Chapter 15
ZACH tried to get back to sleep, but despite his exhaustion, sleep evaded him. The pillows smelled like David, but he missed David’s warmth. He remembered that day months ago when it had been enough to just lie here in David’s bed, how it had comforted him then. It didn’t comfort him now. Instead, all he could think about was the loss in David’s voice when he’d asked if the panic attack had been because of him, because of what they’d done together. He should have said no, should have come up with some other innocuous reason for freaking out like that, but that “yeah” had escaped. He’d tried to soften it, to explain, and David certainly hadn’t acted like he was mad, but had kissed his fingers gently and been kind.
Even yelling would have been better than kindness.
He got up and went into the bathroom. The face that greeted him in the mirror was certainly nothing to please a lover with: drained and ashen, except for his reddened eyes and the reddened nose that was already beginning to show bruising. Nice. No wonder David went running downstairs. No, to be fair, bad as they were, it wasn’t Zach’s looks that had chased him away, just Zach’s charming personality. Zach washed his face with cold water, trying to reduce the redness, but it didn’t do much good; he blotted himself dry and went back into the bedroom to skin out of the sweats and put his own grubby jeans back on. He left on the T-shirt David had given him and bundled his own still-damp one under his arm, then followed David downstairs.
DAVID was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading the Sunday paper. The smell of baking cinnamon rolls perfumed the air. He glanced up, a puzzled look on his face. “Up already?”
“Yeah,” Zach said. “I couldn’t get back to sleep.” He laid the wet T-shirt over the back of a chair.
“The rolls’ll be done in about five minutes,” David said, and started to get up. “Coffee? Just cream, right?”
“No thanks,” Zach said politely. “I don’t need anything.”
David sat back down again and regarded Zach with a serene expression that Zach hated on sight. “Do you want to read the paper?”
“No, I don’t want to read the fucking paper,” Zach said mockingly in the same serene voice.
David closed the paper and folded it, then looked up at Zach. Expectantly. Like he was waiting for something.
Zach swallowed. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Whatever it was David was expecting, it apparently wasn’t that. He looked surprised. “What for?” he asked curiously, his eyebrows raised.
“What not for?” Zach said. “For freaking out. For being a dick. For God-damned fucking you when I know that’s not what you wanted. For all of it. For being born.”
“Shut up,” David said, still calmly. “You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for. Not a terribly effective method, or a convincing one.”
“Is this how you do it?” Zach demanded. “Is this how you piss off your lovers? Just slide into this serene, untouchable thing? Act all superior over people who don’t have your fucking emotional control? Cuz if that’s how it is, I can see why they dump your ass.”
David sat silent through Zach’s diatribe, his eyes resting composedly on Zach’s face. When Zach stopped, he said, “Well, that has to be the quickest relationship I’ve ever been in. From fucking to recriminations overnight. What’s it been, about eight hours?”
“Fuck you,” Zach said bitterly.
“You already did that,” David replied. “Let me know if you want a repeat and I’ll pencil you in.”
“God damn it, Taff,” Zach exploded, “I don’t fucking want a repeat, not if it’s gonna turn out like this every time.”
“Look, Zach,” David snapped, his composure suddenly gone, “I didn’t want this to begin with. You came over here spoiling for a fight. I kissed you, that’s all. Where it went after that was as much your doing as mine, so don’t fucking blame me for all of it. Yeah, I pushed you where you didn’t want to go. I’m sorry. I didn’t know, and I won’t do it again. I know you didn’t want me, you just wanted to fuck someone and I was available. I made myself available,” he corrected, his voice as bitter as Zach’s had been. “I pushed you too far and it’s my own fault for that.” He shook his head, hard, as if to scatter his thoughts. “Okay, I’m wrong. I am to blame. I should be the one apologizing, so here it is. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“What won’t?” Zach demanded. “You confuse the hell out of me, Taff!”
David stood and rested his hands on the table top. “I won’t kiss you again. I won’t try to push you into a relationship when you’re not interested. I won’t make demands of you. Is that enough?”
“Yes. No. Jesus!” Zach shook his head. “God, you make me crazy.”
There was silence for a moment, then David said quietly, “I don’t mean to confuse you, Zach. I just don’t want to hurt you and I don’t know if I can avoid it.” He swallowed and went on, his voice strained, not at all that calm, complacent voice Zach hated. Zach didn’t like the strained voice much better. “I screwed up last night. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you—shouldn’t have pushed you, should have just let you go right away the way you wanted to.”
