AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is he okay?” I ask.
Travis sounds startlingly confident when he says, “He will be.”
“Carter has done this before,” Jake adds, giving me a guilty look from his spot in the driver’s seat. “And Trav always pulls him out. He’ll be okay. Travis can handle this.”
I look back at my best friend holding my brother. I trust him, but… “What even happened?”
“I happened,” Travis says, his voice hoarse. His eyes fall to Carter in his arms, the man looking like he’s about to break apart himself. “I did this to him.”
We don’t talk for a while after that, all of us aware of the truth of that statement, but when we get to the apartment Carter and Casey share, Travis says, “Why don’t you bring him in, Jake? And you can spend the night. Keep an eye on him. Hang out with Casey. I’ll go back with Maison.”
“No,” I say immediately. Travis looks at me, startled. “Jake can stay too, but Carter needs you, Trav. I’m sorry I didn’t see that sooner. Please. Stay with him.”
The only way to describe Travis’s expression is relief. Pure, intense relief. “Thank you.”
Nolan is still awake when Jake and I get back to the house. Jake slinks off to his room, mumbling that he’ll go pick Travis up in the morning since we left him there without a vehicle. He’s been quiet and pouty because Casey didn’t want him to stay the night.
I frown at Nolan once we’re alone. “It’s late. You shouldn’t have waited.”
He frowns right back at me. “You honestly think I could sleep with you all leaving like that? Aside from worrying about you, I was worried about Carter, too.”
“He’s okay,” I say with a heavily relieved sigh.
“And you?” he asks. “Are you okay?”
“I’m…” I take a breath through my nose to settle myself. “Worried. I thought he was doing better, but seeing him tonight… He was empty, almost. Like how he was in the laundry room after I yelled. I think he fucked someone. Or tried to. Someone other than Travis, I mean. That’s what happened tonight. He went to this kink thing at a club and met a guy and fucking left with him. The guy claims he didn’t hurt him, not in a way Carter didn’t want, but it triggered him. Travis said it was his fault. A trigger from something Travis did in the past. I couldn’t even get myself to ask. I didn’t want to know. I just…” I shake my head, bringing a hand up to rub at the ache between my eyes. “I’m worried and confused and relieved, I guess. And tired.” I sigh, letting my eyes settle on him again. A smile automatically tugs at my lips. “And really happy you’re awake even though you shouldn’t be.”
He beams at that. “Come sit with me?”
Despite it being late, I still find myself folding down on the floor beside him, unable to turn down the request that matches my own selfish needs so well. The fire has mostly died, leaving the room a little chilly. I grab a blanket from the nearby wicker basket full of them and drape it over Nolan’s shoulders, pulling it forward until it’ll stay around him instead of slipping off.
He peers through his lashes at me with a shy little smile. “Thank you.”
And there’s just something about that moment, about the relief that Carter is safe, about Nolan here waiting for me, about seeing him all warm and soft, about that shy little smile that makes me unravel inside, about that flush on his cheeks, about the late hour, about the adrenaline crash, about Nolan—and I break.
I am a weak, selfish man, and I fucking break.
“Nolan?”
“Yes?”
“I’d very much like to kiss you now.”
He makes the softest sound, all relief and want, and sways forward. “Please.”
I wrap my fingers around the back of his neck and guide him, meeting him halfway with a touch of my lips to his. We rest there for the length of a breath before I press hard enough to feel his mouth yield beneath mine. He inhales sharply, lips parting in an invitation I greedily accept with the tip of my tongue. His lips are soft and pillowy as I push past them, the inside of his mouth tasting like coffee and sweet creamer.
I pull away, allowing him air, allowing him the chance to stop. His eyes are wide and impossibly bright despite the dim lighting.
“Okay?” I whisper, my voice trembling.
“Better than,” he murmurs. “Again?”
I grin. “As many times as you’ll let me.”
He meets me halfway this time, no need for guiding or carefully pressing together in a test. He’s hungry. Desperate. Our knees knock together as he tries getting into my lap. I grab his hips, helping him along, hiking him up and forward until we’re flush against each other, swallowing each other’s moans. His hands shake as they rake through my hair and hold on at the back of my head. My teeth scrape his bottom lip, tongue darting out after to soothe whatever sting I may have caused.
I try to pull away again, panting, skin buzzing, wanting to make sure this is okay, wanting to make sure this isn’t too rough for him, too—but he drags me back in, his own teeth finding my lips this time.
