Page 10 of Distant Heart (Vicious Valentine)

He may have gotten a bit carried away…

Illya stared down at the sleeping man in his bed and couldn’t help the wave of satisfaction that spread through him. Rexton was a handful. Willful and opinionated. Not the type of person who would ever roll over and take it easily.

Not unless a part of him wanted to.

Their time together so far had been too brief. Fleeting moments here and there. Last night wasn’t nearly enough to make up for it. Living on separate planets was no longer a viable option.

His eyes dropped to the bracelet he’d locked around Rexton’s wrist and some of his mood soured. This was going to be another argument for sure, but there was no way he was backing down, not when there was this much at stake. If nothing else, Cor Night had shown Illya how things could be between them if they were both on Usurn.

He wanted that.

The real test was figuring out how to convince his xa’us to want that too.

Illya brushed a strand of Rexton’s bangs off his forehead, tugging it lightly. When that caused the other man to rouse, he smiled, the expression turning into a full-on grin when Rex blinked at him and then buried his face deeper into the pillow.

“Morning, baby.” Illya continued to pat his head, relishing the feel of his silky hair against the tips of his fingers. It felt like a lifetime since they’d last been like this, lazy and content, with no sense of urgency or unanswered longing.

Rexton hummed in response, and Illya chuckled brightly, tugging on another lock in a bid to get him to wake. Rex captured his hand and finally opened his eyes all the way. “Be’tessi.”

“Oh, so I’m your Be’tessi now?” He draped himself over Rexton, pinning his lithe form to the mattress. “That’s not what you were saying last night.”

Before the two of them had met, Illya had no interest in the boring customs of other planets outside of what was required of him to learn to run his mother’s business. But he’d instantly taken a liking to the word Be’tessi, a term traditionally used by Vitals when referring to a male older than themselves. It could be used to reference a blood relative or older brother, or as a term of endearment. They didn’t have anything like it on Usurn, and Illya had always thought that was a pity and a missed opportunity.

“Thanks for playing along.” Rexton shifted beneath him and winced. “Did you have to be so rough though?”

“Are you hurt?” He clicked his tongue chidingly. “Serves you right. You’re the one who chose the game. Fortunately for you, I caught on.”

Illya had been confused and surprised when Rexton had pretended not to know him last night. When he’d entered the main hall, had met his gaze head-on and then simply…walked away. For a very brief moment, he’d even been concerned he’d done something wrong, something that had pissed Rexton off, but eventually he’d realized what was happening.

Despite the distance, they’d been together long enough it hadn’t been that hard to figure out what his boyfriend was really after.

“I knew you would,” Rexton confirmed, the distant and haughty tone he’d used during Praeda gone now that the sun was out and the game had concluded.

“Why the sudden foray into primal play? Does this have something to do with Aneski?”

Rexton scowled and glanced away, then ended up rolling his eyes when Illya captured his chin and forced his gaze back. “I just…hate feeling like I’m being left behind.”

“Yes,” he drawled, “that’s never a good feeling.”

“Illya.”

“What?”

“Can we not make this about us right now?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve already done that,” he pointed out, grinding his hips—and his semi hard on—against him, “but all right. What do you need from me, baby?”

“You just want to placate me so we can fuck again.”

“That’s not true.” Ever since the first moment Illya had seen Rexton Xiphus, he’d had the unbeatable urge to protect him. Even from himself. They’d tiptoed around one another that entire summer two years ago, both pretending not to be interested in the other. Eventually—in a reverse mirror of last night—it’d been Rexton who caved first and come on to him. “If you didn’t feel safe with me, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“We’ve been together for over fifteen months,” Rex stated. “Of course I feel safe with you.”

He laughed.

“What?”

“You’re always so specific.”

“Details matter,” Rexton insisted. “Being honest with your feelings matters.”

“Who isn’t being honest?” he asked even though he already knew the answer. There was only one other person aside from him who could turn his boyfriend into this bundle of anxious nerves. Aneski Kendricks. The leader of the stupid gang both he and Rexton were a part of, despite all of Illya’s attempts to get Rex to leave.

The two of them had never met, and part of that was by design. It was the same reason out of all of the Black Harts, only Ryker had ever seen Rexton’s face. All of the other guys simply knew Illya was in a long-distance relationship. Hell, only some of them even cared enough to know it was with Ellery’s cousin.

Rexton turned his head on the pillow stubbornly.

