Page 7 of The Summer that Ruined Everything

CHAPTER 7

W hen Cal woke up, the light in the room had changed to the warm glow of pre-sunset. He blinked, disoriented, and then Jack shifted in his arms, and the events of the afternoon came rushing back.

He looked at the man sleeping peacefully next to him with wonder. Jack’s lashes rested against his pale cheeks, his pink lips were parted slightly, and his curls were spread across the pillow. He’d shifted in sleep so that his torso was resting on Cal’s, and his right arm curled around Cal’s waist.

This was the second time Cal had woken up with Jack. He could make a habit of this, if given the opportunity.

He traced a finger over Jack’s brow, along his jaw, and then over the thin layer of uneven bristles on his upper lip. Jack smiled faintly and snuggled closer. Then his eyes fluttered open. They were cloudy for a moment, and then cleared.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.” Cal smoothed a hand down Jack’s back, his fingers bumping over Jack’s vertebrae.

“What time is it?” Jack lifted his head and peered around the room. His stomach rumbled against Cal’s. “Did we miss dinner?”

“I don’t know. I just woke up, too.” Cal lifted his left arm and squinted at his watch. “It’s almost seven.”

“Just in time for dinner, then.” Jack’s stomach rumbled again, and Cal laughed.

“We slept for hours.” Cal continued to run his fingers up and down Jack’s back.

Jack hummed and stretched, his body elongating and contracting against Cal’s side. “You’re nice to sleep with,” he murmured. “Cozy.”

“Thanks,” Cal said. “It’s just because I’m big.”

“No, that’s not it.” Jack wriggled his hips. “I move a lot in my sleep. Usually. Roll all over the bed and wake up tangled in the sheets. I drive people crazy. This time I didn’t move at all.” He pushed himself up and peered down at Cal. “You’re better for my sleep than weed.”

Cal snorted in surprise. “Glad to be of service.”

Jack shifted to straddle Cal again. He began to trail his fingers up and down Cal’s chest. “I want to touch you. Can I?”

“You are touching me,” Cal pointed out.

“No, I want to—“ Jack pushed his fingers up under the hem of Cal’s shirt, where they danced along the skin of his abdomen. Cal gasped. “I want to touch you.”

Cal’s hips gave a tiny, involuntary thrust. “Yes, please,” he said.

Jack grinned and licked his lips. Then his stomach whined loudly.

“Maybe dinner first.”

Before Cal could protest, Jack hopped off of him and began rummaging through piles of clothing on the floor. Cal watched with interest as Jack tossed items around the room haphazardly. He’d never been allowed to just leave his things lying around. There was something oddly alluring about the idea of being able to throw something somewhere and not have someone following after you with a scolding finger.

An item landed on the bed, and Cal picked it up. Then he hastily dropped it.

“Jack?” he asked.

“Yeah?” Jack muttered an aha under his breath as he located a pair of jeans under a chair in the corner.

Cal poked at the silky, lacy blue fabric lying on the edge of the bed. “Something you want to tell me?”

Jack hopped to the side as he tugged the jeans on both legs at once. He paused and squinted at the camisole.

“Oh,” he said. “That’s not mine. That must be Ginny’s.”

Cal’s stomach dropped. “Ginny’s underwear is lying around your room?”

With one last hop, Jack yanked the jeans in place and then went on a hunt for shoes.

“She’s probably looking for it. We should throw it in her room.” He seemed completely unbothered, which increased Cal’s discomfort.

He sat up and swung his legs over the side, flattening his feet on the worn floorboards. “I’m wondering...just because it seems...why is her underwear in your room?”

Jack stopped in his search and looked at Cal. He smiled. “You’re concerned about this.”

“No, I’m just...I thought you weren’t...with Ginny…” Cal fiddled with a loose string on the edge of his shorts. It doesn’t matter, he told himself.

Jack leaped across the room and tackled Cal, laying him flat across the bed and straddling his waist. He was grinning.

