Page 95 of Total Creative Control

And if Lewis had, if he’d really understood…?

God, but somehow that just made everything worse. Made Aaron’s longing for him worse, made the hopeless certainty that part of him had been ripped out—that he’d ripped it out himself—even harder to bear. Christ, would he never get over Lewis Hunter?

He stared up at the small patch of night sky visible between the buildings, mortified by the hot prickle of tears in his eyes.

Suboptimal. Remember that?This is suboptimal.

Ugh, he wasnotgoing to cry over Lewis bloody Hunter. He’d done enough of that in the days after Safehaven. It was time to—

The emergency exit opened again, and Aaron’s heart sank. He didn’t want to be rude, but he couldn’t face Tag. Not right now. Not feeling like this. He opened his mouth to ask to be left alone when a voice said,

“Aaron?”

Not Tag.

He turned on his heel.

Lewis stood a couple of feet away, eyes gleaming in the darkness. “Are you…?” He frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, fine,” Aaron said weakly. “I just needed some air.”

Lewis glanced back towards the half-open door, his brow furrowed. “Did you, uh, lose your boyfriend?”

Aaron blinked at him. “My what?”

“Tag,” Lewis said with withering emphasis, as if that couldn’t possibly be his real name.

Aaron sighed. “Tag’s not my boyfriend.”

“Your date, then.”

“Not my date, either.”

“No?” Lewis shuffled, uncharacteristically ill at ease. “You certainly looked friendly in there.”

Aaron gave an awkward huff of laughter. “Tag’s a friendly guy. But we’re not… It’s not like that.”

“Thank fuck,” Lewis said on an explosive breath. “Because he’s at the bar right now, chatting up fucking Mason Nash.”

Aaron laughed, properly this time. “Yeah, I saw that coming. Mason’s quite, um, alluring.”

“He’s a fucking idiot,” Lewis said and started walking towards Aaron, taking slow but purposeful steps.

Heart kicking against his ribs, Aaron stood a little straighter, bracing for… He didn’t know what. “Don’t be unkind,” he said. “Mason’s all right. A bit self-absorbed, maybe, but he can be quite sweet—”

“I wasn’t talking about Mason.”

Lewis was close enough now that Aaron could feel the riptide tug of his presence, his own body’s physical yearning to close the gap between them. Instead, he backed up until his shoulders brushed the wall behind him.

But Lewis kept coming, not stopping until they were toe to toe. For the longest time they just stared at each other. Lewis was breathing hard now, as if he’d been running, his chest rising and falling beneath his dark shirt. And his eyes… God, they were almost black, but fervent, gleaming with intent.

Aaron’s gaze dropped to Lewis’s mouth. It was a beautiful mouth. As expressive when he was amused as when he was irritated. Not that he was either of those things right now.

Aaron wasn’t sure what Lewis was right now.

Shakily, Aaron sucked in a breath. “What are we doing?” he whispered.

Lewis didn’t answer with words, just set his hands on the wall either side of Aaron’s body. Caging him. Aaron’s pulse rocketed, his lips falling open as an unexplored part of himself yielded to Lewis’s subtle—okay, not so subtle—assertion of control.