Page 23

NOEL

Ace takes us down a hallway where there's some privacy, and I sit on the ground, catching my breath. He waits until I do. “Let’s get some fucking drinks. I could really get drunk right about now.” I stand up and tug him towards the main lobby with a disbelieving chuckle.

Ace huffs out through his nose, but it's a nervous sound.

He looks me over, seeing if there's any injuries. My eye must look bad because he winces. I wave it off. “Was that an ex?”

He looks sheepish, eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Yeah…I'm so sorry.”

I squeeze his hand. “That wasn't your fault. I wanted to hit him for saying that stuff about you.”

“He wasn't lying. I am a slut,” he says, like it's just a fact. I stop walking.

“No, you're not. Don’t say that. You're not anything like he said. He doesn't know you.”

He wipes under his nose, not looking at me. He seems to fidget when hearing what I have to say. Why would he think this stuff about himself? Doesn't he know how good he is?

“Ace…”

He snaps back with a laugh. “Yeah, okay. We should get drinks now.”

I can tell he doesn't want to talk about this anymore, so I oblige him. We start walking again. “Hey, don’t tell Alex what happened.”

He whips his head to stare at me. “What? Why?”

“Just don’t, okay?” I plead with him using my doe-eyed look that makes Alex soften up like butter in the microwave. It works like a charm. He gives me a squinty, judge-y look.

“Alright… But your eye looks kind of…”

“Yeah, well, I'm hoping the swelling goes down and he just thinks I fell or something.”

He shakes his head, making a cringe face. “Whatever you say. It's not just swollen; it's really red. It's gonna be a hell of a shiner.”

“Super, my mom's going to love that.”

We head back to the main lobby, where two guys are standing at the opposite side of the circular concession stand, handing out beer bottles and pouring clear bottles into red solo cups all while being overly dramatic about it. Their hats are turned around on their heads and the music is blaring. They've set up this bar scenario, seemingly to make other people laugh, and a bunch of girls are crowding around it, asking for specific drink orders. Ace pushes through and grabs two bottles for us.

He knocks his against mine before we both chug them down. I wipe at my mouth after finishing.

“You’ve turned into such a troublemaker,” Ace lightens the mood by saying. He watches me suspiciously and giggles, wiping his mouth with his arm. I smile, hiding the way my lips curl up. I have changed so much in just a month.

“Yeah, I blame you.” I shove his shoulder with mine, and he scoffs, offended.

“No, blame Alex.” He purses his lips, watching me carefully, trying to read me.

“Definitely Alex.”

“He’s corrupted you.”

I laugh. You have no idea.

As we leave the crowded area, I spot the others. I point at where I see Alex and Grady, both speaking with a few others as we meet up with them. Alex nods at whatever Grady says, smoke billowing around him.

“We’re back!” Ace greets everyone cheerily, completely disregarding the last ten minutes like it didn't happen. I thank him with a look that conveys my thoughts.

We talk for a little bit about things that I don't really care about. Ace isn't listening either, constantly scanning the crowd for Levi. He leans into my space and sighs. “I'm going to go look for him. I'll be back in a little bit.”

“Should I come with you?” I ask him, still anxious about him running into Kai.

He shakes his head and smiles, leaving the group.

I mindlessly listen in on the others conversations in a drunken daze. Paying any real attention is difficult, and I really wouldn’t care to listen even without the buzz of alcohol. My face also hurts, but I ignore it. The lighting in here is all flashlights being propped up and a large amount of glow sticks, so it’s really hard to see. It helps my dilemma, though, I’m really hoping Alex doesn’t ask about my eye. At least not tonight.

I watch Alex as he blows a stream of smoke my way, like he wants my attention on him. I shift my body to watch him, a playful smirk forming slowly on his lips. He watches me so intensely that it sends a shiver up my spine. His smirk turns into a thin line as his gaze zeros in on my bruise. Fuck.

“The hell?” Grady says, looking behind Alex.

