The air hung thick between them, and then Jamie kissed Morgan. This time was nothing like the last, full of resentment and rage and bitterness. This time, Jamie’s lips were soft and gentle.

He stroked Morgan’s cheek like he was precious, almost delicate, and his tongue seemed to politely request entrance.. Morgan sighed into the touch, relishing the sweetness and consideration.

Jamie pulled Morgan closer, and Morgan let it happen. There was a part of him that wanted Jamie to take him hard and fast, like he had before, but Morgan knew that part wasn’t worth listening to.

That part wanted it to hurt. That part thought — knew — he deserved to hurt.

Jamie wasn’t here for that this time, and Morgan had to wonder if maybe he wasn’t either. It felt so good, so right, to have a loving caress on his face. Jamie’s feather-light fingers were all over him, like he could somehow memorize Morgan’s face by touch alone. Like Morgan was somehow special, even though he was squatting in an abandoned house.

He reached out and let himself stroke along Jamie’s jawline. It would be something, to be loved by a man like this. It would be something indeed. He could feel the strong muscles in Jamie’s face and neck, working as they kissed.

Jamie slipped one hand underneath Morgan’s shirt. It was still ice cold, but it warmed quickly as he pressed it up against Morgan’s skin. He moved his fingertips around, seemingly looking for something.

Morgan didn’t think it could be that hard to find his nipples, but when Jamie’s touch came to rest, he realized he wasn’t going for those at all. Jamie rested his palm on Morgan’s heart, and he left it there for a good minute as he buried his face in Morgan’s neck. “I was so scared,” he said, his hot breath teasing the shell of Morgan’s ear.

“What, when your car broke down?” Morgan kept his voice low. It would feel weird to get too loud, even though no one would ever hear them. The moment seemed almost too sacred to sully. “I can imagine.”

“No, no — when I heard what happened. And then when I thought I couldn’t get to you.” The hand on Morgan’s heart twitched, just for a second. “I was worried for you, Morgan.”

Morgan heard the words. They might as well have been coming from another language. He moaned into Jamie’s mouth as Jamie’s kiss deepened.

Jamie was holding him close, so close, and he felt safe for the first time in forever. Collins’ goons, the storm, nothing could bother him as long as he had Jamie’s arms around him just like this.

The sleeping bag rustled as Jamie reached for Morgan’s waistband. “Is this okay?” He asked in a husky voice.

“Baby, everything’s okay right now,” Morgan told him, and he meant it, too.

Jamie smiled up at him. “I’m going to make you feel so good, Morgan. So, so good.”

He unbuttoned Morgan’s pants and carefully unzipped them, freeing his trapped cock. Morgan hissed as the cold air in the old house hit his hot skin, but Jamie didn’t let the cold bother him for too long. He shifted his position, kissed each of Morgan’s thighs, and took him into his mouth.

Jamie started small, working his tongue around the tip like he was nervous they may be interrupted. He didn’t break eye contact, though, and his gaze told Morgan there was nothing fear-related about their encounter. Jamie was just warming up.

He teased Morgan’s tip until Morgan was fully hard, and then he took a little more of the shaft. Jamie’s mouth was incredible. Unlike the rest of him right now, his mouth was hot and so, so sweet. He built up speed and suction as he worked his way down Morgan’s cock, until his nose was buried in the thick thatch of blond curls at the base.

His beautiful eyes never left Morgan’s, either. They shone in the reflected light, even as his head bobbed up and down. He looked up into Morgan’s and relaxed — actually relaxed — when Morgan threaded his hands into Jamie’s wild, wet hair.

Morgan held on for dear life. Heat pooled in his belly. It would be so easy to just let go and feel the bliss wash over him, but he didn’t want to let this moment end.

All too soon, Morgan would have to go back to the real world, with all its consequences. Right here and now, though, he was held, and he was cherished. He was somebody’s, and that meant everything.

He couldn’t hold off his orgasm forever. It burst forth from his core like a fountain, covering everything in a blissful white haze. The air no longer seemed cold as he slumped against Jamie’s strong, willing body.

