AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What are the… things? Written on the tree trunk?”
He finally looks at me again and raises onto his knees. I look away because the movement drags his cock out of the water, and I just barely catch his smile as he twists so his back is facing me. He runs his fingers over some of the lettering, which is impressive given there’s no way he can actually see them.
“They’re Hangul. Korean characters. They’re…um, Mom and Shiloh’s names. I’ve got Noah back there, too. The people who mean the most to me.”
I hesitate with my fingers hovering over his skin. Of all the places I’ve touched him tonight, this feels the most intimate. As soon as my fingertips brush the characters, he lets out a content exhale. I trace each one, and then the bark of the tree trunk, the branches that outline each rib, and when I start to pull away he threads his fingers over mine and wraps them around himself.
He rests our hands over the Dahlia on his stomach, and I can count each individual inhale and exhale through the touch.
“Blair.” I press my chest to his back, leaning over him at a slightly awkward angle because of the tub.
“I’ve never told anyone,” he says, stroking his fingers over the backs of my hands. “No one but you, A.”
If I was looking for confirmation, I just got it. B is Blair, and here he is pouring his heart out to me because the liquor opened him up, and that shit has to go somewhere.
“Not even Noah?” I ask, partially because I don’t understand their relationship, and partially because I want to hear him say it again.
He turns his head, our faces inches apart as I hook my chin on his shoulder. “No one but you, Atlas.”
That’s when it happens. When I see the loneliness, the longing in his eyes, and I know I promised him I wouldn’t, but I can’t be the only one coiled so tight for the need to connect in a more substantial way.
I press forward until my lips barely graze his, and then I just breathe. Watch the way his eyes widen and then fall to half mast. His lips close over mine, and it doesn’t feel electric. It doesn’t feel like every little thing is finally falling into place.
It feels like peace. Like surrender. My mind goes blank other than the rough feel of Blair’s chapped lips on mine, how they soften as my mouth moves against his.
It’s short and sweet, and for the first time in my life when I pull away I wish I could press back in for more.
His eyes flicker open a moment after mine, and I can swear I see the moment his walls fall. Walls I’d never known were there in the first place.
He threads a hand back in my hair, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows and releases a heavy breath.
And then he kisses me again, pulling me to him in a non-negotiable grip. It’s still sweet. It’s still slow. But now his tongue is stroking my mouth, seeking permission, and I give it to him without hesitation. He explores my mouth, and I think about how he still tastes faintly of alcohol, so before he can push for more, I break away and lower my lips to his shoulder.
His breathing is labored and ragged, and as I wait for us both to calm down, I spot the purple splotch just below his collarbone. The one he said Noah left. The one he pretended he thought about me while getting.
It’s an awkward stretch, but I lean over him enough to close my lips over the spot, and without another thought I suck the bruised skin between my lips. He gasps, the hand in my hair tugging harshly but not in a move to pull me away. Pressing me closer. Asking for more where words fail him.
This might be one of those things we both regret in the morning.
But I can’t bring myself to care.
I pull away and run my nose along the shell of his ear. His hand falls to my neck and holds me in place.
“B,” I breathe, and this… this is the moment something falls into place.
I don’t know what, but it feels big.
It feels like it could be everything.
Chapter 12
Blair
I wake up with my mouth tasting like piss and my dick throbbing between my thighs. It’s not a wait it out kind of boner either; it’s one that will plague me all damn day if I don’t take care of it.
I don’t think it’s safe to do heavy construction with a hard on.
But when I shift onto my back to grip myself over the fabric of my boxers, something in the bed moves beside me, and last night comes back in a series of flashes that makes my head ache.
