Page 11

EBEN

The log crackled as I threw it into the fire and shut the stove door. Cale’s light blue eyes were distant as he stared at the floor. I watched him for a few seconds, watched the rise and fall of his bare chest as he breathed. The pale tone of his skin had already started to take on a bit of sun, his cheeks a healthy shade of rose. But his nerves, they never faltered. He twisted his fingers in his lap and chewed the corner of his bottom lip.

“Hey,” I whispered and knelt down next to where he sat on the bed roll.

He raised his eyes and gave me half of a smile. “Hey.”

I pushed a strand of his hair behind his ear, letting my fingers trail down the side of his neck and he shivered. “We’re going to be okay, remember?”

“I-I know.”

“Thomas said the unit left early so they could cut off the militia at the pass,” I assured him, and he nodded. “They won’t even be near the settlement.”

“I know.” He sighed as I massaged the knotted muscles in his shoulders. “I’m worried for everyone, though. Jack and Landon and Thomas, everyone we’ve met… This place feels like home now and they’re like—”

“Family.”

He turned his head enough to meet my gaze. “Yeah.”

We’d spent the morning helping our unit prepare to leave, and the rest of the day prepping for dinner and babysitting Megs for Sammie since Thomas had left with the squad at noon. The atmosphere in the camp was somber, quiet, the usual hum of chatter almost nonexistent. But Megs was this little exuberant five-year-old who never gave us a moment to worry about what would happen once the sun set. She was a sweet distraction, but under the cover of this dark sky, all we could do was wait.

I kissed the top of Cale’s head, the lemon scent of his shampoo filling my lungs as I inhaled.

“They’re going to be okay. I have to believe that.” I ran my hand down his back, and he leaned into the touch. “They’re prepared. They know what they’re doing, and Thomas seemed… He seemed like this wasn’t anything to be worried about?”

“I think that’s his job, Eben, to keep everyone calm.”

“Yeah, but I also think it’s his job to win, and I trust him.”

“You do?”

I hardly knew Thomas, but I did… I trusted him. He didn’t strike me as someone who would lead his squad to certain death. “I really do.” I smiled when Cale sighed again. “We should try and get some sleep.”

“I don’t know if I can.” Cale scooted to the other side of the roll and fell back onto the pillow with a quiet grunt.

His eyes tracked me as I stood and pulled my shirt over my head, roaming over my chest and down to my stomach. My pulse skipped as he wet his bottom lip, the rosy color of his cheeks darkening when he noticed I was staring at him too. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he lifted his gaze to the ceiling of the tent. I admired the porcelain color of his skin, the fragile curve of his ribs, and the delicate muscle of his long limbs.

“Cale—”

“I…” His laugh was soft, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” I pulled the blankets back and crawled in next to him on the bed roll. “For what? Looking at me? I like it when you look at me like that. It feels… I don’t know, normal, like all this chaos has been set to pause for those few seconds.” Looping an arm around his waist, I pulled him closer. “Don’t ever stop looking at me, Cale.”

He turned onto his side, bringing us chest to chest. “I won’t.” Raising a hand, he rested his palm on my neck and kissed me.

Cale’s soft lips moved against mine, unhurried, like he was taking inventory of every dip and curve. My fingers trailed along the groove of his spine, to the small of his back, tucking him in even closer, until we were hip to hip, his thighs pressing against mine. His soft breath, mint scented and sweet from the homemade toothpaste we’d used earlier, ghosted across my lips as he rested his forehead to mine.

“I don’t want to feel scared anymore,” he whispered, his voice shaking. He snuggled in, sealing off any space between us. The hard length of his cock pressing next to mine. I held in a moan as he spoke. “I think… I don’t know, I just…”

He kissed me again. His soft edges melting away into something urgent and demanding. Hands and teeth and breath until I was on my back, and he was straddling my hips. His tongue dipped into my mouth on a moan as I gripped his ass. He rocked against me, his cock aligning perfectly with mine and we both gasped. He buried his face in my neck, grinding his hips relentlessly like he had to chase this feeling, this moment, and fuck, I wanted, needed to chase it too. But the only time I’d been intimate with him was in the shower house and we had both been half delirious. For once we had time. Time to be together. To explore. To take pleasure in a moment. To cherish it.