He came back to himself after a few moments. “Oh my God.” Jamie had tucked him back in and zipped him up already, while Morgan lay in his post-orgasmic haze. “That was … holy crap, that was incredible.”

Jamie gave him a smug look and sat back on his heels. “I’m a man of many talents, I’m telling you.” His face softened. “I said I was going to make you feel good, Morgan.”

Morgan reached for Jamie’s shirt. He wanted to take this further. Jamie had worked so hard to make him feel incredible. He deserved to feel as good as Morgan felt right now.

He got as far as unbuttoning the bottom button on Jamie’s borrowed button-down, but Jamie stiffened right away. “Hey,” he said, and pulled back just a little bit. “What’s the rush? It’s not like we’re going anywhere, right?”

Morgan blinked, but he pulled his hand back. “Yeah, I guess.” He kissed Jamie, and Jamie responded right away. His kiss was eager, and excited, and Morgan let himself get distracted by more of Jamie’s kisses and touches for a little while.

The make-out session was truly incredible. For Morgan, few things were hotter than tasting himself on a lover’s tongue. He didn’t know why that was such a turn-on for him, but he couldn’t get enough.

Even as he surrendered to Jamie’s kisses, though, he couldn’t help but feel ashamed. His family might be absolute crap, but he’d been raised better than to be selfish. He wanted to return the favor to Jamie, to make Jamie feel as good as Jamie had made him feel.

He reached for Jamie’s shirt again, but Jamie pulled away again. This time he backed all the way off, tugging the sleeping bag around him. “Look, it’s okay,” he said, with a note of finality.

Morgan nodded and sat back, lowering his gaze. Three years ago, he’d have pushed things, needled Jamie until Jamie gave up what he wanted. They sat in silence for a few moments, and then Morgan shivered.

He stood up and staggered for a second. Jamie really had blown his mind. “I’ll go see if I can’t find another blanket, since it looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while.” He headed up to the second floor, just to give Jamie a little space.

Whatever issue Jamie had, he wasn’t comfortable sharing it. And that was fine, really. Morgan could handle that.

Jamie might say he didn’t care that Morgan was squatting, but they weren’t partners or anything. Jamie didn’t owe Morgan anything. On the contrary, Morgan was in no position to push for anything.

He didn’t find any blankets upstairs, so he tried the basement. He didn’t get very far down there, and he didn’t want to. The basement would have been creepy even if they weren’t dealing with a massive, once-in-a-century storm.

Using his phone as a flashlight, he found a handful of candles near the stairs and ran back up. Who knew what might be lurking down there? Scorpions, snakes, lizards, serial killers?

When he got back up to the main room, he found Jamie huddled into the sleeping bag. “I found some candles,” he said. “They should help with the dark, at least. I’m not sure how long the battery in that lantern will last.”

Jamie eyed the candles with suspicion. “I’m not afraid of the dark,” he said. He was telling the truth. Morgan could tell that much.

He was afraid of something, but it wasn’t the dark.

“Dude.” A little bit of Morgan’s exasperation bled through into his voice. “Scorpions?” He reached into his bag for a lighter and lit a couple of the candles. He didn’t miss the way Jamie flinched away from the flame. Interesting.

A gust of wind blew up, shaking the walls. Morgan cringed, worried the house might collapse on them. Jamie, though, snapped his head over to the candles and edged away from them.

Morgan sat a little closer to Jamie. He didn’t want to get too close. He wasn’t sure what, exactly, Jamie was dealing with, but he didn’t want this incredible man to feel too crowded.

After a couple of minutes, Jamie spoke. “I tried dialing out, while you were in the basement, but there wasn’t any signal.”

Morgan inched closer to Jamie, who glanced at the candles again. “It’s always kind of iffy,” he said.

Jamie kept eyeing the candles, like he expected them to jump off of the shelf and attack him at any minute. Something had changed with him, earlier. He’d been so into it, so passionate. There was no way he'd suddenly decided he didn’t want it. Hell, his pants still had a bit of a bulge.

He hadn’t freaked out until Morgan tried to undress him.

Morgan wouldn’t push. He had no right to Jamie’s secrets when he wouldn’t reveal his own.

