“This better be good.” His protest would have been more effective had he not curled into my side. I took him by the hand and led him into the bathroom. We both stripped and I turned on some soft music as Mason stared at the tub filled with steaming water as if he had no clue what to do next.
I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He rested his head on my shoulder as I tightened my grip.
“You do realize I’m a sure thing, right?” he teased, turning his head to kiss my jaw. “I’m not some chick you need to wine and dine to get into your bed.”
“Good thing, since I have no desire toeverseduce a woman,” I pointed out, nudging him toward the edge of the tub. I reached down to take off his brace before guiding him into the water. “Lean forward.”
He did, allowing me room to slide into the water behind him. I draped my legs over his and my arms around his chest, pulling him back to me.
“I’ve had sex more times than I can count in my life,” I told him, reaching for the soap and a wash cloth. He sighed as I began running the sudsy cloth over his chest. “But this…this is different. You’ve opened my eyes to the idea of having something more than that.”
The washcloth slid into the water and I continued massaging my way down to his hips, ignoring the way his back arched, causing his thick cock to jut out from beneath the surface of the water. His moans and sighs every time I found a sensitive spot on his body had me squeezing my eyes shut to try to maintain control of the situation. My body screamed in agony, having Mason so close, naked and wet, while my mind refused to let me cave to his earlier request.
We stayed in the water until it cooled to an uncomfortable temperature. I pushed Mason forward and stepped out, reaching for a towel for both of us. I helped him out of the tub and dried him before taking him back to bed. He seemed to have forgotten that he’d wanted to get laid tonight and wound up falling asleep before I could return from making sure the house was locked and the alarm set.
I laid next to him, pulling the sheet over both of our naked bodies and tried to go to sleep. When that didn’t work, I rolled to my side and watched him sleep, promising myself that taking it slow would pay off in the end.
* * *
Abi was alreadyawake and sitting at the breakfast island when I walked downstairs in the morning. It was too early on a Sunday morning for a college student to be awake, and I knew there was something more going on than she was saying, but I wasn’t prepared to deal with either issue before coffee.
“I figured you two would stay in bed until noon, given the way you were eye fucking him on the way home from the airport,” Abi said in greeting. It was definitely too early to deal with her blunt sarcasm.
“Abi, you really need to cool it. I probably messed up by telling you what I did, but I needed someone in my corner. Please, do not make me regret that decision.” The fact that she passed me a mug as well as a plate with a slice of cherry kringle went a long way toward dissolving my misgivings. “Thank you.”
“No problem. I figured you weren’t going to be in the mood to cook, and it’s been a while since I had one of these,” she said, holding up the pastry. I looked in the plain white box on the counter and saw that she’d devoured nearly half of it already. Between her recent appetite and Mason’s, it was entirely possibly I’d go bankrupt having both of them in the house for the next two weeks.
He already told you he had to go back today. Don’t get ahead of yourself.I didn’t want him to go back to Chicago.
“Abi, is everything okay with you?” I asked, settling on the stool next to her. She shook her head as she guzzled her own mug of coffee. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head again. Rather than continue shoving kringle into her face as fast as humanly possible, she started picking apart the layers of flaky pastry. I watched this go on until her breakfast was nearly unrecognizable and grabbed her hand.
“What’s going on?” I pressed, turning her stool so she was facing me. “Whatever it is, you know I won’t say anything to anyone, but you’re a horrible liar and I’m worried about you.”
“It’s everything,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I keep thinking about dropping out of school, but I know that’d be stupid. But, I just…I can’t do it, Sean. I have no clue if I want to be a social worker, and I have no clue how I’m going to get into grad school, much less stick with it until I’m done. I’m tired. I’m thinking about taking a break, but I know what Mom and Dad are going to say about that.”
She finally looked up at me and I nodded in understanding. Our parents always made it abundantly clear that they would help us pay for school on the condition that we kept our grades up and didn’t stop until we reached the finish line. That wasn’t an issue for me, thanks to scholarships and the draft, but Abi was struggling between what she wanted and keeping them happy.
“What can I do to help?” I asked, hating to see her in pain. She started crying and I pulled her into my arms, cradling her head as she sobbed into my shoulder.
“I don’t know. I know I keep saying that, but it’s how I feel about everything right now. It’s like everything I thought made sense doesn’t now, and I’m not sure if it ever will.” My coffee was lukewarm by the time she settled down enough for me to let her go.
“My door’s always open for you, got it? You’re too close to graduation to quit.” God, I sounded so much like my dad when I said that, it was scary. But it was also the truth. She was two semesters away from having a degree. Even if she decided she didn’t want to go for anything beyond a Bachelor’s degree, she’d regret not sticking through the next year.
I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Mason sitting quietly in the living room. I’d been so engrossed in Abi’s drama, I hadn’t even heard him come downstairs. He noticed me watching him and gave me a soft smile before turning his attention back to the television, which was muted.
I was surrounded by two of the most important people in my life, and it seemed both of them were fighting demons. It was unsettling for me to admit that I had no answers to help either of them.
Mason disappeared up the stairs and returned a short time later, dressed, and ready to leave. It hadn’t dawned on me last night, but we needed to figure out how he was going to get back to the city. I had to be at the ballpark in less than two hours, and with traffic, there was no way I could make the round trip.
“Hey, Abi, you up for another road trip?” I asked. Mason filled a travel mug with coffee, oblivious to what was going on around him.
I got distracted watching him, thinking that he looked good in my space. Even though I bitched about how it sucked coming home to an empty house, I’d never wanted to share my home with anyone. It would be too easy getting used to having him here all the time.
“Possibly, why?” she responded, shoving yet another slice of pastry into her mouth. The girl was going to wind up three hundred pounds if she didn’t watch it.
“Well, Mason has to get back to Chicago for therapy today. I’d let him use my truck, but it’s a stick and he needs to take it easy on his hand.”