“Hey! Asshole!” someone shouts, and I turn to see Kai and a few other guys trailing behind him. There’s a smear of blood on his lip, and his attention is on me. “You don't get to run away from a fight.” He sneers, spitting on the carpet. “Where's Theo and that dick that sucker punched me?”

“Great,” I mutter, noticing Alex’s head tilt to the side in curiosity while putting together what may have happened with the injury on my face and this random, angry guy. “No one wants you here, Kai. And Theo isn't your concern, so fuck off.”

“You stupid shit. I'm beating your ass for even thinking you're better than me.” Kai has four other football players behind him, and I only notice because their jackets all match.

Alex goes from a relaxed posture and easy-going attitude to something dangerous and feral. His eyes darken as he smiles. I shift forward already anticipating where this is going.

Alex cocks his head, looking at me with a mocking gesture. “You got in a fight,” he states, factually. His tone is neutral, but he's anything but calm. Kai gets closer, casually walking over to me in some kind of display of intimidation, but Alex is right there, watching his every move.

“You’re dead, dude.” Kai chuckles darkly. “I'm shoving my fist so far down your thr—” Kai doesn't get to finish his sentence as Alex grabs a fistful of his hair from behind and yanks on it so violently he screeches. Alex kicks at the back of his legs, causing him to fall to his knees. He leans over his outraged face with a taunting smile, upside down.

“Nah, see, what you're going to do is keep quiet. I think you've had one too many footballs to the head.” The words are a threat, but his tone is playful. “Hey, you wanna see my knife? Of course you do.” Alex pulls a tiny switchblade from inside his jacket and flicks it open. He places it right next to his cheek, not close enough to cut, thankfully. Kai’s eyes flicker in fear.

“Jesus, what the fuck?” some girl comments. There are gasps all around us, and people stare, not knowing what to do. The four friends’ glance at one another, not wanting to interfere but knowing they probably should. It's tense, and no one knows if they should step in or not.

“Hey, man, he just wanted to finish that fight that your friend was—”

“Let me go, psycho!” Kai yells out, interrupting his friend. He tries to pull away and get up, but Alex has a firm hold on him. Kai is afraid Alex may actually use the knife. Hell, even I'm nervous he'll use the knife.

“Shhh. Appreciate the beauty, would you?” The blade is pressed against his neck.

“Alex,” I say calmly. His eyes meet mine with a smirk at the corner of his mouth. It's deadly and vicious. The kind of smile that's anything but friendly. He looks back at the guy, disregarding me.

“You hit him?” Alex taps the blade once, twice, over his bare throat, then angles it slightly at me. Kai's eyes shift to where I'm standing. “You gave my boyfriend a black eye.” Alex pulls his hair even harder, making him wince in pain. “Should I give you one and call it even?”

A drop of blood runs a bright red line down to his shirt collar. “Fuck,” he whispers, the pain evident in his voice. He shakes and squeezes his eyes shut from the terror.

“ Boyfriend ?” I hear Grady ask, looking over at me. He's definitely not going to try and interfere with Alex this time. Maybe it's because he's holding a knife to someone's throat. Or maybe it's because this person is Ace's ex and Grady knows how much of a shitty person he is.

“He's an asshole, but there's no need to hurt him.” I don't care about Kai in the slightest, only what the repercussions will be for Alex if this escalates. His eyes flash back to me. Angry and pissed underneath the sham that he's unaffected.

“Okay, dude, let Kai go; he didn't know about your boyfriend. Let's just chill. He wasn't even the one Kai really wanted to fight. It was Levi.”

At that, Alex's grin gets bigger, eyebrows shifting sky high in interest. “Oh? Why’s that?”

Grady shifts, facing the four guys, staring them down. He's ready to defend Alex if they try to interfere. He knows that if Levi is involved, there's a legitimate reason for doing so. And where Levi is involved, Ace is, too.

