Page 19 of Mr. Naughty List

Aaron’s knees trembled.

“Call me.” RJ’s voice went a shade deeper. “Got it,Aaron?”

Then he stalked out of the bathroom, his bare ass all muscled and gorgeous.

Aaron closed his eyes and took some gulping breaths. Finally calming down enough to finish washing off, he shampooed and rinsed. His cock remained erect and aching, and his balls were sore as fuck. He didn’t have time to think about his life choices right now. He had to get to school before Principal Shock realized he was late. Otherwise, he’d never hear the end of it.

Besides, he needed to have his head together by the time he met with Carter Ward after lunch. The kid deserved him at his best.

Shaving as quickly as possible, and thus cutting himself twice, he decided to shove RJ Blitz into the back of his mind for now. He could think about him later.

Maybe tonight after a glass of wine, alone here in his apartment. He could maybe text him or call, and, well, figure out a nicer way to turn him down.

A one-night stand he could manage. But anything more, even a holiday fling? That might be taking things too far. Especially when RJ fucked like that. Like he’d reached right into Aaron’s soul with his stupidly tremendous cock and then shattered it with pleasure. Yes, anymore ofthatwould be more than he could possibly endure.

As Aaron left his apartment, hustling down the street to the garage where he paid a monthly fee to park his car, he resolutely ignored the twinge in his ass, the tug of his sore muscles, and the Christmas decorations going up all around. He ignored his own treacherous brain whispering that there were trees for sale on the corner. If he wanted, he could invite RJ over and…

No.

He didn’t have room for romantic emotional entanglements, not in the past, not in the future, and not even at Christmas. He didn’t have it in him to deal with that kind of pain. He’d seen enough of the fallout of love with his parents. He wasn’t going to volunteer to endure it himself.

As he climbed into his car and started the engine, he groaned. He’d be at least fifteen minutes late. Principal Shock would probably notice. With any luck the only thing on the homeroom agenda would be a roll call and a run through of the daily announcements. He flipped on the car stereo. Spotify merrily picked up in the middle of “Tender Tennessee Christmas” right where it’d left off the day before, and he sang it under his breath as he left the parking garage.

A bing from his phone grabbed his attention. He glanced at it, even though he was driving, and what he saw made his forehead crease. He groaned. It was a reminder that he’d promised to play an elf to the Coach Ramirez’s Santa Claus during the school-wide holiday pep rally for the basketball team the following afternoon, and he hadn’t even picked up the costume from the rental place yet.

Crap! Why’d he ever agree to do that? Coach Ramirez was hot, but not that hot. And he definitely wasn’t gay. So, wearing green-striped tights and a jingle hat wasn’t going to get Aaron anywhere with the man. Ugh. What was it with him and coach-types?

And, speaking of getting anywhere with any man…

Why thehellhadn’t he just thrown caution to the wind and spread his legs for RJ Blitz one more time this morning? Who knew if he’d ever get screwed like that again? One last fuck for the road would have taken the edge off his thrumming anxiety, especially since he was going to be late anyway. He glanced at his clock. It would have been worth it.

He put his foot on the gas, hoping he didn’t get pulled over on his way to school. It was the last week before Christmas break and he was already on the principal’s shit list. Christ. He just wanted to have a calm holiday season this year. No drama.

Was that too much to ask?

A nice, fun Christmas Eve with his dad’s family and a nice, tolerable Christmas Day with his mom for once. No fights. No problems. And no tempting, handsome, former students with miraculous dicks that could plow him for hours. He shivered at the memory.

Yeah. Absolutely none of that.

Just regular wholesome, drama-free, family fun. He deserved that right? Because God knew he needed it. Almost as much as he’d needed RJ Blitz last night.

RJ climbed outof the Uber he’d taken from Aaron’s apartment and stalked up the sidewalk of his mom and Doug’s place in the new West Knoxville neighborhood where they’d purchased a typical suburban house. He took in the various Christmas decorations that had been added since even yesterday.

Before RJ had left for his gig, Doug had already set out the blow-up Santa and reindeer on the roof. Now they had a Frosty the Snowman in the front yard, along with a glowing star hung in a tree and a full-sized glowing nativity scene that he recognized as having been on sale last week at Joel’s store, Vreeland’s Home and Garden.

“Doug goes all in for Christmas,” his mom had told RJ yesterday afternoon over an early dinner while gazing adoringly at her husband of the last four and a half years. The kids had been shoving mac and cheese into their faces and being quiet for a change. His stepbrother had been at his mom’s house for the night.

“Betsy loves it,” Doug had said, gazing back at her with a lovesick expression that’d made RJ’s homemade noodle soup suddenly taste gross. Though, truthfully, that adoring expression was the main reason RJ couldn’t dislike the guy, even if some petty, idiot part of him really wanted to. Doug was devoted to RJ’s mom, and RJ couldn’t ask for much more than that. Especially since he wasn’t around to take care of her. He just wondered how long it would last. Four years already seemed to be pressing their luck.

But what did RJ know about love? He hadn’t even been able to pull off a decent morning-after with Aaron. How it’d turned into such a failure after such a successful night, he had no idea. When he’d held Aaron, hot with orgasm and sobbing with pleasure in his arms, he’d never imagined the man would be so cold the next morning.

“RJ!” a voice cried from an open window above. He glanced up to see his little sister Perri hanging worryingly out the window, her round face broken into a grin. As she leaned out even farther, her dark brown hair flew in the cool December morning breeze. “You’re home! Mommy’s been so scared about you!”

Shit.He should have texted that he wouldn’t be coming home. Frankly, he wasn’t used to her caring. And not just because he didn’t normally live here, but, before he’d taken off touring, living on his own, she’d been working doubles most of his life. She hadn’t known, or had the time or energy to care, where he was, how late he came home, or if he came home at all.

She was a stay-at-home mom now, but she’d barely been a mom to him at all.

He’d lost his virginity as a teenager in a pretty disturbing situation with an older guy, but he’d never even thought to call his mom for help. She’d never have been able to get off work to come pick him up, anyway. So, he’d gone through with the sex despite his better judgment, and it still made him a little sick to think about that night.