“Should I coax it out of you?”

“You’re such a control freak.”

“It’s one of my best features.” Illya slid down Rexton’s body and then dipped a hand beneath the sheets, grasping the end of his t-shirt. He maintained eye contact as he slowly rolled it up, exposing Rex’s chest. The second his thumbnail flicked over Rexton’s right nipple, the other man moaned and arched into the touch. “What happened to the resistance from last night?”

“That game is old,” Rex said, voice already breathy and filled with lust.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I want a new one.”

“Too bad.” He bent and captured that perky bud between his teeth, rolling it before giving a hard suck that had Rexton bucking. “I’m not interested in playing any more games with you.”

Rex frowned. “What do you call this then?”

“This?” He bit him again, a little harder. “This is fucking, baby.”

“Weren’t you just trying to convince me that wasn’t your end goal?”

“Not at all,” Illya corrected. “I said I wasn’t trying to placate you just to get you to spread your legs for me, and that’s the truth.” His hand wandered down past his navel until he found Rexton’s swollen dick.

“Your actions make it hard to believe you,” he stated, though he lifted his hips to meet Illya’s palm as he started to beat him off. “You didn’t even give me pants.”

“You’re dripping for me,” Illya pointed out. “You need this.”

His eyes narrowed. “I know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, pleasuring my man.” Illya rolled his thumb over Rexton’s flushed crown and dipped his nail into his slit. “Making you feel good.” He glanced down, enthralled by Rexton’s silky skin and the way his dick looked in his hand. His balls had drawn up and he was gushing all over the place, Illya’s fingers already slick with precome.

“Don’t just stare at it.” Rexton was gasping and clawing at the sheets, his desperation apparent.

“I’m not just doing that,” he teased, wringing his hand the way he knew Rex liked, laughing when that was enough to send his boyfriend over the edge.

Rexton cursed as he came, spurts of come shooting up into the air as his eyes rolled back.

Illya only gave him a few seconds to enjoy it on his own before he pounced, flipping Rexton over and yanking him onto his hands and knees. He had two fingers shoved knuckles deep inside of him before the first complaint was able to leave Rexton’s lips.

“Good Light!” Rex glared at him over his shoulder. “What are you doing? I just came!”

“Sure,” he shrugged and aimed his cock, “but I haven’t.”

He grabbed onto Rexton’s waist and pulled him back to meet his thrust. After all the times they’d done it last night, his cock slid in easily, like being welcomed home, and he groaned as he started hammering into what was his.

“Illya, wait!” Rexton dropped his forehead down, his hands collecting the pillow in a death grip. “It’s too much! You’ve already broken me!”

“Have I?” His gaze wandered to the bracelet, and he grunted. “Liar.”

Rexton was going to try to leave, that much was crystal clear in the way the other guy had acted normal upon waking. He thought all of their conversations last night had merely been a part of the game he’d initiated, but he was wrong.

“It’s time I teach you a lesson, xa’us,” he said darkly, fingers digging into Rexton’s hips as he wildly fucked him, the noises coming out of Rex growing louder and louder with each battering of Illya’s large cock. “You thought you could come here and tease me and then go on your merry way like nothing happened? I don’t think so.”

“Ill!” One of his hands blindly reached back, pressing against Illya’s right thigh. “Please!”

“You’ve been begging me to stop a lot, you know that?”

“Yes! Because you’ve already beaten my ass raw! Damn it, I’m probably swollen!”

“You are.” Illya liked it. Liked the way his hole was puffy and dark pink. Liked the way it still spread to take him and sucked him down. “You’re practically squeezing my dick off, baby, yet you’re going to pretend you don’t like it?”

“It hurts, motherfucker!”

Illya wrapped a hand around the front of Rexton’s throat and hauled him up. Gravity helped sink him even deeper inside the other man, but he didn’t stop thrusting, spearing up into him with enough force to cause Rexton’s entire body to jerk. He kept his hand around his throat, pinning him to his chest, teeth scraping over the curve of Rexton’s shoulder and then his jawline as his mouth explored.

“Why are you like this?” Rexton moaned and dug his nails into Illya’s arm. Tears began to leak from his eyes, trailing down his flushed cheeks, and he shivered when Illya’s tongue flicked out to taste them. “You’ve never been like this before.”

Sex between them in the past had been safe. Soft and intimate.