Kai tries to wiggle out of his hold, but Alex keeps him held down with a sigh. “You're like a fish that's out of water. Don't struggle, little trout; you're already dead.”

“Alex,” I say, loudly. “Stop.” The crowd we’ve managed to attract all have their sights set on them, with Kai, who's forced down to his knees, bleeding from a wound at his neck that my boyfriend is the cause of.

My boyfriend.

I bask a little bit with pride and elation for a heartbeat. I can't help it. “Let's go home. Please.”

Alex rolls his eyes, and I know I've got him. “Oh, so not fair.” He pulls away, hiding the switchblade back in his pants. “Saved by the doe eyes, fish filet,” he says cheerfully, pulling away. Alex pats his cheek playfully before giving him a rough smack that jerks his head to the side. Kai trembles, his face ashen and frozen from almost being sliced open.

“Don't ever talk that way about Ace again.” I pause, crouching low to his level. He remains on his knees, hands shaking. Alex is above me, never tearing his gaze away. He watches curiously, not understanding what I'm saying. “You’re lucky it was just Alex this time. If you try to contact Ace again, it'll be all of us coming after you. And next time, I won't stop him from using that blade of his.”

He swallows audibly, horrified. I stand back up and take Alex's hand in mine. He chuckles deeply, reaching for my jaw to grip and turn my face how he wishes. He leans close to my ear, tilting my head a little as we walk.

“You leave me for ten minutes and come back with a black eye and a football team with a vendetta? I can't take you anywhere, doe eyes.”

Off in the distance, there’s the sound of a police siren. The music is turned down, and everyone seems to pause, listening to hear if it gets closer.

It does.

A boy yells out, “Cops!” and then it’s chaos.

Everyone runs out through the doors, scattering in every direction.

This bonfire is not exactly legal, and we’re trespassing.

Alex takes my hand and pulls me, not quite running but briskly walking out of the CROWN.

I can't see Grady or the others because there's so many bodies scampering away. We head into the woods, with Alex leading me.

I don’t have to worry about my car because I didn’t drive, but Alex did. “What about your car?”

“I parked it at the gas station across the street in case something like this were to happen.” He smirks. “It’s fucking New Years in a small town; they have to know by now we party here.”

“So, what are we doing?” I laugh as we pass a mass of people running towards their vehicles. We go deep into the woods, and when it gets too thick for us to see, Alex pulls his phone out and turns the flashlight on.

“You’ll find out.” He turns the flash right under his chin, a creepy smile shadowing his face.

I tighten my hold on his hand. “You called me your boyfriend,” I mumble, grinning at him.

“Well, that’s what we are, stupid.”

I shove him playfully, and he trips up, his hand reaching out to block the tree from smacking into his face.

His phone goes flying, and the light ends up face down somewhere, blacking us out. There are no longer any students running our way, only us two, in the dead silence of the forest.

“Alex? You okay?”

He doesn’t say anything.

“Alex,” I repeat. Louder and sterner. Again, he doesn’t say a word. And then a prickle of unease has me whipping around when I feel a breath on the side of my neck. I’m gently pushed forward, up against a wide tree, my back shoved softly into the wood as my eyes adjust to the dark. “That wasn't very nice.” I grunt.

“You started it,” he snaps back playfully.

“I'm sorry,” I breathe out shakily, aware of his close body. His hand pauses over my jacket, his eyes glowing as he watches me. His fingers touch around my bad eye with light pressure, inspecting the damage, even though it's too dark to see properly. “It's not that bad, promise.”

He lets his hand drop, trusting that I'm okay. He leans into my space, smelling like smoke and something distinctly Alex, which makes my eyes flutter and my stomach clench with arousal. “Want to do a little more than just kiss?” Alex whispers in my ear before nipping at the lobe.