“You’ve got a hang-up about Ginny. Or is it any girl?” Jack tilted his head to the side. “She sleeps in here sometimes. She probably pulled it off at night because she was hot.”

Cal raised an eyebrow. “And you didn’t notice?”

“No. It’s not exactly weird. Ginny goes topless sometimes, so it wouldn’t have been anything to remark about.” He shook his head and laid a palm flat on Cal’s chest. “I already told you that Ginny isn’t my girlfriend.”

“Right. You said that. But now she’s sleeping naked in your bed?—“

“Not naked . She was probably wearing underwear.”

Cal stopped talking. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter, because he had zero right to claim Jack, anyhow. They’d barely kissed. They certainly hadn’t gone so far for him to feel reasonably possessive.

Even if he did.

Jack leaned down and kissed Cal lightly. “Ginny’s not my girlfriend. She’s my friend. We’ve known each other a long time. We share a place in LA, along with a few others.” Another kiss. “Now, can we go get dinner, because I’m starving. And then I want to come back here and then you can be naked in my bed. If you want to be.”

He trailed a finger across Cal’s lower lip while biting his own, and Cal’s mouth went dry.

“I...okay,” Cal managed.

Jack jumped off again, this time pulling Cal with him. “Come on, let’s go see if there’s any food around here.”

Cal let Jack pull him out of the room and towards the stairs.

On the first floor, a few people were milling around. Jack inquired about whereabouts, and they learned that a part of the group had gone out to dinner and everyone else awake had ordered pizza that was already gone.

“ We should go out to dinner,” Jack said. “And since you’re here, you can take us somewhere good.”

“Ah, yeah. I mean, okay. Just us?” As much as Cal liked the idea, it made him a little nervous to go out to dinner with Jack alone. It would look — and feel — like a date. And while Cal was fine with the latter, he needed to avoid the former, in case it got back to his parents.

Jack glanced at him, immediately picking up on his fears. “We can see if anyone wants to join. Want me to get the girls again?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Cal nodded. Jack patted his cheek. “Give me two seconds.”

It was more like seven minutes and two seconds, but eventually Jack reappeared with Ginny and J.C. in tow. Ginny was yawning.

“They were napping, too,” Jack said. “And Ginny is hard to wake up.”

She smacked him on the shoulder. “I am not. I just didn’t see the point.”

“Until he explained that you were taking us to dinner like a dear,” J.C. said. She slipped her arm through Cal’s and hung off of his elbow.

Ginny grinned sleepily and took up a spot on Cal’s other arm. “Yes. So generous. Let’s go.”

Jack led the way to the front of the house, grabbing a set of rental car keys from a hook by the door. Once outside, J.C. let go of Cal and dashed down the steps.

“I’m driving,” she shouted, climbing into a pale blue convertible without opening the door. She slid into the seat, somehow produced a mint green head scarf from out of her cleavage, and wrapped it around her hair. “Hey Cal, sit shotgun so you can tell me where to go.”

Cal glanced at Jack, who was laughing. “Sit up front at your own risk,” he said. “But find something to hold onto. J.C. is a terrible driver.”

“Am not,” J.C. shot back. She smiled sweetly at Cal and patted the seat next to her.

The drive into town wasn’t long, but Jack was right. It wasn’t that the girl was a bad driver, exactly. She handled the car expertly. It was more that she seemed to think things like stop signs and road markings and speed limits were merely suggestions. Subtly gripping the underside of the dashboard for stability, Cal directed them to an Italian spot he liked, and J.C. parked crookedly next to the curb.

They settled in a booth next to the window. A waiter in a white coat and black trousers brought a basket of warm, crusty garlic bread, and Jack ordered a bottle of the house Chianti for the table.

Ginny and J.C. began an intense discussion of what songs to select on the tabletop jukebox, spinning the metal dial to flip the pages back and forth. Jack dug a handful of dimes out of his pocket and deposited them on the table with a clatter, and Ginny grinned and kissed him on the cheek.

