* WARNING: Sexual Content Ahead

*Reader Discretion is Advised

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I sat in the parking lot of Angel's Pizzeria, talking to Nila. "I had fun," I told my sister. "Didn't you have fun?"

        "I did," she said. "Spent a lot of money on those wines and beers, but it was worth it."

        We were talking about her surprise visit, and I still couldn't get over it. Who would have that that Nila and I had the capacity to get along?

        "We should do this more, Nila," I said while leaning back in the seat. "Talking. Hanging out. Let's do it. It's nice. Especially since it doesn't involve the company."

        She chuckled. "You hate the company so much, and it's so sad. I thought being passed over was bad, but I guess you have worse."

        "This isn't about me," I said. "This is about us. Where we're gonna go from here."

        "You're right," she said. "I'll like that, too. Hanging out and talking. It's kind of tiring being mad at you."

        "I'm glad it is," I said.

        "Got any plans for today?"

        About that...

        I cleared my throat, glancing around to see if he was there yet. "No," I said. "Probably going to stay in today."

        "Nice," she said. "Well, I have to go. I have to pick up Deepika from the daycare."

        "Have fun with that," I said. "Bye."

        "Bye."

        She hung up, and I got out of the car, continuing to keep an eye out for him. I found a seat where he would easily spot me. Nila would be pissed, but I couldn't help myself.

        I was meeting up with Ishaan.

        I didn't know what was going to come of it, but I had to do something. It was one of the few things I could do.

        Then a figure came into my line of vision, and he sat in front of me. "Gyan." He wore a smirk. "What's up?"

        "Why don't we just cut to the chase?" I leaned forward with my palms on my knees. "You don't feed me bullshit, and I'm not going to take bullshit from you."

        He sent me a look. "What is this about?"

        "That's the bullshit I'm talking about," I said. "This is about Nila and the fact that your pathetic ass is cheating on her." His expression didn't falter. He just stared at me. "That's it? Not gonna say anything?"

        "What is there to say?" he said. "You seem to know enough, and your mind is made up that I'm the dirt-bag."

        "Oh, you are," I made sure to remind him. "I just thought you'll show more remorse. Especially since you're cheating on Nila. The woman you've been married to for years. The mother of your children. Your so-called best friend. That's who you're cheating on. Also." I leaned closer with my eyes boring through his. "She's my sister. I don't appreciate dirt-bags—or anyone—messing with my sister."

        He rolled his eyes. "Now, you're going to take the brotherly role."

        "I don't think you get it."

        He frowned. "I don't think you get it. You and Nila aren't close, so what's up with this sudden protective attitude? She wouldn't do the same for you."

        "That's not true."

        He arched a brow. "Wanna bet on it?"

        I narrowed my eyes, not saying anything at first. "What you fail to realize is that it doesn't matter what happens before. All the beefs and disagreements. They're gone. Once a Gupta's crossed, that's all that matters." I smirked. "And yes. Nila is a Gupta. You can never take the Gupta out of her. We protect our own." I stood up. "I'll always protect the women in my family. I'll never willingly let something bad happen to them on my watch." He chuckled. "Laugh all you want. Just remember this. I'll protect them at all cost." I leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Even if that means bashing in the face of assholes like you." I stood upright. "Just wanna put that out there."

        I began to walk away. "You've wasted your time," he shouted out.

        "No." I didn't even glance back at him. "I made my point."

        With that, I entered the Sequoia and headed back to the apartment. Darian was coming over in a bit, which I was grateful for. Lately, I kept my days busy. When I wasn't working at Appeto, I was working out or doing something that kept my mind occupied. Anything to distract me from Gabri—

        No.

        I couldn't think about him. Shit. My mind had already gone to him. I gulped down my beer, waiting for Darian to come. The best way to get through this was to be numb. That was how I survived those five years.

        Preoccupying myself.

        Numbness.

        And fucking a shit ton of guys.

        I told myself that if I could survive five years, I could survive this, but those were only five years. This could be the rest of my life without Gabri—

        No.

        I drank more beer.

        The bell rang. "Finally," I muttered as I set aside the beer to answer the door. Sure enough, Darian sent me a weak smile at the door. "Dude, that's pathetic." I let him in. "Don't let the heartbreak show. You gotta own that shit."

        He motioned to the beer. "Got any more of those?"

