Bad Influence (36 page)

He meant to go easy, didn’t want to hurt him, but the twitch on Silver’s cock was so damned sweet. The way the outer muscle fought against him on the way in made him lose his mind. He pistoned up, every flex of his ass as he drove in taking him higher, until another ragged groan from Zeb sent Silver over the top, pounding his last few strokes in as the orgasm pumped out of his dick, so hot and sugary good.

After they cleaned up and went back outside, Silver kept his arm around Zeb’s waist, daring any of their friends to make a smart remark. Jamie’s arched brows retreated when Silver gave him smug right back.

Eli laughed and shook his head. “I’ll get the ice cream.”

Marco put his head down on the table, covering it with his arms. “I really need a fuck.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Since Quinn didn’t have to be at work at the ass crack of dawn, he was still hanging around a cup of coffee in the kitchen when Silver made it downstairs on Thursday morning.

Silver sat down across from him. “Zeb’s driving out to the camp tomorrow.”

Quinn closed the laptop he’d been using and regarded Silver over a mug. “He is.”

“Does he have a job here next year?”

“Shouldn’t you ask him that?”

“I did.” Silver cooled his palms against the tabletop. “He said he did. As far as he knew.”

“It’s the only answer he can have until he gets tenured. They can cut him any time.”

“That sucks.”

Quinn nodded. “It does. But I think they like him. The kids did well on the assessments. No serious screaming from parents over grades. If he doesn’t make a habit of getting arrested, he should be fine.”

Silver rolled his eyes. “Right. ’Cause that’s Zeb’s style.”

“He continually surprises me.” Quinn knocked back a slug of coffee.

Silver took a deep breath. “So he’s leaving. I’m getting out at four thirty today, and he’s picking me up. And I’m going to spend the night there.”

Quinn put his mug down but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. He had the whole teacher look going for him.

“I’m not going to take off. I know you take this court thing seriously. I won’t fuck anything up.”

Quinn leaned back. Silver waited him out.

“Guess we’ll see you tomorrow then.”

The ride back up to Zeb’s apartment was so quiet Silver started fiddling with the radio, alternating between any station not on commercial and the Christian rock CD Zeb had in the player. At the end of every song, Zeb made a sound like he was about to say something, but nothing ever came out. When he wasn’t punching the buttons on the dash, Silver had to wipe his hands on his work slacks. The nervous flutter in his stomach that had started when he talked to Quinn over coffee had become a clanging alarm bell, the clapper swinging in time with the cross hanging from the rearview mirror.

There was a bunch of stuff to be said, worked out. But Silver wanted to skip all of it. Skip ahead to the part that didn’t need any fixing. Where their bodies talked. Bodies, and at least on Silver’s end of things, his heart too.

If Zeb thought Silver was going to start the conversation, the guy was out of his mind. No way was Silver risking ever feeling the way he’d felt that night again. No way was he going to ask—beg—for something and give Zeb the chance to tell him no. And working with kids with cancer was important, Silver got it, yeah, but Zeb should at least want
them
enough to say he didn’t want to leave.

Instead, when the door of Zeb’s little apartment closed, all he did was go to the kitchen and stare into the fridge. “Grilled cheese sound good?”

Silver took in the big duffel and professional-looking tall backpack lined up against the wall near the door. “Yeah. It’s fine.”

They had grilled cheese and canned tomato soup. But Silver left most of it uneaten. Living with Eli and Quinn had gotten Silver over the urge to stuff himself until he almost puked, a habit borne out of not knowing when the next chance he’d have to fill up would be. Silver wasn’t full now. But every minute that passed in silence felt like he was swallowing back volcanic rock to burn his throat and smolder in his stomach. He wiped greasy fingers off on his work slacks and pushed the food away.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I could ever measure up to Eli’s cooking,” Zeb said.

“It’s okay. I should have said I had something at the restaurant after the lunch rush.”
Should have said
made it not be a lie, right? Silver had been trying like hell not to give Zeb a reason to ever throw lying back at him. Glancing over at the gear near the door, Silver added, “So you do a lot of hiking at the camp?”