He turned his attention to the paper menu. “This says ‘steamed Little Necks with drawn butter.’ What is a ‘Little Neck?’” Jack frowned. “Little neck of what?”

Cal grinned. “It’s clams,” he said.

“Clams have necks?” Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “I guess if they do, they’d be little.”

“It’s a type of clam,” Cal said, laughing. “They’re really common around here.”

“Are they good?”

“If you like clams, sure,” Cal said.

Jack looked puzzled. “I don’t know if I like clams. Let’s try them.”

The waiter returned with the wine, and they placed their orders. Jack poured the wine, the girls finished feeding dimes into the jukebox, and they settled into easy conversation.

When the clams arrived, Cal explained to Jack about the small bowl of hot water the waiter had placed in front of him beside the one with the butter.

“It’s to wash the clams,” Cal said.

Jack made a face. “They don’t come pre-washed?”

“No, you have to...it’s because of the sand. That might have still been in the shell. Here, watch.” Cal picked up a clam shell, pulled out the meat, swished it in the water, then dipped it in the butter and popped it in his mouth. “See?”

Jack looked uncertain, but he followed suit. When he got to the washing part, he took his time, brushing at it with his fingers.

“What are you doing”? Cal asked. “Just…”

He reached out, took the clam from Jack’s hand, shook the water off of it, then dipped it in the butter and held it out.

“Here. Try it,” he said.

Jack opened his mouth, and Cal fed him the clam. Their eyes met for a brief second. A bolt of desire sliced through Cal as Jack’s lips brushed his fingers, and he pulled his hand back, hiding it in the napkin in his lap. He looked away, hating that he was blushing.

“Okay, that’s good,” Jack said. Cal snuck a look back up and saw that his eyes were sparkling. “But honestly I think what’s good is the delivery.” He winked. “The butter , I mean.”

They polished off the clams and then their dinners arrived. Cal was halfway through his chicken parmigiana, and laughing heartily at J.C.’s description of Jack trying to learn how to ride a horse for his role in Burnt Horizon, when he heard his name.

He turned to see the Wallace twins, along with Jay Ashford and Tom Benjamin, entering the restaurant. He froze.

It’s fine, he reminded himself. You’re just having dinner.

As if on cue, J.C. slid closer and rested a hand on the back of his neck, playing with his hair.

“Calloway,” Richie called again, waving. Cal waved back and the group started over.

“Friends of yours?” Jack asked, watching them with interest.

“Yeah. Summer people. They don’t live here year round, they just come for the summers.”

“Like me?”

“No, not...well, sort of. But it’s different.” Cal put his napkin beside his plate and stood as his friends approached. “Good to see you,” he said, extending his hand and shaking one, two, three. “Rich. Tom. Jay. Hi, Sally.”

“Jay and Tom got in today,” Richie said. “We rang the house this afternoon, but no one answered.”

“I was on the beach,” Cal said. He glanced over his shoulder, at where Jack and the girls were looking on patiently. “Hey, this is Jack, and that’s Ginny, and?—“

J.C. was at his side, snaking an arm around his waist. “I’m J.C.,” she said, tossing her hair and flashing white teeth. “It’s nice to meet friends of Calloway.”

Gratefully, he draped an arm over her shoulder. “They rented the old Winston place next door for the season.”

“What does J.C. stand for?” Jay asked.

“Just Cheeky.” J.C. winked, and Jay laughed and exchanged a look with Cal. The look said, she’s a handful. Cal just pulled her closer.

“Hold on, aren’t you — you are ,” Sally said, pushing past her brother. “Calloway, this is Jack Francis. You’re Jack Francis.”

“I know,” Jack said, smirking. “You guys want to join us?”

Everyone agreed. They called the waiter over, and there was a flurry of activity before the newcomers were seated at a table pushed up against the end of the booth. Sally maneuvered herself into the chair closest to Jack and immediately began asking him questions. He seemed to enjoy the attention, his smile and laughter genuine.

