Fuck everyone, pretty much.

That went for the creepy fuckers who thought he owed them favors because he smiled and winked at them in the audience, and fuck the cops who didn’t care if some guy was trying to scare him.

As he stepped past Zeph into their motel room, River threw his bag down next to the door. He drew a breath to rid himself of those thoughts. He still had one thing to enjoy.

For one more night, anyway.

Jesus, he wasn’t ungrateful, or even disappointed. River knew their sex had been fun, inventive, mind-blowingly hot, and best of all, as frequent as possible. And he loved every minute of that.

But even before this creepy threat, he’d been intensely aware that their limited time together was drawing to a close, and this was the last night of their agreement.

Back to L.A., and the real world, and not being able to get a guy to look at him as worth more than one hot night.

Not like they thought he was smart and interesting; not like they wanted to stroke his skin after sex just to make him smile; certainly not like they wanted to punch anyone who even looked at him just a little wrong.

Fuck. River was emotionally raw just thinking about saying goodbye to Zeph again. Frustration knotted in his chest as he peeled off his blouse and skirt, kicked off his Converse, and hit the bed in just his underwear.

“I need a shower.”

Zeph was undressing more leisurely, sitting on the other bed. “Room for two?”

River eyed him, tilting his head against the pillow for a better angle. Watching the tattoos ripple on his forearms as he unbuttoned was fascinating. Every time he worked the muscles of his fingers or hands, his tattoos shifted slightly, drawing eyes to them. He hadn’t asked about the meaning behind any of them, but he found himself curious.

“Well?” Zeph prompted. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to infer your answer.”

River burst out laughing, dragging his eyes back up to Zeph’s pretty face. That was just as appealing to gaze at. “Sorry. Yeah, you can invite yourself in.” He pushed himself to his feet and padded to the bathroom, wiggling his ass when he got to the doorway. “If you can resist.”

“I can’t.” Zeph’s voice was close, and River gulped back his gasp when he looked over his shoulder and found Zeph halfway across the room already.

Zeph wanted River as much as he wanted Zeph. He was certain of it. He just didn’t know how to ask—how to bring it up.

Hey, so, our ten-day deal? I kind of fucked up. I want you for longer now. I don’t do that with guys… I don’t get attached. But I just did.

Would Zeph want that? What if this was all just confined to the bounds of… whatever this trip was? Maybe Zeph would shut down and move again. Christ only knew what would happen the moment they got back to L.A..

But River had already made the fatal mistake: he was in way, way too deep. Like the first time, but ten times worse now, his heart was in it.

Moments after he slipped into the shower, Zeph joined him.

Even their playful shower, scrubbing wet hands across each other’s soapy bodies, couldn’t get his mind off his thoughts—that this was the last shower he’d share with Zeph, and he wasn’t sure he could deal with that.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

They were both hard by the time they finished scrubbing each other clean, and sidling up to Zeph to make their hard cocks bump came as second nature.

Zeph growled and picked him up, his grip firm on River’s slippery skin. “No teasing today.”

“No,” River agreed in a quick breath, looping his arms around Zeph’s neck. “None.”

Zeph grabbed the lube after dumping River on the bed, one hand loosely curled around his own hard-on. “Ideas?”

The possibilities blew River’s mind: he could ask Zeph to jerk off for him, that was always hot. Or he could make him fuck him and finish on his stomach for him to see. Or suck him off and then fuck those pretty lips himself…

Zeph took advantage of his momentary silence and tossed the lube next to him, then hit the bed with his face at roughly chest-level. That, in itself, was a clue as to what was next.

“Oh, fuck,” River whimpered as a lip closed around his nipple, and Zeph sucked it hard. True to his word, though, Zeph didn’t draw out the teasing—he just sucked for a few moments more, then switched to his other nipple, then went up to his collarbone for a gentle nip or three before methodically kissing his way down the center of his stomach.

Before he knew it, that hot mouth pressed open-mouthed, hot kisses and licks against his shaft to the tip, then wrapped around it. Slowly, Zeph sucked his hardness into his mouth and throat.

River raised his hand to his mouth and bit the side of his fist, but the noise of need and approval vibrated through his chest. He fought to keep his hips flat on the bed.

Zeph’s hand and mouth slid to the base of his dick and Christ, River wanted to memorize that feeling in case he never felt it again.

His chest tightened, and it was a good thing Zeph took his mind off it. He swiped his tongue along the sensitive spot on the underside of his shaft, squeezing him in his hand as he pulled his mouth up, then pushed back down again to engulf him in wet heat.

“Fuck, yes,” River panted, his nerves lighting up from head to toe. He wanted Zeph’s mouth everywhere on him—head to toe. But this was the most sensitive, raw part of him, and they weren’t patient enough for foreplay today, so it would have to do.

The charge of need was building under River’s skin. His stomach was tight, his fingers curled into the sheets as he squeezed his eyes shut.

I want him. All I want is him. River managed—barely—to translate that on the way out of his mouth. “Now,” he breathed out. “Fingers.”

