The kiss wasn't soft or tender; it was a conquest. Jared bit down on Beck’s lower lip until he tasted the faint, metallic tang of blood, his tongue forcing its way into Beck’s mouth, sweeping around as if he were trying to consume him from the inside out. He needed to drown out the noise in his lover’s head, to replace the digital static with the raw reality of the flesh.

Beck let out a choked, desperate whimper into the kiss, his fingers curling into Jared’s shirt like he was holding ...