        I spread my arms out. "Help yourself." He made it to the fridge and got himself a beer. "Actually, bring the whole pack out."

        He did, and we sat down on the couch with the pack of beers. "Not all of us are like you, Gyan," he said. "We don't embody the heartbreak." He stared ahead. "It consumes us."

        He and Kenji had been broken up for weeks now. Darian and I were working out a lot, too, which was good for our bodies, but our minds screamed at us. I wasn't too surprised. This was Darian's first breakup. Before Kenji, Darian didn't really date. It was mostly sex and fake girlfriends. Also, it was Kenji. Darian had been crazy about the guy since sixth grade. I didn't even know what type of porn I liked in sixth grade, yet alone loving someone the way Darian did Kenji.

        Darian turned to me. "What about you?" he asked. "I know things with Gab—"

        "Don't say it," I said with a finger up. "Don't say his name. You can say anything in this apartment. Unleash your dark, politically incorrect humor. I don't care. Anything." I paused. "Anything but his name."

        Darian's eyes widened. "I can't say Ga—" I sent him a look. "I can't say his name?"

        I nodded. "Talk about dead babies. I don't give a damn. Just don't say his name." Darian busted into laughter. "You think this is funny?"

        Darian watched me. "You don't have it together, after all." I kept drinking my beer. "You'll rather have me make 9/11 jokes than say his name?"

        "If that's what you want to do, go for it."

        "Wow." Darian shook his head. "At least, I can say Kenji's name. No matter how much it hurts. I'm acknowledging the pain." He glanced at me. "You're ignoring it."

        I tsked. "Not so much ignoring but being smart about it. I can't afford to be moping around and being consumed by grief. Especially when I have to get married in a minute."

        "True."

        "I try to think about it as little as possible," I said. "Autopilot. Keep yourself so focused that there's barely room for anything else."

        "A part of me hates how much it hurts," Darian said, "but that same ache reminds me that it was real."

        "Don't get all poetic on me now," I said. "I get it. You and Kenji. Fairy tale story."

        Darian sent me a sideways glance. "Obviously not. We broke up."

        "Honestly, all those fairy tales probably ended in divorce," I said. "Let's be real." Darian smiled. "I support you and Kenji. Always have. Always will. I still think there's a chance. If you're so heartbroken, why did you break up with him and why are you still broken up? You could end your own suffering right now."

        A certain someone was the reason we weren't together. He was the one who didn't want to be friends. He was the one who didn't want to be my "gay lover." He could end both our sufferings if he wanted to, just like Darian.

        Darian sighed. "He's never happy, and I'm tired. He needs to figure some things out, and he needs to do it alone. I can't always be the one chasing after him, so I have to know."

        "Know what?"

        He sent me a sad smile. "Will he chase after me, too? Will he fight for me? For us when I don't? Right now, you think it's up to me, but it's up to him. The only hope of us getting back together is Kenji doing something about it. If he doesn't, then we're done—for good. I can't be the one always putting in the work."

        "Are you ready for that?" I asked. "Saying goodbye for good?"

        He shrugged. "The more time passes, the more it becomes a reality." He focused on me. "Are you ready to say goodbye?"

        "I have to be," I said. "I can't pause or allow myself to think or feel. I have to keep moving to not be swept under. There's so much to do."

        "Have you hooked up with anyone?" he asked.

        I chuckled. "That's another thing. Haven't gotten much action lately. It's kind of sad."

        "You could get it if you wanted."

        "Yeah," I said. "By going on Grindr or some other dating app. The options are there. I just haven't done it."

        Darian smirked. "Because of him. Long gone are the days of random hookups with random people."

        "That means I can hook-up with people I know," I joked.

        We laughed, and Darian stared at me for some time. "People like me."

        My smile died down, and before I could speak, Darian placed his hand on my neck and smashed his lips to mine. My eyes widened, but my lips reacted to his, moving with him. His lips were firm and dominant, and it took me a couple seconds to put up a fight, gaining the upper hand.

        Then I pulled away. "Darian."

        "I wanna forget," he said. "You wanna forget. Let's do just that."

        "I don't want to take advantage of you."

        He was hurting. So were my balls, but I didn't want to use his pain for my benefit.

        Darian scoffed. "You're not. I'm not some drunk girl. Plus, you're hurting, too. You may pretend you're not, but you are." He stood up and pulled me up with him. He led me through the halls. "Come on. We both need this."