“They have a bunch of different programs for the kids. Hiking, horseback riding, swimming, boating. I like taking them out backpacking. They’re surprised at how much they can do.”

“So you’ll be coming back with super-sexy muscled legs?”
You’ll be coming back
being the part Silver most wanted the answer to.

“I hope you’ll think so.”

Okay, so there was that. Zeb planning on coming back and wanted Silver to still be interested.

Zeb put his hand over Silver’s on the table. “It’s only six weeks. Quinn said he’d help if you had any questions about the GED test.”

Right. Because the GED was what was keeping Silver up nights.

He’d had enough. Leaning forward, he grabbed Zeb’s shirt. “Let’s go to bed.”

Zeb nodded.

But it wasn’t anything like the first time Silver had been here, when they’d been so hot for each other they’d barely made it to the bed. For fuck’s sake, they stopped to brush their teeth, though it was only six o’clock.

Silver watched Zeb tuck a few more things in a toiletry bag.

“I’ll have my phone.” Zeb met Silver’s eyes in the mirror. “I don’t know how much cell coverage there is—not much if I remember correctly.”

Since Silver wasn’t going to hear the right answer to the question he was too scared to ask, he decided he didn’t want to hear anything else but moans.

He pulled Zeb into the bedroom, pushed him onto the bed and landed on top. Their kiss was full of fake mint at first. Then the toothpaste mask slipped away, and it was just them. The way Zeb kissed. The way he tasted. The way it was old and new at the same time.

Too much.

It wasn’t fair, having this back only to lose it again so fast. Silver knew better than most people that life wasn’t fair. That same knowing told him six weeks could change a hell of a lot.

He lifted his head, wanting to find the camera-lens distance that would insulate him from the cracks forming in his insides.

Rearing up, Silver focused on getting them out of their clothes efficiently and methodically, like the best of any Todd Pike Production. Zeb moaned and squirmed on cue. A tease of nipples and a light stroke on his cock had it throbbing in Silver’s hand. Everything was going along, until a glimpse at that familiar face, the darkening of Zeb’s eyes, dragged Silver back to where everything was raw, scraped feelings.

He barely stopped himself from shaking his head. Instead he braced himself on his hands to slide down Zeb’s body. A blow job would keep them both distracted.

But Zeb captured Silver’s face, freezing his movement. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Silver forced up a smile and tried to turn to kiss Zeb’s fingers, but the grip was too strong to move without a struggle.

“It feels like you’re not here.”

“I’m about to suck your cock, Zebadiah. How much more here can I get?”

Instead of shoving Silver’s head down with a
don’t let me stop you
like any guy not Zeb would, he pulled Silver close and kissed him.

All right. His mouth wasn’t the only way to drive Zeb crazy. He shifted his hips, lining up their dicks and sliding them together. Zeb met his thrusts, groaning into Silver’s mouth.

Zeb’s hands gripped Silver’s ass, urging him closer. Silver rocked them together, mouth sweeping along Zeb’s jaw and up to his ear. “Can I suck your dick now?”

Zeb rolled them onto their sides, bringing a thumb up to rub across Silver’s lips.

Silver added a little persuasion, tongue flicking out and then swirling over, finishing with a noisy suck down to the bottom knuckle.

Zeb threaded his free hand through Silver’s hair, the soothing tingle of it making everything so much worse. “Is that all you want to ask me?” Zeb whispered.

“What the—Christ. Can’t we just fuck?”

“Fine.” Zeb’s voice was flat. He pulled away and then settled himself belly-down on the mattress.

Silver reached out, but his hand froze in the air over Zeb’s shoulder. Silver’s fingers craved Zeb’s warmth, the brush of skin that had somehow managed to make him feel safe for the first time since—

But his feet ached to hit the ground running. Take off. Safety was in getting as far away as fast as possible.

“Silver?” Zeb’s voice was gentle.

Silver was afraid too much would spill out in answer, but his voice was deep and low, and thank God, steady. “I just—I want as much of you as I can get before you’re gone.”

