“You’re ignoring the fact that my partner could have been the one to take you out. He would be strong, my backup. You wouldn’t want to fuck with him.”

Mason got a pain in his chest. He knew he had no right to ask this question, but that wouldn’t stop him. “Was there one? A backup?”

“We broke up, Mase. Do you really think you have the right to ask me that?”

Fuck. No, he didn’t. Mason sat in the chair, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I think I want to kill him.”

Gavin sighed. “I didn’t fuck anyone while you were gone. I’ve been busy. Damn, my hand’s getting tired, though.”

That’s what he’d needed to hear. Right or wrong, he needed to hear it. The thought of Gavin with someone else ate him up inside. “Yeah, mine, too. It’s not the same, though.” Especially for Mason. “Nothing was the same without you. It’s funny…we weren’t together very long. I’ve lived a whole hell of a lot more life without you than with you, but it still wasn’t the same.” Gavin sat on the couch across from him and didn’t reply. He’d obviously gotten off work not long before. He looked tired, but still didn’t take his eyes off Mason.

“I’ve spent the last few months in Durango, like I said. I met my birth family.” He crossed his arms and watched Gavin as intensely as the man watched him. “They’re good people. They’re still not my real family. Those are the people who raised me. But we’ll have a relationship. I’m glad for that.”

He waited for a response that never came. He could see the anger in Gavin, and knew the man deserved to have it. “The restaurant there is on solid ground. We got someone good in there, we think. It took a while, but we got everything settled for Alexander’s.” The longer he spoke the tenser he became. Christ, he may lose him. He told Gavin they needed to figure out what they wanted for their lives, and now he had to face the knowledge that what Gavin wanted might not be him.

That wasn’t the truth for Mason, though. He knew exactly who he wanted, and it was the man eying him right now.

***

We. Every time Mason spoke about the restaurant, he said we. It made Gavin’s hands ball into fists. His chest got heavy. It pissed him off. “You don’t want it, Mason. I don’t care what you say to me, I know that. I understand feeling an obligation, but you’re still fucking pretending. If you came here to tell me you’re going back to Denver, don’t bother. And I’ll be the one going to prison if you’re getting back with Isaac. You’re—”

“Why are we talking about Isaac?”

Gavin was on his feet in a second. In three quick strides he made his way to Mason. “Because I’m not walking away from you!” He’d walked away from too much in his life. He wouldn’t walk away from Mason. “We needed this time, I agree. We had too much shit in our heads. But I walked away from my job before. I’ve walked away from too many things in my life, and I really will be damned before I walk away from you! I’m not going to lose you to him, to Alexander’s, or anything else.”

Gavin didn’t have enough time to move before Mason shoved to his feet. Before Mason slammed into him, making Gavin hit the wall. Something fell down but he didn’t care. All he knew was Mason’s hard body pressed against his. Mason’s lips crushed Gavin’s as their tongues dueled.

The buttons on his shirt went flying when Mason ripped it open. They parted long enough for Gavin to pull Mason’s shirt off before they were kissing again.

He wanted him. His prick ached and he wanted to fuck. Fuck hard. He wanted to make love, slow and passionately. He wanted to do it all, but, “No.”

Gavin put a hand on Mason’s chest and pushed him away. “We aren’t doing that. We can’t answer this with sex.” He wanted the words back as soon as he said them. Why was he turning down sex? They’d been combustible together, always had this passionate chemistry from the first time they met.

“Tell me I’m enough for you. I know I am. I wasn’t enough for anyone else in my life, but I know I’m enough for you, Mason. You can’t pretend I wasn’t.” There was neediness in his voice but he didn’t care. He needed this. He needed this man.

“Hey.” Mason dropped his forehead to Gavin’s. “You’re more than enough for me. That’s why I’m here. It’s you. I never loved Isaac the way I love you. Hell, we never even said the words to each other. I’ll say them to you every fucking day if you want me to.”