So I do.
Kendrick jerks in surprise and then relaxes, letting me do whatever I want. He curls a hand around the back of my neck, holding me steady as I feast on his skin. He tastes as good as he smells.
His mouth is waiting for me when I lift my head, and I immediately open mine, demanding a kiss like the one he gave me in the car and on the morgue stairs.
He obliges with a guttural moan that’s like poetry. His tongue explores my mouth, and I climb into his lap, wanting to be closer. The pleasure that sings through me at his touch isn’t sexual, it isn’t something that makes my dick stand up and ask for attention. It feeds something much deeper than that. A more important part of me that craves him like a drug.
Kendrick pulls away with another groan. “I don’t understand you right now,” he says hoarsely. “Why are you taking so much all of a sudden?”
“It’s not sudden.” Does it feel like that to him? I’ve demanded everything from him the entire time we’ve known each other. The second he was in my orbit, he was mine. Just like I’m his. I didn’t know that I could have this without promising more. As if Kendrick would ever force me to do anything I don’t want to.
“Is this because I was hurt?”
“Iswhatbecause you were hurt?” I ask sharply. I hate bringing this up. The memory of the panic when I woke in a strange place, with no Kendrick and no idea what had happened to him… it stillhaunts me like a scab that won’t heal over. He’s not the only one that has nightmares.
“Why you’re being so clingy?”
“I’ve always been clingy.” I’m offended that he thinks this attitude is somehow new in any way.
“Not like this.”
That’s a lie. Maybe the way that I’m showing it is a little different. The burning desire to crawl inside him and never let him more than a foot away from me is so much worse than it’s ever been, but the clingy? That’s always been there.
“You’re my person.” It’s that simple. Why does it have to be complicated?
“Your dick’s soft.”
“That’s not news.” I rarely get hard at the best of times and not ever for any particular reason. Most of the time I can ignore it. It doesn’t make me need. Not the way that I need Kendrick.
“When people make out like this, when theymarkme, it means they want something else, Spence. You have to know that.”
Jealousy and anger burst in my chest, and my lips curl. “Who the fuck has marked you?” How dare anyone else even think they have a right to? The only marks on him are mine. Becausehe’smine. No one else’s. I’ll hunt every single one of them down and leave them bleeding out on the floor while I leave bites all over Kendrick, right in front of them. A visual reminder of just why they’re dying.
“You’re not listening to me.”
“Answer the fucking question,” I demand through gritted teeth. “Recently?” The rage spreads until it’s all I can see. I tear at his shirt, roughly yanking it open. Some buttons fly off, and I don’t care. I need to see his chest, see where they touched him. Put my mouth over the top and remove any traces of them until I’m all that’s left.
“Spence, stop it.” He sounds exasperated, not angry.
“If you have nothing to hide, show me.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” He traps my hands in his and holds tight when I try to tug away from him.
“Who has touched you?”
“No one. We literally spend every waking moment together; when would I have had time to be with anyone else?”
“I shower.”
Kendrick raises a judgmental eyebrow. “You think I pop over to the neighbours for a quick fuck while you’re in the bathroom?”
I hadn’t, but now I do. “Who are your neighbours?” While I can hear everything they do through the paper-thin walls, I’ve never met them. What if they’re another Henry? Young, single, gay. Kendrick is a catch.Mycatch.
“Oh my god. Spence, it’s just you. You know that. Stop it. What the hell’s wrong with you? You need me to take my shirt off?”
“Yes.”
He doesn’t argue further and finishes unbuttoning the shirt before dragging it and his jacket off his shoulders. The expanse of his chest is smooth. Unblemished. Hairless. He waxes, and I like it that way. It lets my hands roll down the warm skin better, and it emphasises all his hard, toned muscles. I can appreciate how much man I have under me.