“Didn’t want to scare you away,” Illya admitted. “But you were honest about your needs last night, xa’us. I heard you, loud and clear.”

“No.” He shook his head in denial. “I don’t like this!”

“No,” Illya agreed. “You love it.” He jackhammered up into him, relishing the strangled sounds that tore from Rexton’s throat. “You came apart on my cock so many times, baby. Screamed for me and rode me till dawn. You passed out with me still fucking you, yet even in your sleep, you held me close and wouldn’t let me go.”

He pulled out and rolled Rexton onto his back once more, forcing his legs up high as his cock located his entrance all over again. Illya took him in a frenzy, obsessed with the way Rexton’s entire body shook from the impact of his thrusts.

“You’ll never do this with anyone else,” he found himself promising. “Never make these sounds or grace another with that expression. These tears are mine.” He pressed a thumb against Rexton’s full lips and pushed it inside when he gasped, tracing circles on his tongue. “This mouth is mine. This hole. This dick. This body. And if it’s all mine, doesn’t it make sense for me to keep it here with me?”

Illya caught the wrist with the bracelet and trapped it against the mattress. “You wanted this. You came here because you wanted me to make the choice for you, Rexton. Don’t pretend otherwise. You wanted to be possessed fully. To be wanted fully. Tell me, what did you see? Hmm? What did you witness to make you this desperate?”

He didn’t like that an outside force was what had brought Rexton to the conclusion Illya had always known—that one day they were both going to have to face the music and admit to who they really were—but he was too pleased with the outcome to be too bent out of shape about it.

Although…

“Was it Flix?” That had to be it. “Did you see how badly he wanted Aneski? Is that it? Did it make you feel like you were missing out, baby?” He caught Rexton by the chin and held him still so their eyes locked. “Did you think to yourself, hey wait, I have a devil of my own, why aren’t I getting dominated and obsessively fucked into oblivion?”

Illya had met Flix Fulmini. It wasn’t a reach to guess that’s exactly how he’d treat his man, which meant there was no way Rexton either hadn’t heard about it or seen it for himself. Envy wasn’t a big emotion Rex typically experienced. It was no wonder he’d struggled to come up with a healthy way to express himself and deal with it.

Not that Illya was complaining.

Rexton’s eyes shifted to the side, his embarrassment clear.

So Illya kissed him to help chase it away.

His tongue curled around Rexton’s, coaxing him to participate, and he nipped and supped at the other man’s bottom lip, driving them both half mad. The second he felt Rexton give in, he unapologetically took from him, greedily feasting on his mouth as he rutted him.

Even though he was the aggressor here, when it came to kissing, Rexton had always been the one who held the reins. He could easily get Illya to do exactly what he pleased by setting the tone with his tongue. He opened wide, his hands diving into Illya’s hair, holding him close as he met the same crazy pace, urging Illya on despite his verbal denials.

“This is what you wanted,” Illya tore his mouth away, ignoring the way Rexton made a sound of protest and tried to pull him back. “This is what you’ve always wanted. To be here, with me. Owned by me. Available to take my cock whenever I please. Ready and willing to be pleasured at my whim. Admit it, xa’us. If you need someone to blame out there, I’ll take the heat. You can tell all your friends back home that the Black Hart is too obsessed with you to let you go and I’ll agree. But in here there will only ever be honesty between us.”

Illya might be able to read him like an open book, but he wanted confirmation the book he was reading was nonfiction. He needed to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this visceral need was reciprocated.

“I waited two years to be real with you,” Illya said. “Don’t you think that’s long enough? Don’t keep waiting any longer. Tell me—”

“This is what I wanted,” Rexton cut him off and Illya felt something inside of him snap into place. “This is exactly what I wanted. You always know what I need, Be’tessi.”

“Move in with me.

Rexton hesitated.

“I’m not asking.”

“I…my stuff.”

“We’ll go get it.”

Rexton worked his bottom lip between his teeth.

Disappointment shrouded him and Illya made to pull away, only for Rexton to panic and wrap his arms tightly around his neck.

“Okay,” Rex nodded. “Okay. I’ll move in with you. I’ll move to Usurn.”

Illya kissed him rewardingly. “Tell me that you’re mine.”

“I’m yours. Only yours. Forever.” A flash of vulnerability entered his eyes. “Promise you won’t get sick of having me around.”

“Never.”

With that settled, Illya brought them both to orgasm.

In their bed.

And in their home.

Finally.