Quinn opened his eyes, his dark gaze meeting Aaron’s and holding it.
Aaron pulled back, feeling Quinn’s muscles flutter, and then thrust slowly back in. He angled his hips so that his cock rode against Quinn’s gland, and Quinn gasped and shuddered. His hard cock throbbed between their sweaty bodies, and Aaron grinned.
“You want that fucking now?”
“Do it, Aaron. Fuck me.”
Aaron began to thrust more quickly. He groaned as he felt Quinn’s legs wrap around him, pulling him closer. He wished he was closer; wished he could kiss him, but he was concentrating on angling his thrusts now, concentrating on finding a rhythm, concentrating on holding himself above Quinn without his body giving out on him. He was trembling so much with the effort that if he leaned down for a kiss, he thought he’d collapse on top of Quinn.
Quinn didn’t break his gaze.
Aaron thrust steadily, bringing those eyes in and out of focus as he shifted back and forth. They seemed preternaturally bright in the faint light of the moonlit room. Aaron couldn’t look away if he tried.
“Aaron,” Quinn murmured, his fingers tightening on Aaron’s hips. His voice cracked as he raised his hips to meet Aaron’s thrusts. “Aaron!”
Aaron gasped for breath. “Quinn!”
Quinn arched up. He tightened his legs around Aaron. His whole body jerked and shuddered, and he came first. Aaron’s balls contracted as Quinn shuddered and his hot cum spurted between their stomachs. Aaron snapped his hips quickly. A shiver ran up his spine and then he came as well, his cock pulsing inside Quinn’s trembling flesh.
Aaron gasped. “Jesus!”
Quinn panted for breath.
Aaron withdrew. His hands were shaking so much he could hardly pull off the condom. He grimaced and dropped it on the floor, too fucking wrecked to put his leg back on and make the trek to the bathroom right now.
“Did you just—” Quinn rolled up into a seated position. “Fucking gross, man.”
“Fuck off,” Aaron murmured, relaxing into the mattress.
Quinn rose to his feet and padded around the bed. He picked up the condom and disappeared out the door.
Fucking finicky for an addict, a part of Aaron wanted to yell after him, but it felt like a low blow tonight, even for them. So he yelled, instead, “Get me a beer?”
He heard the toilet flush, and then, a little while later, the floorboards creaked as Quinn headed for the kitchen. He was back shortly afterward, a lit cigarette in his mouth, a beer in one hand, and a coffee mug ashtray in the other. He passed Aaron the beer, and then settled back in the bed beside him, a pillow jammed between his spine and the headboard.
Aaron sat up and cracked the beer open. He watched Quinn smoke, each inhale illuminating his face.
“What’d you come here for tonight?” he asked at last.
Quinn shrugged and looked away. “Don’t ask me that, Aaron.”
Aaron’s stomach sank. It wasn’t regret. It was the same disquiet he’d felt before. The feeling that he and Quinn were right together, but that nothing good could come of it.
“You can stay if you want,” he said. “But chances are Uncle Will’s gonna turn up in the morning with breakfast.”
“Yeah.” Quinn’s mouth turned down. “I don’t exactly want to run into the law.”
“I figured.” Aaron sipped his beer. “What’s stopping you from going back to Chicago, Quinn? Whatever you’re here for, it can’t end well.”
“Uncle Ian’s dying,” Quinn said, his voice low. “You probably don’t remember, but he was…he was always good to me. I don’t give a fuck about the rest of the family, and I’m not here to step into my dad’s shoes, okay?” He looked for a moment like he was going to say something else, but shook his head instead, and took another drag on his cigarette. “All this shit with Charlie and my—herkid, and with you…shit, I never saw any of it coming. I never thought I’d run into either of you again.”
“I thought of you,” Aaron said softly. “In Afghanistan. You know they say your life flashes before your eyes? That was bullshit in my case, but afterwards…I did a lot of lying around in a bunch of different hospital beds, with nothing to do but think. And I thought of you a lot. Not how you are now. I thought of you when you were seventeen, and how alive I felt that summer. How perfect everything was. Was it just nostalgia?”
Quinn’s mouth curled up in a bitter smile. “No. It wasn’t nostalgia, but we were dumb kids who thought we could get away from this town. It just dragged us both back in though, didn’t it? There’s no escaping it.”
“Like a black hole,” Aaron said.
Quinn snorted. “I was thinking more like the grave.”