“I didn’t want to go,” Zach said.
David looked up, his face as lost as Zach felt.
“I didn’t want you to let me go. I wanted you to kiss me. I wanted to do everything we did—except the panic attack and the punch in the nose, those weren’t so much fun. But everything else…. Jesus, Taff, waking up next to you was the best feeling I’ve ever had.” Zach clenched the back of the chair in front of him. It took an effort of will to look up, into David’s solemn dark eyes. “I lied yesterday when I said I didn’t want you. I want you. I want you so bad it’s killing me. But I’m not what you want—I can’t be what you want. God, you’re so beautiful, you could have anyone. Why would you want someone like me who’s as fucked up inside as I am outside?”
“Maybe because I love you?”
The words hung in the air between them. David waited for Zach’s response, perfectly still, not even breathing.
Zach felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the air. He gasped for breath. “Fuck,” he whispered.
All expression drained from David’s face. He sat down again and opened the newspaper. “Yeah,” he said flatly, not looking at Zach, “That’s kind of what I thought. Don’t worry about it—I’m not going to press the issue.” He flipped over a page.
“Jesus, Taff, you’re like hot and cold running boyfriend,” Zach complained. “I’m not surprised your lovers dumped you—I’m surprised they didn’t murder you.”
“Yeah, well, maybe by the time they dumped me they didn’t care anymore, either,” David said indifferently, turning another page.
Zach reached out and grabbed the newspaper, yanking it out of David’s hands and throwing it over his shoulder, so it scattered all over the flagstone floor of the kitchen. “God-fucking-damn-it,” he yelled, “pay attention to me!”
David shot to his feet. “I don’t want to pay attention to you!” he shouted back. “I don’t want to stand here and listen to you if you aren’t saying what I want you to say. And you’re not going to say it, so why the fuck are you wasting my time?”
“What do you want me to say?” Zach demanded. “Just tell me!”
David stared at him, breathing hard. “I don’t want you to say anything you don’t feel,” he said finally. “I don’t want to hear it. I’ve had enough of people telling me what they think I want to hear, just to make me happy or make me stay or make me feel something I don’t feel. Say what you want. I’m not going to put the words in your mouth. Or don’t say anything. Just… go away.”
“Do you want me to go away?”
“Fuck!” David screamed at the top of his lungs.
Zach burst out laughing.
David stared at him as if he’d lost his mind and dropped back down into his chair. “You fucking asshole,” he said finally. “You louse. You dick. You did that on purpose to make me crazy.”
“Just the last part,” Zach chortled. He came around the table and leaned against it next to David. “No kidding, Taff? You love me? I mean, love love me? Not just cuz we grew up together or any of that shit. But like love, real love?”
“Like love I’d-marry-you-if-it-were-legal-in-Colorado kind of love,” David said soberly. He leaned forward and rested his head against Zach’s abdomen, curling his arms around Zach’s hips and resting them on the table behind him. “I’ve been in love with you for seven fucking years, Zach Tyler, ever since you kissed me, and I don’t care if you’ve got scars or cooties or the screaming heebie-jeebies, I love you and I want you. You can run and hide and pretend if you want to; I ain’t asking for anything from you, but I want you to know what I feel. I know you aren’t ready for any kind of relationship and that’s okay. I can wait.”
Zach ran his hands through David’s tousled hair, toying with the streaky strands. “You’re completely wacked, you know that, Taff? I don’t know why the hell you’d want someone like me. I’m completely fucked up; I think you know that after last night. But Jesus, I want this. I really, really want this. I’m just kind of scared.”
“I know. Me too.”
They stayed in that position a long time, Zach playing with David’s hair, running it through his fingers; David with his cheek pressed to Zach’s belly, his arms tight around him, Zach’s warmth solid and comforting beneath his cheek. Then the buzzer on the stove went off, and David released Zach to go and get the cinnamon rolls out of the oven. He set the baking sheet on top of the stove and used the spatula to slide the rolls onto the cooling rack before turning to put the pan into the sink.
Zach came up behind him and put his hands on the sink edge to either side of David’s waist, trapping him there. His lips settled on the side of David’s neck.
“Mmm,” David murmured, leaning back against Zach.