Cal focused on the guys. He asked Jay and Tom about their plans for the summer and beyond. He answered questions about his parents, and mutual acquaintances from Harvard. J.C. put herself practically in Cal’s lap, and joined in the conversation with an ease that Cal admired.

Another two bottles of wine appeared, and before long there was a lull of food coma and wine drowsiness. Cal idly thought about getting a gift for J.C., who seemed awfully interested in Richie Wallace but, to her extreme credit, continued to play her part.

Across the table, Ginny leaned into Jack, resting her head on his shoulder. At one point, he turned and kissed the top of her head. Cal watched them, wondering. Jack said they were close, but they seemed almost too close. He tried to stamp out the spark of jealousy that flared up when Jack stroked her arm.

Carefully, he slid a foot forward until it bumped up against Jack’s. Jack shot a glance in his direction, but didn’t otherwise react.

Then Cal felt a repeated pressure on top of his shoe, an answering tap-tap-tap and then a nudge.

“All right, I hate to cut the party short, but I think it’s time to head back home,” Jack said. “I think I got too much sun today.”

Sally looked comically disappointed, but she quickly recovered. “I know what we’ll do. We’ll take you to Sea View tomorrow. As a big old Rhode Island welcome party.”

“Sea View?” Jack asked.

“The beach club,” Cal supplied.

“You’ll love it,” said Sally. “It’s very posh.”

“Oh, posh.” Jack smirked. “Then I’m sure it’s exactly my style.”

Cal choked back a laugh. “So is that the plan?” he asked, eyeing Jack. “You interested in a day at the beach club?”

“Sure, I can dig it,” Jack said.

Cal’s friends stood and made room so Jack and his party could slide out of the booth. There were handshakes all around. Jack kissed Sally on the cheek, and she turned a shade of magenta Cal had never seen before.

Once back in the car — Cal driving this time, with Jack beside him and the girls in the back — Cal sighed.

“Do you really want to go to the beach club tomorrow?” he asked. “If you want to get out of it, I can make excuses.”

“Are you going?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, I should,” Cal said, pulling onto the road. “They’ll expect me to.”

“Then I want to go.” Jack grinned at Cal, then slid over on the bench seat and laid a hand on Cal’s thigh, where it sat, a light pressure that Cal knew was going to torture him. “And if Sally is going to be there, we don’t even need to drag the girls.”

“Oh no, you’re not leaving us out,” Ginny said. “J.C. wants to see what Richie looks like without a shirt and she will not be stymied.”

“I’ll be subtle about it, though,” J.C. said.

“Hey,” Cal said, “what does J.C. stand for, anyway?”

“Juicy Cherries,” J.C. said.

Cal rolled his eyes, and tried not to let Jack’s wandering hand distract him from driving.

Back at the house, Jack offered Ginny a hand out of the car.

“Thanks again, girls,” he said. “For the cover.”

“Our pleasure, honey,” Ginny said. She kissed him on the lips as she straightened up. “Any time we can get a free dinner…”

She glanced over and saw Cal watching, and smiled. As they headed in, with Jack in the lead, she sidled up to Cal.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about with me,” she whispered.

“What?” Cal frowned.

“You’re the shiny new toy, Cal,” she said. “He’s only got eyes for you right now.”

“He does?”

She giggled. “He’s been talking about you since the night you met, on the beach. He’ll get distracted by someone eventually — he always does — but it won’t be by me. I swear on my Chanel clutch.”

She bounced up and kissed him on the cheek. Then she dashed away, grabbing J.C.’s hand and dragging her into the house, saying something about a dance party and leaving Cal staring after her, his insides churning with anticipation and confusion.

The music had already started pumping by the time Cal caught up with Jack in the kitchen. Jack was guzzling water from a glass. He refilled it under the tap and passed it to Cal, who drank it down.

“Please don’t ask me to join the dance party,” he said, setting the empty glass on the counter.

Jack smiled. “Okay. Let’s go sit on the deck for a bit.”

