* WARNING: Brief Sexual Content Ahead

*Reader Discretion is Advised

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There was a festival today at Shirley Town Center that was celebrating various aspects of Latinx culture. Kenji and Darian were going and invited me to come. Gyan couldn't make it because he had dinner with his dad and some of their company's investors.

         People gathered around the vast grass in front of the huge stage that housed the many artists who were of Latinx origin. There were vendors surrounding the area to sell street food from various countries. I took in the scene with my grin not dying down. Spanish dominated the place, but there were many dialects of Spanish being spoken. The most prominent was Mexican Spanish.

        The three of us stopped in front of the stage and listened to the music. I didn't know any of these artists, but then again, I didn't listen to music. They were tolerable, nevertheless.

        Darian wrapped his arms around Kenji, and he rested his chin on Kenji's shoulder. "Isn't this awesome, baby?" he said while planting kisses on Kenji's neck. Kenji tried to pull away, but Darian held him tighter. "I think it's time we started going out more."

        "Darian, stop." Kenji freed himself, and he and Darian watched each other. "We're in public. Cool it down."

        "Since when do you have a problem with how I express myself?" Darian asked.

        Kenji faced forward. "You know I don't like PDA. I don't feel like compromising for you tonight."

        I tried not to look too hard, feeling like this was a private moment, but my eyes couldn't stay away. Darian continued to stare at Kenji with an unreadable expression.

        Then he released his partner. "Fine," Darian said as he took a step back.

        "Darian," Kenji called out when Darian began to walk away. "Where're you going?"

        Darian turned around, continuing to walk backwards. "Going far away from you, since that's obviously what you want."

        "Darian!" Kenji shouted as he turned back around, continuing to leave. Kenji sighed. "Baka."

        "Why are you being such a jerk to Darian?" I couldn't help but ask him.

        The bloke was trying. Kenji said he wasn't satisfied because Darian was too comfortable and wasn't romantic anymore. Now, Darian was trying to change the scenery by taking us out, and he was trying to be physically affectionate. But Kenji shut that down.

        What did he want from Darian?

        "I'm not trying to be a jerk to anyone," Kenji said. "He just gets too touchy sometimes. Especially in public."

        "Isn't that what you want?" He said nothing. "Do you know what you want, Kenji?" Again, nothing. "Maybe, Darian isn't the problem here."

        He scoffed. "Thanks."

        "I'm being honest," I said. "You're not happy in your relationship. You have feelings for someone else." He shushed me. "Your partner is trying, but you're not responding. I think it's up to you to make this better."

        "I don't know," he said. "I'm the problem. Yes. But I don't know how to fix it."

        Darian was heading our way with three Mexican-style corns in his hands. "Will being with Jessica fix it?" I whispered to Kenji.

        Kenji stayed silent even as Darian came to stand next to him. "Here," Darian said while handing him a corn.

        Darian handed me one, too. "Thank you," I said, and he nodded my way.

        Darian was hot. He was intimidating, but he was a sweet bloke. If Kenji gave him up now, he would regret it later. For both their sakes, I hoped Kenji wouldn't.

        "I'm going to go explore the place," I said while distancing myself from them. "I'll give you guys your privacy."

        Kenji pleaded with his eyes. "Gabriel."

        He was going to be alone with Darian.

        "Don't wander off too far," Darian said. "If anything happens to you, Gyan will kill me." I chuckled. "You think I'm joking."

        "I won't," I assured him. "Have fun."

        I left before Kenji could say anything. Reclaiming something that was lost was one of the most difficult things to do. What Gyan and I had was beautiful and amazing, but that didn't make it any less difficult for us to re-enter each other's lives. I didn't want Kenji and Darian to one day go through what we had to.

        Someone backed up into me, sending me back with my corn flying out of my hand. "Perdón," the man said. I picked up the corn to throw it in the trash. "Por favor perdóname."

        That voice. I glanced up to see those dimples flashing my way when he spotted me, and his rich eyes met mine. "Enrique," I said, surprised but at the same time not surprised to see my boss here.

        "Gabriel," he said.

        Enrique was Mexican, after all, and this was a big festival for the Latinx community at Shirley Heights.

        His eyes softened. "Again, I'm so sorry. Let me buy you something."

        "Estás bien," I said. "How about you keep my company instead?" I was surprised by my own bravery. "Not that I'm forcing you to." Enrique smirked. "Unless you think it's inappropriate? Maybe it is inappropriate. You are my boss. I recently started working at Italia Beauty. Joseph already hates me. You probably don't even like me, so I'm just forcing myself on you. I should probably just go. Yeah, I should go."