Jamie broke the silence after a little while. “Did you ever think we’d wind up like this, after the way we used to be?”

Morgan blew out a long, slow breath. That was the elephant in the room, all right. Their relationship in college had been shitty, to say the least.

Morgan had wanted Jamie, but he’d decided to show it by trying to make Jamie out to be less than. It went hand in hand with trying to live up to his father’s expectations, and his father’s nigh-constant rants about how horrible the Roscoes were.

Morgan hadn’t had any opinions about the Roscoes at all. He certainly hadn’t had any kind of vendetta, like some kind of high-priced hillbilly.

“We nearly hooked up once,” he said, instead of rehashing old hurts. “Do you remember —”

“I remember.” Jamie interrupted him with a smile. It was hard to tell through all the shadows in the place, but it looked like he might be blushing, too.

“I used to think there had to be something wrong with me, wanting the guy who’d wrecked my dreams and all that. Turns out you’re just really hot. And I’m really, really gay.”

Morgan laughed with him, but part of Jamie’s statement sat like acid in his throat. “I ruined your life?” he asked softly.

Jamie hesitated. Then he started to talk about that internship. He explained just how hard he’d worked to get it, how much he’d had to hide from his own family.

“I never wanted to go into the family business. I always wanted to be an architect. Of course, Roscoe Industries had about as much use for an architect as I do for a bra, so they weren’t so keen on it.

“If I was going to pull it off, I had to get the best internship. And the best job offer. Nothing else would do. And of course, we know how that turned out.”

He let out a bitter little laugh. “Now I develop real estate. And I’ll never get out of developing real estate, because my parents figure it’s basically the same thing, right?”

He managed a sheepish grin. “But I’m getting paid, and I get now that it was really your dad.”

Morgan’s cheeks burned. “You worked so hard, and I didn’t even see it through. I didn’t understand, at the time, just how much it meant to you.

“I thought you getting mad was just part of the whole rivalry thing. I mean, you were a Roscoe, what did you need an internship for?”

Jamie’s answering grin was brilliant. “It’s fine now. I’m okay with my life now. And besides, it probably did me a favor.” He smirked and gestured to the house. “Turns out being a Roscoe isn’t so bad.”

Morgan knew Jamie meant the comment to be a compliment, a reference to the fact that Jamie being a Roscoe let them meet up again. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel sour about his own family. “It’s better than being a Patrick.”

Jamie tilted his head. “I know things got tense when you came out.”

Morgan looked down, and then he squared his shoulders. He had nothing to be ashamed of, damn it. And there wasn’t any point in hiding it anyway. It would all come out sooner or later.

“Dad had a key to my apartment. And he decided to drop in. He found me in bed with a guy.

“He went absolutely apeshit. He demanded I submit to conversion therapy. He must have suspected something already, because he had the place all picked out and the director’s number on speed dial.

“Anyway, there was no way I was going. I was already an adult, and no one could force me into that shit.”

“Hell no.” Jamie shuddered. “I’ve seen cancers with a higher survival rate.”

“Right?” Morgan’s laugh had no humor in it. “Dad gave me an ultimatum. Find a woman to marry, or walk away from the family.

“And you know, it’s not like I knew of any women who were going to be all that satisfied with me, or vice versa. So, I went for what was behind door number two. I mean, Dad had to thaw eventually, right? I was his only son.

“Turns out, not so much. He cut off my access to any accounts that he could. I had one bank account that was my own. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my primary.

“Anyway, he sent word through his lawyer that I’d been disinherited. When I tried to get a job somewhere else in our field, I’d been blacklisted. My supposed friends stopped taking my calls — even the guy I got caught with.

“I couldn’t even find a job as a waiter or doing retail work, although that might have had something to do with the fact that I have no experience in that kind of thing, and no physical address. Turns out, being a trust-fund baby isn’t useful when that bubble bursts.”

Jamie put an arm around his shoulder. “I know,” he said, and there wasn’t any pity there. There was compassion, sure, but no pity. “Sometime soon you’ll have to talk to my brother Ryan. He made the same discovery. Different reasons, same result.”

