At least Chubby didn’t seem vulnerable anymore. Gage didn’t need to feel sorry for him.
“Why’s he here?” Gage asked Jesse.
Jesse shrugged. “Shouldn’t he be? I think he knows Flores—that’s Gareth’s omega. Not sure how they met, though.”
And it wasn’t Gage’s business. Gage hung around for a few more minutes, he said hi to Jesse’s three-year-old, Owen. A couple of kids ran around with streamers in the air—snakes? They were kind of cute, but most of these guys weren’t Gage’s own family. He didn’t want to intrude.
He headed back toward the parking lot. Someone’s presence trailed behind him, not quite friendly. Definitely O’Neil. All of Gage’s instincts growled—he wanted to spin around, he wanted to knock that alpha to the ground and make him submit.
Gage made it all the way to his car before he turned, itching for another fight. He wanted to win this time. Wanted to pin that man down.
Chubby stopped a few paces away, looking wary. As he should well be.
Then he frowned at Gage’s car—there was so much crap piled into it that he couldn’t possibly come to any other conclusion. Gage’s skin prickled with embarrassment.
He knew the moment O’Neil understood the full extent of his circumstances: O’Neil’s mouth fell open. Then he looked... regretful? Pitying?
Gage didn’t need his pity. Not from someone like him. “What the fuck do you want?”
O’Neil stiffened, his chest heaving.
And Gage wanted to punch the hell out of him. Just so he had the upper hand again. “You have a minute,” Gage muttered, “before I sink my fist into your face.”
5
Tensions—And Other Things—Rise
Shit, shit. Ulric froze, his thoughts crashing into one another. He’d fucked up big time.
Dark shadows filled Gage’s car—multiple hangers full of clothes, pillows and blankets piled high in the backseat. Random things were piled precariously to the ceiling, and more stuff had been tucked around them.
There was moving house carload by carload, and then there was being homeless. Ulric hadn’t known that Gage was in such dire straits.
And he’d gone and rubbed Gage’s financial difficulties in his face. If he didn’t hate me before, he definitely hates me now. Ulric’s stomach twisted.
Gage stalked forward, his fists clenched. He looked angry, he looked like his punches would hurt, and it was all because of Ulric.
Vaguely, Ulric remembered being pummeled into a corner at school, in the first days after he’d presented as alpha. He’d thought being alpha would stop the other kids from beating him up, but it had only become worse.
They’d made fun of him not only for being fat, but also for being a fat alpha. They’d rained their fists on him, and when he’d hit another boy back, he’d left a bruise. The boy had run crying to the teacher, who’d sided with him. Life just wasn’t very fair. And fights were certainly not Ulric’s thing.
They were definitely Gage’s, though.
Somehow, or maybe because of Ulric’s trepidation, he recognized the danger in Gage’s tense shoulders, the full lips pressed into a thin line. Gage was the sort of alpha you’d drool over in movies, the sort that was in control of everything, even when he was at rock-bottom.
Envy coiled through Ulric’s chest. But far more potent was the quiet admiration and the curiosity: what would it feel like to have Gage’s body on his? Gage pinning him, so close that Ulric could breathe the scent off his skin?
His nerves tingled. His heart thumped. If he could fend off Gage’s blows, maybe Gage would fight harder. And he’d come closer.
Maybe... their cocks would rub together.
Heat swooped between Ulric’s legs. And he knew he couldn’t get hit, he knew he had to catch Gage’s punches before they landed.
Gage swung his fist; Ulric barely caught it, jerking his head sideways. Gage snarled and yanked his fist back, striking again. His fist connected this time; pain throbbed through Ulric’s head, robbing him of his breath. Before Gage could hit him again, Ulric grabbed Gage’s hands and heaved him back against another car. Then he pushed their bodies together—his belly against Gage’s solid abs, his chest against Gage’s broad pecs. Gage’s eyes flashed; he was warm and strong—a decadent presence.
Ulric’s cock thickened, jutting up so much that, for a moment, it tented his pants and brushed Gage’s fly. He wondered if Gage could feel that.
But Gage only narrowed his eyes. He shoved his entire body back, snapping his hips, a hard pressure that went straight through Ulric’s pants and into his tip. Pleasure shot up his spine. Ulric gasped.
Gage used that distraction to slam Ulric back against his car. The impact shook through Ulric’s bones; the part of him that was alpha roared.
His entire body grew hot, ready to tackle Gage, ready to shove every inch of bare skin against him. He would let Gage feel his cock, he’d push it up against Gage and come all over him, marking Gage with his own scent.
Ulric shoved Gage back against someone else’s car, he snapped his hips, and this time, their cocks pressed together in a sweet, slow grind. Gage’s eyes flashed.
“You won’t get the better of me,” Ulric snarled, pushing their intimate parts together, pushing into Gage’s space, rubbing his cock all over Gage’s just because he could.
It seemed like a damn good idea to threaten Gage with that.
Gage heaved him off; Ulric’s lower back hit his car. “Fuck off,” Gage hissed. Then he shoved their hips together in another delicious slide, and Ulric throbbed.
Musk billowed between them.
Gage paused, his nostrils flaring, his eyes narrowing. He’d recognized the scent of arousal. And it was so terribly obvious that it wasn’t from him. Ulric stiffened, torn between pinning Gage down, and covering up.
“What the fuck,” Gage whispered, glancing between them.
Despite his trepidation, Ulric let him look. His bulge betrayed him, a thick bluntness straining against his pants. All the proof in the
