Chapter 37: Objection Overruled… by His Cock -1

The courtroom was packed. Every seat filled, cameras banned but the air still thick with the weight of a case that had the entire city watching. Julian stood at the defense table, suit sharp, voice colder than the marble under his shoes. He did not look at Gabriel once while he delivered his opening.

"The prosecution wants you to see a monster," Julian said, calm and precise. "What they will actually show you is a carefully constructed narrative built on incomplete evidence and convenient omissions. My client is not guilty. The state has not met its burden, and by the end of this trial you will see exactly how far they were willing to stretch the truth."

Gabriel rose the moment Julian sat. He did not bother with notes. He never did when Julian was across the aisle.

"Counsel for the defense has a gift for pretty words," Gabriel said, voice low and carrying. "He always has. But words will not erase the blood, the money, or the trail that leads straight to his client. The state will prove every element. And when we are finished, the only thing left standing will be the truth Mr. Hale has spent years learning how to hide behind."

Julian’s jaw tightened. He kept his expression blank. The scent-neutralizers held. They always did in public.

The rest of the morning was a knife fight in open court. Every objection met with a sharper one. Every question from Gabriel designed to corner. Every answer from Julian designed to slip the noose. By the time the judge called the midday recess, the tension between them had soaked into the wood of the benches.

After hours the building emptied. Most of the staff had gone. Julian stayed to review a stack of discovery the prosecution had dumped late. He took the papers into one of the holding cells near the old wing of the courthouse, the ones still used for overflow when the main conference rooms were booked. Concrete walls. A single metal table. No cameras in this section anymore.

He was halfway through the third binder when the door opened.

Gabriel stepped inside and shut it behind him. The lock clicked.

Julian did not look up. "Court is done for the day, Prosecutor. If you have more discovery to dump, leave it on the table and go."

Gabriel walked closer. His presence filled the small space the way it always did, heavy and deliberate. "You were smug in there. Even for you."

"I was accurate." Julian finally lifted his eyes. "Something you seem to struggle with."

Gabriel’s mouth curved, not quite a smile. "You think that little performance impressed anyone? You stood there in your perfect suit with your perfect neutralizers and pretended none of this touches you. It does. I can smell how hard you work to keep it buried."

Julian closed the binder with a soft thud. "Is this the part where you try to intimidate me after hours? Save it for the jury. They might still find it entertaining."

Gabriel moved fast. One second he was across the table, the next he had Julian backed against the concrete wall, forearm braced beside his head, body close enough that the heat of him pressed through both their shirts. The cell was too small for distance. Gabriel’s scent hit like a physical weight, thick Alpha territorial aggression that the neutralizers could not fully block this close.

Julian’s breath caught for half a second before he forced it steady. "Get off me."

"No." Gabriel’s voice dropped lower. "You pushed every button in that courtroom. You looked at me like you already knew you were going to win. I am done pretending that does not piss me off."

Julian’s hands came up between them, palms flat against Gabriel’s chest, not quite shoving yet. "You are always pissed off when someone does not fold for you. That is not my problem."

Gabriel’s free hand gripped Julian’s hip hard enough to bruise, pinning him fully to the wall. Their bodies aligned from chest to thigh. Julian could feel the hard line of Gabriel’s cock already pressing against him through the layers of fabric. The contact sent a sharp, unwanted pulse of heat low in his own gut.

"You feel that?" Gabriel murmured against the side of his face. "That is what happens when you spend three hours trying to dismantle me in public. I want to take you apart until that smug mouth of yours stops working."

Julian’s laugh came out rough. "Is that supposed to scare me? You have been trying to break my composure for years. It has not worked yet."

Gabriel’s hand slid from hip to the front of Julian’s trousers, cupping the growing hardness there without hesitation. Julian’s hips jerked despite himself. A low sound escaped his throat before he could stop it.

"There it is," Gabriel said. "The crack. You can hide the scent all you want, but your body still reacts when an Alpha corners you."

"Fuck you," Julian bit out. His fingers curled into the fabric of Gabriel’s shirt. "If you are going to do something, do it. Stop talking."

Gabriel kissed him like a challenge, hard and open-mouthed, teeth catching Julian’s lower lip. Julian bit back. The kiss turned messy fast, all anger and adrenaline, tongues sliding, breath harsh. Gabriel’s hand worked Julian’s belt open with practiced efficiency. The zipper followed. Cool air hit bare skin for a second before Gabriel’s palm wrapped around his cock and stroked once, firm and proprietary.

Julian’s head tipped back against the concrete. "Christ."

"Still not yielding," Gabriel observed, voice rough. He stroked again, thumb dragging over the head, spreading the wetness already beading there. "Good. I like it better when you fight."