“Cale…” I pinned him against me, stalling his movements and he whimpered. In one swift move, I switched our positions and rolled him onto his back. His blue eyes widened with surprise, his lips swollen and wet, his hair sticking in every direction. My cheeks hurt with the smile that spread across my face. I hadn’t smiled like this since, I couldn’t remember when. “You’re so beautiful.” He pressed his lips together to suppress his own smile, his dark lashes fanning low and close to his cheeks as he blinked up at me. “You are… I… I’m so lucky—”

He covered my mouth with his hand, his cheeks the brightest pink I’d seen yet, and shook his head. “I’m the lucky one.”

I thought maybe we were both lucky.

Lucky to have this time.

To have each other.

He moved his hand and lifted his head to kiss me, but every time he tried to pick up the pace, I slowed him down. I left wet kisses on his neck and tasted the tender skin below his ear. I moved slowly down his body, leaving a wake of goosebumps behind every kiss I placed along his warm skin. The fire light glimmered, the heat of the room and from our bodies lingered in the thick air. Despite the heat, his nipples hardened as I kissed them too. He ran his fingers down my neck as I moved even lower. He bit his bottom lip, his icy blue eyes hooded as I licked into the dip of his belly button.

“Is this okay?” I asked as my fingers curled around the waistband of his thermals.

He nodded, his lips parting with a whispered “Yes.”

Outside the world was quiet, the only sounds made were here. In this tent. His raspy breath as I took the head of his cock in my mouth, the crackle of the fire, the soft swish of the blankets as Cale scrambled to grasp the fabric in his fist with a groan.

“F-Fuck,” he groaned again, and I lapped at his salty skin, teasing open his slit with the tip of my tongue, trying to taste as much of him as I could. “Eben… G-God.”

He lifted his hips, pushing deeper into my mouth, and I swallowed as much as possible. I wanted him to have this moment. Cale’s eyes were glazed, lost in the feel of my mouth. I wanted him to have this control. To feel loved and needed. I wanted him to feel powerful again as he fucked my throat. There was no sign of fear in those deep blue eyes as he gripped the back of my neck, burying my nose in his pubic bone. No terror in the way he took what he needed. No more dread. Only heat and love and the scent of him on my lips and skin.

“You’re going to make me come,” he panted as he scratched at my shoulders.

I backed off, taking a deep breath, licking a long line down his shaft, kissing the soft skin of his sack. He spread his legs, exposing himself even more. I nipped his inner thigh as he pulled his knees to his chest. I sucked on my thumb before tracing the pad of it around the tight rim of his hole.

“Yes,” he breathed, and I did it again. “Eben…”

My cock was heavy between my legs, aching to sink inside of him, to show him how good I could make him feel, to take away any lasting fear. I didn’t want him to think about anything but this. This time, where we could have been anywhere, together, loving each other, and maybe the world wasn’t really burning.

Leaning down, I circled my tongue around his sensitive skin. He held his legs up, spreading them even more, his knees almost touching his chest. His ass fully exposed.

“Christ.” He was perfect. “Cale, I want to feel you…” I held his gaze. “Can I… Do you want me to—”

“Yes, Eben. I want to feel you too.”

I yanked my pants down and kicked them off my feet, laughing when I bumped my head against Cale’s ankle.

His smile split across his face. “Kiss me,” he said, and I lost myself in the taste of his mouth.

CALE

Eben’s full lips devoured mine, taking away any last shard of trepidation I had. Too much was happening around us, but I needed this. I needed to feel like a normal twenty-four-year-old guy who fucks his boyfriend. Who likes sex and smiling. I wasn’t in the cell anymore, and I refused to let the darkness follow me here. This bed was ours, and in this sacred place, we owned this night.

His hands skated over my stomach and hips, his mouth mapping a hot path down my body. He kneeled between my spread legs, his curved cock jutting out, long and leaking from the tip. He was so much stronger than me. The muscles on his stomach twitching as his dark eyes appraised me, looking at me like I was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

“I love you,” he said and placed a gentle kiss on the inside of my knee. “God, so much.” He leaned down again and pressed another brush of his lips to my inner thigh.

“Love you,” I whispered as he spread my legs even more.

I drew my knees to my chest and my eyes rolled into the back of my head as he dragged the flat of his tongue against my hole, over and over until I was writhing with need. Need for more. More of him. I couldn’t take another second of the emptiness. This empty feeling had been building inside of me for months. Until him. Eben. He could give me what I needed. He could fill this void. My cock throbbed, my orgasm hovering below the surface as his tongue fucked inside of me. I gripped the sheets, gritting my teeth as he ate me out, adding a spit-soaked finger and God, that void, it started to fade. That black hole, that man who was lost in the dark, he flickered with the fire light, disappearing into the shadows as Eben pushed a second, slick finger inside me.

