Aiden was still freaking out on the inside by the time they arrived.
It was a fancy restaurant in Dubai Marina. The view was spectacular enough to make Aiden snap out of his confused musings and stare at all the glittering, luxurious buildings.
But Zain didn’t give him much time to gawk. The familiar heavy hand returned to his upper back, fingers grazing against his nape.
A small moan threatened to leave Aiden’s lips. He swallowed it with some difficulty, looking at his tented crotch. Fuck.
“Walk,” Zain said.
Tugging his suit jacket closed, Aiden did as he was told.
Walking with an erection was fucking hard, pun intended. Walking with an erection when the cause of that erection still had a bossy hand on his back was almost impossible. Ugh. Seriously, what the fuck? Aiden had no issue with being into men, but couldn’t he have a hard-on for someone—anyone—else? Anyone but the impossibly domineering dick who had bought him to be a sex toy for his brother. Clearly he needed to get his head checked.
Gadiel was already waiting for them at the restaurant, seated at a secluded corner table. He got to his feet, looking a little nervous. “Hey,” he said, nodding awkwardly to Aiden.
Aiden just glared at him sullenly. Gadiel might not be as much of a dickhead as Zain, but he was still an ass without an ounce of human decency.
“Sit,” Zain said, pushing Aiden into a seat and finally removing his hand from him.
Not that it helped much. Aiden’s skin was still prickling with terrible awareness, as if Zain’s touch had left a permanent brand on it.
Aiden’s cock twitched again.
Jesus. This was bad.
“So,” Gadiel said. “How are you settling in? Do you like the country?”
Aiden scowled at him. “Seriously?”
Gadiel gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I just—I just don’t know how to talk to you. This situation isn’t exactly normal, and you’re very—I’m sure you know how you look. You’re very handsome. The most handsome guy I’ve ever seen.”
Aiden glanced sideways at Zain, wanting to know what he thought of his brother’s words.
Zain’s face was inscrutable as he perused the menu. By all appearances, he wasn’t paying them any attention, and Aiden dragged his gaze way. Something that seemed an awful lot like disappointment nestled in the pit of his belly.
“Thanks,” Aiden said belatedly, remembering that he was supposed to be cooperative.
Silence fell after the waiter took Zain’s order and left. Aiden frowned, looking at the dish in front of Gadiel. “What about me? I didn’t order anything.”
“I ordered for you,” Zain said shortly, his gaze on his phone. He said it so matter-of-factly, as if he was entitled to order for him.
Aiden scowled, his ears turning hot and heat pulling to his crotch.
“You and Gadiel have twenty minutes,” Zain said, without looking up. “So you’d better not waste it.”
“The food probably won’t even get here in twenty minutes,” Aiden said, just to be contrary. And because he kind of wanted Zain to look at him.
“Of course it will,” Gadiel said with a smile. “It’s Zain. It’ll be served in a few minutes. I’m sure they had it timed so that all his favorites were prepared right around his arrival, just in case.”
Aiden huffed, glaring at Zain’s arrogant face. But his glare was entirely wasted, because Zain didn’t even glance at him. He hated the part of him that wanted—needed—Zain to look at him.
Look at me, look at me, look at me.
“So,” Gadiel said. “I wanted to get to know you before we… you know.”
Aiden dragged his gaze away from Zain and frowned at his younger brother. “No, I don’t know,” he said coldly.
Gadiel winced, looking sheepish. “Look, the whole thing wasn’t my idea, either, so please don’t take out your anger on me. We can be friends. I get how you feel.”
“Do you?” Aiden said with a nice smile. “Are you locked up in someone’s house with all your rights stolen from you too? Are you being coerced to become a sex pet of a guy you don’t find the least bit attractive?”
“Ouch,” Gadiel said, averting his gaze. To his credit, he did look uncomfortable. “I have little choice, Aiden.” He laughed bitterly. “Zain isn’t wrong that our father will kill me if he finds out. You’re the only safe option I have.”
Aiden bit the inside of his cheek. He did feel sorry for the guy; he really did. At least Aiden had a loving family to return to. “What if I don’t want to be your safe option? Doesn’t it matter?”
“Is that you being cooperative?” Zain murmured. He was finally giving Aiden his full attention, his dark eyes fixed on him with a supremely unimpressed expression.
Aiden felt a rush of adrenaline. God, it was absurd. Why did a simple look from this man make him excited and jittery in his skin?
“If I weren’t so cooperative, I wouldn’t be sitting here but would be halfway across Dubai already.”
Raising his eyebrows, Zain said, “You wouldn’t escape from me that easily. And you wouldn’t like your punishment.”
Aiden pursed his lips tightly, hating the way his stomach was fluttering and the way he felt flushed and out of breath. Fuck, this was bad. How could he be so turned on by a man who was irredeemably horrible? Was he an idiot? He was quite possibly an idiot.
Gadiel cleared his throat. “Eh, there’s no need to punish him for attempting to escape, Zain. I get it, really. It’ll take him some time to—”
“You aren’t the one who gets to decide whether to punish him or not,” Zain cut him off, flicking a cold look at Gadiel before returning it to Aiden. “Only me.”
Aiden licked his dry lips and had a wild, insane thought: I wanna suck your cock.
His face warm, he tried to push the thought out of his mind, but it refused to go away.
The humiliating, bewildering, horrifying truth was, if this man said the word, he’d drop to his knees right there and slobber all over his cock, any witnesses be damned. Something about this man pushed buttons he hadn’t even been aware of.
“Yeah,” Aiden said, looking into those dark eyes, his voice hoarser than it normally was. “God forbid you go a few minutes without reminding me who owns me.”
Zain stared at him, transfixed, and the weight of his attention was like a physical touch, pressing onto him, into him, robbing him of breath.
Aiden breathed raggedly, his cock so hard in his borrowed pants he could barely think. The mere fact that his cock was pressed to fabric that had once hosted Zain’s cock was even more of a turn-on.
The waiter’s sudden appearance by their table made Zain remove his gaze from him, and Aiden almost whined in disappointment. He glared at the waiter for taking Zain’s attention away, hating him and hating himself for feeling that way. Christ, he needed to get his head checked for real.
“Eat,” Zain commanded as a dish was put in front of Aiden.
Aiden ate. He could barely taste the food, no matter how delicious it was. If someone asked him later what he had been eating, he wouldn’t be able to reply, he was so distracted.
Zain and Gadiel conversed in Arabic a little, but the conversation seemed rather stilted. Zain looked cold and faintly disapproving; Gadiel sounded defensive and sullen.
At last, Zain glanced at his watch and said, “Well, that was an absolute waste of time.” Wiping his lips with a napkin, he got to his feet and looked at Aiden.
Aiden sprang to his feet as well, feeling shaky, uncertain, and more than a little freaked out by his sudden spike of anxiety at the thought of Zain leaving him with Gadiel. Christ, was this what Stockholm syndrome felt like?
“Let’s go,” Zain said and strode toward the doors without even bothering to check that Aiden was following him. Arrogant dick.
At least his Stockholm syndrome didn’t suddenly make him think that Zain was less of an asshole than he was.
Thank god for small mercies.