        We got to my room, and our lips found each other again. It was fierce and urgent, and our clothes came off with it, scattering around the room. The hairs on his chest ran through my fingers as his hard muscles under soft skin pressed against my fingertips. Darian was so different from him. He was bigger, hairier and taller. Maybe that was a good thing. I needed to distract myself from him.

        When we were both naked, Darian dropped to his knees, grabbing a hold of my còck. He stroked it with precision, watching his handiwork. Then he peered up at me. "This is the first time in five years that we're hooking up without Kenji."

        I placed my hands on his head. "I thought you wanted to forget?"

        He didn't say anything, taking me into his mouth instead. I hissed, throwing my head back as he gave a couple bobs, his spit coating my shaft. This was the first contact my díck had received in a while that wasn't from my right hand. He hollowed in his cheeks, creating a tight seal. His hand made twisty motions at the base while he sucked with every upward bob. When I widened my stance, I guided his head onto my dìck, starting a rhythm until he gagged. He went right back to what he was doing, even when he gagged again.

        His hand rested on my thigh, moving his fingers up and down my skin as he swirled his tongue along my tip before taking me in again. His eyes flickered from meeting my gaze to keeping his attention on what he was doing. Looking into his green orbs reminded me just how much we needed this. I couldn't meet up with some random hookup because I needed some intimacy. I never needed it before, but I did now.

        Darian was exactly what I needed at that moment.

        I pulled him off my cóck, popping out of his mouth, and he stood up. I led him back to the bed, allowing him to lay back before crawling on top of him.

        I grabbed a hold of him, running my fingers along his length. "Do you want my mouth?"

        "Obviously," he said. "Do you want my ass?"

        I smirked. "Are you offering?"

        He grabbed my head to push me down. "Suck me off, and we'll see."

        I descended, increasing my strokes. One glance at him, and I took him into my mouth. My saliva shone on his dîck, guiding my lips and tongue to move along his sensitive cöck. Darian groaned as he laid back with one hand near his head and the other in my hair. He didn't push or pull. It just stayed there, running through my tresses as I ran my tongue along the entirety of his cóck.

        "That feels good, Gyan." He moaned when I groaned around him, his words maintaining my erection from earlier. He was fully hard in no time, and I moved faster. My hands and mouth working together to continue his string of sounds. "Right there." I teased his tip with my tongue running along and swirling around various places, exploring him.

        It'd been some time since we last hooked up, and he was right. We hadn't hooked up with just the two of us in five years.

        In this moment, all I focused on was him. It was all I was supposed to focus on. Not Darian's relationship with Kenji. Not he-who-shouldn't-be named. Not even our mutual heartbreaks. We didn't have time for that.

        So, I gave my attention to Darian's díck.

        I pushed his thighs further apart, and my hands moved from his inner thighs towards his crotch. I massaged his balls, continuing to engulf him into my mouth, before ascending his shaft, briefly taking him out of my mouth to bring my hand all the way up his còck.

        "Now that you've put it out there," I said while fisting him, "your ass is mine."

        He glanced down when I swallowed him whole. "Oh, yeah?"

        "Mmm hmm," I hummed as my lips wrapped around him, sucking with each upward pull, keeping my focus on the top half of his còck while my hand preoccupied the bottom half.

        "Then do it," he said, and I stopped, removing him from my mouth. Darian sat up and reached into my dresser, looking for the lube. "I don't want you to make love to me or any other bullshit like that." He brought the container of lube to me. "I just want a good fúck."

        I guess foreplay was over. I pushed him to lay on his back. "No condom?"

        He shook his head. "I want it bareback."

        I learned down to whisper in his ear. "I like this side of you."

        "Shut up."

        He kissed me, wrapping his arms around my neck while I caressed his cheek. He didn't want to make love, but even he needed some intimacy. That was why Darian and I worked so well. We were friends, comfortable around each other, and we cared for each other. At the same time, there were no romantic feelings. We were close enough, with the right amount of distance.

        Our lips lingered together, coming back right when we thought we were done. When we finally parted, we held eye contact. I opened the lube and applied some onto my dīck while Darian watched.

        "Bottoming is actually a lot of fun," he said. "You should do it more often."

        I stroked along my còck before getting on top of him. "I prefer to fùck."

