Neutral Zone Trap - Bianca Sommerland Page 0,29

you come in.” Ryan lowered his hand and sat back, his smile fading. “We need to talk, but I wanted an idea of where your head was at first. Have you been drinking a lot?”

Pressing his eyes shut, Braxton groaned. The man had hunted him down for a lecture? Fun. He shook his head. “No, I usually don’t drink at all—I don’t want it to fuck up my play. But now and then when I get time off.” With a shrug he opened his eyes, refusing to let Ryan make him feel ashamed of living his own damn life. “If that’s what you wanted to talk about, don’t worry. I’m Gucci.”

Brow furrowed, Ryan looked confused for a moment. Then he chuckled. “Sometimes I forget how young you are.”

Braxton began to rise. “Oh fuck off, not that again.”

One hard look from Ryan stilled him. “If you walk away from me now, Braxton, we’re done. You’ve been pushing me in every way possible. In ways I shouldn’t tolerate. And will not going forward.” Ryan leaned closer, his voice taking on a dark edge. “What happened on that stage? What exactly were you trying to accomplish?”

“I wanted you to talk to me. To admit there’s something between us.” Braxton’s jaw ticked as he recalled the moment he’d decided he was wasting his time. “You left.”

“Yes. I did.” Ryan’s tone didn’t change. “I won’t be manipulated and I saw your friends were there to save you.”

“That and more.”

The reaction Braxton got wasn’t what he’d expected. Ryan had spent so much time trying to prove he wasn’t interested. That they had nothing. And never would. But his expression didn’t match that at all. There was shock. Then rage. He was grinding his teeth and fisting his hand on the bar like he wanted to hit something.

Staring straight ahead, Ryan motioned to the bartender and ordered a whiskey on the rocks. Once he was served he took a long gulp. Nodded to himself. “They took advantage of you?”

“What? No, Pisch and White would never do that.” Braxton grabbed Ryan’s wrist. “Don’t even think that. You said I was young and I shouldn’t take sex too seriously. So I stopped.”

“You…stopped?”

“Yeah, I sucked White’s dick. It didn’t go well, so he invited some girls in and…” Braxton swallowed when Ryan turned to him and arched a brow. “And I can’t keep doing that. I don’t want to. Pisch is easy. Hell, it’s what everyone calls him. Letting him and White fuck me was like…better. For a bit, things were better.”

Groaning, Ryan rubbed a hand over his face. “‘For a bit’?”

“They’re… It’s complicated. Not my story to tell, man.” Braxton began picking the label off his beer bottle, not really in the mood to drink anymore. “I like you, Ryan. A lot. But I get that you don’t feel the same and I’ll get over it. It just took some time to realize I was being an idiot.”

“You weren’t the only one.” Ryan held up one hand before Braxton could interrupt. “You’ve pushed every boundary I have and even after I agreed to talk to you, you were impatient and caught me at the worst time. But I also realized you couldn’t possibly know that. I could’ve sent you a text and let you know I was busy. I was worried about leading you on and I wanted to avoid…complications.”

“I can see why now.” Braxton ducked his head and snickered when Ryan gave him a level look. He didn’t seem to like reminders of what had happened with White and Pisch, which was funny, considering Ryan had told him to go out and experience things. “Hey, are you…” His eyes went wide. “You’re jealous, aren’t you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You giving a friend a bad blowjob before having horrible sex with a bunch of random—”

“Pischlar made sure the next blowjob was much better.” Braxton’s lips slanted. “I seem to do better with instructions.”

For a long time, Ryan didn’t say anything. He turned his focus back to his drink, swigging it, then ordering another. He inhaled slowly, shaking his head, as though having a silent conversation with himself.

“Pischlar’s a Dom.” Ryan’s voice was quiet. Controlled. “White seems rather submissive. And you definitely are. I can see how you’d enjoy a scenario that would involve you surrendering control. But you won’t be doing it with Pischlar again.”

Braxton rubbed his thighs, confused. “Yes, I know. This has already been established because—”

“Do you still want to explore what’s between us, Braxton?”

The way Ryan asked