Zeb rolled onto his side. “Okay.” He ran his hand through Silver’s hair. “Okay. You know, if I hadn’t already signed on—”

“I know.” Silver let out a sigh. It wasn’t the I’ll-stay-if-you-want-me-to he’d wanted to hear, but he’d take it. “I want you to fuck me.”

Zeb’s mouth twisted in a smile that did just as much twisting of Silver’s insides. “Okay. I think I can handle it.”

Silver had been fucked a lot. Like a thing bought and paid for. Like a pretty object arranged to the best angle. And back when he and Zeb had first done it, like Silver was a prize to be handled carefully.

Now, Zeb fucked him like a man.

Two fingers slicking and stretching, mouth making Silver twist and shift, chasing one sensation and then the other. Ripples of pleasure from his ass, tingling in his dick, a shivery echo of both when Zeb licked and sucked a bite into Silver’s belly.

A bristly jaw brushed Silver’s dick. “I’ll come.”

“That’s the plan.” Zeb’s breath, hot and sticky on the head of Silver’s cock, made him buck closer to Zeb’s mouth.

Zeb gave him the torture of one long lick, mouth clamping over the head for a perfect shuddery moment that was over too soon, leaving Silver gasping.

Waiting for Zeb to roll the condom down seemed to take forever. When he knee-walked up, Silver hiked his legs into his chest. Zeb snugged his dick up close, but he didn’t push in.

Silver looked at him, and Zeb gave him that crooked smile again. The one that meant he was laughing at himself. “Want to be kissing you when I go in.”

Silver lifted his head off the mattress to meet Zeb’s kiss. He didn’t need the distraction, but Zeb did. He groaned the instant the tip pressed into Silver’s ass. Curling up farther, he tried to capture Zeb’s tongue and his dick.

“Fuck,” Zeb whispered. His muscles trembled under Silver’s palms. “Feel good on me.”

Silver smiled into the kiss, earning a quick bite of his lower lip.

“Behave.” Zeb’s words were breathy. “I’m concentrating.”

“It’s not calculus.” The in-between was a little uncomfortable, the way Zeb’s dick got wider halfway down.

“You’re not the only one who’s trying to save up some memories,” Zeb answered through gritted teeth.

Save them for what?

Silver might have asked it out loud, but then Zeb drove all the way in, a solid, warm shock against Silver’s gland, a burn and ache from the stretch. Zeb stayed deep for a breath, kissing Silver with a firm, possessive mouth that made him want to ask for so much more than Zeb’s cock to fill his body.

Silver moved first, and Zeb matched him, working them together. The friction turned from pain to the perfect stretch, nerves pulsing in an endless loop of pleasure.

Zeb gasped in his ear, and it felt like it could have come from Silver’s throat, their bodies in complete sync.

Zeb clutched Silver’s thighs, lifting his ass, then lowered his calves so they rested on Zeb’s shoulders. It forced Silver tighter, pushed Zeb deeper, his constant stroke making Silver’s dick pulse.

Zeb leaned down, eyes so intense it added to the shiver in Silver’s belly. He reached for his dick. Zeb grabbed the headboard and nailed Silver to the mattress. There wasn’t any other way to say it. And everything he’d promised himself about knowing it could be the last time and trying to last vanished in his need to come right the fuck now.

“Yeah, Jordie. Come for me.”

Like he could stop. One more thrust, the right stroke on his dick, and it burst loose and hot and sharp, ripped from where their cocks seemed to connect on the downstroke. Then a bolt of it through his dick, pulsing from base to tip, jizz scalding where it landed on his skin.

“God, yes.” Zeb’s eyes fluttered closed, hips slamming forward over and over. “Love you, Jordan. God, I love you.”

The satisfaction drifting on the chemicals in Silver’s blood turned from sweet to bitter. It wasn’t the first time a guy had had said
I love you
when he came. And as usual, the guy wasn’t really talking to him.

Zeb had collapsed with his forehead on Silver’s shoulder. Silver pushed at him.