        "Gabriel!" Enrique grabbed me as I turned around. He made me face him again. "Tranquilo." I inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Good. Do you do that often?"

        "Ramble?" I asked, and he nodded. "Only with people I don't know."

        "Then let's change that." Enrique stood next to be with a smile. "Let's start with me re-paying you for that corn."

        How could I say no to my boss?

        So, Enrique and I walked around the numerous vendors, looking for something I wanted. When I spotted a person with papas con cuero, I hurried to the vendor, and Enrique and I both got a plate.

        While I dug in, Enrique hesitated. "What is this again?"

        "It's like pork rinds with potatoes and other things," I answered. "It sounds disgusting, but it tastes so good."

        I continued to eat, and when he put some in his mouth, he shrugged. "It's okay," he said.

        "It's not for everyone," I told him. "Honestly, if I wasn't so obsessed with Colombia, maybe I wouldn't like it either."

        Enrique's eyes went round. "You're Colombian. Ever been to Colombia?"

        I shook my head. "I was born here. Raised Colombian but never been. My family had more important things to do than planning long trips back to the homeland."

        Like paying for mortgage. My and Angelica's college education. Most of our money was spent on survival. Not a lot of time for luxury. Even when we got older and Angelica and I made more money, we never got to it.

        I was going to do it. I was going to take my mother and my sister to Colombia one day.

        "Maybe that's why I'm so obsessed with Colombia," I said, "because I've never been."

        Enrique and I sat at a bench to continue eating. "That doesn't make you any less Colombian. Sometimes, it's a matter of how you're raised, and not where you're born or where you've been." He was eating the pork rinds now. "This is pretty good." I grinned. "I guess you can't judge by the way something sounds."

        "Why are you here alone?" I asked.

        He shrugged. "One of the downsides of being a workaholic is you don't have many friends."

        "I'm a workaholic, too," I said.

        He nodded. "I can tell. We can sense each other." He put his plate down to face me. "I'm such a workaholic that I'm at this event outside of work, but I'm spending time with a colleague." I laughed. "That's how bad I am."

        "Maybe I should leave instead of promoting your workaholic tendencies."

        He grabbed my arm, making our gazes meet. "Don't go."

        His eyes appeared to get darker as I looked into them, and they pulled me in.

        "Do you want to get some platanos fritos after we're done with this?" Enrique asked, and I nodded.

        After we finished eating the papas con cueros, that was exactly what we did. When we were done eating, Enrique grabbed my arm and took me to the crowd of dancing people.

        "I can't dance," I told him as he moved to the beat. "I barely know what these songs are. I don't listen to music."

        Enrique pulled me closer. "This is reggaetón. You know it is because of the beat." His motions were intoxicating, and I wanted to be closer to him. "Just let it flow through you and come out through your movements." I started to move to the beat, allowing myself to be lost in the music. "That's it." Enrique moved closer to me, leaving less and less space between us. "Just feel the music."

        We weren't touching, but I could feel him. When our eyes met, his look mirrored mine. When his lips parted, before I could speak, Darian grabbed me. He completely disregarded Enrique as he pulled me away.

        "That wasn't polite," I scolded him as he stopped us a fair distance away from Enrique.

        Darian snorted. "You obviously don't know me if you think that's an insult."

        I frowned. "What's your problem, Darian?"

        "Gyan."

        "Then talk to Gyan."

        "No," he grabbed me when I was about to leave. "My problem is you dancing on that guy, as if Gyan doesn't exist."

        "What are you? Gyan's lapdog?" Darian glared at me. "I can dance with whoever I want."

        "Look," Darian said, "I know it's none of my business, but from personal experience, don't do this. Until you and Gyan figure your shit out, don't bring any third or fourth parties into this. It's only going to make things more complicated, and someone's going to get hurt."

        So, there it was. Gyan could have me and Anushka and whoever he wanted, but I couldn't even dance with another bloke. After Gyan and I gave into our desires for the second time, every time I would try to talk to him about something that required more thought and vulnerability, he would change the mood to something sexual. I didn't know if it was subconscious or not, but I didn't miss it.

        He wanted to have me while keeping me at an arms-length, but I wasn't going to have it.

        If I wanted to dance with Enrique, I was going to dance with Enrique.

        "I know you're looking out for your friend," I said, "but you're right. It is none of your business." Darian closed his eyes briefly, but I was walking away.

        "Gabriel."

        I was already at Enrique, who took me in. "Everything good?"

        "Everything's great."

