Anything Goes

by Chara Croft

“I’m… I’m amazshing,” Noah slurred, leaning even more heavily against me. At least, heavily for a guy who weighed just about nothing in the first place. “Fuck yeah, you are,” I agreed, winking just to see his dimples come out. Easy, since he tended to be a happy drunk anyway.

the girl said, blinking chocolate-brown eyes at me that kinda reminded me of Noah’s. Not as pretty, though, since his were flat-out ridiculous.

I grinned, but then got distracted when Noah let out a big sigh. “’Sup, bro?” I asked, forgetting about the girls for a moment. Sure, I was a horndog, but my dick could always wait if Noah needed something.

He turned those big eyes of his on me—definitely prettier than Mel’s, like I’d already noted, even if that was a weird thing to think about another

“I’m all out of quarters, too, G,” he said, sounding all forlorn and shit, as if all the beer he’d had tonight had suddenly muddled his brain and made him forget that I’d always have his back. And quarters? That was an easy fix. “Here,” I said, sliding a pile of mine over without bothering to count them. He could have as many as he needed.

Noah wasn’t just my best friend, he was basically my other half. As far as I was concerned, what was mine was his.

Correction: I was absolutely a dick… but never to Noah. I’d sooner chug Drano. He was my ride or die, and all that worshipful adoration he was currently shining at me? That right there was why. That shit wasn’t even about him being drunk; it was just how my boy was. And fuck if I’d ever want that—or anything else about him—to change.

Once or twice over the years I’d heard some asshole make the mistake of thinking Noah had flaws, but nope.

As far as I was concerned, Noah, by definition, was goddamn perfect just the way he was.

Probably for the best just not to go there. For one thing, because Noah had never seemed interested in shit like that before, and for another, well, let’s just say he was so damn pretty himself that I might get confused about where to put my cock if he was in the mix.

“Dude,” I said, leveling him with a glare. “No one’s taking advantage of Noah. That’s just not gonna happen.” I wouldn’t let it happen. No one would be allowed to fuck with my best friend just because he lost a stupid bet. Correction: no one would be allowed to fuck with Noah for any reason.

I’d also never realized he had a thing for dick before—and didn’t like the idea of him playing with anyone else’s now that I knew—but

he stared at it with something a lot like worship in his eyes. Which, let it be noted, really fucking worked for me.

Noah was so fucking sweet that making him happy was too damn easy and yet always a rush. It was kinda my favorite thing, actually. And if dick turned out to be his thing now? Then as far as I was concerned, it was gonna be my dick and only mine that he serviced.

Master?”

slave.”

“Good boy,”

He was gonna spoil me for ever being satisfied with just watching porn from now on… or, hell, with watching anyone else at all. Anyone who didn’t look at me like that. Anyone who wasn’t him. Anyone else, period.

“Stroke it hard, Noe. Take care of what’s mine. Make yourself feel good for me, sweetheart. Cream all over Daddy’s big cock like the good boy I know you are. Give me—oh, fuck. Holy fuck.” He was close. “That’s it.” So fucking close, I could tell.

Worth it, though. Motherfucking worth it. Noah always was, always had been, and always would be.

He reached out a hand to help me back up, because of course he did. He was amazing. Always there for me. Always helping. Always taking care of me. Always— Wait. No. I couldn’t spend time swooning over Gage’s total Gagefulness right now, because… because… Babe. Babe? Had he really just said that, and not called me Noe or dimples or goofball or bro? Oh God. He… he had.

that collar means you’re mine, Noah,”

“And this is mine,”

“And your cock is leaking for me, Noe, because you like being mine.”

I didn’t need them to like me. I didn’t need anything from them… or from anyone else. One person and one person only actually mattered to me, and that was Noah.

“It’s fine,” he repeated, his voice going higher. “Everything’s fine, Gage. It has to be fine. I’m fine. I’m… I’m… I’m f-f-fine.” Uh………….. No. He wasn’t. “The fuck you are,”

“You’re perfect, Noe.”

“You like that, baby? You want to choke on your master’s cock? Show me how good you can make me feel?”

Because first? He was gonna rest, just like I’d told him to, and I was gonna… well, guess I was gonna lie down and hold him while he did that, because that collar made me just as much his as he was mine,

I just didn’t have it in me to let there be any space between us. Nah, not “right now.” What I really meant was not ever. I wasn’t going to let there be any space between us ever.

The truth was that my heart was selfish and greedy and utterly dependent on him. Instead of being the kind of friend who only wanted my bestie to be happy, the horrible, shameful, deep-down secret truth was that what I really wanted was for Gage to be happy… with me. And to have him be mine, too. Only mine. All the way mine.

There’s just you now. You and me. And I already told you, I’m not fucking sharing. You’re mine.”

my master called it perfect. He called it “right.” He called it us. Which really was perfect, because us was the only thing I’d ever wanted anyway.

I mean, sure, Noah had always been my boy, my best friend, my one good thing, but now he was just… well, fuck. He was everything.

anything good for Noah was auto-fucking-matically good for me, too.

“You’re fucking perfect.”

he was one hundred percent, from now until forever, mine.

I was keeping him.

Do a quick mental scramble to come up with a way to fix this for him. Erase those tears in his too-pretty eyes and replace them with what he deserved. Which, for the record, was all good things, all the fucking time, always.

I’d probably brand my claim into his goddamn skin if I wasn’t just as averse to marring how perfect all that smooth, pale flesh of his was as I was to the whole idea of ever causing him pain, and I gave zero fucks that that possessive, claiming instinct of mine was one hundred percent Neanderthal. The idea of anyone and everyone knowing that Noah was mine worked for me big time. But not at the expense of him hurting

He was fucking perfect.

you’re the other half of me.”

“Yep,” he winked. “But you see why I need you, Noe? No one had ever been that happy to see me before.”

He’d been the best part of every single one of my days ever since that very first one, and he’d never told me I was too excitable or too bouncy or too clumsy or too much. He’d never gotten tired of me or needed a break or rolled his eyes when I freaked out and talked too fast or forgot to breathe. Ever since the beginning, he’d let me shower him with all the enthusiasm and adoration and energy that always seemed to wear everyone else out, and he’d never once pushed me away. Instead, he always pulled me closer. He… he basked in it. Had he needed it? Needed me? Wait, Gage actually did need me?

Like home. Like my other half. Like he owned me and I really was his… but also like he was mine.

He suddenly grinned, the feel of his lips curving up under mine making me giggle. “Hey there, dimples,” he whispered when I pulled back just enough to smile back at him. “Hey, G.” “So we’re doing this now, huh?” he asked, tracing my lips with a finger. “Kissing? That okay with you, baby?” Okay? Okay? It was everything.

Codependency was our thing, and it worked for us, so what anyone else thought about it didn’t even matter.

It was forever… and not just because I loved him, but because we were codependent. Because I needed him. And I finally understood that Gage had always needed me, too.

she’d kissed me and told me I should meet her at her locker in the morning so I could walk her to class, because that’s what good boyfriends did. But yeah, no. I’d shut that shit down fast. I walked Noah to class in the mornings, and every girl after that Gretchen chick had been the same. Always wanting me to do little extras that boiled down to the same exact thing: being their boyfriend would have meant cutting back on time with Noah, and that was and always had been a hard no for me.

Noah could call it “codependent” if he wanted to. All I knew was that I’d never wanted to have any distance from him and never would,