Oh, fuck, those broad finger pads swiping across the sensitive parts of him, not so deep inside but feeling like it, made his toes curl. As Zeph pushed his fingers in and out, River heard just how ragged Zeph’s breathing was.

River snuck a glance at that swollen, reddened cock head and shuddered. He’s so turned on, too. He wanted more than this—he wanted that in him.

“That’s enough. More than enough,” he grumbled. “I thought we weren’t teasing.”

Zeph leaned down to press a kiss against his lips. “It’s fun listening to you.”

Oh. Oh, my God. River’s cheeks flushed and he closed his eyes.

Zeph’s laugh was rich, if quiet. “That embarrasses you, too? How you squirm under me when I touch you? God, it’s so unrestrained. It’s the hottest thing.”

“Shut up,” River moaned, but his heart was pounding with pleasure. Every word turned him on, especially with Zeph’s husky, hoarse voice whispering against his lips between gentle but determined kisses.

Zeph’s hand cupped his cheek, but after a moment, he relented and slid his fingers out.

River waited, eyes closed, thighs trembling with need, trying to wrap his head around how painfully empty he felt. At last, the thick, warm pressure eased into him, stretching him, filling him tightly but perfectly.

This was what he needed.

River was aware of it, but he couldn’t stop it: he rolled his head back, baring his throat as he cried out in pleasure. God, the momentary sting was nothing compared to the ripple of pleasure at the cock head sliding along the spot inside him that most needed attention.

Zeph sensed what he needed: though his first few thrusts were slow and careful, his pace was intense within seconds. Rough, slow forward snaps of his hips drove his arousal deep into River’s body, their bodies locked together.

Into his body, into his mind, into his heart.

River choked back another noise, leaning up, and Zeph pressed him back down with a kiss, soothing him and muffling his noises. Zeph’s lips were warm and wet and hard against his, his teeth sucking River’s lips into his own, his tongue slipping into River’s mouth to tease River’s.

Yes! River managed a moan to that effect when Zeph gave him a second to breathe, and then Zeph’s teeth were on his neck, grazing his ear, nipping behind it…

Fuck, he was burning up, sweating, damp with precome as his cock throbbed with the need for attention. When he finally slipped his hand between their bodies, Zeph moaned. “That’s right, baby. Want you feeling good.”

“I do,” River gasped. “Fuck, I do. Ohhh.” His own palm felt like too much stimulation at first, but it only took a few jerks of his hand before he had a rhythm down—hard, yet still tender.

Like Zeph, like the rhythm Zeph pounded into him with, like their whole damn relationship.

It wasn’t a sudden thought, but one he’d been pushing to the bottom of his mind all week, but now too impossible to ignore: this was more than sex. It was lovemaking.

And Zeph was kissing his throat, licking slowly up it until he reached his chin, pressing tiny kisses along his jaw until he reached his mouth again and kissed hard, open-mouthed.

River was the first to get his tongue into Zeph’s mouth, injecting into it all the desperation that tightened his body and narrowed his mental focus. He strained up against Zeph’s body, and when Zeph’s hand covered his own on his shaft, he gladly slid it away to let Zeph have all of him.

Zeph’s hand was tighter than his own, rougher, but the exact tightness, texture, and rhythm of a man’s hand on his dick was like a door knock—unique, impossible to forget even after years.

River whimpered again into Zeph’s mouth, trying to gasp a warning. He was so aroused that he started clenching around Zeph.

The edge was too fucking close, his nerves too overloaded, his chest thumping at what felt like hundreds of beats per minute, all for Zeph.

“Zeph…! Fuck, I—Zeph!” River didn’t even try to keep his voice down, the last word slipping out in a rough growl of I can’t stop myself please, please…

Zeph pulled him over the edge, driving deep into him while he tightened his grip around his shaft until River couldn’t stop himself.

His chest burned, his eyes squeezed shut as he gasped for breath, all the tiny sounds of need and pleasure that spilled from his lips matched with grunts of approval and desire, the slapping of skin on skin, the creaking of the mattress…

His own mess splattered high up his own chest as he clenched tight around Zeph’s throbbing erection, baring his teeth again. “Yes!”

And Zeph came undone in, around, over him, his weight pressing down against River’s as he let go of River’s cock and braced himself on the bed.

River snapped his eyes open so he could watch the animalistic pleasure etched on Zeph’s face while those rough noises escaped his throat.

“River… I… yeah…!”

I what? River knew what Zeph had been about to say. Exactly what had nearly fallen from his lips, because as tough as Zeph was, as much as he walled himself off, River could read his face this very second, and it felt exactly like what was in his own heart.

But he stayed quiet and rubbed Zeph’s back, pulled him close as Zeph’s hips shuddered in desperate last erratic thrusts, spilling his passion deep within River’s body.

When Zeph finally pulled back, they collapsed together, barely bothering to move except to pull the blanket over them. Their limbs stayed tangled the whole time, their cooling bodies still pressed together.

River needed Zeph as close as he could get him for one last night.