Julian shoved at his shoulders, not hard enough to create real distance. "You like it because you cannot stand anyone who does not drop to their knees the second you walk in a room."

Gabriel freed himself with his other hand. The thick, heavy weight of his cock pressed against Julian’s, skin to skin. He rolled his hips, grinding them together in a slow, deliberate drag that made Julian’s breath stutter.

"You talk too much," Gabriel said against his mouth. "Even now."

He spit into his palm, reached between them, and stroked both cocks together in one tight fist. The friction was immediate and filthy. Julian’s hips jerked forward of their own accord. The concrete wall was unyielding at his back. Gabriel’s body was a solid wall in front of him. There was nowhere to go except into the heat of it.

"Harder," Julian demanded, the word scraped raw.

Gabriel obliged. His grip tightened. His strokes turned faster, rougher, the wet sound of it loud in the quiet cell. Every upward slide dragged the sensitive underside of Julian’s cock against the thick vein on Gabriel’s. Precome slicked the way. Julian’s hands had stopped pushing. One fisted in Gabriel’s hair. The other gripped the solid muscle of his shoulder hard enough to leave marks through the shirt.

Gabriel leaned in, mouth at Julian’s ear. "You feel how hard I am for you? That is years of watching you stand across from me like you are untouchable. I am going to ruin that."

Julian turned his head and bit the hinge of Gabriel’s jaw. "Try."

Gabriel growled low in his throat and thrust harder into the circle of his fist. The rhythm turned punishing. Julian’s thighs trembled. His cock throbbed, leaking steadily now. The scent of his own arousal was starting to leak past the neutralizers under the stress and heat of it, sweet and sharp. Gabriel’s nostrils flared. His grip on Julian’s hip turned bruising.

"There you are," Gabriel muttered. "The real you. Not the cold little lawyer. Just an Omega who gets hard when an Alpha pins him to a wall and takes what he wants."

"Shut up and make me come," Julian snapped.

Gabriel’s free hand shoved Julian’s shirt up roughly. He dragged his mouth down the column of Julian’s throat, teeth scraping over the pulse point where a scent gland sat hidden under suppressants. He did not bite. Not yet. He sucked hard enough to leave a mark that would be a problem tomorrow, then returned to Julian’s mouth for another bruising kiss while his fist worked them both with relentless purpose.

Julian’s control frayed. His hips snapped forward in short, desperate thrusts. The wet heat of their cocks sliding together was overwhelming. Every stroke sent sparks up his spine. He could feel Gabriel’s knot starting to swell at the base, the thick ridge of it catching against his own shaft on every downward drag.

"Fuck," Julian breathed. "Gabriel—"

"Say it," Gabriel ordered, voice gone guttural. "Tell me you want it."

Julian’s eyes were dark, furious, and completely unguarded for the first time all day. "I want you to stop talking and finish what you started."

Gabriel’s hand twisted on the upstroke. The pressure was perfect and mean. Julian came with a broken sound, spilling hot over Gabriel’s fingers and both their cocks. His body locked tight against the wall. Gabriel kept stroking through it, milking every pulse until Julian shuddered and tried to twist away from the overstimulation.

Only then did Gabriel chase his own release. He fucked into the mess of come and precome still coating them, hips snapping hard, forehead pressed to Julian’s. The swell of his knot dragged roughly. He came with a low, possessive growl, thick ropes of it joining the mess between their bodies, some of it striping Julian’s stomach where the shirt had been shoved up.

For a long moment the only sound was their breathing.

Gabriel did not step back immediately. He stayed pressed close, one hand still loosely around them both, the other braced beside Julian’s head. His thumb stroked once over the base of Julian’s spent cock, almost thoughtful.

Julian’s voice came out hoarse. "Get your hand off me."

Gabriel’s mouth curved against his temple. "Still fighting. Even covered in both of us."

He finally stepped back. The loss of heat was abrupt. Julian fixed his clothes with sharp, efficient movements, ignoring the mess drying on his skin. Gabriel did the same, slower, watching him the entire time.

Julian picked up the binder he had abandoned. His hands were steady again. The cold mask was already sliding back into place.

"This does not change anything in court," he said.

Gabriel’s eyes tracked the faint flush still high on Julian’s cheekbones. "No. It does not. I am still going to destroy your case."

Julian met his gaze without flinching. "And I am still going to make sure you lose."

He walked past Gabriel to the door. The lock turned under his hand. He did not look back as he left the cell.

Gabriel stood alone in the concrete room for another minute, the scent of sex and anger and something sweeter still thick in the air. Then he followed.