“Oh fuck, right there, harder.” Aaron gasped, and then moaned long and low before saying, “What are you saying?”
Quinn moved enough to get more force behind his thrusts. “That in another life, we’d been some sort of high school sweethearts who made it?”
He was getting close, spurred on by the ecstasy on Aaron’s face. To know he could have this effect on Aaron was everything.
Aaron let out a litany of curses, then arched his back slightly and quickly jerked himself off to an orgasm that made him turn into a vise around Quinn’s dick.
Quinn couldn’t hold back any longer, either. Instead, he let go and came hard enough to feel it in his whole body, then slumped on top of Aaron. He had just enough energy left to put a hand down to support his weight a bit, then awkwardly did the getting rid of the condom thing.
When he came back from the bathroom, Aaron looked at him with some sadness in his gaze.
“What?”
“I think our lives are some Shakespeare quality shit, Quinn. A fucking drama with some weird comedic bits and a great tragedy at the end.”
“Don’t say that,” Quinn said, feeling genuinely upset.
Before Aaron could reply, Quinn’s phone buzzed on the floor where he’d left it. He picked it up and sat on the edge of the bed.
“For fuck’s sake!” He punched the mattress next to his hip when he read the message.
“What is it?”
“Charlie. She can’t get time off until starting Saturday. Someone’s sick and another server is home with sick kids. She’s literally the only one able to work in addition to the owner’s wife.”
Aaron winced. Then he thought quickly, like he always had. “So we leave on Saturday. It’s Sunday now. That’s a week.”
“I wish she wasn’t this stubborn,” Quinn grumped as he texted Charlie back.
Aaron laughed out loud. “Quinn, she has a kid to feed. If everything returns to normal, if the only way is for her to come back here, she needs that job. She needs security for Lennox. It’s completely reasonable from her point of view not to leave town without that.”
“I know that!” Quinn snapped, immediately regretting it. “I just hate that I can’t do anything about that.”
“Yeah,” Aaron said in a decidedly “it is what it is” kind of tone.
Quinn leaned back where he sat, resting his head on Aaron’s thighs. He looked up at the boy he’d loved since he was a teenager and wondered how being with Aaron now could hurt this much. The elusive memories of that summer had started to feel like a utopia of sorts. Like it couldn’t have been as good as he remembered it.
But he saw it there, in Aaron’s eyes, even now. Even after a decade of fucked up distance, tragedy, and getting hurt in various ways. “I love you. I’ve always loved you.”
Aaron’s face did something extremely complicated, then he smiled sadly. “Yeah.” It was as close to a declaration Quinn was going to get right now, and that was okay.
“I have to go,” Quinn said and pushed himself upright. “I need to find a way to figure out how much Ian knows. Arthur too.”
“It can’t be easy, having to keep stuff from them when they’re your family.”
“No, no it’s not.” Quinn got dressed, foregoing a shower in lieu of getting out of the house where his emotions were starting to overwhelm him. He leaned in to kiss Aaron. “Stay safe for me. Keep an eye on Charlie and Lennox if you can. This might…this might get messy. I’ll try to give you a heads-up if I need you to leave in a rush, okay?”
“Okay.” Aaron fisted his hair and pulled him close into a kiss that tasted of desperation. Then he pushed Quinn away. “Go.”
Quinn left the house.
* * * *
He went to have lunch with Aunt Karen. She seemed almost like her typical take no-BS self, but there was an undercurrent Quinn could feel, so he chose not to poke at her. When she was already worried, she would clam up when it came to the issue at hand.
“So, when I came home last night, I drove past the old sheriff’s house…” She trailed off, raising an eyebrow at him over her mug of coffee.
Quinn rolled his eyes. “Yes, I spent the night with Aaron. It’s not like you’re surprised.”
