“Then why won’t he let me help him?”
“Until some decisions are made, he can’t be seen to play favorites. For a loser and a wuss, he’s now got a pretty good handle on which way the wind blows around these parts.”
Dustin twitched up one corner of his mouth. “He should, you’re guiding him.”
“Yeah, yeah. Flattery will get you everywhere. Now go home and get some rest. Tomorrow is the full moon. I’m sure between wandering Tiffany, the Johnson Boys’ Three-Ring Circus, and keeping Junior’s knife out of your back, you’ll have your hands full.”
Another reason to want Seth and Monica with him—to help watch his back. “You have a gift for understatement. You going to Seth’s tonight?”
Monica studied her fingernails. “I’m staying there. For now.” “Oh?” She’d been sleeping under the same roof with Seth and hadn’t killed him yet?
“It’s the safest thing.”
Safest for whom?Dustin and Monica had been friends for years, but even he wasn’t immune to her acid tongue if she thought him deserving of being ripped a new asshole. “You like him now?”
“Your words, not mine.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze. Interesting. Dustin couldn’t help goading her a bit. “Why are you working with him?”
“Because I like you, and owe Irene. Besides, he’s got Irene’s cookbooks and isn’t afraid to use them.”
A likely story. But at least one of them was keeping an eye on Seth, though Dustin would have preferred to do the honors himself.
DUSTINtossed and turned, chasing elusive sleep. No use. He sighed into the darkness. Regardless of how tomorrow night turned out, things would change, for him, for Seth, for the passel. He’d longed for the mysterious McDaniel to suddenly reappear and take the burden from him; now he feared for Seth’s survival.
Abapsounded against his bedroom window, probably a windborne acorn. He listened to the night, sensing a disturbance outside he couldn’t identify. Only one person in the passel besides himself shielded completely enough to create a void where their presence should be. But why the hell would Monica sneak up on him in the middle of the night? He hadn’t pissed her off lately, had he?
Thebap!came again, which he now realized might be a rock hitting the window frame. Seth used to throw rocks to get Dustin’s attention when he sneaked over to visit after bedtime. Dustin left his pillow-covered haven behind and trudged to the window to raise the glass.
“Seth?”
A dark blur launched itself at the window; Dustin moved out of the way in the nick of time. The blur landed on the floor, righted itself, and then launched another attack. Dustin found himself flat on his back on the bed, pinned in place, his mouth being devoured.
After an initial moment of shock, he brought his arms up around Seth, returning the man’s eager enthusiasm. “Oh, Seth,” he murmured against his lover’s mouth, “damn, but I missed you.”
“Shh… don’t talk. Just feel.”
Seth shimmied out of a pair of shorts; Dustin slept in the nude. Seth latched his mouth onto Dustin’s neck, bathing the skin with his tongue and scraping with his teeth enough to shoot an arrow straight through Dustin’s libido. Seth ground an impressive erection against Dustin’s rising hardness.
Grasping Seth’s backside with both hands, Dustin rocked up, meeting desperate stroke with desperate stroke. Suddenly Seth rolled them, pushing and pulling until they lay lengthwise on the bed, face to face on their sides. Seth brought his leg up and hooked it around Dustin’s thigh, anchoring their bodies together. He wrapped a hand around their joined cocks, thrusting hard into his fist. “Tomorrow night, things may change. Tonight we’re equals,” he said. “Fuck me.”
Dustin squirmed to free himself, but Seth tightened the grip with his leg. “Where are you going?”
“Supplies are in the dresser, remember?”
“Find my shorts.”
Dustin rolled away enough to pat the floor, located the discarded garment, and rummaged through the pocket. He unrolled the condom over his ready length. “What about…?”
He swore he heard a grin in Seth’s voice. “It pays to plan ahead.”
Dustin probed an experimental finger at Seth’s opening and found it already well-lubricated. He groaned, his cock hardening further. Damn. Just damn.
“I didn’t want to waste any time.” Seth rolled to his back, his legs falling open.
Dustin was on him before he stopped moving, sinking in and huffing out a breathy, “Oh fuck, that feels good.” A slick, hot tightness slowly yielded to his entry, wrapping around him and stealing coherent thought. Seth. Here. Under him. Opening for him. Nothing else mattered but Seth’s fingers exploring Dustin’s shoulders, Seth’s mouth upon Dustin’s own.
Dustin lost himself in the moment and his lover’s body, surging forward and back, angling to hit the perfect spot and make things good for them both. Moans, groans, and whimpering cries filled the room, joined by the heady scent of cologne, sweat, and sex.
Seth dug both legs into Dustin’s thighs, urging him on. Dustin plunged in again and again, desperate to reach the finish line. The part of his mind still functioning fought the release, determined to cling to the moment and Seth for as long as possible. No telling what tomorrow would bring.