He took a deep breath. “How did you end up here, though? I’m glad you found it, it’s about as safe as you can find, for what it is. But it’s not exactly in plain sight.”

Morgan laughed so he wouldn’t cry. “I picked up some cash clearing litter on a plot of land a little further around the mountain. I found this place coming along an old bootlegger’s trail.

“I had no money left for motels. And here we are.” He indicated himself. “Not such a worthy rival now, am I?”

“Rival?” Jamie shrugged. “Maybe not. Worthy? You’re beyond worthy, Morgan. You’ve been through so much, more than almost anyone I know.

“And you haven’t given up, you know? You’re still so strong, you’re still fighting. I know we can find you a job, man. And housing, with flush toilets and the whole nine. It’s not a thing.

“You’re safe here. You’re home now.”

Morgan wanted to cry. They were words he’d wanted so badly to hear, but he couldn’t tell Jamie the whole truth. He couldn’t admit how far he’d truly lowered himself.

And Jamie, he still had a secret too. “It’s your turn,” he said, with a gentle nudge of his elbow. “Time for your story.”

Jamie frowned at him, eyebrows drawing together. “What story?”

“What’s under your shirt?”

Jamie withdrew into the sleeping bag, but Morgan pushed just a little. “You’re afraid of the candles. You keep looking at them like they’re going to eat you.”

“No, I don’t.” Jamie hung his head.

“I can put two and two together, Jamie. How bad was it?” He rested his head on Jamie’s shoulder.

Jamie swallowed hard. After a few moments, he spoke. “It was a beach party three years ago, over near Lake Tahoe. It was probably not long after the last time we saw each other.

“Anyway, there was this huge bonfire.” His eyes got far away as he spoke. “We were all drinking, getting smashed like dumbasses. And it was past midnight, you could feel the fire from like ten feet away, and that’s stupid. It’s just stupid. And there was this guy, he was an ass, and we got into it.

“I was probably an ass too. No one’s a good person after an entire bottle of Goldschlager,”

“Anyway, he was an ass, and obviously the only possible solution was to throw hands. So, we got into a scuffle, the guy pushed, I was pretty unsteady, and over I went.

“And I heard all this screaming, and I was like someone shut that bitch up, would you? Except it was me. I was the one screaming.

“And that smell, the burning, overcooked pork barbecue? Yeah, that was me, too. I hadn’t felt it yet, because the fire was just that hot. Burned away some of the nerves.” He swallowed again.

Morgan bit down on his lip. “My God,” he said, when he could speak again. “How awful! How did your family deal with it?”

“They didn’t.” Jamie’s jaw tensed. “I told my cousin Phil — Dr. Phil, that is. And Anthony, my brother-in-law now, he was there. So, he knows; he got me home.

“But they’d want to track the guy down, make him pay, scar him up like me, and it’s like … no. Just — no. I’m the dumbass who started the fight, and I’m the dumbass who thought hey, fisticuffs would be just awesome after an entire bottle of Goldschlager. It’s my fault, and I’ll live with it.”

“Are you living with it, though?” Morgan stroked Jamie’s cheek. “It seems like it’s still very much an issue for you.”

“I’m in a lot of pain. I’ll always be in a lot of pain. And, ah, sometimes I can still smell my own burning flesh.

“But I earned it. I did. All by myself. I don’t want my family hunting down some equally drunk asshole because I did something stupid. I can be grateful that no one else got hurt because of my stupidity, and leave it at that.”

Morgan went back to resting his head on Jamie’s shoulder for a moment. What was he supposed to say to that? “Sorry” seemed so inadequate.

Well, there was one thing he could do. He got up and blew out the candles. He heard the sleeping bag rustle, but Jamie sounded concerned when he spoke. “What are you doing? I thought you were worried about scorpions.”

“We’ll just have to be careful.” Morgan got behind Jamie and slipped into the sleeping bag. He wrapped an arm around Jamie’s chest and pressed him close to his chest. “I don’t think any scorpions can get in here. What do you think? And this should warm you up nice and good.”

Jamie stiffened, especially when Morgan pressed gently against his scars. After a few seconds, he relaxed into Morgan’s embrace, and they watched the storm through the window.