He wasn’t vain, but just fucked looked good on him. His skin had more color than normal, and his lips looked swollen and full. Donny smoothed his hair down and padded back to the bedroom and found Roland already pulling his clothes back on.
Donny crawled across the mattress and gathered Roland’s hair in his hand, moving it to the side so he could press a kiss against Roland’s exposed shoulder before he put his shirt back on. Donny licked salt from the side of Roland’s neck and nipped at the skin.
“Why are you getting dressed so soon? Come take a shower with me, let’s clean up,” Donny mumbled the words into Roland’s skin. Roland reached up and removed Donny’s fingers from his hair and slid away, pulling his shirt on, effectively separating them.
“You can shower if you want.” Roland stood up, avoiding eye contact. “I’m gonna grab a drink.”
And like that, he was gone.
Donny had been looking forward to showering together. He wanted a chance to run his hands over every inch of exposed flesh he could find on Roland’s body repeatedly. He closed his eyes and thought about Roland, leaning down into him, rubbing their slippery cocks together until they both came a second time. But much like when he was at home, Donny opened his eyes and was still alone. He heard ice being dropped into a glass from the kitchen and, resigned, slid his briefs and pants back on. He put on his socks and slipped his feet into his shoes, grabbed his shirt from the floor and walked into the living area.
Roland leaned against the kitchen island, his eyes closed, half a glass of what Donny assumed was vodka dangling from his fingers. Donny stopped at the coffee table, scooping their leftover food back into their respective containers, noticing Roland’s plate had gone largely untouched. Donny stacked the plates and to-go boxes and carried them into the kitchen, setting the plates in the sink and opening the fridge to store the food.
He was met with emptiness. There was literally nothing in the fridge, not even a box of baking soda.
“Do you not cook, Roland?” Donny questioned over his shoulder.
Roland shrugged and took a drink, unable to meet Donny’s eyes.
“Alright,” Donny enunciated the T with a flick of his tongue and closed the refrigerator, straightening up. He walked to Roland, took the drink from his hand, and set it on the counter. He reached up and twisted the ends of Roland’s hair around his fingers, tugging Roland down for a kiss. Roland opened his mouth slightly at Donny’s persistence, and Donny still didn’t feel any heat in it. He released Roland’s hair and stepped away, shoving his hands in his back pockets.
"We can play the non-consent game if you like, Roland, but I need to know you’re actually into what I’m doing before we cross that line.”
“What?” Roland questioned, picking his glass back up and taking another drink. Donny watched the muscles of Roland’s jaw as he swallowed what had to have been an entire mouthful of vodka.
“Do you not like affection or whatever? I was just inside you, and you were begging me to fuck you harder, harder, harder, and now you won’t make eye contact with me, you won’t kiss me. I don’t know what you want from me.” Donny ran a hand through his hair and shoved it back inside his pocket. He stared at Roland’s face, even though Roland still refused to meet his eyes.
“No, it’s just…” Roland closed his mouth, then opened it to take another drink. The glass was empty now, and Roland fumbled it back down to the counter. He took a step toward Donny and closed his eyes, reaching his hand out to stroke through Donny’s tousled hair. Roland kissed the top of Donny’s head. “It’s just nothing. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not nothing. But whatever you say. I can tell when I’ve overstayed my welcome.” Donny separated himself from Roland and, against his better judgement, pointed toward an untouched bag on the counter. “Did you still want Pete to stay here?”
“Yes, please.”
“Well, that’s his stuff. You should be fine. You just need to make sure he doesn’t fuck with the bandage, and give him his medicine in the morning. I should be done at work between three and four, so I’ll come back to grab him then, okay?”
Roland looked up at Donny, his hair obscuring most of his face, and nodded. "Sounds good to me.”
“Well, alright then.”
Donny furrowed his brows, unsure of what was happening. He was pretty certain he somehow had just been demoted to fuck boy, and that didn’t sit well with him. But being inside of Roland had felt fucking awesome so he was willing to let this play out a little bit longer. Roland still wouldn’t meet his eyes, and the air in the room shifted to that same awkward and unwelcome vibe he’d picked up on the night before.
He opened the door to go and had one foot out of the penthouse when he heard Roland’s voice from behind him.
“Thank you.” Roland was facing the door and pushed his hair behind his ear, glancing up and then quickly back down, “For dinner, I mean.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Roland,” Donny said, but Roland had already turned and walked away.
Chapter 8
Be Here For This
Roland was out of vodka.
He’d managed to fall asleep a few hours after Donny left the night before. It was a surprisingly restful sleep, and he only woke up because Pete was on his pillow kneading his hair and meowing into his ear. Roland stumbled out of bed and dumped the contents of the bag from Donny onto the counter. There was a Ziploc bag of food which he poured into a bowl and set down on the floor for Pete. He filled another bowl with water and placed it down as well, before he filled the litter box Donny had provided and set it on the floor a few feet from the food.
“Pete,” Roland said, looking down at the little cat. Pete looked up at the sound of his name, and Roland pointed at the litter box. Pete looked at the litter box, flicked his tail in the air, and went back to eating. Roland hoped Pete got the message, but if not, most of the penthouse floors were concrete. Cleanup wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Roland opened the freezer andthatwas when he realized he’d finished all the vodka. He debated popping out to get some more, but a glance at his phone let him know it was barely seven in the morning which he knew was not an acceptable time of day to be buying hard liquor. So instead he dialed the building concierge and requested three bottles from their shopping service.
