“Does that happen a lot?” Emil frowned from the armchair where he sat with his mug and Mouse curled up on his lap.
“More than you’d think, probably. Random people come and say they’re actually the person mentioned somewhere, and if I would be interested in hearing something from their point of view, or even claim they have the right to have the whole thing pulled because they aren’t represented fairly. Half of the time it’s not even the person in the story, just a wannabe troublemaker or a troll.” She looked mildly disgusted at the thought, and Makai could understand.
“But, yeah, even though I had other people in prison that became friends, Kaos is the only one I wouldn’t mind getting in touch with.”
“Why haven’t you?” Alice asked.
“I don’t know… I mean, it was me who told him that he shouldn’t contact me once he got out. He did send me a few letters, but I stopped responding. He had his life ahead of him, and I was looking at twenty years, you know.”
“And this is why you’re an idiot, Makai Stone,” Emil said in a fond tone. “But you’re my idiot, so….”
Alice chuckled and changed the subject to something else.
THAT EVENING,after Alice left with a promise to stay in touch, and they’d had a dinner and a walk, Makai saw something different in Emil’s expression.
By the time they were getting ready to shower and go to bed, it was obvious that Emil had something on his mind. Makai didn’t have time to ask about it, because Emil was going to grab the first shower.
Except he stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and turned to look at Makai, who was lounging on the bed.
“Do you want to come with me?” he asked, looking hesitant but hopeful.
“What?” Makai knew he looked surprised.
Emil seemed to steel himself for a few beats. “Do you want to come shower with me?”
Makai didn’t ask if Emil was sure. It had taken them time to get to this point, and even now it hadn’t really been that long. “Okay,” he said and smiled. “Can you help me get the shirt off?”
Emil came to him, then helped him out of his T-shirt. Together, they wrapped his cast and secured it with some tape, and then Emil promptly turned on the shower, took off his own clothes, and stepped into the cubicle.
Makai had seen Emil naked before, sort of. While he was fresh out of the shower and changing his clothing, a few times Makai had been present. But not like this. Not with clear permission to look.
Emil was skinny, but not skin and bones. His curls turned dark as soon as they got wet, and when Emil ran his fingers through his hair to get the water and hair off his face, Makai realized that he was gaping, not taking his sweats and underwear off and joining.
He snapped his mouth shut and undressed, then got into the shower. They could just fit, but because Makai’s shower chair he’d had for after the hospital was still there, Makai decided to take their height difference out of the equation by sitting down.
Emil shot him a shy smile when he turned around. “Remember your cast,” he said, when Makai forgot about it and almost let water sluice down his bicep.
“Oops. I guess I’m just liking what I see,” he said honestly, because this kind of thing would never work between them without honesty.
Emil blushed, then ducked out of the way of the water. “Wet your hair. I’ll wash it for you.”
Having Emil do just that was oddly sensual, and Makai couldn’t help but to moan at the pleasure of Emil tugging at his hair a bit. He got hard but ignored it. What he couldn’t ignore, though, was Emil’s erection that got harder and harder with every passing moment.
“You want me to do something about that?” he asked, not needing to specify what he meant.
Emil’s fingers stopped; then he swallowed audibly and nodded.
“I need words, Emil.”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, then. Just… maybe take your fingers away from my head,” Makai said gently. He wasn’t sure which of them he was trying not to spook. He let his bad arm rest on the armrest of the shower chair and used his other hand to pull Emil closer by his waist. “Just say stop or no and I will stop immediately, okay?”
The answer came out breathy, “Yeah.”
Makai leaned closer, grateful of the way Emil had turned his body so that the water didn’t hit Makai. He watched as Emil’s abs contracted, making his cock bob.
“I don’t know how even this bit of you is so fucking pretty,” Makai blurted out, then hid his weird embarrassment by kissing the tip of Emil’s cock. He tasted sweet and salty, and nothing about it was familiar at all. It was such a fucking relief, Makai didn’t hesitate to slide his lips over the pretty cock.
