Page 31

Lex’s chair scraped the tile as he stood. Wobbling on his feet. The scent of sweat and want clung to him, sharp and sweet, like the aftermath of a fever. He didn’t look back.

Morgan waited three beats then followed.

Restaurant bathrooms were all the same. It didn’t matter where he was in the world.

Glossy white, meant to suggest wealth but failing under fluorescent scrutiny. Too clean. It reeked of bleach and piss. The smell clung to the back of his throat, dragging up memories of college dorms. Of hazing rituals he endured before finding his true purpose.

Lex barely had time to scramble onto the counter before Morgan closed the distance. His palms hit the porcelain basin, boxing Lex in, guiding the back of that pretty blond head against the mirror.

Words weren’t altogether necessary. Not anymore.

Need was already breathing between them.

Morgan slipped the vibrator from his hand, tucking it into his pants pocket. From his wallet came the single-use lube packets—always ready. A small indulgence.

Perhaps Lex’s obsession with public sex—his insatiable craving for risk, for exhibition—was starting to seep into Morgan’s bloodstream. Infectious. Addictive.

“Keep your eyes on me, my sweet,” Morgan said as he unbuckled his belt. “Watch me. Don’t think about anything else.”

Lex nodded, frantic and unsteady. His pupils were blown wide, fingers shaking against the delicate buttons of his pants .

Morgan’s hand covered Lex’s, steadying the clumsy movement. The tremble beneath his palm was electric, as if Lex’s skin couldn’t contain the voltage running beneath it.

“Slow down,” he murmured, voice low and close. “We won’t disappear.”

Lex exhaled like he almost believed him.

With practiced ease, Morgan slid Lex’s pants down, letting them pool at his ankles with those ridiculous cartoon-print boxers. A private joke made public, now bunched uselessly on the floor of a too-bright bathroom that smelled of ammonia.

Then Lex kicked them off. He threw his leg over Morgan’s shoulder, careless and demanding, thigh shaking against Morgan’s collarbone. His hand clutched Morgan’s shirt, tan fingers twisted in the fabric like a drowning man. Pulled him in.

Their mouths crashed together.

Morgan couldn’t stop the moan—it broke from him, unbidden, as Lex’s tongue slid hungry and raw into his mouth. The taste of him—stale tears and burnt honey—made Morgan’s head spin.

One hand gripped Lex’s shoulder, firm and anchoring. The other fumbled with his own fly, movements graceless, fingers slipping. He should have told himself the same thing: Slow down. But restraint had become theory, not practice, the moment Lex touched him.

Time stuttered. Warped. It felt like years passed before he managed to push his pants low enough, the metal of his zipper catching on skin .

“Fuck me,” Lex gasped between kisses. Wet, messy. “Right now. Please , Morgan.”

Morgan slicked himself with the lube in one motion, sound obscene in the quiet. No teasing. No games. He couldn’t handle that.

“If you ever beg like that for someone else,” he murmured against Lex’s lips, “I’ll kill them.”

Lex’s only response was another kiss—rougher this time. Pushed beyond desperation. All teeth and tongue without restraint. His arms wound tight around Morgan’s neck until breathing became secondary. Like Lex meant to fuse them together.

Everything about him was coming undone. Dismantling in real time. That frenzied lack of self-control—no shame, no pretense—was something Morgan fought hard not to answer. It would’ve been too easy to give in. To take and take until Lex was a screaming, sobbing mess in his arms.

Morgan couldn’t let that happen. Not yet.

He slid home slowly, burying himself inch by inch, careful not to tear.

Lex gasped against his mouth, clenching too tight. But his hips rolled up to meet him, grinding in greedy little circles that made Morgan want to shatter.

“I don’t want this to hurt,” Morgan whispered, trying to stop moving. To let Lex adjust.

“It won’t. It won’t—”

“It will .”

Lex’s fingers tangled in his hair, yanking his head up. “ Stop. Fucking. Talking . ”

Morgan had tried.

