The Exiled Alpha's Human Male Mate.[BL]

"Going somewhere?" Dave asked, pushing himself upright on the bed.

"Mmh." Bryce answered without looking at him as he crossed the room toward the bathroom.

He showered again, brushed his teeth and returned to the bedroom only to find Dave exactly where he had left him, still sitting on the bed as though he had been waiting for him to return.

"Where?" Dave asked the moment Bryce stepped out.

Bryce stopped and glanced at him.

"I thought you said I could go wherever I wanted as long as I came back here at the end of the day. Why are you interrogating me about it now?"

"I said you could go wherever you wanted. I didn’t say you could leave without telling me where you’re going." Dave pushed the covers aside and stood. "And you’re not leaving alone."

Bryce swallowed the anger that immediately rose into his throat, along with the sharper words threatening to escape with it. He turned toward the wardrobe and began searching through his clothes instead.

"Where are you going?" Dave asked again, following him.

Bryce decided answering would be easier than prolonging the confrontation.

"Work."

"Work?" Dave repeated, his brows drawing together. "Since when do you go to your part-time job at six in the morning? Besides, you don’t need that job anymore. Isn’t that clear enough?"

"LuminousLoom."

Dave gave a short, incredulous laugh.

"LuminousLoom? How? I mean... You don’t even have your certificate yet, and I’ve heard they only take experienced designers. Are you messing with me?"

Bryce’s hand paused briefly among the clothes.

"Are you looking down on me? Do you think I’m not good enough for what I studied for?"

"You’re putting words in my mouth. I never said that." Dave answered immediately. "That’s not what I meant."

"I already told you I’m working at LuminousLoom, so why are you questioning it like it’s some impossibility?"

Bryce knew perfectly well that getting into LuminousLoom was extraordinary. He also knew exactly why Dave found it difficult to believe.

But at that moment, he wasn’t interested in explaining himself. He wanted to find something, anything, that would allow him to push back against Dave’s suffocating control, even if it meant deliberately provoking him.

It didn’t make him feel any better though.

If Dave knew what his position actually involved, he would never allow him to go there.

"I only asked how you got there, not because I think you’re incapable of working for them, but because you..." Dave stopped himself. "Forget it. I’ll drive you."

"So you can confirm whether I’m telling the truth?"

Dave stared at him blankly.

"Seriously?" His voice carried a weariness that hadn’t been there before. "How long are we going to keep doing this? I’ve already admitted that I was wrong. I’ve apologized to you sincerely. I’ve already told you that Eli isn’t part of me romantically anymore. You are."

Bryce remained silent.

"And if there’s something you want me to do to make you believe that, tell me. If you want to punish me for what I did, then do it. But don’t shut me out like this or start picking fights over nothing."

"The only punishment that would satisfy me for everything you’ve done to me is letting me leave and live my own life instead of forcing us to remain together when you already know things will never be the same agai..."

Bryce didn’t get to finish.

Dave moved closing the distance between them and pinning him against the wall.

Bryce’s towel slipped from his hand and fell to the floor. He didn’t care about it. Dave had seen him naked countless times, and that wasn’t what held his attention now.

It was Dave’s face.

The veins standing out along his forehead. The tension carved into his jaw. The ragged breaths escaping him as though he were struggling to restrain something inside himself.

"Don’t push me any further, Bryce." His voice was low and strained, each word forced through clenched teeth. "I’m trying."

Bryce didn’t retreat.

"I already told you, Dave. Right now, I don’t believe there’s anything genuine between us, no matter what you say or what you do."

His eyes remained fixed on Dave’s. "Even this." He gestured toward him as much as his position allowed. "This fear of losing me. I think it has nothing to do with me at all. I think you can’t bear the thought of losing Eli for a second time."

Dave’s expression hardened.

"Not losing Eli for a second time."

His voice rose, frustration finally breaking through his restraint.

"I’ll be losing another person I deeply love and care about for the second time.

Why the hell won’t you ask yourself why I stopped forcing you to do things you didn’t like? Why I stopped telling you how to dress, urging you to behave in certain ways, or how to do certain things?"

Dave’s breathing remained heavy.

"All those things I used to push you toward were Eli’s habits. They were things I associated with him, things I wanted you to imitate because I was still trying to recreate him."

His grip loosened slightly, though he didn’t step away.

"But I stopped."

He looked directly into Bryce’s eyes.

"I stopped because I realized I didn’t want those things anymore. The imitation wasn’t working anyway. I realized I wasn’t attracted to it anymore."

Bryce’s expression remained guarded.

"Your original self was what started pulling me in. The way you actually were. Somewhere along the way, I stopped comparing you to him and started falling in love with you."

Dave’s voice faltered for only a moment before continuing.

"How long has it been, Bryce, since I stopped asking you to imitate him? Years. Four, five years, maybe more. For all that time, it has been you. Not him."

He shook his head, frustration and desperation intertwining in his voice.

"What exactly do you want me to say before you’ll believe me? I’m not proud of what I did to you back then. I know I hurt you, and I’m apologizing because I genuinely regret it. I just don’t know what else I can do to make you understand that I love you for who you are."

"If that’s the case, Dave, why have you still been calling me E-love?" Bryce tried to keep his voice steady, but the question fractured before he could finish it.

"Habit," Dave answered hesitantly.

The single word drew a bitter laugh from Bryce. He pushed against Dave’s chest, trying to force enough space between them to get past him, but Dave stepped closer instead, leaving their bodies pressed together.

"You know..." Dave murmured, his fingers caressing Bryce’s jaw before moving down to his neck and finally resting against his collarbone.

"The fact that I’m still respecting your boundaries, even in a moment like thi..." He took Bryce’s hand and slowly guided it against the bulge straining beneath his trousers. "...this. Don’t you think that proves how deeply I care about you? That I would rather restrain myself than act on what I want when I don’t have your consent?

You do things to me, Bryce.

Something about you gets under my skin and throws me completely off balance in a way Eli never did. When I tell you I love you, I’m not saying it because I need you to believe some convenient story."

Dave’s voice softened.

"I have more than enough reasons to know the difference between what I felt for Eli and what I feel for you."

Bryce’s heart hammered violently, his breathing turning ragged as his body reacted to Dave, a response he hated with every part of himself.

He shoved Dave away again, harder this time, and finally managed to break free from his hold.

Dave didn’t try to stop him this time. He simply watched him move away, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Wait for me to take a shower. I’ll be quick, then I’ll drop you off if you really want to go to work." He glanced down at the arousal straining against his pants. "Hopefully, jerking myself off while thinking about you won’t take too long. It’s usually unpredictable. Sometimes I’m quick, sometimes it takes a little longer."

He finally turned and walked toward the bathroom.

"Bastard..." Bryce muttered, his breathing still ragged as he glared after him.

"Pervert."

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