Cal followed him outside. Penny, the girl Cal had caught in action the first night he came to the house, was lounging on a sofa with Joey. They were passing a joint between them.

“Hey boys,” Penny said. “How was dinner?”

Jack snagged the joint and took a hit. “Delicious,” he said, the word choked off from holding in his breath. Then he blew out a steady stream of smoke. “Did you know clams have little necks?”

“Gross,” Joey said, making a face.

Jack offered the joint to Cal, and Cal took it. He’d felt nice the other night, the first time he’d smoked, and now that he knew he could stay...with Jack…

He took a hit.

They settled on the sofa beside the others. It was a bit crowded, and after the joint made a second round, Jack leaned into Cal with a sigh. He took Cal’s left hand in both of his and began to trace shapes and patterns on Cal’s palm.

It felt so nice, Cal sank lower in the sofa and stretched his legs out in front of him.

“Tell me about summer people,” Jack said, his voice going soft around the edges, like the bottom bits of a goose feather. “Why is it different from what I’m doing?”

“I don’t know,” Cal said. “Those guys, they...their families own houses up the beach. But they live elsewhere. Jay lives in Boston, and Tom in Hartford. Well, their families do, they’re both at Yale right now.”

“And I live in L.A.” Jack took one more hit, but when he offered it, Cal shook his head. He was already feeling less substantial than a few minutes earlier. Jack passed the joint back to Joey and returned to play with Cal’s hand.

“Right, but...Boston and Hartford are sort of close to here. And the Wallaces only live in Providence. But every summer they come and live in these giant houses that are empty for most of the year. I don’t...I can’t explain it.” He stretched out his palm, giving Jack better access. “Then they kind of act like they own everything, like this place only exists when they’re in it and isn’t a functioning town year round. They treat townies like...servants sometimes.”

“That’s shitty. You’re friends with these people?”

Cal shrugged. “Yes? They’re not bad, really. They’re nice people overall. It’s just an attitude that they grew up with and have adopted and probably aren’t even aware of.”

“You could make them aware.”

“I guess I could. I’m not sure it would make a difference. They’d probably laugh at me and think I was making a joke.” Cal turned his head to find Jack watching him, his eyes shining in the moonlight, his mouth open slightly.

Without thinking, Cal leaned down and nipped at Jack’s lower lip, sinking his teeth into it gently. Then he licked away the bite, tasting smoke and garlic. Unable to stop himself, he pressed his lips against Jack’s.

The guy didn’t seem to need any more encouragement. He kissed back, slowly, as if to draw the moment out. Cal parted his lips, and Jack advanced, sliding his tongue between them to tangle with Cal’s.

It felt so good to kiss Jack. Cal had kissed plenty of people since that first sloppy dorm room experiment with James Grenville, but with Jack it was different. It wasn’t just that Jack was an expert kisser — which we was — it was more that, from the very first, it had felt like they fit.

Jack shifted, his mouth breaking from Cal’s long enough for him to climb into Cal’s lap, straddling his thighs. Then he was back, his hands cupping Cal’s jaw, pressing Cal into the sofa with a soft moan. Cal clutched at Jack’s waist, then slid his hands down to squeeze Jack’s ass. He lifted his hips, grinding up into the other man, and was rewarded with a shudder that made him smile around the kiss.

“Can you stay?” Jack whispered urgently. “Can you stay tonight?”

Could he? His parents were probably home at this point. Maybe in bed. They’d have assumed he was out with friends. He could probably sneak back in the morning before they woke up, or say he’d gone out for an early walk.

“Yes,” Cal whispered back.

Jack slid off of his lap and Cal drew in a breath of ocean air and blinked. He’d forgotten they were out in the open, here on the deck. All he’d been able to focus on was Jack’s mouth. He blushed, realizing that Penny and Joey were still curled up on the other end of the sofa, talking quietly as if they hadn’t noticed what was going on two feet from them. Maybe they hadn’t. Or maybe they had and didn’t care.