He really had.

But Lex didn’t need to say it twice.

He drove into Lex harder, unforgiving now, fucking him until the only sound was the slap of skin on skin, counter creaking beneath their weight.

And the only thing coming out of Lex’s mouth was that delicious, deep groaning—the kind Morgan felt in his own chest. Lex’s nails dug in harder, raking across Morgan’s scalp.

Those eyes looked right at him but saw nothing at all.

Glazed over, pupils too big for the blue, like Lex was somewhere far away.

It was that look that Morgan wanted.

Needed .

The one that said I’m all yours.

It never got old. It carved down Morgan’s spine, sharper than blade had ever been, thrilling in a way that almost nothing else could touch. Fucking Lex face-to-face—every sweet noise and touch framed for him alone—was better than worship.

Morgan slid his free hand between them, fingers closing tight around Lex’s cock.

His strokes matched the rhythm of his hips—measured, deliberate, coaxing sound from Lex with every movement.

Those swollen lips parted wider, whimpers spilling out in waves, breaking down into nothing but Morgan’s name repeated in a dazed chant.

Over and over.

“Come for me,” Morgan murmured.

Lex’s entire body seized, his muscles locking up as he arched off the counter. That broken cry that could’ve been Morgan’s name, or just something ripped from somewhere too deep to touch.

Cum spilled over Morgan’s fist, slick and messy between them, and Morgan groaned—head tipping forward as he gave in, slamming one last time into that tight, clenching hole before freezing.

Coming was almost an afterthought. Something quiet. Something restrained.

No joke this time. No quip about how he was positive they’d hit that dreaded two minute mark again.

Because this time wasn’t about him.

It was for Lex.

And Lex…

Lex had never looked so grateful.

They left the bathroom in silence, Lex walking just a half step behind. His legs were still unsteady, his breathing too shallow. But there was color in his face again—pink across his cheeks, lips still swollen, hair a wild mess that Morgan didn’t even know how to begin fixing.

Lex’s hand found his with no warning. Tan fingers threaded through Morgan’s, palm slick but squeezing like he meant it.

“So… ten out of ten service. I would recommend.”

Morgan snorted, his free hand rising to cover his mouth. “Thank you for the compliment,” he said, still laughing under his breath. “I don’t get those a lot. It seems to be the other way around most of the time.”

Lex’s shoulder bumped into his. “I’m uh, turning over a new leaf. I guess.”

Morgan cut him a glance. Shook his head.

Even if Lex was still fragile, this was progress.

By the time they reached the car, Lex had started humming some godawful pop song under his breath, off-key in the worst way. He didn’t sway as he walked, like he usually did. Didn’t swing their joined hands like he liked.

But Morgan would take it.

Clicking the fob, Morgan unlocked the car, and Lex flopped back in the passenger seat. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, mouth moving soundlessly.

You’ll be alright. Give it time, Lex.

Patience is a virtue.

Morgan paused.

And the world paused with him.

The distant city hum had gone quiet—no horns, not shouting, not even a passing car. Only the eerie buzz of a streetlight and the faint plink of a cooling engine somewhere nearby. Even the wind didn’t move.

Something felt… off.

Wrong.

A low current under the skin. The kind of wrong that didn’t come with footsteps or shadows. It came in the stillness. The hush that arrived too fast.

Years and years of watching others did something to a person. Etched caution into the bones. It sharpened instincts until certain things— specific moments— were no longer peaceful. They were a warning. Something old and animal, wired so deep it didn’t require nerve-endings or thought.

Morgan’s gaze swept the lot, slow and unhurried. Nothing between the cars. No shape in the alley. No movement in the mirrors above them.

But that wrongness clung to him. Heavy. Unshakable.

They weren’t alone.

He felt it in the back of his skull. Would’ve staked his entire life on it.

Lex leaned over toward the driver’s side. “What’s going on, Morgan?”

Morgan’s jaw ticked.

If someone wanted to visit them in person?

Let them.