Page 35

Zeph had drunk too much and eaten too much, but he’d had the best night of his life. Happy, happy, happy! Except the problem he’d already known to be brewing, had grown exponentially.

He liked Jack too much. There’d been no point in Jack warning him off getting attached.

How could he help it? Why did Jack feel he had to walk away?

Zeph presented no danger. He didn’t know why he’d gone into witness protection or what his real name was.

That didn’t need to change. Jack had ID, a passport and a driver’s licence.

He wasn’t in hiding. Not in the literal sense.

Zeph wished he knew why witness protection was needed, but understood that was the one thing Jack couldn’t tell him.

It was probably to do with Thomas, given Jack’s age when Zeph had first met him.

But was there some reason why Jack had to keep moving?

Was the travelling he’d mentioned as a reason for not attending university, or the switching between American colleges something borne out of necessity, not choice?

“Glad you’re not that drunk?” Jack nodded towards a figure curled up under a bush clutching a bottle, his friends struggling to get him to his feet, and laughing when they all fell over.

“I’ve had more alcohol tonight than I’ve ever had but the world isn’t spinning. Well, it is spinning, but you know what I mean. What about you?”

“I’ve been drunk once. Thomas wanted to show me what it was like. Shot after shot of vodka. I thought I was okay. I didn’t feel I’d had too much, but he got me to do some cognitive tests and I thought I’d aced them. I was shocked at how badly I did. It was a useful lesson.”

Zeph brushed his fingers against Jack’s again, wishing he dare take his hand.

“I need to undo my bowtie,” Jack said. “Give me a hand with my top button, would you?”

Zeph unfastened the tie, then pushed the button free. He stroked Jack’s jaw, then his lips and when he looked into his eyes, Jack was staring at him intently.

“Now yours.”

Zeph undid his own and opened the top button. “So that’s why I couldn’t breathe?”

Jack chuckled. He pulled Zeph into an alley, pushed him up against a wooden door, and kissed him, then kept on kissing him.

Zeph melted, his bones dissolving. Jack moved from kissing his mouth to teasing his ears, then nuzzling his neck, holding him so close, it was as if they were welded together.

The kissing didn’t stop until they both ran out of breath.

When Jack finally dropped his head to Zeph’s shoulder, his breathing was all over the place.

“You drive me crazy,” Jack panted.

“What have I done?”

Jack chuckled and dragged his hand over the bulge in Zeph’s trousers.

“Do that, and I’m going to come,” Zeph whispered.

“That’s the plan.”

“But not here!” Zeph almost squeaked. “Not in my tux. How would I explain that to the drycleaner? I’d lie obviously, but I’m so prone to blurting out the truth.”

“I won’t let it get messed up. Is there a darker alley near here?”

Something about the way Jack looked at him made Zeph tremble. He really wants to do this? Now?

Oh God. Zeph gulped. Fuck! Not here.

Before Jack could start kissing him again, Zeph caught his hand and pulled him to the street. “Too many people around. Too big a risk. The police are looking for idiots. Walk fast.”

They passed more drunken revellers as they crossed Parker’s Piece. One of them was throwing up. Where was the fun in being so drunk? Then again, maybe you reached that point without realising what was going to happen.

“I suspect most people don’t intend to drink too much,” Jack said. “But they think if they keep on drinking, they’ll maintain their high. They won’t.”

“Like drugs.”

“Just like drugs.”

“I’ve never taken drugs. Never smoked.”

“I’ve not taken drugs either. Thomas would have killed me. But I have smoked the occasional cigarette.”

Zeph looked at him. “Don’t smoke. That might kill you.”

Jack shrugged. “Okay.”

“Really? You won’t smoke because I asked you not to?”

Jack smiled. “I did say occasional cigarette.”

“I sort of wish I’d asked for something more significant now.”

“What’s more significant than me not dying?”

Shit. “That wasn’t… I didn’t…” Zeph groaned.

Jack took his hand. “It’s okay. I know what you meant. So what would you have asked for?”

Zeph couldn’t bring himself to say— don’t leave me . “I’ll think about it.”

“And ask me at a point when I can’t say no?”

“Ah. Now that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

They arrived back at the house still hand in hand. Somehow, they made it upstairs without making too much noise, though Jack was testing each step and Zeph was struggling not to giggle.

Inside the room, Zeph put on the light and Jack flicked it off. There was enough illumination coming through the thin curtains for them to see. Jack pulled him into his arms and swayed as if they were still dancing.

