Page 28 of Sour Candy (Sour Candy #1)

Benji stared at him, his face pale as he braced his arm across that asshole’s chest. He looked oddly guilty. Like Noah had caught him doing something bad.

Before Noah could puzzle that out, the guy Benji was holding against the wall sneered at him.

“Little busy here,” he told Noah. His big hair and polo shirt made a memory spark: Benji had described an asshole who kept pestering him and wore polo shirts. Dillion .

Noah ignored him. He had nothing to say to the man who had said such disgusting things to Benji, even if he’d only heard a little of it while he was walking toward the alleyway. Dillion was lucky that Noah didn’t help Benji beat the shit out of him like he’d been threatening to.

Noah took a step closer. “Benjamin.”

Benji flinched. It was small, but it was there. He moved like he wanted to back away from the guy, but stopped at the last second. He didn’t want Noah to see him like this, Noah realized. Didn’t want Noah to see him be difficult. But he also didn’t want to let the guy go.

Noah stopped. “Hey. You can let him go now. Everything’s fine.”

An incredulous look twisted Benji’s face. But he stood back, slow and halting. Letting his arm drop from Dillion’s chest.

Dillion leered at him. “Good boy.”

Noah saw red. But Benji was faster. Before Noah could move, Benji sank his fist into Dillion’s stomach. Dillion folded in half, gagging.

Benji stood there, breathing hard. If his hands weren’t shaking, Noah could have believed he was dangerous. But he saw the fear behind Benji’s eyes. He didn’t want a fight—he wanted out .

“What the fuck,” Dillion croaked. “You can’t?—”

Benji started to step around him. Dillion’s hand shot out, latching onto Benji’s sleeve.

Benji reared back with a snarl. But Noah was closer now and wasted no time in grabbing Dillion by the throat and lifting him up against the bricks.

Dillion choked, scrabbling at his hard grip. His gaze darted around, trying to find help.

“Look at me,” Noah instructed. Then, as Dillion’s mouth opened, “No, don’t speak. This is where you listen. You don’t ever come near Benjamin again. Don’t even look at him. Nod if you understand.”

Dillion nodded wildly.

Noah dropped him. Dillion crumpled onto the concrete, wheezing.

Noah turned. Benji was at his side in an instant. He didn’t look at Noah as they headed toward the street.

“Thought you couldn’t make it,” Benji said as they emerged from the alleyway.

“The meeting ended early. I wanted to surprise you.”

Benji made a noise in his throat. He still didn’t look at him, his gaze trained on Noah’s car up ahead. His hands were clenched at his sides, his collar up against the cutting breeze. The streetlights cast dark shadows down his face, his cheeks even hollower than usual.

They climbed into the car. Noah pressed the button that made the partition slide up, giving Riona a distracted smile as he did.

“I met Daphne inside,” Noah said. “She seems nice.”

Benji hummed. His knee jumped up and down, jaw clenching.

Noah touched Benji’s arm. Benji flinched again. Small, almost nothing. Noah would’ve missed it if he hadn’t been watching so closely. He was always watching closely when it came to Benji.

Noah started, “Benji.”

“Don’t,” Benji snapped. “Come on, let’s just— Let’s go have a good time. Forget about that shit.”

He leaned in. Noah pushed him back.

Benji sighed, frustrated. “What?” he asked flatly. “Do you want me to thank you? I had it under control.”

Of that, Noah had no doubt. Even if Benji hadn’t told him about all the fights in high school, he’d punched Dillion like he’d done it a million times. Like he was made for it.

“I know,” Noah said. “I want you to tell me what you need.”

Benji laughed. It cracked in the middle, a fact that Benji looked deeply irritated by. “What I need ? What I need? Come on, man. Don’t—just stop it. Stop pretending this means something. That I ?—”

Noah grabbed his chin before he could finish it. Benji twisted, but Noah held him still.

“You mean something,” Noah said. “ We mean something.”

Benji snorted wetly. Still trying to look away, but no longer pulling. His eyes gleamed in the dim light, not even streetlights seeping through the darkened windows.

“Benjamin,” Noah said, letting his voice sharpen. “Look at me.”

Benji gritted his teeth and did. His chin was raised defiantly, but there was no mistaking his eyes: there, behind the dark, was an incredible softness. Noah had seen it that very first night and had been marveling ever since.

“Good boy,” Noah murmured, with none of the demeaning tone that Dillion had used. “I’m so proud of you for standing up to that little shit. I wish you had stomped his face in. I wish I had. Nobody gets to talk to you like that. Nobody gets to look at you the way he was.”

Benji’s breath caught. He relaxed as Noah talked, shoulders going down the barest inch. “How was he looking at me?”

“You know how he was looking at you, Benjamin. He wanted you. He wanted you to be easy for him.” Noah softened his grip, stroking Benji’s cheekbones. “But you never would, would you?”

Benji shook his head. His tongue swept out, wetting his chapped lips. They’d been getting better lately with the Chapstick Noah brought him. But Chapstick wouldn’t fix all the anxious biting.

“No,” Benji said hoarsely. “Only for you.”

He tried to lean in again. Noah pulled him back by his hair.

Benji smothered a groan, eyes wet and pleading.

He looked desperate . The same kind of desperation he got when he went under, wanting Noah to touch him.

Begging him for it. Needing Noah to take care of him, making him forget everything but how good he felt.

Noah kissed him, fucking his tongue into his mouth.