        I guided my cöck to his opening, and he tensed up for a second. When our eyes met, he relaxed, and I eased myself in. Darian winced, and I slowed down. I would go in and pull out before going in a little deeper. I took my time, watching his reaction as he relaxed beneath me.

        "You good?"

        He nodded as I bottomed out inside of him. "Haven't bottomed in a while. Haven't had sex overall."

        We chuckled. "Thank God we're changing that."

        I straightened up on my knees, grabbed his thighs, keeping them parted, and I started my thrusts. Darian's arms surrounded his head as I moved inside of him, maintaining eye contact the whole time. His lips were parted as he released soft breaths while I rocked into him, slower and sensual at first. I watched my côck move in and out of him, disappearing before reappearing only to repeat. Then my eyes returned to his.

        "Is this what you want?"

        "Faster," he muttered. "I want to be fücked."

       "That I can do."

        I leaned over him to put both my fists near his head, and my hips increased their speed. I pounded into him, our skin slamming together in the otherwise quiet room.

        "Yes," he said as the force of my thrusts made him rock against the bed. "That's it."

        I grabbed a handful of his hair and brought our faces together, our noses brushing while our eyes found each other. "You like that." I gave a particularly hard thrust, and he groaned. I rolled my hips a little before returning to the fast-paced thrusting, ramming into him from various angles. "You like being fucked like this?"

        "Yes," he said with a moan. "It feels amazing."

        He ran his hands along my back and chest, not being bothered by the perspiration gathering along my skin. I put some distance between us, focusing on the actions of my hips. My movements became more purposeful instead of aimless hammering. I pushed his legs towards his chest, giving me more access to fuck him better. This new position increased my depth as I could feel more of him pulling me in, and his sounds increased, seeming to like it. I groaned as he tightened around me, making me throw my head back as I allowed myself to be lost in the pleasure.

        All that mattered was the feeling in my crotch. The man below me. What was happening in this exact moment. Everything else was irrelevant. He should have been irrelevant.

        I groaned, and my pace increased, turning into merciless thrusts as I unleashed it all on Darian. "Fuck," he muttered as I pushed him deeper into the bed, rapidly moving in and out of him as the bed rocked.

        I reached over for his hand, and our fingers interlocked. We were connected in more than one way. Not only physically, but mentally. His heart was in the same state as mine. All I could do to mend it was to release my physical desires. I couldn't have who I wanted, but I could have Darian in this moment.

        Then I pulled out. "Get up." I pulled him up. "Turn around." I helped him get into position, bending him over in front of me as I grabbed a hold of my cock. "Time to go doggie."

        That was all the warning he got before I slammed in with one thrust. "Shit," he said with his head back, and I grabbed some of his hair.

        I re-started my rhythm, starting right where I left off. My hands moved to his hips and one of his shoulders, steadying myself and securing my motions. My breathing was heavier by now, as the friction accumulated on my cōck. I hadn't fucked someone in what felt like too long. Some said I had a high libido, and maybe I did. What could I say? I liked sex.

        It didn't matter who it was with.

        Then I thought about him. I groaned. I slowed down before speeding up again, smacking Darian's ass this time. He chuckled as my fingers dug into his hips before I smacked his ass again. "Down," I said as I pushed him towards the bed, so his ass could lift up, deepening the depths of my thrusts. "There you go." He groaned at the new change in position while I went at it. My groans were getting more noticeable as the tension built up in my body. "Touch yourself," I commanded.

        Then I noticed his hand pumping away between his legs. "You don't have to tell me twice."

        We laughed, my thrusts not stopping. When the room returned to the sounds of groans and skin meeting skin, I embedded myself into the experience. I focused on the slickness of his skin, making me lose my grip at times. The way he clenched onto me, pulling me back in after every outward thrust. The sounds that came from his lips, along with the creaking of the bed and all the other evidence of our fucking. The way he jerked himself off while I took him from behind. I allowed it to bombard me, keeping me in the experience.

        "Fùck," he yelled at a particular thrust. "Right there." I aimed for the area, pressing into his prostate. He groaned. "Yeah, that feels good."

        I would hit it sometimes, and other times I wouldn't. Darian's hand moved faster, and I ran a hand along his back before coming up to squeeze his ass. I massaged his ass as I moved in and out of him, and he would whimper when I hit the spot. My hand moved down to grab a hold of his neck, and I lifted his head up, bringing him more upright.

