Page 24 of After the Siren

Theo broke the kiss again so he could do what he’d maybe wanted to do since the day they’d met.

He kissed his way down Jake’s torso and put his mouth against that tattoo, revelling in the way Jake gasped, in the way Jake’s body arched towards him.

Jake sighed when Theo traced his hipbone first with his thumb and then again with his mouth.

It felt natural, from there, to kiss along the edge of the waistband of Jake’s trackies, to slide a hand up Jake’s thigh and pause, just for a second, to let Jake say, ‘Shit,’ and, ‘You’re fucking killing me.

’ Theo hesitated. He’d known he was bisexual for a long time, but part of him had always wondered if he might get weird about it if he got up close with someone else’s dick.

If he’d get to that point and just think Nope.

He didn’t.

He palmed Jake’s dick through his trackies and Jake groaned, tipping his head back against the arm of the couch. When Theo curled his fingers and felt the shape of him through the fabric, Jake made a noise that Theo was going to remember forever.

‘We should ... bed,’ Jake said, his hips chasing Theo’s hand even as he pushed Theo back.

‘Yes,’ Theo agreed. He’d forgotten that Xen or Paddy might walk in at any moment. They might’ve walked in and out again without him noticing, he’d been so caught up in Jake.

He sat back on the couch, not missing the way Jake’s eyes slid down his body, and let Jake roll to his feet. Jake held out a hand and Theo took it and rose, stumbling a little as he came to his feet. The room spun for a second and Jake grabbed him by the arm to steady him.

‘How drunk are you?’ Jake asked, frowning.

Theo didn’t like it. Jake should never frown. He should always be smiling that annoying, smug smile, just so Theo had an excuse to kiss it off his face.

Theo took stock. He was ... definitely drunk. Though not that drunk.

‘Drunk enough to think this is a good idea.’

He’d meant it as a tease, but Jake took a step back to put some space between them. His hand slid down to Theo’s wrist but he didn’t let go.

‘We’re . . . I didn’t . . . we should stop,’ Jake said.

‘What?’ That was definitely not what they should do. They should do the opposite of that.

‘We’re not going to fuck while you’re drunk,’ he said. ‘Or because you’re drunk.’

That little twist of sadness was back at the corner of his mouth. Theo hated it.

‘I didn’t ... that’s not what I meant.’ He stepped in, and Jake didn’t pull away when he reached up to cradle Jake’s cheek with one hand, didn’t turn his head when Theo pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. An apology.

‘We’re still gonna stop,’ Jake told him.

Theo wasn’t drunk enough to pretend Jake wasn’t right about this, and he wasn’t the sort of person to try to tempt Jake into yes , even if keeping distance between them felt like it physically hurt.

There was a hickey darkening the side of Jake’s neck and Theo wanted, desperately and viscerally, to push Jake down onto a horizontal surface and see what he looked like when he came.

‘Does that mean no more kissing?’ Theo asked. Trying not to sound like he was sulking.

Jake shook his head, but not in a way that said no , more in a way that said you’re silly.

His eyes fluttered shut as Theo leaned in, and the kiss this time was slower and sweeter.

Or it started out that way. By the time they stopped kissing, Jake was pressed back against the wall with his legs around Theo’s waist and both of Theo’s hands on his ass.

The kissing got better every time they tried it. They should keep trying it, to see if that kept happening. For science.

‘We’re still not gonna fuck,’ Jake said against Theo’s mouth, breathless. He dropped his head down onto Theo’s shoulder.

‘I know.’ Theo stepped back to let Jake slip his feet back down to the floor.

‘I can go,’ he said, even though every part of his body wanted to stay as close to Jake as possible.

Even though he didn’t want to go, because as soon as he stepped out of the house he knew the reality of what they were doing would crash over him like a bucket of ice-water.

Jake leaned back against the wall and Theo tried not to look at the way his dick was tenting the front of his trackies. ‘You can still stay,’ he said. ‘It’s late.’

‘I can take the couch.’ He wasn’t actually sure he could. Wasn’t sure he could be ten metres away from Jake’s bed without begging to be let into it.

Jake rolled his eyes. ‘Do you want to take the couch?’

‘No, but I . . . if we’re not going to . . . I didn’t know . . .’

Jake pushed off the wall. ‘You’re an idiot. Come to bed. If you behave, I’ll blow you in the morning.’

That went straight to Theo’s dick. He must have made some sort of noise, because Jake looked smug about it.

‘Such a romantic,’ Theo told him, reaching out to hook a thumb in the waist of Jake’s trackies to pull him closer.

‘You won’t be complaining tomorrow,’ Jake said. He tilted his head up for a kiss, but broke it before it could get heated again. ‘Come on,’ he said, grabbing Theo by the hand and tugging him down the hall. ‘I’ll get you a Gatorade.’

He did get Theo a Gatorade, and he also retrieved Theo’s abandoned shirt from the living room, gave Theo a spare t-shirt to sleep in and put some water on the bedside table, then pulled him down onto the bed and into another kiss, lazy this time, like they had all the time in the world, like there wasn’t every chance that they’d wake up tomorrow and pretend this had never happened.

But Theo wasn’t going to think about that now, not when Jake was here, his hands gentle in Theo’s hair, his mouth tasting of toothpaste.

It was Jake who stopped the kissing, in the end, lingering for a moment with his forehead resting against Theo’s. Then he shifted to the side and tucked his head against Theo’s shoulder, one arm draped loosely over Theo’s torso.

‘G’night,’ he murmured.

‘Night.’

Theo wondered if he’d struggle to sleep – he didn’t always do well in strange beds – but Jake’s mattress was comfortable, and he felt himself slipping towards sleep, lulled by the rhythm of Jake’s steady breathing and the smell of his shampoo.