But he sniffles softly in his sleep as his head rests against my shoulder, completely immobilizing me. He’s still dressed only in his briefs, the tight black fabric emphasizing the gentle pink flush his skin shows after he’s slept for so long.
Soft brown hair is pressed against his forehead and sticking up against the pillow; his hands rest against his chest as he curls up on his side.
Landon looks peaceful. He looks young and soft. Which, to be fair, heisyoung. Much younger than I am.
But I’m still startled by how innocent he appears in his sleep—like the kind of boy who wouldn’t hurt a bunny.
I wish I could forget what I saw last night. I wish I hadn’t comforted him or let him off the hook so easily after he tortured me with that cock sleeve.
Sure, I could have removed it at any point, but theaudacityof slipping it onto my dick in the first place was already, in and of itself, enough to make me want to beat him.
No way was I admitting defeat in front of him. I willnotback down or give him any sort of ammunition against me.
And then he went and threw me for a loop, giving mejust that:something to use against him. Clearly, Landon has something eating him up inside, and even though he didn’t specifically tell me what it is, he got vulnerable with me.
Landon also hates it when I’m not around, I’m realizing. My not traveling to California this weekend truly upset him, which I find odd. When I do go, all I do is fuck him hard or torture painful orgasms out of his body.
I haven’t even asked him about his gift of coercion in weeks, and Idefinitelyhaven’t asked about his mysterious uncle.
Any day now, the council will be reaching out, demanding answers or insisting on sending a different repressor to capture Landon. Neither of those things is even slightly appealing to me, but I can’t bring myself to waste the time wedoget together on such a boring topic.
Landon would get suspicious. He’d push me away. Or worse, he’ll clam up and fall apart again, just like he did last night.
A dissatisfied, paranoid sound leaves me as I rub my hand—the onenotconnected to the arm Landon is lying against—over my face.
But the sound stirs him anyway, despite my leaving him be, and I watch as his brows pinch and he shuffles slightly. He’s about to wake up, and I’m not sure what that is going to look like.
Will he panic again? Will he be angry? Or will I get incredibly lucky, and Landon will find it within himself to just be the normal Landon I know?
I wantthatto be the reality I’m about to experience, so before his eyes can open, I conjure my illusion and bring him back to the endless sky he loves so much: alone and safe.
Bright green eyes blink open a second later, widening quickly as he takes in the infinite black and the uncountable number of small, twinkling stars.
“N-Nate?” he whispers, his voice full of something thick and low. I’ve heard how he sounds when he’s just waking up, and this isn’t it.
It sounds like emotion.
“I’m here,” I tell him, careful to keep my own voice calm and disinterested.
“Can I see you?” Landon sounds a little startled, so I roll onto my side to lie next to him and include myself in his own personal pocket of the universe.
His gaze snaps to mine, his body relaxing as he reaches out and rests a hand over my bicep.
“Hi,” he greets hesitantly.
“Morning.”
Landon is staring at me like he doesn’t know where we should go from here. Like he’s just as freaked out by all of this as I am. And I wish I hadsomekind of answer to give him, but I honestly don’t.
“About last night,” he finally starts, his eyes dropping to stare at my chest. Is heshy?“I’m not normally like that. I don’t know why I… Can we just forget about it? I really don’t want you to… You know…”
Treat him differently? Stop manhandling him? Leave completely, or kick him out?
“Everyone is entitled to having a moment, Landon,” I say coolly, and suddenly all my worries about what’s happening between us fade into the realization thatnothinghas to happen between us. We can just forget about it.
“Right,” he agrees, nodding his head a little too quickly.
“I have no intention of changing how I treat you or walking on eggshells around you. Though I will…” I take a deep breath, focusing on the stars that surround us. “I’ll call next time.”