“Fuck yes,” I gasp. I reach out a hand to find his lips, then lean forward and kiss him hard. It’s a mixture of forceful and soft, rough and gentle. We groan into each other's mouths, like it’s been months instead of a week of not seeing one another. Our tongues tangle and lick, while our teeth nip our lips, and our breathing turns into pants and gasps. Alex pulls away first, only to kiss down my neck hungrily. He drops to his knees.

His mouth kisses under my shirt, at my stomach, and then he's pulling my sweatpants and underwear down to free my twitching cock.

He mouths at my length lazily, warm breath sliding back and forth over my skin before his tongue licks at the crown, eliciting a muffled groan from my throat. My hands grip the tree behind me, needing to ground myself.

I am panting and shivering at the feeling of his mouth. My fingernails claw at the bark as he swallows me down inch by inch, torturously slow. His tongue plays with the underside of my cock, while his eyes stare deep into mine. Devious. Dangerous.

And high above us, through the trees, fireworks explode, signaling the new year. They pop loudly, lighting up the sky in red, blue, and orange, but my attention is on the boy down on his knees drooling around my cock in his mouth.

“Alex,” I whimper. “ Fuck, Alex.”

“Mmm,” he makes a sound around my dick while licking up the side and then further down to my balls. My legs shake as he licks my nuts slowly, driving me into a frenzy at the sensation. I'm leaking from my tip, swollen and tense.

My breaths become quick and uneven. I'm nervous someone might see us, but I'm also turned on by the thought of getting caught.

He swipes his tongue slowly from my balls, up my shaft, right to where I'm dribbling cum. Alex suckles at the tip, tasting it all and swallowing it down greedily. My eyes roll back in my head, like a bolt of lightning strikes my spine. I really want to watch him with that strange glint in his eyes, so I try my best to stay locked on his face.

He pumps me with just the right amount of pressure so that I'm close to losing it. Again and again, he uses his fist to slide up and down, from the base to the tip, where his mouth and tongue are kissing and licking with enthusiasm.

My hips jerk forward, pushing my dick into his wet mouth, and he lets me. The fireworks are bright andallow me to see his face. He takes me deep into his throat as he stares up. The look is almost boredom, but I know he's turned on by his blown-out pupils. By his breathing. The rise and fall of his chest.

He closes his eyes when I buck forward again. I reach a hand out to touch his cheek, wanting to feel him while we're so close like this. I want to show him that what he's doing makes me feel good. Not just physically, but emotionally.

Having him on his knees, giving me pleasure like this because he wants to, is beyond my comprehension.

He pulls off but keeps a hand under my balls to fondle them. “Gonna nut all over my face, doe eyes? Or you want to cum in my mouth?” He sucks me back down his throat, and I have to bite down on my lip to stop from groaning out loud.

When I think about how kind he can be, how strong and smart he is, and the way his lips curl into a real smile, I let loose a whimper and begin to come while saying his name. “ Alex.” I make a garbled noise, a whimper of some sort, as I try to watch him. My eyes flutter closed at the force of my orgasm while my body convulses, hips jerking forward. He pulls back suddenly so he can continue to pump me while keeping his mouth wrapped around the crown. My cum dribbles down the corner of his lips, and I gape down at him, gasping in blinding pleasure while I continue to release on his hot tongue, petting his cheek reverently, barely touching him with the faintest pressure of my fingertips. He swallows once and parts his lips, popping off my dick, allowing the last bit of my orgasm to spurt on his tongue while very slowly giving me one final pump at the swollen head. A small drop leaks from the slit, and he takes that too, a little puddle of my release on his tongue. A pleased smirk at the corner of his mouth reveals itself, and he finally closes his swollen red lips and swallows that down with hooded eyes.

I shudder at the visual of him like this. Alex stands and steps back to give me space, wiping his mouth with long fingers and keeping them there as he hides his amused smirk.

“Fuck,” I exhale. The blowjob mixing with all the cans of vodka soda makes my hands shake and my mind hazy. “I want to suck you off,” I say breathlessly, not recognizing my own voice. It's part whisper, part low moan. It sounds kind of like Ace does when he flirts.