        "Tell me when you're not okay," I said into his ear.

        "I'm perfect," was his response, and I pushed him back into his original position. He reached back to fondle his balls, and I jerked in surprised when he reached back for mine.

        "Slick bastard," I said with a smirk while he alternated between reaching for my balls and his own.

        I didn't know when it happened, but eventually, Darian's focused moved to fisting his còck at an urgent rate.

        "I wanna come," he said.

        I maintained my pace, trying to seek out his sweet spot, and I hit it. He cried out. "You wanna come?" I hit it again, and he groaned, pressing his cheek to the bed. "Or you're going to come?"

        "Both," he answered. "Just keep going."

        That was exactly what I did as the tension formed in my balls. It built up more and more with each thrust. Every time he surrounded me, every time I pulled out, I got that much closer to my own release. Darian's sounds were louder and more frequent now as he chased his orgasm. My own actions got desperate as my thrusts became erratic, being out of sync at times due to my impending orgasm.

        When I struck his prostate twice in a row, that was when Darian came undone. He groaned, lowly and drawn out as his ass clamped around me. I knew he was shooting jets of cúm into his hand as the pleasure moved through him. I could barely see it when my orgasm hit me as well. My balls erupted and released large strings of cùm into Darian as waves of ecstasy coursed through me. My body tensed up before every muscle relaxed, giving into the orgasm as my senses went on overload. Nothing mattered but the physical sensations surrounding me and the pleasure washing through me.

        When I came down from the high, Darian was slumped over on the bed, and I pulled out of him. We both collapsed onto the bed together, turning our heads to look at each other. We grinned. "I got cûm on your bed," he said.

        "It's okay," I replied. "I got cüm in your ass."

        We laughed. That was one thing I loved about my friendship with Darian. It didn't matter how many times we had sex, we were just friends, and that was what came first.

        "I'll be back," he said before getting up, probably to go to the bathroom. He wiped the come off my bed before walking out. I stared up at the ceiling in his absence.

        I enjoyed it, but the high was wearing off fast. I needed more. My mind wanted to wander off to a certain Colombian man, but I refused to allow that to happen.

        When Darian came back, we looked up at the ceiling together. "Why do we do this?" he asked.

        My attention shifted to him. "Do what?"

        His eyes were on me. "Why do we hookup to get over other people?"

        "Because it works."

        Darian perked a brow. "Does it?"

        "It's the best bet," I told him. "You're the one who always comes to me whenever you and Kenji are going through your shit."

        "I'm not over Kenji," he confessed. "But this helps."

        "Why do I do this?" I asked.

        Darian grinned. "Because you'll fuck anything that moves."

        I smacked his arm. "There's nothing wrong with liking sex."

        Me wanting to fuck someone wasn't rare. Being in love on the other hand, that was a different story. There was only one person I'd ever truly loved.

        And I lost him.

        "Let's do something," I said. "This is killing my vibe."

        Darian moved over to kiss me with his hand on my chest. I welcomed his lips, focusing on the warmth and feel of them as his tongue found mine. It wasn't a fight but them moving together as Darian and I were in sync with each other. We knew what we wanted and what we needed.

        We wanted other people.

        But we needed each other at the moment.

        When we pulled away, he gave me another peck before smirking down at me. "Let's go again."

        I grinned. "Round 2?"

        "Yeah," he said. "And maybe round 3 and 4. I'm not done with you yet, Gyan."

        "I like the sound of this."

        We sat up, and Darian pushed me back with his body on top of mine. "Your ass is mine now."

        "We'll see."

        His lips were back on mine, and everything was blocked out once more. Responsibilities. The real world. Even him. At least, I told myself that.

        It didn't matter how many rounds of sex Darian and I had, he would always pop up. I tried to keep it in but after hours of continuous sex, when Darian and I laid in bed, there was only one thought on my mind.

        Gabriel.

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* What do you guys think? Gyan and Darian hooking up? Gyan's coping mechanisms? What's up for Gyan and Gabriel?

* Sorry for the late update. Over the past week, I've been struck with 3 SEPARATE illnesses at the SAME time. I haven't been sick like this in a while, and it's been awful. I'm still sick but slowly recovering. Hope you enjoyed the update. Took two days to write it. Lol 😄