“I do love you, I think,” Zach said softly. “I’m not sure what it is. I mean, I want you and trust you, and like you, and…. Shit, Taff. I don’t know what I’m saying. Am I screwing it up again?”
“No,” David said, and turned in his arms, winding his own around Zach’s waist. “Just—you don’t need to say anything. Can I kiss you?”
“God, yes,” Zach breathed and David did, fitting his mouth to Zach’s. Zach put his arms around David, pulling him in close with a faint, contented sigh.
David explored Zach’s mouth leisurely; Zach’s tongue rubbed along his gently, with none of the hurried, anxious urgency of the night before. Oddly, Zach seemed almost hesitant, almost uncertain as he kissed back, always following David’s lead eagerly enough, but never initiating. David drew back and rested his forehead against Zach’s. “Are you okay with this?”
Zach flushed and bit his lip, then nodded. David smiled and kissed him again, his tongue soothing Zach’s lip where he’d bitten it before seeking entrance again to Zach’s sweet, soft mouth. This time he slipped his hands up under Zach’s T-shirt, his fingers stroking gently over the ragged scars on his back. Zach stiffened a moment, but when David didn’t react other than to keep caressing him, he relaxed again, his own hands motionless on David’s waist.
“Take off your shirt.” David drew back to whisper against Zach’s lips. Zach hesitated, but David kissed him again. “Take off your shirt.”
Wordlessly, Zach obeyed, pulling the T-shirt over his head and dropping it on the kitchen floor. David leaned in and licked Zach’s remaining nipple, his tongue curling over it, tasting, teasing. Zach sucked in a breath in shock at the sensation; when David sucked on it gently, he moaned, his hands coming up to clench hard on David’s upper arms. David chuckled under his breath, never letting go of the stiff, sensitive tissue, but sucking harder. Zach whimpered.
“Like that?” David said, releasing him and grinning up at him.
“I never… I didn’t know….”
“Now you know why I woke up yesterday when you did that to me.” David laughed again, and kissed Zach’s chest just above the nipple before curling his hand over the rising bump in Zach’s jeans. “Turnabout’s fair play, love.” He caressed Zach as he bent to suck again, then bit him lightly.
Zach cried out wordlessly at the nip, his hips bucking and his hands tightening on David’s arms. David licked over the bite, then trailed his tongue over the nipple again, then up to Zach’s throat, his hand still stroking Zach through his jeans. “Upstairs,” he whispered against Zach’s neck. “The guest room has a full bed—mine’s too small to make love in properly—and we’re not doing this in my mother’s kitchen.” He pushed Zach gently. “Come upstairs.”
Zach pulled him close again. “Couch,” he gasped hoarsely.
“Too small. No, this time we’re doing it right.”
That stopped Zach cold. “Wait. Wait.” He released David’s arms and rubbed his neck distractedly. “We can’t. You’ve gotta be sore. I know I hurt you last night….”
“My beautiful dweeb,” David said with a gentle shove toward the stairs, “there’s more to sex than just fucking.” He weaseled past Zach. “Beat you to the top.”
“You wish,” Zach said automatically, and took off after him.
THE spare bedroom had been Sandy’s and was still a bit on the girly side, but the bed was a big four-poster sturdy enough for David to jump on, followed by a panting Zach. “No fair,” he wheezed, “you kiss me breathless then challenge me to a race?”
“Shut up and kiss me,” David said, shoving him onto his back and crawling on top.
Zach pushed back, rolling over and pinning him underneath. “You gotta get a king-size bed,” he said, then kept David’s mouth too busy to respond. David wrapped his legs around Zach’s hips and rocked up into him, rubbing his pelvis against Zach’s. Zach arched back, releasing David’s mouth to throw his head back, his hands splayed on the mattress on either side of David’s shoulders, his body grinding hard into David’s, his eyes squeezed shut.
“Easy, boy,” David laughed. “You in a hurry?”
He stopped and stared down at David. “What?” he asked in confusion. David lifted a hand and brushed away sweat from Zach’s forehead.
“Ease up, Zach. It’s not a race. You’re working too hard.”
“I’m hurting you,” Zach said instantly, and rolled over, sliding off the bed. “Sorry.”
David sat up and reached out a hand. “Come here.” When Zach didn’t obey, he patted the mattress. “Come on. Sit your butt down.”
Zach snorted and sat on the edge of the bed. “What?”