Benji whimpered. He clutched Noah’s shirt, pulling him closer. Twining his hands in Noah’s hair, crushing so close their teeth clicked.

Noah only pulled away when Benji tried to climb into his lap.

“The party,” he warned.

“Fuck the party,” Benji gasped. He ground down against Noah’s half-hard cock. “Fuck me .”

Noah had been asking Benji to tell him what he wanted all this time. Who was he to deny him?

They barreled into Noah’s bedroom an illegally fast ten minutes later. Benji kept kissing him hard, fisting his hair. Batting Noah’s hands off when he tried to undo his shirt, stripping off his clothes himself. He even tried to push Noah back on the bed, a strange, distant look in his eyes.

That wouldn’t do. Noah turned them around and held a naked Benji down against the sheets, a hand over his heart.

“What are you doing?”

“I just—” Benji strained against him. “I want it.”

There was still a hint of defiance to the thin line of his mouth. Something that looked awfully like shame lurked behind those lust-glazed eyes.

“You’re trying to prove you’re not easy,” Noah realized. He stroked the rigid line of Benji’s lips, thumbing the bottom lip down so the line was interrupted. “You still think it’s bad, being easy for me?”

He let go of Benji’s lip.

“I,” Benji started. Then he stopped, throat working, trying to look away from him.

Noah gathered his wrists and held them above his head. Benji’s pupils dilated, those beautiful eyes going even darker than usual. A pool Noah wanted to dive into and never come out.

“How can something be so bad?” Noah asked.

“When you love it so much? When it makes you feel so complete? I love it when you’re easy for me, Benjamin.

Love it when you struggle, too. Watching you fight against your own head.

That moment when you finally give in, it’s gorgeous. It’s an honor… being given that trust.”

Benji shuddered against the bed. “Noah. Fuck me already.”

He rolled his hips up, his cock grazing Noah’s. Noah pressed all his weight on him, trapping him still and twitching against the bed.

“Not until you believe me,” he said over Benji’s whine.

Benji lifted his head off the bed. It was the only thing he could move, with Noah holding his wrists and covering him with his body.

“How long you got?” The ghost of a grin. Trying to be cocky, those stubborn walls still holding. Even when Noah had him bare and dripping for it.

Noah stroked his wrists. The answer that came to mind was forever , so sudden and powerful that Noah had to swallow it back.

“Until you believe that I believe it, then,” he amended. “That I think you’re a fucking gift. Every time I get you in my bed, I can’t believe how lucky I am. How beautiful you are. How glad I am that you’re easy for me.”

He leaned in, kissing Benji’s pale neck, his chin, his cheek. Avoiding his lips, even as Benji twisted and whimpered, searching for a kiss.

“Please,” Benji whispered, straining uselessly against him. “ Please just fuck me, I can’t?—”

“My good boy,” Noah said over him. He squeezed Benji’s wrists, the pressure shocking Benji into silence. “Say it.”

Benji blinked. “I’m… I’m your good boy.”

Still an air of self-consciousness. Noah huffed, stripping his tie off and winding it around Benji’s wrists.

“Spread your legs,” he commanded.

Benji did. He didn’t even snark first, legs falling open like he’d been waiting for it.

Noah fingered him open slowly, ignoring Benji’s urging to go faster.

“Taking my fingers so well,” he said, kissing Benji’s belly. “Aren’t you? Always taking it so well for me.”

He crooked his fingers. Benji cried out, hips bucking. His cock skimmed Noah’s chin, leaving a wet smear.

“Yeah,” he panted. “Yeah, fuck .”

Noah scissored his fingers, stretching him wide. “And why is that?”

“Because I’m—I’m a good boy.”

“ My good boy,” Noah corrected. He sank his teeth into Benji’s thigh, making him jolt.

“Yours,” Benji cried out. “ Oh shit. I’m yours, Noah, make me yours, come on, I need it?—”

Noah fucked him. Shallow at first, just to see Benji whimper and try to bear down. Try to get more inside of him.

“Good boy,” Noah breathed. Then he pushed up to the hilt in one smooth stroke.

Benji’s back bowed off the bed, mouth open in a silent scream. Noah pressed him down.

“My good boy,” he said again, feeling drunk with it. “No one else has ever had you like this, have they?”

“No,” Benji panted. “Just you, it’s just you, oh god .”

“That’s right,” Noah told him. He fucked him faster, arms circling his back to hold him close.

Pressing them together as hard as he could.

Being inside him wasn’t enough; he wanted to climb inside him and live there.

To make Benji feel like this all the time, like he deserved .

Protect him from assholes and his own cruel head.

Mine , Noah thought deliriously. “Only one who gets to have you. Only one who makes you easy .”

“Yeah,” Benji slurred, the words wet against Noah’s neck. “Yeah, yes, yes !”

He stopped talking altogether after that. Eyes pricking with tears, mouth open on a constant stream of groans. Finally, the peace that Noah had been waiting for. That they’d both been waiting for.

Noah lay awake a long time after. Stroking Benji’s hair and watching Benji’s chest rise and fall. His brow kept drawing together, stressed even in sleep. It only smoothed out when Noah caressed his face.

He wanted to keep him. He couldn’t say it yet—Benji was still flighty. Didn’t trust him enough yet. But Noah knew, watching Benji turn unconsciously toward him in sleep, that he was going to do everything in his power to keep this boy.