Aftermath by Bailey Bradford (most important books of all time txt) 📗

mouth, lacing their fingers together. He couldn’t resist kissing those swollen lips, didn’t see any reason to even as the sheriff pounded on the door again. Lee took his time with the kiss, stopping only once Darren melted against him then he licked Darren’s lips slowly before ending the tender kiss.

“Don’t worry about him, or what anyone else might have heard.” He glanced at the love bites on Darren’s neck then traced each one with his fingers. “These, though, will let everyone who saw you come back here with me know who you belong to for now.” Lee knew it was the wrong thing to say immediately, but it wasn’t like he could take the words back.

“For now,” Darren repeated, his shoulders tensing as he turned away. “We’d better go before Laine breaks the door down.”

Everything about Darren’s flat tone seemed wrong. Lee surged forward and caught Darren’s wrist. Darren stopped and Lee tugged until Darren gave in and faced him. Another round of banging on the door lit the wick of Lee’s temper. “Just give us two goddamned minutes,” he snapped, studying Darren, trying to figure out how to fix the mess he’d just made.

“You’ve got a hundred and twenty seconds,” Laine growled, and Lee knew that would be exactly the amount of time Laine would wait before breaking the door down if they didn’t open it.

“Darren, look at me,” Lee urged when Darren seemed determined to stare at the floor. Lee almost wished he hadn’t made the demand when he saw the hurt in Darren’s eyes, but he simply couldn’t make any promises, not to make Darren or himself feel better. “I need to talk to you about Stefan. There were some things in his last letters that I didn’t understand. Will you please come to my room at the motel? I’m in room six—”

Darren was already shaking his head. Lee plowed on, determined to make Darren agree to meet with him. “Fine. We can meet here, or wherever you live, anywhere you want. I won’t touch you if that’s what you’re afraid of. Just listen to me, tell me if I’m reading too much into what Stefan wrote.” Lee stopped, dangerously close to begging when Darren shook his head again. He resigned himself to doing just that when Darren finally spoke.

“I’m not afraid of you doing…touching me,” he whispered, his cheeks tinting darker with each word.

“Then what?” Lee knew he was scowling, but he couldn’t understand why Darren looked at him with fear-filled eyes. “I won’t hurt you. I don’t expect you to put out because I sucked you off.” He’d hoped, yearned, but he wouldn’t have ever forced.

Darren’s bitter laughter was as shocking to Lee as a bucket of ice water would have been. “I don’t think that either. You won’t want anything to do with me once I tell you why Stefan died, and that’s what scares me.”

Darren turned and walked to the door, unlocking it and leaving Lee in stunned silence.

Chapter Five

Darren knew he was lucky that Virginia only chewed him out and sent him to work in the kitchen after what he’d done in the office. He should have told Lee no, but how could he when Lee had knelt down and eagerly sought his dick? Darren hadn’t been touched in so long, and even then, he hadn’t had a blow job anything like the one Lee had given him.

Maybe it had been because both he and his partner at the time, Cody, were both inexperienced, but the only other blow job Darren had been given had been just…less. Less intense, less exquisite, less everything. He couldn’t help but wonder if actual anal sex would be better too, because his one time topping had felt pretty amazing, albeit way too brief. But being on the receiving end had hurt so much he’d thought he was being ripped in two—which was pretty much what Cody had said it felt like to him when Darren had topped. They hadn’t had another chance to see if it got any better.

And he wouldn’t get a chance to find out with Lee, not if he went and talked to the man like he knew he should. He understood Lee wasn’t interested in anything other than a quick hook-up—he’d made that clear with his ‘you’re mine for now’ comment. Darren was sorry he’d acted like a wounded lover over that when he should have appreciated Lee’s honesty.

It was just that it’d felt so good to be touched, not just the blow job, but touched like he mattered, like someone cared. Probably it had been stupid to pretend it meant more than it did, but Darren hadn’t been able to stop the little fantasy that he could have someone who loved him, wanted to do the things Lee had done. Lee’s words had slapped Darren back to reality, though, and once Darren told him…

Darren set the clean dishes down and wiped his hands on the dish towel. He was going to talk to Lee. Stefan’s brother deserved to know how Darren’s selfishness had led to Stefan’s death. It didn’t matter that Darren hadn’t killed Stefan—if he hadn’t let his hormones overrule his common sense, Darren would have been with Stefan, and Stefan wouldn’t be dead.

“Your shift’s over. Laine and Severo are here to take you home.”

Darren sighed. He didn’t particularly want to face either of those men right now, but if he really was going to talk to Lee, surely he could be strong enough to tell Laine and Severo he didn’t need their charity. Maybe he’d luck out and avoid another lecture. Virginia’s had been embarrassing enough.

“Let me get my backpack.” Darren avoided looking at Virginia as he walked around her. She’d let him stay and finish his shift today, but part of his punishment for getting raunchy in the office, as his boss had put it, was a week off without pay. The money didn’t really matter—it wasn’t like he earned a lot or had any bills—but