“I know. Come on. Let’s go clean up that cut. We’ll go upstairs, get you ready to go. When’s your flight?”
That was a stumper. Theo finally settled on, “Tomorrow.”
“Ok, so we’ve got plenty of time.”
That made sense. Theo took a step forward.
Sighing, Auggie took his hand and led him toward the door. He keyed past the electronic lock, signed Theo in at the desk, and led him toward the stairs. The guy with the zits watched them the whole way. They went up four flights, and Auggie held his hand for every step. The fourth-floor hallway was dead, and Auggie was still holding his hand. He only let go to unlock the door, and then he took it again and led him into the room.
“Sit,” he said, pointing to one of the beds.
Theo sat. He studied the pictures: Auggie with his brothers, Auggie with friends that Theo recognized from his videos, Auggie with a woman who must have been his mom. She had the same dark eyes.
When Auggie came back, he had a wet towel, and he began cleaning the side of Theo’s head.
“Ouch,” Theo said.
“Hold still, you big baby,” Auggie said, but he worked more gently after that. “It’s already stopped bleeding. I don’t think you need stitches.”
Auggie’s hands were still very cold. Some of that cold seemed to work through Theo, and he felt suddenly sober, seeing everything more clearly now: the clean lines of Auggie’s face, the soft eyes, his mouth.
“You are a cockblock,” Auggie said. “You know that, right?”
“You were going to fuck him,” Theo said.
Auggie pulled away the wet towel. He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “You can sleep in my bed. I’ll sleep in Orlando’s.”
Leaning forward, Theo slipped his arms around Auggie and pulled him between his legs.
“Theo,” Auggie said.
“Eighteen-year-olds don’t know anything about fucking,” Theo said.
Auggie’s breathing accelerated.
“They all think it’s a sprint.” Theo drew one hand back and ran it slowly over Auggie’s chest. Through the dress shirt, he traced ribs, sternum, and then he zagged right and circled a nipple. “I could make you feel so much better than that dumb kid.”
“Yeah?” Auggie said. And it sounded like he was going to say more, sounded like he was going to be a smart aleck about it, and his nipple was stiffening as Theo’s finger ran circles around it, so Theo leaned in and bit lightly through the fabric.
The noise Auggie made was so fucking hot it was indescribable.
Theo’s hands worked the buttons on Auggie’s shirt, and Auggie tried to help, fumbling out of it. Working together again, they stripped him out of the undershirt. Theo locked his legs behind Auggie and used both hands to explore his chest: tracing the hollows just at his hips, limning the slight swell of his stomach, counting his ribs. Theo’s mouth closed over a nipple again. Auggie gasped. Theo switched sides, and Auggie grabbed his hair—not in control, but in a kind of helplessness that made Theo dizzy.
“Up here,” Theo whispered when he broke away.
“What are you doing?” Auggie said. “What do you want?”
“I want you. Come up here.”
“No. You . . . you told me no, and you wanted to talk about my major, and Christ, Theo, you told me never.”
Theo rubbed his thumbs along the ridge of Auggie’s hips. “I don’t know how to be around you. I don’t know how to sit or stand or talk. I can’t think around you.” He shook out his hair. “Come up here.”
Auggie slid up onto the mattress.
Flattening Auggie to the bed, Theo straddled him, working Auggie’s pants down to expose gray boxers. A wet spot marked the fabric. Theo mouthed along the cotton, leaving wet prints where he closed around Auggie’s shaft. Auggie was shaking. He clutched helplessly at Theo’s hair again. His breath came in tiny, stuttered explosions.
Theo moved back up, kissing across Auggie’s chest, biting his nipples, using his tongue. His hand settled on Auggie’s dick and stroked him through the cotton.
“Uh,” Auggie said, the pitch of his voice shooting up. He let go of Theo’s hair and tried to push himself up. “Uh, uh, oh God, Theo, I’m going to come.”
Theo kept stroking him through the boxers, feeling Auggie jerk beneath him. Auggie’s eyes were huge and locked with Theo’s through the orgasm.
“Oh shit,” Auggie mumbled as he began to drift back. “Oh shit.”
Theo used the boxers to wipe the warm wetness from his fingers.
“Oh my god,” Auggie said, turning into the pillow. “That’s so embarrassing.”
Nuzzling the side of Auggie’s neck, Theo whispered. “It’s not embarrassing. You’re hot. You’re beautiful. I could watch you get off all night.”
Auggie groaned, but then he said, “No, it’s definitely embarrassing. I’m not fifteen, ok? I cannot believe I just did that.”
Theo kissed his way up Auggie’s neck, down his jaw, and then once on his lips. Sitting back, he said, “Can I take it as a compliment?”
“Um, yeah. Definitely a compliment.” Auggie looked up at him. “I’ve never—I mean, that was incredible. You’re incredible. I can’t even believe that just happened. Oh, shit. You didn’t—”
Catching Auggie’s wrist, Theo said, “I think I’m a little too drunk. Kind of, you know, out of order down there right now.”
“I could try—”
With a laugh, Theo shook his head. “No, thanks. This was what I wanted. You’re perfect. You are so fucking hot. The way you grabbed my hair.”
Auggie glowed with the praise.
Groaning, Theo settled down on the pillow next to Auggie, and they squirmed around until Auggie was inside Theo’s arms, with Theo’s chin on his shoulder. Within moments, Theo felt blackness drifting in across his vision.
“Getting—” A yawn interrupted. “Getting kind of sleepy.”
Auggie laughed. “Let me just wash up before we go to bed.
Theo had slipped into sleep before Auggie was out of his arms. He woke only once, when Ian came back to bed, and he couldn’t remember if he’d turned off the light.
“Ian, did you check the porch?”
There was an answer: a sharp intake of breath. But Theo was already
