had this pic taken? You were a pretty cute kid.”
Ulric’s heart sank. Of all things, Gage had to dig out his driver’s license with that horrible photo? “Why’re you looking at that?”
Ulric regretted ever having that photo taken. That was before he’d had his braces done—he’d smiled too wide, and his crooked teeth had been immortalized in that photo. Back then, he’d also been fat—not so different from how he was now.
Gage sat on the couch next to him, still looking at his photo. Ulric scrubbed his face. “Give it back, Gage. Stop looking.”
But Gage held up the driver’s license, comparing Ulric’s past to his present self. Ulric winced. He was on the fast track to no more sex with Gage Frost, ever.
“Gage.”
“You’re just as cute as you were back then.” Gage tucked Ulric’s driver’s license back into its plastic sleeve, the one with a cartoon duck sticker strategically pasted so it would cover up his old photo.
“I’m not cute.”
“Yes, you are.” Gage returned the license to its original pocket. Then he counted out his $200, pocketed it, and returned the wallet to Ulric. “Why wouldn’t I call my best friend the cutest person ever?”
Ulric’s heart missed a beat. They were best friends now? “Because that’s just weird.”
Gage shuffled over, bumping their arms. Ulric tried not to pay attention to the skin contact, he tried not to fill his lungs with Gage’s pine scent. But the more their bodies touched, the more he wished he could have this man.
“When will your ribs be ready?” Gage asked.
“Two more hours.”
“Want to watch a movie? I’ll pick Bloody Hollows.”
Ulric stared. “Why would you want to watch that?”
“So I can scream, and you’ll get to be all alpha and comfort me.” Gage grinned. “No?”
Ulric tried to wrap his mind around that. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.” Gage stuck out his pinky finger. “Promise me you won’t laugh if I scream.”
Despite his doubts, Ulric linked their pinkies together. “I promise.”
He bought the movie and started it. Like they had the other night, Gage leaned against him, his warmth soaking into Ulric’s arm.
The movie began with a lightning strike just above a creaky old house, the surrounding trees rustling ominously. Gage grimaced.
“It’s not so bad,” Ulric said. “Horror movies like doing this.”
“But it’s telling me that everyone will end up dying.”
Ulric shrugged. “Probably.”
Gage sighed. “I hate it when the good guys die, though.”
“Same here.”
“Then why do you watch it?” Gage seemed confused. “Why not watch something with a happy ending?”
Ulric tried to find the words to explain himself. “Because it feels real enough that I don’t have to think about real life for a bit. It’s nice when all I have to be scared of is whether the zombies will eat me.”
Gage stared at him for a long moment. Then he linked their fingers together and snuggled closer. He kissed Ulric’s shoulder. “I’ll stop them from eating you.”
Ulric’s heart skipped. “I’d do the same for you.”
Gage smiled, and they settled into the movie. Like Gage had warned, he tensed up through the show. He swore and
