Free Packing Heat by Kele Moon

he’d
    be the reason for the light in Gavin dimming.
    Crying and broken, Brad had to admit to himself that he
    dated closeted men because they’d never want more from him than
    a quick fuck. They were safe in a way open men weren’t, and Brad
    ended up with them over and over again. He might act angry over
    their eventual rejection, but he wasn’t, not realy. He took comfort
    in the routine. Their rejection was always expected, a sad replay of
    bad behavior that had started in high school and never stopped.
    Until now.
    Gavin was wiling to wade into the shark-infested waters for
    Brad without even thinking. If Brad didn’t feel torn up over having
    to push him away, he’d have to accept that he was faling madly in
    love with him.
    He didn’t want to think about the apartment they stil shared.
    He didn’t want to dwel on his heart that felt like it was being ripped
    in two. Brad just wanted to go to bed and hide from reality until
    some sleep hopefuly cleared his thinking and wiped away the
    painful memories.
    In the morning he could be strong and find a way to break up
    his and Gavin’s tangled lives as amicably as possible. For now he
    was alone and exposed, but it was okay because no one knew and
    no one cared.
    Brad turned off the water. He did a lackluster job of drying
    himself off and crawled into bed naked. The sheets stuck to his stil-
    wet skin, but he didn’t care. He puled the covers up and closed his
    eyes.

    * * * *
Barefoot and bare-chested, Gavin sat on his bed simply
    feeling the fury rather than hide from it. It throbbed through him,
    vibrating like a drum of unfairness being beaten by an infuriated
    Irishman. His entire being was pulsating with the rage over the
    injustice of coming so close to happiness and then having to watch it
    be snatched away over free bread and sodas.
    He had taken a cool shower earlier, hoping to calm his
    temper, but it hadn’t helped.
    Now he was cold and angry, his hair stil dripping into his
    eyes because he couldn’t be fucked to dry it properly. The more he
    thought about it, the more certain he was that he hadn’t read the
    signs wrong. Brad felt the same things Gavin did. He wanted more
    than a few days of good sex. They shared an apartment, for
    Christ’s sake. Fucking Gavin and then shoving him away made
    absolutely no sense. Brad wasn’t young and rash. He had to have
    known that giving into temptation would lead to either a relationship
    or a real sticky breakup.
    Gavin was usualy easygoing and laid-back, but when he truly
    got pissed off—watch out!
    He had an Irish temper just like the rest of his family, and
    tonight Brad Archer had set him off like a firecracker on New
    Year’s. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to go into the other
    bedroom and kick the living shit out of the massive firefighter or tie
    him down and force him to admit the truth.
    Considering Brad’s size and Gavin’s profession, he got out of
    bed opting for the latter. He could probably hold his own in a fight
    against Brad, but he’d stil have to arrest himself once he calmed
    down, and Brad did have a mean streak. Two heavyweights laying
    into each other was a bad plan.
    So domestic violence was a no-go.
    But tying the stubborn asshole down until he came clean over
    his sudden change of heart was an absolute must.
    Gavin tucked his police-issue handcuffs into the back of his
    sweatpants and took care to open his bedroom door quietly. He
    realy wanted the element of surprise on his side, because Brad
    wasn’t likely to go down easily. Gavin handcuffed the unwiling on a
    regular basis, but he was one of those path-of-least-resistance guys.
    He could likely get Brad pinned and cuffed, but he’d rather not
    make it a bigger production than it needed to be.
    He took equal care with Brad’s bedroom door at the end of
    the halway, knowing he made barely a sound as the knob turned
    and he padded barefoot into Brad’s bedroom. Dark as it was, a
    strip of moonlight iluminated Brad on