Page 34 of Hold Me Down

Dave's orgasm hit a second later, almost hard enough to be painful, and he closed his eyes, lost for words but floating in pleasure, in tightness and release, in the feeling of Travis's skin under his hands.

Then Travis fell forward, dropping his head against Dave's collarbone, and the scent of him, ofthem, hit Dave's right in the chest. He hid his face in Travis's hair, chasing more of it, and as the shivers of post-coital high ran right under his skin, Dave didn't think of anything, didn't analyze, or wonder, or hope.

In that moment, he had everything he wanted. Everything he needed.

Nothing else mattered.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

If leaving for work without Dave was weird, arriving at the office alone was even worse—there was an itch under Travis's skin, clearly stating that something was off, something wasn't right, and although he knew what it was, that answer didn't help him much.

He'd been coming to work with Dave at his side for so many years now that anything different seemed like a mistake that deserved immediate fixing.

And yet, there was no quick fix, only months of healing, and needing to wait, and pretending that spending so much time apart wasn't as painful as it actually was.

After dropping off his backpack in their small office, Travis headed to the kitchen—both for a coffee and a catch-up with his friends. None of them had given him any grief so far, and the group chats offered the usual amount of chatter, but he wouldn't be surprised if someone blamed him for what had happened and treated him differently because of it.

Hell, he blamed himself, so how could he expect anyone else not to do so?

Ian was the first one who spotted him, and he offered Travis a smile and a nod.

"Look who's here!"

That, of course, prompted everyone to turn around, so Travis had no time to take them one by one but was hit with Clay, Martinez, and Jeremy staring at him all at once.

After a second-long pause that felt like forever, Martinez raised his eyebrows.

"Huh, I feel like I know this guy but can't quite place him. It must have been forever since I saw him."

Travis snorted, relaxing a bit under the familiarity of Martinez's teasing.

"I can see you missed me greatly."

"In your dreams." Martinez sat up and dropped his smile. "How's Dave, for real?"

They all had updates on the main group chat, of course, but Martinez was right to question them, since Dave tended to downplay things and never admitted he was hurting or struggling, instead focusing his narrative on boredom and wishing he was at work.

"The leg's as good as it can be, fortunately, but it's hard to juggle the healing and making sure other muscles don't weaken too much."

"Yeah." Martinez rubbed at his side, maybe remembering his own recovery after getting shot. "It's a pain, no pun intended."

"We got an exercise plan from Melody, and we're following it. Dave just wishes he could do more and, frankly, I don't blame him."

As he finished, Travis's gaze fell on Jeremy, who was pressing his lips together and staring at the mug in his hand.

"What?" Travis asked before he could talk himself out of it.

Then again, he didn't want to overthink it later and wonder what Jeremy had wanted to say. He also didn't want to appear like he wasn't ready to face the consequences of this mess.

Jeremy lifted his head and caught Travis's gaze. "What do you mean?"

"I can see you have things to say." Travis made sure his voice was steady and calm. "I'm not trying to pick a fight here, to be clear. If you want to say something, I'm open to hearing it. I know I fucked up."

"Which time?"

And,ouch. Maybe Travis should have picked someone else for this.

Not everyone would be willing to confront him like this, though—Jeremy didn't give a fuck about appearing nice over being honest.

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