Laughter turned to need, low in Oliver’s gut. He had his arrangement—and a pretty girl to boot.
7
Hayden’s court date went as well as could be expected, which was to say the judge took about thirty seconds to review the reports, glanced over the top of his wire-frame glasses, and announced that Hayden could do four more weeks of house arrest for missing community service and not being where he was supposed to be after school. Hayden, in the suit they bought specifically for court appearances, hung his head and said he understood.
The ride home was a different story. Getting to the courthouse took over an hour each way, and while the drive up was always full of moody silence, Hayden chose to blow off steam on the drive home after being on his best behavior during the invariably long wait to be called and the brief appearance before the judge.
“It’s not fair!” he said as Nick pulled the car out onto the highway. “I was sick! It’s not like I didn’t go to community service because I didn’t feel like it.”
“You heard the judge,” Nick said. “Next time, you have to get a sick note for something like that.”
Hayden rolled his eyes. “That’s stupid, though. The doctor’s office isn’t even open on Saturdays. What was I supposed to do? Make sure I stayed sick until Monday so I could go get a note? Then the stupid judge would have given me another four weeks for missing school instead!”
“Do you want to talk about what happened the day you were late? You’re normally really good about coming home on time. And we both know your teacher didn’t ask you to stay. So do you want to explain what really happened?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? Because it’s not like we don’t know you’re hiding something. You know your mom and I want to help you. But we can’t if you don’t—”
“Would you get off my back, okay? I was late, what’s the big deal?” Hayden kicked angrily at the dash, making the glove compartment pop open.
“Hey!” Nick reached over to slam the compartment shut again. “There’s no need for that.”
“Well then, stop bugging me. I was late. I couldn’t find my backpack, and I was late, so what?”
“You couldn’t find your backpack?” That was a new one. “Don’t you have a locker to keep your stuff in at school?”
Hayden stared out the passenger side window.
“Well?”
“Yeah.”
“So you couldn’t find the backpack that was in your locker?”
More glum silence.
“Hayden?”
“Forget about it. I couldn’t find it, and then I did. I was late. I’m sorry I’m not perfect!”
“But don’t you understand that’s exactly what you have to be if you ever want that thing off your ankle? You have to follow every letter of the law and more.”
“But it’s so stupid!”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you started picking on your friend online, shouldn’t you?”
“He’s not my friend.”
The kid knew how to argue semantics like nobody’s business. Maybe, when this was all over, they’d talk about a future career on the other side of the courtroom.
Maybe Nick could get Oliver to talk to him. He’d said he’d been a lawyer. Maybe if Hayden talked to someone whose day was more than video games and not doing homework, he’d be inspired to do something with his life, or at least toe the line long enough to get off house arrest.
But he and Oliver agreed to stay out of each other’s personal lives, and, in a way, that was a relief. Nick was doing his best, but he struggled when it didn’t seem like things were ever going to get better for them.
Oliver was an escape, and Nick should have felt guilty about using him, but hadn't they agreed to it? Oliver’s mouth on Nick’s was enough to make him forget everything for a few minutes, and so far, they’d only managed some pretty serious kissing and a little groping. Who knew what would happen if they ever got naked? He needed to find out, even if it meant playing by Oliver’s rules.
The other night, Nick had been so turned on he thought he’d burst, but Oliver had been insistent on his condition about STI tests before anyone got to have an orgasm. Nick had left for work even more agitated, with a side of deep sexual frustration for good measure. He’d never wanted to jerk off in a bathroom stall so much, but he was an adult with a measure of self-control, so he suffered through his shift silently. He could wait. Nick needed to know what Oliver felt like—under him, in him, it didn’t matter. He needed to know, and he needed the moments of escape it could offer him.