        We continued dancing, and I realized that I didn't mind reggaetón. Even with Darian continuing to shoot daggers my way, I ignored him. I didn't think about Gyan. I only focused on the music, and the sexy Latino next to me.

        After a couple songs, Enrique moved to say in my ear, "I'm gonna get us drinks." I nodded. "I'll be back."

        As soon as he made it to the beer vendor, Darian came out of nowhere and started talking to him. Oh God.

        "Relax." I jumped when Kenji stopped beside me. "Darian isn't going to hurt him." He smirked. "He isn't a goon anymore."

        Goon? That was an interesting way to describe Darian.

        "Darian's just looking out for his friend," Kenji said.

        "I know," I said. "I just wish said friend knew what he wanted. That's one thing I can't stand. A bloke who's indecisive."

        Kenji didn't respond. Then he started to sing to the music. It was in Spanish, and he sounded good. I knew the difference between a person singing in Spanish who didn't know a lick of Spanish and a person singing in Spanish who did.

        "You speak Spanish?" I asked him.

        He stopped singing. "I speak most of it, but I understand all of it."

        "How?" I asked. "School?"

        He winced in thought. "Partially high school and college, but I got most of it from my ex-girlfriend Rosalyn. She's Mexican." He smiled. "My little Latina." He glanced at me. "That's what I used to call her."

        Jessica Fuentes. Rosalyn "the little Latina." I had to ask.

        "Is that your thing, Kenji?" I asked. "Latinas?"

        He chuckled. "I knew you were going to ask that."

        "I'm curious."

        "I like girls," he said. "All girls. It just so happens that I've been attracted to more Latinas. But that's not the point. I'm with Darian now."

        The crowd was quieter as the music slowed down. I glanced over to catch Enrique and Darian laughing as they chatted. That was surprising.

        "What happened with Rosalyn?" I asked him.

        "I fucked her over," he answered. "I cheated on her with Darian." My eyes widened. "That girl was nothing but kind to me, and I caused her nothing but pain. I wasted her time. That's probably one of my biggest regrets in life." He looked at me. "The way I treated Rosalyn."

        "Do you still talk?"

        He shook his head. "Haven't talked in five years, and I deserve it." He chuckled humorously. "A smug part of me hoped that not only would she forgive me, but that we would stay friends. When reality hit, it hit hard."

        "But Darian is worth it."

        He was staring ahead again. "Darian is worth it, but I wish things happened differently. I wish Rosalyn didn't get hurt like she did." He swallowed. "Like how I don't want to hurt Darian now. With Rosalyn, I didn't know how I felt about her, but I ignored it. Then Darian came along and made me have to confront it, and I ended up hurting her. Now, I know how I feel about Darian, but I don't know what I want."

        Jessica was making him confront what he wanted.

        "Kenji..."

        His eyes met mine and I didn't miss the moisture in them. "I don't want to hurt Darian." I grabbed his shoulder, trying to comfort him. He cleared his throat. "I'm not going to hurt him."

        Kenji left Rosalyn for Darian. If he left Darian for Jessica, that would have been karma and history repeating itself. At the same time, Kenji didn't look like a serial cheater.

        "All I can say is you'll get through this," I told him, and he nodded.

        "Hey." Darian wrapped his arms around Kenji and kissed him on the cheek. Kenji sent him a weak smile. "You okay?" he asked while examining his partner, and Kenji nodded. "Then say it." He continued to plant kisses on him, and Kenji chuckled. "I want you to say it."

        "I'm okay." Kenji laughed when Darian started to tickle him.

        They were so cute.

        "Here you go." Enrique came into my line of vision, distracting me from Kenji and Darian. "A Corona for you." I wrinkled my nose. "What? You don't like Corona?"

        "I don't like beer," I said, "but I like tequila."

        "Damn." Enrique looked around. "I don't know if there's a vendor for hard liquor."

        "It's fine," I said. "Two Coronas for you."

        We smiled at each other. "I want to get to know you better, Gabriel." He tapped my arm with the mouth of his Corona. "I need more friends, even if they are from work." Enrique leaned closer as he laughed. "What the hell are two Latinos doing working at a place called Italia Beauty?"

        I sent him a look. "Latinos work everywhere."

        "True," he agreed. "But hey." He waved his beer. "That also means we can be CEOs."

        "Damn straight."

        "I'm going to give you my number," he said while handing me one of the Coronas, so he could grab my phone.

        "I already have your number."

        "I'm giving you my non-work related one," he said.

        "You have two phones?" I asked as he returned my phone to me.

        He nodded. "I like to keep my work and private life separate, but you may be changing that, Gabriel."