The rush of freedom Cal felt in that moment would have knocked him over if he hadn’t already been sitting down.

“Come with me,” Jack said, extending a hand.

Cal looked up at him. His face was in shadow, the moon behind him a bright spot that made it difficult to see his features. All Cal could do was trust that Jack wanted this, wanted him , and leap.

He placed his hand in Jack’s and let the man tug him to his feet. They entered the house, and Jack waved to a few of his friends crossing through the back hall. It wasn’t even late. Maybe just past ten, about time for the never-ending party to pick up steam. But here he was, being led away from the crowd, holding Jack’s hand, and it was absurdly obvious what was going on between them.

The weed must have dulled his panic responses, because instead of feeling like he needed to flee to a dark corner, he felt proud . That out of all of the people here, Jack had chosen him. Was interested in him.

For now, interrupted a little voice in the back of his head. He tried to ignore it, but it persisted. A shiny new toy, is what Ginny had called him. Jack would get distracted by someone eventually.

A surge of jealousy hit him, even though he knew it was stupid. This was not the thing to dwell on as he was literally climbing the stairs to Jack’s room. He needed to enjoy the time he had, and not demand more than he deserved.

They reached the bedroom, and Jack shut the door behind them.

“Finally,” he murmured. “Thanks for dinner, Cal. I was a sure thing without it, but my stomach is the way to my heart.”

Then he stepped close, pushing Cal up against the door, palms on his chest. He rose up and brushed their lips together.

“Can I touch you now?”

Without waiting for an answer, he skimmed his hands down to Cal’s waist and then lower.

Cal gasped. “Fuck,” he said, letting his head fall back against the door with a thud.

“Jesus Christ, you’re a handful,” Jack said with a giggle.

He grabbed Jack’s shoulders and fastened his lips onto Jack’s neck, sucking harder as Jack whined and arched against him. He began walking him backwards towards the bed, biting down on his collarbone and earning a tiny yelp.

Jack began to wriggle, and Cal realized he was trying to pull his tee-shirt over his head. He grabbed the end of it and yanked up, and after a moment of tugging, it was free. He tossed it on the floor and his hands immediately began to roam all over Jack’s pale skin.

“God,” Jack said, shivering under his touch, “your hands.”

Jack let him explore for a minute, nipping and sucking and stroking wherever he could reach, before cool fingers were sneaking under the hem of Cal’s own shirt. Then it was pushed up and Cal pulled it off impatiently, slinging it to the floor beside Jack’s.

He was spun around and pushed onto the bed, and he scrambled his way up, Jack crawling after him, a predatory look in his eyes. A quaking desire washed over Cal. He was used to being the aggressor in matters of the bedroom. It was expected of him, since he was always the bigger one, and he didn’t mind, but this… He didn’t think anyone had ever looked at him quite like this before, and it was a heady feeling, being stalked.

“You’re beautiful,” Jack said, sitting back on his heels. He trailed a single finger down the center of Cal’s chest. “I can’t wait to taste every inch of you.”

Cal’s fists grabbed at the sheets. One of them closed over a softer fabric, and he lifted it off the bed.

The camisole. Ginny’s camisole. He tried not to let what Ginny had said earlier come back into his mind, but there it was. He was a shiny new toy, and Jack would get distracted by someone else.

“What’s the matter?” Jack asked, sensing a shift in the mood.

“So you’re really not sleeping with Ginny?” Cal asked, holding up the camisole.

“We already had this conversation,” Jack said, a tiny frown marring his features.

“Right. I’m sorry. You’re so comfortable with her, like at dinner, it really looks like?—“

“We’re actors,” Jack said. “And good friends. But also...we have slept together. We just aren’t right now.”

“Oh.” Cal paused at that revelation. “Would you again?”

“If she offered at some point? Probably,” Jack said. “I mean, I like girls too.”

“What if she offered tomorrow?” Cal asked, hating himself with each word. “Or someone else did?”

Jack looked at Cal for a long minute. “Cal,” he said carefully, “I don’t do jealousy.”