“You good?” he asked, and I tried to rasp out some sort of confirmation. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m good.”

He took his time, stretching me with his fingers, drawing it out. When he slipped in his third finger, a pinch of pain made me gasp. He waited, his eyes on mine. “Cale, I—”

“Keep going.” I begged. He couldn’t stop. Not now. I was almost there, to that place where I remembered who I was, who I could be again. A man who was loved and owned and a part of something more than day-to-day fear. “Please, Eben… show me how much you love me.”

White spots danced behind my eyes as the head of his cock eased inside of me. He waited again, counting each of my breaths until I adjusted, until the burn became something more—a fever under my skin, heat flaring in my chest and cheeks as his body carved deeply into mine. With only saliva, it was rougher than I remembered, but I invited him in, inch by inch. Slow and steady and perfect.

“Jesus, Cale.” Eben’s jaw pulsed with restraint, sweat beading on his forehead. “You’re… It’s too much, so tight.” My knees were draped over the crook of his elbows. I was at his full mercy, but I trusted him.

He’d take care of me.

Eben lowered my knees and leaned down to kiss me. Our tongues tangled in a slow fight for dominance as he finally bottomed out inside of me, our mouths opened, breathing fast little puffs of each other’s air as he allowed my body the time it needed to accommodate him. We were one person, each breath the same. Skin to skin, sweat mingling, his forehead resting on mine. I slid my hands down his back, over the round curve of his ass and tugged him even closer. “I need you, Eben.”

He rocked his hips, thrusting in short, gradual waves, holding himself back with low, rumbled grunts until I couldn’t take it anymore, and my hips started to follow his rhythm. Faster and faster with every slide of his cockhead against that spark inside of me, I grew closer and closer to forgetting those dark walls that had held me prisoner. The flame burning in my belly, at my spine, became a wildfire as he fucked me harder, forgetting himself too.

“P-Please,” I said, not sure what I was asking for. “Eben, God… please…”

He moved faster, moaning when I leaned up and nipped at his chin. His tongue dove into my mouth, his teeth pulling at my bottom lip as he sucked in a ragged breath. I reached for my cock, my strokes furious as I raced toward the end, to the death of that soul inside his cage.

“E-Eben,” I cried out as I painted his chest with my release.

The overwhelming relief, it was endless.More and more, my entire body stilled, my throat closing around another moan until my limbs started to tremble again.

Eben’s strong arms scooped me up as he leaned back and fucked into me. His hips stuttered as he came with a loud groan. The neighboring tents no doubt heard everything. “Cale, fuck.” His hips jerked as my ass spasmed around the base of his cock, ripping another desperate noise from his chest.

He chuckled as I went limp in his arms. Panting, he buried his nose in my neck. He kissed my collar bone, my shoulder, and lowered me back down to the bed roll. I winced as he pulled back, his soft cock slipping from my body, and he cringed.

“Shit, are you all right?”

“I’m okay, I promise.”

He grabbed one of the smaller blankets and used it to clean us both before he kissed my stomach and snuggled in behind me.

“How do you feel?” he asked, and I turned enough I could place a quick kiss on his lips.

“Like myself… does that make sense?”

He huffed out a warm laugh and nodded. “Makes sense.”

“You remind me, Eben, that I’m still in here. I’m still me.”

He didn’t say anything at first, taking the next few minutes to paint hearts on my hips with the tips of his fingers. It was too much, the heat of his body, the fire, the sweet ache of my muscles, my eyelids started to droop. I was half asleep when he finally said, “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known.” I rolled over again, bringing my chest to his. He smiled, pushing my hair off my forehead, his eyes memorizing my features. “You don’t need me to remind you, Cale. You’ve done that all on your own. I’m just glad I get to watch you find yourself again.”

“You help me,” I said.

“Maybe…” His grin was quiet. “I want to take you somewhere tomorrow. Maybe the hot springs?”

“Eben…” His smile fell. “What if the squad—”

“No what ifs, all right. Not tonight.” He ran the back of his hand along my jaw. “Let’s just pretend a little longer that the world isn’t waiting for us out there.”

“Okay…” My smile wobbled as a sudden heat grew behind my eyes. “The hot springs then. We could bring lunch.”

“Hmm.” His eyes closed. “I’d like that.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow.”