Chapter 74

Half a dozen strokes, and Andy shouted and came, bucking so hard Scooter was afraid he’d hurt himself, but his spill was hot and slippery on Scooter’s hand and Andy clenched down hard enough that Scooter could barely move to keep thrusting. “Fuck,” Andy gasped, hoarse, “oh God, Scooter, come on, come for me, honey, I want, I need to feel you coming inside me.”

It was sublime, beyond pleasure. Scooter felt huge, burning up with it, and Andy was such a tight, slick fit. Need drove him deeper into Andy’s body. He cupped the back of Andy’s head, cradling it, the tickle of Andy’s hair soft against his palm, bracing himself on one elbow. He slammed into Andy, pushing harder. Scooter keened, sparks of black and blue dancing in his vision as he shuddered. Holy hell, it was more than he’d ever imagined. Andy rocked with him, giving everything, and need ran like lava in his veins.

He shook apart with a hot, primal scream, spilled himself into the condom, giving himself to Andy.

Scooter could not let go of Andy. He propped himself up on one elbow, looking down into Andy’s sweaty and sated face, then groaned and buried his head in the crook of Andy’s neck. “Oh, my God.”

Andy hummed against Scooter’s shoulder, a smug satisfied sort of sound. “Knew you’d be good,” he mumbled after a moment’s effort to catch his breath. He pushed his fingers languidly through Scooter’s hair, stroked down Scooter’s spine. “Next time I need to get my mouth on you, though.”

Scooter’s dick, still deep inside, jerked with interest at that idea. “I need you not to say things like that,” Scooter teased. “I’ll want you to keep me in this bed all week.”

Andy chuckled at that, low and dirty, and fuck, Scooter was going to have to just resign himself to having a hard-on all the goddamned timeapparently.

He managed to gather his wits eventually, and pulled back and out with a small grimace. He tied off the condom and dropped it into the wastepaper basket, and flopped back down onto the bed. “Hot, hot, hot.” He shoved all the sheets and blankets off and sprawled out across as much space as he could find in the bed, skin prickling as the sweat cooled him a little. A very little.

Andy lay beside him for a few more minutes, then got up and padded into the bathroom. Water splashed in the sink, and then turned off. Andy came back in with a damp washcloth, which he dropped on Scooter’s stomach with a grin—oh, good, cold water, not hot. Scooter made use of the washcloth, getting rid of lube and semen and sweat. Better. Ahhh.

Andy flopped back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “So…Not to ruin the afterglow or anything, but…there’s stuff you probably should know. If we’re going to keep doing this.”

That was sort of unfair, Scooter thought. His brain was melted and Andy wanted to talk? Scooter scrubbed at his face with both hands. “Yeah, yeah, gimme a sec. Just…please tell me your name is, actually, Andy, okay?” He was pretty sure Andy would be the same person, but Scooter had just been crying his name, and…it sat weirdly in his mind, thinking it might be the wrong one.

“Yeah, it is.” Scooter kind of hated how familiar he was getting with Andy’s “please don’t be mad” face. “But my last name isn’t Trevor. It’s Howard.”

Scooter swallowed. “Okay.” He floundered, not quite knowing what to do. He traced a finger over Andy’s chest and discovered he was spelling out Andy’s name over the heated skin. “And you’re not in legal trouble, right?”

“No legal trouble,” Andy confirmed. “I just…Had to leave, and didn’t really have anywhere to go to.”

“All right, baby.” He opened his arms, let Andy curl up in them. “You tell me what you need to tell me. Doesn’t change anything. Not how I feel, not what I want. Okay?” 28

It was easier, telling Scooter what he’d already told Jason. Not easy, by any stretch, but…easier. Maybe it was becausehe’d already told Jason, a sort of rehearsal. Maybe it was because he’d had some sleep and his brain had finally stopped spinning around in three directions at once like a carnival ride. Maybe it was because the sweat was still drying and Scooter was spooned around him, holding him protectively close in a way that made the past seem distant and faded, like an old photograph.

“God, sweetheart,” Scooter rasped, “I can’t even imagine how awful that was for you.”

Andy laughed, a little bitterly, and turned his head to kiss the bicep he was using as a pillow. “The thing is, it wasn’t. I mean, it was, but it…It was a frog boil. You know you can put a frog in water, and then start heating that water up, and the frog won’t even notice it getting hotter and hotter until it’s too late? It was like that. Didn’t even yell that much when we fought, just made me feel…ungrateful. Small. I thought, as much as he did for me, it was only fair to indulge his possessive streak. I’d only really started to notice the heat right before it…ended. I didn’t even realize just how muchof a bastard he’d really been until after I’d left.”

Scooter tightened his arm over Andy’s waist and peppered the back of Andy’s neck with light kisses. “I never want to hurt you or control you like that,” he said. “Never. If you ever feel like I’m doing that to you, just…I don’t know, kick me in the shin or something. Please.”

Andy squirmed around to face Scooter, brushed his fingers down the side of Scooter’s face. “I’m kind of a mess,” he pointed out. “I don’t know if I’d notice it happening. Or I might totally blow something innocent all out of proportion. Like when you told Lolly you weren’t going to let him see me again.”

Scooter’s mouth dropped open and his eyes got wide. “Oh, shit, I didn’t even—”

Andy stopped him with a kiss. “I know you were just joking around. It just…scraped raw. That’s what I meant—I’m kind of broken, I don’t…interpret things right.”

Scooter shook his head. “Andy, listen. I’m not kidding, if I make you feel like that, you…you tell me, okay, baby? Even if it’s something like that. I don’t want to make you feel that way, even by accident. And if you don’t see it, Kat will stab me with a spoon again if I start to really fuck up. She’s adopted you, you know. There’s no way she’ll let anyone hurt you. Not even me. Especiallynot me.” He touched the bruises on his chest. They were actually kind of weirdly impressive; Kat had jabbed him in a circle all the way around his heart, midnight, three, six, and nine.