“What?”

“Jealousy isn’t my thing. So as much as it would break my whole heart, if you’re going to get jealous every time someone might catch my eye for a second, then?—“

“I’m not jealous,” Cal said, a cold fear snaking down his chest. He was going to mess this up before it had a chance to start, wasn’t he? “I’m not — I won’t?—“

“I’m here for the summer,” Jack said. “Just the summer. Like you. And then I’ll go back to L.A. and you’ll go back to Harvard, and it’ll be like...good memories — lots of them, I hope — that we can look back on.”

A sense of unearned regret settled over Cal. Jack was right. He didn’t know what he was getting so tense about, when this wasn’t anything more than two men having a little fun for a while. He’d done it before, he’d do it again. For his whole life, most likely.

Dwelling on that would make him sad, so he shoved it aside.

“I know,” he said. “I wasn’t meaning to imply anything else.”

Jack looked thoughtful. “What if I say that, as long as you and I are fooling around, I won’t fool around with anyone else. Would that make it better?”

Cal nodded, and exhaled slowly.

“Okay then,” Jack said. “While we’re a thing, we’re a thing. But if we do that, you have to promise me something.”

“Promise what?” Cal asked.

“You can’t get all jealous any time someone kisses me or I have my arm around someone or — whatever. I like to touch people. I like to be touched. I like to look and admire. But if I tell you there’s nothing else, there’s nothing else. You have to promise to trust me to be honest with you. I will tell you if I need to move on, you won’t have to guess.”

Cal swallowed. “Yes,” he said. “I promise.”

Jack smiled. “Good. Because I can’t imagine wanting anyone else while I’ve got access to you, anyway,” he said. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

He climbed atop Cal then and made good on his word, sealing their agreement with a kiss that had Cal’s toes curling. He reached for Jack, finding his waist and fumbling with the button on his jeans. Jack angled his hips up to give Cal better access, but continued his assault on Cal’s mouth.

When the button finally gave way, Cal yanked the zipper down and then slid his hand inside.

“Umff,” Jack moaned into Cal’s mouth, thrusting himself against Cal’s palm with short, jerky movements.

Then he rolled to the side, and fought with his jeans and boxers until he was able to kick them off the bed. They hit the floor with a whumpf.

“Now you,” Jack said. He made quick work of Cal’s shorts and his own boxers, sending them after the jeans. “Holy fuck,” Jack breathed, gazing down at Cal with eyes wide.

Cal felt his cheeks and neck and — probably everything else — heat to a bright pink.

“I just want to — let me —“ Jack scooted down the mattress. Then he dipped his head and Cal’s breath stalled in his throat.

Everything went silvery and shimmery as they connected in this private space that was just for them. Again Cal wondered at being the prey for once, the one who wasn’t in control, the one who wasn’t calling the shots or making the moves. He surrendered to it, a willing passenger on a wild ride.

This man could give classes, Cal thought, his left hand dancing in Jack’s curls. He wasn't going to last. He was already seeing stars at the edges of his vision, was already feeling everything tighten, already sensing that rush that was about to make it too late.

“I’m gonna — watch out,” he managed, just before he exploded with a cry.

Jack pulled off, grinning like a satisfied cat, licking his lips and shaking his hair out of his face.

“Beautiful,” Jack said, the word thick in his throat.

“Jesus,” Cal breathed. “Thank you.”

He closed his eyes and felt himself drifting in that hazy, post-orgasmic state. It might have had something to do with the weed as well, he realized. He felt Jack snuggle up beside him, sheets pulled over him, and forced his eyes open.

“You...I can take care of you,” he said, the words slurring. He fought the drowsiness. “I want to…”

“Later,” Jack whispered in his ear. “We’ve got all night.”

“All night,” Cal agreed. His eyes closed again. As he let the sleep take him under, he thought he heard one more thing, though he might have imagined it.

“We’ve got all summer,” Jack whispered. “All summer.”