        He chuckled, and I wondered how much he drank. He was being very lively and carefree—more than usual. Then again, we weren't at work. At the same time, he wasn't like this when we first ran into each other. Maybe he was getting comfortable around me.

Don't overthink, Gabriel.

        I chose to focus on enjoying the rest of the night and my time with Enrique until Kenji and Darian were ready to leave.

        "I have to go, Enrique," I said, "but it was great hanging out with you."

        "Hasta luego, Gabriel," he replied, and he pulled me into a hug.

        I was taken aback, but I wrapped my arms around him. "Okay, we gotta go." Darian pulled me away from Enrique, and he led us to his GMC. "Bye, Enrique."

        As I watched Enrique wave at us as we drove off, I knew. He had too much to drink.

        When Kenji and Darian dropped me off at the flat, a rush of emotions flowed through me. The grey Sequoia was parked in its spot, meaning he was home. I hadn't seen him all day, and I couldn't help the excitement I felt knowing he was home.

        The moment I entered the flat, the door was barely closed when he grabbed my face in his hands and crushed his lips to mine. I moaned as his tongue parted my lips to brush against mine. He was aggressive, and his thumbs massaged my jaw as his body pressed to mine.

        "I've missed you," he said in light pants. He was kissing me again. "I couldn't stop thinking about you all day." His lips returned to mine before peppering kisses all over my neck and face. "I want you so bad, Gabriel."

        "Let's talk," I said.

        "About?"

        He continued to kiss my skin, and I fought to keep my eyes open. "Anything."

        I wanted to talk about his stressful day. My wonderful day. How this was going to work. I wanted to talk about so much.

        "Later." He removed his shirt and tugged on mine. "We'll talk after this."

        He was deflecting again. I should have stood my ground and told him that we were talking, but I was weak.

        When it came to Gyan, I was weak.

        I grabbed him and returned my lips to his. We discarded of our clothes as I led him backwards. By the time the back of his knee hit the couch, we were naked, and I pushed him back, making him sit down. I got on my knees, and I ran my hands from his neck, down his chest, along his thighs and then up to his cóck. He was semi-erect, so I gave him a couple strokes.

        Gyan sighed as he widened his legs. "All I kept thinking about was your mouth the whole time I was at that dinner."

        I wanted him to think about me.

        I placed various kisses along his balls as I continued to jerk him off. My kisses traveled up his còck, and they got longer with more pressure the higher I went along his shaft. I rubbed my lips along his length many times before stopping to kiss his tip.

        Gyan chuckled. "Are you going to suck me off or worship my còck?"

        I glanced up with him still in my hand. "Both."

        Then I took him into my mouth, and he groaned. I bobbed slowly but took in as much of him as I could. I massaged the length of his cóck with my lips, my mouth and my tongue all at once as I took him in and out of my mouth.

        "Gabriel." His hand was on my head, reassuring me that he was there, not just his còck. I whimpered against him, and he groaned, making me suck harder as my hand began to stroke him as well. "Gabriel that's..." He grunted when I fondled his balls as I licked up his shaft before taking him whole again. Then he stiffened. "Gabriel!" He pushed me off of him, making me fall to the side. "Anushka!"

        I looked back, and that was when I saw the tall Indian woman standing in the doorway with her eyes on Gyan.

Shit.

        I never did close the door completely.

        Gyan hurried to put on his jeans, but she was already walking out. "Anushka!" Gyan ran out while I put on my pants. When I ran outside, Gyan was clinging onto the railing, shouting as a red Ferrari drove off. "Anushka!" he hollered one final time, but the car didn't stop. When it was out of sight, Gyan pushed himself off the railing and went back to the flat.

        "Gyan," I said as he paced around the flat.

        "Fuck," he muttered while running his hand through his hair. I closed and locked the door this time. "Fuck!" He hid his face into his hands.

        "It's okay," I said while wrapping my arms around him from behind.

        "It's not okay," he retorted.

        "It'll be okay." I held him tighter, easing the tremor going through his body. "You'll be okay. I got you." He relaxed against me. "I got you, Gyan. We'll figure this out."

        He didn't say anything. He just let me hold him and calm him down. I wouldn't have wanted to be doing anything else.

        A part of me felt relieved that his wife-to-be finally knew the truth.

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* What do you guys think? Kenji and Darian? This Enrique guy? Gyan and Gabriel? Anushka finding out?

* Honestly, I've been feeling like shit the whole day. I'm surprised I'm even updating. It was a slow effort because I've been working on this update on and off since morning, and it's almost midnight where I live. Hope you all enjoyed it.