“You’ve never had a lover,” David said.
“Sure, I have—” Zach’s words were cut off by David’s fingers on his lips.
“You’ve had sex, but never a lover,” David explained. “I keep forgetting that. I keep forgetting that this is all new to you.”
“I’m not exactly a virgin,” Zach said dryly against David’s fingers.
“Sure you are. It’s kind of exciting.” David removed his fingers from Zach’s mouth with a gentle caress. “To know I get to be the one, your first lover, the one who teaches you how to kiss, how to make love… I should have been, you know. Should have been the one to teach you all that.”
“I wanted you to be,” Zach said. He turned and lay down across the bed, his back to David.
“I’m sorry,” David said softly. He lay down behind Zach and put his arm over his waist. They were close enough in height that his cheek rested against Zach’s cropped skull. “I wanted to be, Zach. But you scared me. I was eighteen. I’d only ever even had one relationship, and that was the one I was sneaking around on Maggie with. I’d just busted up with him when everything happened.”
“You mean when I came on to you,” Zach said.
“When I realized that you were the one I wanted. Had probably wanted even before I knew what wanting was.”
“You were just used to having me around.”
“No. No.” David came up on one elbow and looked down at him. “You know why you scared me so much? Because I was eighteen and I realized that you were the only person I wanted to be with. And I wasn’t ready to commit even though I knew that it was always going to be you. And then you went off and died on me… or so I thought.”
“Misplaced guilt,” Zach said.
“Grief. None of my relationships after that lasted. Because none of them were you.”
“Put a little pressure on a guy,” Zach muttered.
David laughed and rubbed Zach’s belly. “No pressure, really. What I feel is my business. I just wanted you to know that if you want me, I’m yours.”
Zach twisted to lie on his back, looking up at David. “I don’t know if I can do this, Taff.”
“So let’s just take one day at a time. I do have one thing I want to ask you to do for me, though.”
“What?”
David swallowed. “Please stop going to those bars: Fat Charlie’s, the Goose, any of those places. Not because I don’t want you picking up guys—though I don’t—but because it’s dangerous.” His eyes were dark and serious when they met Zach’s.
Zach said soberly, “I’m always careful, Taff.”
“I’m not talking about always wearing a condom and all that shit. Wesley’s pretty liberal, but Colorado Springs in general isn’t. There’s still a lot of anti-gay sentiment around, and there was an incident at the Goose three years ago that was pretty ugly. A couple of people got really hurt. And….” He trailed off and just shook his head instead.
“And my dad doesn’t need the bad publicity if people figured out who I was,” Zach said. “Yeah, I’ve thought about that. I just… you know.”
“I know.”
“Security’s pretty good around here and Dad’s been pretty careful about not letting people know what I look like or anything,” Zach went on. “No interviews, no photographs, nothing like that. He’s careful about my privacy, and his security team and I have protocols I’m pretty careful about. But I don’t think any of the guys I’ve been with know who I am. I mean, I never go anywhere where I see any of them outside the bars, anyway.”
“Let’s keep it that way, okay?” David kissed him gently. “I don’t want you hurt. And neither do your folks. I don’t think they give a shit about bad publicity or anything, but they do worry about you.”
“Yeah.” Zach looked up at David, and then curled his hand around the back of David’s head. “I won’t go there anymore, Taff.”
“Okay,” David said, and let Zach draw him down for another kiss. He eased onto his supporting arm and with his free hand, then trailed his fingers down Zach’s muscled belly toward the button on his jeans, sliding them under the top of the waistband. Zach made a small noise that was swallowed up in their mouths, then another when David got the button open and fumbled for the zipper. Zach slid his hand down to help David unzip him, then David sat up and moved to the foot of the bed, pulling off Zach’s socks and tugging at the hem of the jeans.
Zach flung his arm over his eyes, but didn’t protest David’s pulling off the jeans, just waited for the intake of breath, the expression of disgust or shock, but there was nothing. He waited.
Then it came, unexpectedly—the soft touch of lips, like a rose petal falling on his skin, on one of the scars on his thigh. Then another, then the shift in the mattress as David crawled back up on the bed between Zach’s legs, his lips brushing each of the round scars as he crawled. It took a while. Then David laid his lips on the softer skin of Zach’s groin, where there were no scars.
Zach let out a long exhalation of the air he’d held in his lungs from the time David had pulled his jeans off. Against Zach’s hip, David whispered, “Burns?”