“Apart from learning how to waltz with Thomas, which is apparently a skill everyone should have, I’ve never danced before. When we were doing this as that fake snow fell around us, all I could think about was fucking you.” Jack pressed his hands into the small of Zeph’s back.

Oh God. “Part of you definitely was.”

Jack laughed. “You noticed?”

“The large hard thing poking me in the stomach? Yes, I noticed.”

“Thank you for noticing.”

Except what if he was hopeless when Jack fucked him? But the slightly vulnerable look on Jack’s face undid him. His eyes were hot, dark and unfathomable, as if he was navigating unfamiliar emotions.

Jackets were cast aside along with bow ties.

They began unbuttoning each other’s shirts, only remembering the cufflinks when they found their arms stuck.

But finally, the shirts were off and their chests were bare.

Zeph trailed his fingers over the short stubble of Jack’s chin, the bulge of his biceps, the dips and curves of his torso, trying not to linger on the scars.

He longed to ask how Jack had got them, but didn’t.

Then again, he was glad Jack hadn’t asked about the scar on his leg.

Their trousers, shoes and socks were removed next.

Jack pulled him in again and they rutted against each other, their cocks tenting their shorts.

When Zeph nipped Jack’s collarbone, he moaned.

Zeph wanted to suck at his skin, to leave a mark, his mark.

But he wasn’t sure Jack would like it and, in any case, it would disappear in time, a reminder that Jack would never be his, so Zeph held back.

Jack cupped his face in his hands, kissed him long and hard and Zeph could think of nothing but Jack. He only came out his trance when Jack picked him up and threw him on the bed.

“Hey!” Zeph gave a startled cry.

Jack dropped down next to him, peeling off Zeph’s shorts and wrapping his hand around him.

Zeph’s eyes floated shut and he sank into the mattress, pushing his cock into Jack’s fist, over and over, needing more.

More entailed forcing his eyes open, but then he became fixated on the way the tip of his cock kept appearing and disappearing between the ring of Jack’s fingers.

If he kept that up, Zeph was going to come.

He leaned up so his cheek was against Jack’s chest and could feel his heart beating. Fast. He dropped back to the bed.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jack whispered.

Zeph melted at the endearment. They came rarely from Jack, which made them precious, even though Zeph didn’t think he was the beautiful one.

“I meant it when I said I wanted to fuck you,” Jack whispered. “Can I?”

“Yes.” Zeph’s heart was going crazy. “I bought…stuff.”

“What did you buy?”

“Handcuffs, whips, cock rings, dildos. I probably forgot something.”

Jack laughed.

Before he lost his nerve, Zeph wriggled off the bed. “I’m going to have a shower.”

“I’ll have one with you.”

“There’s not enough room.”

“We’ll make room.”

There really wasn’t enough room but Zeph didn’t care. Being pressed together under the water made his heart race. Then Jack’s fingers inside him stopped his heart altogether. They were both hard and Zeph grew increasingly desperate to come, but Jack wouldn’t let him.

“Wait,” he kept saying.

Once they were out of the shower, Zeph grabbed a towel.

Jack tossed it aside. “Enough with the delaying tactics. On the bed. On your back. And where are the handcuffs, whips, cock rings and dildos?”

Zeph dropped down on the bed. “In the desk drawer. They might be invisible.”

Jack put an unopened box of condoms and a bottle of lube on the bed, then lay by Zeph.

“Okay?” Jack asked.

“Well…” But Zeph smiled so Jack would know he was sort of okay.

His brain was in overdrive, so many thoughts falling over themselves that he was almost suffocated by them.

He wasn’t afraid. No one would do this if it was something to be scared of, but he was tense.

Jack leaned over and Zeph could feel his breath hitting his neck, before he settled on top of him.

His cock nestled between Zeph’s thighs, lodged beneath his balls.

Hard, warm, silky and wet, Jack flexed his hips, shunting along that sensitive strip of skin, humming and sighing against Zeph’s neck.

“You always smell so good,” Jack whispered.

He tugged Zeph’s hair until he turned his head for a kiss. Jack kissed him so gently, Zeph began to relax. He grew warmer, heat spreading down his chest, his arms, his legs, then moving from all those places to centre on his belly, before spreading out again.

When Jack shifted back and Zeph missed the weight of his body, he opened his eyes to protest. The sound died on his lips when he saw the way Jack was looking at him, as though Zeph was his world.

This was what it was like to be wanted.

This was what he’d been waiting for.

“Do we need a condom?” Jack asked.