Taming Beasts | MxM | Petshop

Part 28

Note: I accidentally published 29 yesterday before this one. Just in case there's some confusion :) enjoy!

I followed carefully as Vince trudged into his bedroom. He was gnawing on stale bread, looking anywhere but at me and definitely not at anything in particular. His gaze was listless, though once he'd slumped down on the sheets, it eventually found me standing in the doorway.

"You can come in, you know?" he muttered, sounding all but inviting. Huffing, he stared at his bread as if the insolent thing had just made an unwelcome remark. When it didn't react to his threatening glare, he threw it at the wall with a groan, then rubbed his face to school his expression.

I watched him with pity and uncertainty.

"Come here?" Vince offered more gently. He licked his lips. "Please?"

I crawled over, painfully aware of each step that I took while my heart beat so loudly that I was afraid even a human like Vince might hear. Then again, his own breathing was so ragged and shaky that the sounds of it were likely keeping his ears busy.

When I'd curled up next to him and put my chin onto his firm thigh, he immediately reached for my head to fondle my ear. It was awkward in a way because his fingers twitched and stilled frequently, and he smelled of fear, a scent that I'd never noticed around him before.

"You said we're good?" he asked tentatively.

My ears pushed back against my head, and his fingers. "I'm not going to sleep with you."

"Th- that's not- why?" He pulled his hand away, now actually looking at me. The usual annoyance was right back on his face.

I took a deliberately deep breath, grabbed hold of his wrist and put his hand right back atop my head so he'd continue petting me, which he actually did. Slow progress.

"Why?" he asked again, softer and less accusing this time around.

While I felt more inclined to answer, I had no clue what to say. It didn't feel right to just hop right into bed with him again, though my body definitely wanted to. It was Vince, after all - the man that I loved and who'd proven that he had sufficient expertise when it came down to love-making.

Just that fucking wasn't love-making, and Vince' fingers were trembling ever so slightly.

His jaw tensed as he ground his teeth. "And you're fucking not talking."

"It's not that easy," I snapped. And talking to Vince was even less 'easy', but telling him that wouldn't have helped.

He grunted in discontent, averting his gaze. It found the bread he'd just discarded and stayed there. His eyes narrowed slightly but he didn't retort.

I let the silence stretch. This was exhausting, and I was exhausted enough as it was. My eyelids lowered slowly, fluttering briefly every once in a while when I threatened to dose off. Vince kept petting me absentmindedly.

"So," his voice drew me back, "you want to go out more?"

I looked up wearily, remembering the time he took me out drinking with his friends, and now his unwillingness to let me leave for the weekend. When he wouldn't elaborate, I nodded.

"Fine," he huffed as if that was a problem. My ears pulled back against my head at his tone, and his fingers must've noticed the change, because they stopped fondling.

Vince frowned at me. "What? I'll take you out. That's what you want, isn't it?"

Yes, but passive-agressiveness wasn't going to make me happy about it. Not that I couldn't understand how he was on edge. After all, the odour of stress was still clinging to him, and I was certain that all this brooding was starting to get to him.

His nostrils flared when he took a very deep breath, and I guessed his patience was running low, so I nodded once more.

Groaning, Vince dropped his head into the hand that wasn't occupied with petting me, and rubbed his eyebrows. "This would be so much easier if I could just spank the shit out of you when you refuse to talk to me."

Usually, saying those things would've elicited a reaction from his body. I found myself sniffing softly, unconsciusly searching for the scent of his arousal, but I couldn't make out even a hint. I dropped my head back onto his thigh.

His hand resumed caressing my ear.

"It's just so irritating," he complained half-heartedly, and I decided not to comment. Instead, I purred faintly, and rubbed my check against his leg.

Vince sighed, and his heartbeat finally fell into a more relaxed pace. He lay down on his back, staring at the ceiling. Eventually, his breathing evened out, and his fingers stilled atop my head.

I sat up straight, careful not to wake him, and watched his features. Serene. I was amazed by the amount of tension that had slipped from his body, still lingering in the air as the scent of stress. My heart ached.

He could be nice. He could. But most of time, he just did stupid things, and said stupid things as well. Still, he'd made me happy, something I hadn't been in a very long time.

And I wanted to stay happy. I just needed to figure out how, and maybe without Vince. The thought hurt, but seeing him like this, I realized he was hurting too, and who knew to what conclusions he would come.

I wasn't going to put up with his sluttiness.

But even if I wouldn't sleep with him, I could still enjoy sleeping next him.