“From Esteban’s cigar,” Zach said in the same low tones, as if he might be overheard. He felt David’s swallow, but then the soft mouth was moving again, exploring the hollow of his pelvis, then down to nuzzle his testicles. He sucked in a breath as David tasted him, tugging on the loose skin with gentle lips, then moved to lick the underside of his rapidly rising cock. Oh, God, he thought, David’s mouth was on him, David’s tongue on him, David was going… oh, God…. “Condom,” he gasped in protest, reaching down to cover himself just as David’s mouth had moved to lick the rim of his glans. “Condom….”
David stopped and raised his head. Zach uncovered his eyes to look back at him miserably. “You test positive?” David asked gently.
“No, my last test was clean, but….”
“Have you ever barebacked?”
“No, never, not since Venezuela, I’m not stupid.”
“Ever even gotten blown without a rubber?”
“No….”
“I’ll take my chances,” David said, and closed his mouth over the head of Zach’s cock, his tongue stroking, lips tightening.
Zach almost shot off the mattress. The feeling was incredible, amazing, hot and wet and intense. His hands fisted in the coverlet as David took him deeper; then David swallowed and Zach felt the tightness of David’s throat against him and he cried out wordlessly, his hips bucking as he fucked David’s mouth and fist. The fingers of David’s free hand dug into the taut flesh of Zach’s ass, holding on.
David pulled away just as Zach started to come, cupping his hand over Zach’s cock so that his come flooded over David’s fingers. Then he moved up over Zach, dipping his head to kiss him. Zach tasted himself on David’s tongue, then jerked in surprise as David slicked Zach’s come on his own cock, then rocked forward, his cock sliding between Zach’s thighs to rub against the sensitive skin behind his balls. Zach moaned, rousing again, or still, as David’s hands and tongue and cock teased and soothed and tormented and pleased, until he was crazy with the sensation, wild with need and lust and love and hunger, so that when David’s fingers found their way inside him and stroked gently, he barely even recognized the sensation, only the brush of beautiful pressure on that needy place, and he came again, burying his hands in David’s hair and kissing him frantically as he cried his release into David’s mouth.
And then he jerked back as he realized that David’s fingers were deep in his ass, where he’d sworn no one else would ever go, and he stared in disbelief at his lover. “What the fuck?” he gasped.
The pleasure on David’s face faded. “What?”
“Get your fucking fingers out of me. Now,” Zach growled. David obeyed and Zach tried not to jerk away, not to overreact. It was okay. It was okay, he told himself fiercely. It was David, for God’s sake…. He forced a smile and said, “Sorry. Reaction,” and reached up to kiss David again, but David resisted, frowning.
“Are you okay?” he asked, pulling back against Zach’s hand on his neck.
“Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to snarl at you. It was okay. It was good.” Zach’s mouth twisted. “Oh, God, tell me I haven’t fucked up again.”
“No,” David said slowly. “No, I’m just… oh, shit. I’m sorry, Zach. I didn’t think….”
The smile came a little easier now, still difficult, but more honest. “I hope you weren’t thinking,” he said, “cuz God knows I wasn’t. It’s okay. I’m sorry I overreacted. It’s okay. It’s okay.” He kissed David again, this time desperately, wanting it to be the way it was, wanting to take away the tension that tautened David’s body.
The tension eased and David moved to lie beside him, his waist in the curve of Zach’s arm. He rested his chin on Zach’s chest and said soberly, “You’re okay, then?”
“Better than okay,” Zach said. “Much better.” He reached up his free hand and stroked David’s hair gently. “That was awesome, Taff. I never realized you could do anything like that and have it be half as good as…. Well, you know.”
“You’re such a dweeb,” David said, laughing. “It’s called anal sex. And yeah, it’s nice. It can be fantastic. But it’s not the only thing you can do together, you know. Sex isn’t just about fucking. And love isn’t just about sex.” He bent his head and kissed Zach’s shoulder. “Though sex is a pretty good part of it. Can I ask a question?”
Zach blinked. “Sure.”
“Why did you buzz your hair? Is it just part of the whole biker thing, or the whole Army thing?”
“Shit, Taff, that has to be the weirdest after-sex question I ever heard.”
“So?”
