Page 21 of Burning Up

“Holy fuck!” he screamed as his body jerked and he came.

Matt kept his hold on Toby’s wrists. “God, Toby. He’s so good, isn’t he? He knows just what you need.”

Toby nodded furiously. Bryce let himself go. He drove into Toby. One stroke, two, and then he was coming, not caring about what he shouldn’t do, only caring about his overwhelming need for these men.

When he was spent, he collapsed over Toby. Matt let Toby go and curled at their sides. Some time later, Bryce shifted, reluctantly letting his cock slip from Toby’s body. He discarded the condom and lay back down between Toby and Matt. He only meant to lie there for a few minutes. Then he’d put them to bed and sleep off the alcohol on the couch, where Rollo was curled up and giving him a look of disdain. Apparently he hadn’t been impressed with the show. Bryce would leave as soon as he sobered up, and as much as he wanted to, he wouldn’t come back, wouldn’t touch Matt and Toby again. He’d risked too much already, not just his job, but his heart too.

The next time he came to awareness, hours had passed and he was still on the floor between Toby and Matt. A crew had gone to work sledgehammering his skull, and his back was stiff as a board. The first hints of dawn showed out the window, so it had to be at least four AM. They were all supposed to be at work at eight. At work, together. Fuck. His stomach heaved. What the hell had he done?

He tried to sit up and realized that was a mistake. Where was the bathroom? Down the hall; he knew that. On the right? It seemed like a long way off. He shuffled down the hall like the hunchback of Notre Dame until he found it. He fumbled for the light switch when he reached the bathroom. The light pierced his skull, and his stomach gave another heave. He almost didn’t reach the toilet in time.

When he’d expelled the alcohol from his body, he rinsed his mouth and tried to make his brain work linearly. Clothes. He needed clothes. Where had he left his? They must be on the floor somewhere near where he fucked the hell out of Matt and Toby. Two men he had to work with all day.

Get dressed and get out of there. That’s what he had to do. He managed to down a few sips of water and used his fingers to scrub the fuzz off his teeth.

He tried not to make any noise as he walked back to the living room, head throbbing with each step. Toby stirred when he got close to him, and Bryce froze. But Toby just turned on his back and began to snore. Bryce couldn’t help but grin despite the pain in his head and his near panic at what this dumbass move would do to his job.

He found his clothes and dressed. He was about to leave when he realized Matt and Toby might sleep right through the start of shift. He found a timer in their immaculate kitchen and set it to go off at seven AM. That would give them time to dress and shower.

He signaled for Rollo, who thankfully obeyed. Then he opened the door, praying the noise wouldn’t wake Matt and Toby. Neither man moved. He gave them a final longing look. He wished things could be different, but knew he’d have to turn them down if they asked to see him again.

He stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him. When he looked at the street in front of the house, he groaned. He’d left his car at Nathan’s. His bike was at home, and no buses would be running this time of day. He clipped on Rollo’s leash. They were going to have to walk. Which was closer, Nathan’s or his house? The effort of mental mapping nearly made his aching head explode so he gave up and began walking toward Nathan’s. He had to get his car sooner or later, better to do it while no one was around to see his walk of shame. His head jarred with every step. Walking might just kill him. At least then he wouldn’t have to face Matt and Toby at work.

9

Bryce was checking out the engine later that morning, making sure it was fully equipped for the first call of the day, when Toby’s voice startled him. “Thanks for the timer. We would’ve overslept otherwise.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Bryce said, keeping his tone neutral. What the hell was Toby doing bringing that up at work anyway? Did he want people to know he’d spent the night at their place? Of course, he could have been there as a friend, a friend who got drunk and had to sleep over. They were friends, right? No one would even suspect he’d fucked them. So why did he feel like everyone knew? Guilt?

Or because you can barely keep your hands off them, even now.

Images of the night before assaulted him, and he had to take a deep breath and think of sickening things—roadkill, roaches, brussels sprouts—to keep his cock from getting hard. Toby and Matt had been fucking perfect, so responsive, so happy to let him be in command.

Toby walked away and helped Matt straighten the cabinet where they kept hoses and other supplies. Matt laughed at something Toby said, and Toby pushed him, which set off a round of horseplay Bryce should have reprimanded them for. How could they be so fucking cheerful? They’d had as much to drink as he had the night before, and he was still suffering from his hangover. Fucking twenty-two-year-olds.

Why did he feel so damn awkward around them when—at least as far as he could tell—they were unaffected by what the three of them had done? Was it that easy for them to see the previous night as a get-him-out-of-our-systems fuck? He hoped so.

The hell you do.

That was all it was.

Then why can’t you stop looking at them this morning? Why are you wishing you could drag them into the supply closet and put them both on their knees?

Bryce survived his workout and a training session without having to talk to Matt and Toby again. He hoped they hadn’t noticed he was avoiding them, but Matt had given him an odd look when they’d headed to the showers. Had that been hurt in his eyes?

Later in the afternoon, Bryce played cards with WT and two guys from another unit while Matt and Toby sat together watching TV. Occasionally, one of them glanced his way, but he couldn’t read their expressions—curious? Hurt? Angry? They had to have picked up on the fact that he was ignoring them. Why couldn’t he stop acting like an ass? He’d known things would turn weird if they slept together. He was too much of a pussy to enjoy a night with a man he really liked, then just forget him. And he didn’t just like Toby and Matt, he wanted to make them his. Sleeping with strangers was so much easier.

In the early afternoon, a call came in for a traffic accident, and Bryce’s unit was sent to assist. They arrived on the scene just after the police. Bryce sent WT and Matt to assess the condition of the vehicle’s occupants while he and Toby collected the necessary gear. With a crisis to focus on, there wasn’t any awkwardness working side by side with Toby. EMTs arrived on the scene a few moments later, and everyone focused on getting the victims, a middle-aged man and his teenaged daughter, free from the wreckage. Both were injured but not critically.

When both victims were loaded into the ambulance, and all that was left was cleanup, Bryce finally took a deep breath. Everything had turned out better than he’d expected when they’d first pulled up at the scene and he’d seen the crumpled car.

“Good work!” Matt clapped him on the back.

He flinched before he realized it was completely normal for Matt to touch him or any of the other firefighters that way. “Sorry. Just jumpy.”

Matt gave him an odd look and walked off toward the truck.

Fuck, he needed this day to end. Maybe after a few days without seeing Matt and Toby, he’d be able to get his act together.

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