Alex watches me with slanted eyes, an array of thoughts fluttering around in his head, but I can't grasp any of them. “Not tonight.”

I blush, the heat rising fast to my already flushed cheeks from the exhilarating blowjob. “You don't want me to?” I whisper, my head dropping with embarrassment while I pull my dick back in my pants.

I am pushed against the tree once more as his big hand closes around my throat without applying any actual pressure. His thumb trails along my Adam's apple, caressing my throat before pushing my chin up, forcing me to look at his irritable expression.

“This isn't some tit for tat thing. It's something I wanted to do.”

“I know that, but I want to. I think I'd like it because it's you. I want to do everything with you.” My heart leaps at my confession, pounding beneath his palm, and I know he feels it because his hand is still at my throat.

I feel like he might respond, but his phone breaks the silence. Alerting us of its whereabouts.

He pulls his hand off my throat and backs up, turning around so I can't see his face, running a hand through his hair. “Later, alright?”

“Fine. Happy New Year,” I tell him, grabbing his hand and rubbing my thumb up and down while he picks his phone up.

“It’s past midnight. We missed it.”

“Still.” I shrug and wrap my arms around his neck for a hug. He relents easily, hands gipping my waist to pull me against him harder.

“Any wishes?”

“Hmmm… to suck your dick?” I attempt to flirt, biting my lip in embarrassment. I blame the alcohol.

He gives me a deadpan look. “You are serious trouble when you drink.”

“I’ve been told.” I giggle into his neck, nuzzling him. He sighs as he ghosts a hand up my spine, gripping the back of my neck harshly.

My phone beeps with a text. Alex reaches into my pocket and pulls it out for me. I enter my passcode and let Alex read my message so I can keep hugging him.

“Grady says, ‘ I get it now. I won’t tell Ace. Up to you. Congrats, man. I'm happy for you both.”

“Oh. I guess we technically came out as boyfriends to everyone.”

“You have fun telling them. I don’t give a fuck enough to make an announcement.”

I kiss his cheek and pull away so we can get going.

“Yeah, I hear you. C'mon, I’m exhausted and my face hurts.” We walk hand in hand until we reach the open parking lot.

“Because you ran off with Ace and got into a fight?” He pats my cheek that feels bruised.

“I didn't start it!”

“Of course not; you don't start fights, you only participate in them.”

“Exactly. But I kind of escalated the situation. It was Ace's ex-boyfriend, and you should have heard the mean things he said to him, I wasn't going to stand for that. It was awful…”

“I didn't know that was his ex.”

“Yeah.”

He chuckles. “Levi will be glad to hear what I did.”

“Aren't you afraid he'll get the cops involved for that? That was... assault with a weapon or something.”

Alex laughs, throwing his hoodie up over his head. “He was about to attack you; it was self-defense.”

“But—”

“It's all about who's daddy has more money. And mine wins. So no, I'm not afraid.”

“Alex, that's not—”

“Nepo baby.” He points at his face. “I never said it was fair.”

We walk across the street to where his vehicle is parked. He unlocks the doors, and I get in the passenger seat, buckling up. He gets a call right before we pull out.

His phone is in the middle console, and I can see it’s Ace calling. I look at Alex.

“You can answer,” he tells me, so I do.

“Ace, you guys okay?”

“Noel? Oh, you're with Alex, got it. Hey, sorry, I disappeared for a hot minute there… heard the sirens, and Levi freaked.” He laughs, the sound like he's being shoved in the background. “Come over to my place; I didn't really get to spend any time with you and Alex at all tonight. My mom has friends over but it's super chill. There's food if you're hungry.”

I turn to Alex, who overhears everything. He raises an eyebrow as if to ask what I want to do.

“Yeah, we'll head over now; sounds good,” I tell him.

“Great! See you soon!” We hang up.

“If you're not in the mood, go to the basement and rest.”

He snorts. “Was planning to.”