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An unfamiliar sensation, but not a bad one — not really. And far outshined by the warmth and comfort of waking up sprawled across Ethan; the novelty of it, the sense of — ofrightness…
That was — right up until Jakob hadfullywoken up; the fluff and cobwebs clearing from his mind enough that the enormity of the flying leap they had taken the evening before could come crashing back down around his head.
He could hear the sounds of the other students outside their room now; making no attempt at silence as they got up, got ready for another jam-packed day of early classes and late-night partying.
Abruptly there was a pounding on the door, the pummeling thunder of it nearly as loud as Jakob's heartbeat had just become.
He froze; even as he felt Ethan shifting underneath him, taking the first steps to join him in wakefulness.
"What?"Ethan yelled groggily to whoever was on the other side of the door.
The answer came back, garbled and muffled. Something about borrowing a textbook neither of them had, before Ethan sent them packing.
But Jakob had only been half aware of the conversation, his mind running like a frightened colt round and round the riding ring.
Had they heard?
Would they know?
What would they think?
Who would they tell?
Oh, God… what if —
What ifFrankfound out?
"Hey," Ethan slurred, his voice still husky from sleep. But he was wearing a smile on his handsome face that almost made Jakob's heart stop with how brightly it shown, and all of it focused onhim. "Morning. E'rything okay?"
"Yeah," Jakob lied. "Gotta catch a professor before class. You go on back to sleep."
"Mmm," Ethan rumbled in contented reply, his eyes already slipping shut; just the merest glimmer of them peeking out through his long lashes. "Meet for lunch?"
"Sure," the lie came even easier this time, Jakob's mind roaring with static.
He disentangled himself from Ethan's arms; his eyes feeling itchy, his chest so tight it felt like he could hardly breathe.
Straight into the shower, that's what he needed. Get clean, clear his head —
Jakob flinched as someone tapped on the flimsy plastic curtain; one hand flying to cover the hickey Ethan had left on his collarbone, the other to hide the mark on his inner thigh. The rest he couldn't do anything about, didn't even know where they all were, a single large yet amorphous ache under the hot water. And — judging by the ones hecouldsee — definitely, unquestionably, unexplainablylarger than Jakob had ever received from a partner of the female persuasion.
"Hey, you in there," came what might be the last voice on the planet Jakob wanted to hear right then.
Greg Mewitt wasn't too bad as a floor's RA went, even if Ethan and Jakob had to be careful to keep their music down lest they disturb Greg through their shared cinderblock wall. But he wasalsothe son of Jakob and Ethan's tenth-grade math teacher back home, and known to run his mouth about anyone and everything besides.
Jakob felt his neck heat and his heart speed up, the sound of his own shouting last night echoing in his ears…
"You got soap?" Greg asked. "I'm out."
"Yeah," Jakob answered him, swallowing against the knot of fear that had lept straight up from his belly into his throat. "I — "
"You usesoap?" laughed a newcomer, and no — Jakob had been wrong.Thatwas the last voice he wanted to hear in the entire world, Ricky Maddox's laughter a more aggravating sound than nails on a chalkboard to Jakob's ears. "Man, that's so gay. Just let the water clean you like a real man."
Something about being the team's star quarterback seemed to make the guy think that gave him a free pass to be the world's star asshole, too. He was constantly mocking everyone, both on and off the field. To the point Coach had threatened on more than one occasion to bench Ricky the rest of the season for his attitude alone.
Not that he'd ever go through with it, as they all well knew — especially Ricky. He was just too good a player to waste like that; each of Coach's toothless warnings serving to turn him into even more of a terror, not less.
Hastily, Jakob shut off the water and grabbed his towel, hurrying to wrap it around his hips and hide the damning evidence marked upon his thigh.