Zach regarded him with solemn eyes. “Actually, I didn’t cut it. About two months after I got back from Venezuela, it all fell out. The doctors said it was a weird after-effect of vitamin deficiency. I only ate crap for five years, but then when I got home and started eating real food again, my hair fell out.”
“Weird,” David agreed.
“It just started growing back in about six months ago, and it was really patchy at first, so I kept it more or less shaved until it started coming back in normal again. It’s growing slow. I’m wondering if it’ll be curly again; one of the doctors said that it might come back completely different from what it was. Though it looks like it’ll still be black, anyway.” He looked away and went on. “I didn’t really mind not having any hair for a while, you know. Esteban used to drag me around by it, and pet it, and crap like that. So it’s kind of nice not having it as a reminder. I’m thinking maybe I’ll let it grow out again in a year or so, see what happens with it.” He snorted. “Assuming it does.”
“Shame if it doesn’t,” David said. “I like long hair on a guy.”
Zach flashed him a quick smile, then turned his head away again. Yeah, he thought, thinking of the sketchbook upstairs. The pictures of Jerry showed he had a headful of curls, just like he himself had once had. “Okay,” he said. “My turn for weird questions.”
“Okay,” David said.
“You said there’s more to sex than just fucking, right? So how many guys have you actually fucked?”
David laughed. “Jeez. Three. Chris, Steve, and Jerry. The only serious relationships I’ve had, as in live-in relationships. I’ve had other relationships, but those three are the only serious ones.”
“Who was the first?”
“Chris. My roommate in college.”
“Were you scared?”
David came up on his elbow and looked down at Zach, who was watching him with solemn eyes and teeth worrying his lower lip. He looked so much like the child Zach that David had to chuckle. “Scared spitless,” he admitted. “But Chris wanted it, so….” He shrugged. “I was fine with the other stuff, the frottage, the blow jobs, but….”
“The what? Frot… what?”
“Frottage.” David grinned. “What we just did. What we did in the shower. Rubbing off on each other.”
“It has a fucking name?”
The grin became a laugh. “Jesus, Zach, everything has a name.”
“Not this,” Zach said, pointing to the groove above his upper lip. “Try and find a name for that.”
“Spaz. Dweeb. Microcephalic moron.” David kissed him. “You are so mental.”
“So this Chris guy wanted you to fuck him?”
“Yeah. He asked me to. I wasn’t sure. I mean, shit, yeah, I wanted to, but all I could think was that it must hurt like a bitch, but Chris said not. He said it might hurt a little to start, but if I was careful, it wouldn’t hurt. It would feel good.” He shrugged. “I have to say it felt good from my perspective.”
“Yeah,” Zach said. “I can’t imagine it feeling good from his perspective, but I’ve been with enough guys to know that there are some that really get off on it.” He looked away, then asked shyly, “I’m sorry about last night. I just….” he trailed off.
“You just wanted sex and I was available,” David said.
“No. No. I just,” Zach swallowed, “I just wanted sex with you and that was the only kind I knew. I never knew about this other stuff. I mean, yeah, blowjobs. But I gave you one of those.” He glanced back at David, ducking his head so he was looking up at him through his lashes. “Was it okay? I don’t have a lot of experience with that.”
“Good thing,” David said, “because if you were more experienced with that you would have killed me.”
“Did I hurt you last night?”
David knew he wasn’t talking about the blowjob. “It hurt to start with, yeah. But by the time you were done, it felt good. I never thought I’d say it, but I wouldn’t mind doing it again, if that’s what you wanted.”
“I can’t give you what you want,” Zach said. “I can’t let you….”
“Did I ask?” David cut him off. He eased off the bed and pulled at the spread. “Get up a minute, will you?”
Zach obeyed and David pulled the spread off the bed and rolled it up. “That’s two bedspreads I have to wash today,” he complained, but folded down the top sheet and gestured for Zach to crawl under. “Later.” He followed Zach into the bed, and put his arm around Zach’s neck, shifting on the pillows until Zach’s head was on his shoulder. “There. That’s good. You comfortable?”
Zach put his arm across David’s abdomen. “Yeah,” he said with a contented sigh.
“Sleep. I’ll wake you up in time for breakfast with your folks, okay?”
Zach didn’t answer, and when David looked down, he saw that Zach’s eyes were closed, the lashes long and dark against the curve of his cheek. His hand lay on David’s belly like a limp starfish.
“Guess it’s okay,” David said, and closed his eyes.