by M. A. Innes
As the steam started to fill the bathroom, I turned away from my reflection and climbed into the shower. Mad was probably right about Jay; there was something different about him, but I wasn’t going to try and figure it out. He was an over-sharer with everything. I didn’t want to encourage him to tell me anything else. If I had to listen to a rambling monologue about his sexual discoveries, I’d die.
Having dinner with our new friends was going to be hard enough. Letting the water beat down on me, I took a deep breath and tried to relax. I wasn’t going to give myself anything else to stress over. Schoolwork alone would have been difficult. When you added on that I had to study in the library and other places to escape Jay that made it more insane.
At least that was going well. I was doing great in my classes, and each day it got easier to see that I’d made the right decision on my major. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do with a psychology degree, but it seemed right. Maybe it was because I’d always felt so different. But with psychology, the more I read, the more I realized I wasn’t so unique. There were so many people who didn’t fit typical molds of what society said they should be or want. I liked that.
It made me feel more secure. Like when Maddox was Daddy and everything was up to him. My thoughts circled back around to Daddy. I knew we had to change our living arrangements. But what were we supposed to do?
Money was the first thing that I knew would make things easier. The idea of flipping burgers or working somewhere on campus sucked. But if it would mean that Maddox and I got to spend more time together, it would be worth it. Reaching for the shampoo, I played with the idea.
Maybe I could get a job that would be something I could put on a resume. It wasn’t like I had a lot of experience with anything related to my major, but there had to be something. Making a mental note to talk to my professors, I pushed it aside and tried to turn my brain off.
I wasn’t very successful.
Thoughts kept popping up randomly. Work ideas, assignments, little things I’d talked about with Maddox…it all kept piling up. Maybe Mom would have some ideas. Thinking about Mom had my brain bouncing over to Maddox’s parents. I wasn’t looking forward to that. It was days away, but that didn’t seem far enough.
Between meeting them for the first time and knowing that Maddox was going to have to tell them about his choice of majors, I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant. It was more like guessing how bad it was going to be…mildly uncomfortable or volcanic explosion. He always said they were reserved and cold, but sometimes those were the biggest crazies once you pushed them to a certain point.
Maybe there was a way to break things to them slowly. Tell them about the major now but not about him not wanting to move back home after graduation. Little steps. Like introducing us as dating, not as trying to move in together. It was a little bit underhanded but when shit with parents blew up, I’d seen things go bad.
One guy I knew freshman year had a huge blow up with his parents and they stopped paying for school. I didn’t want that to happen to Maddox. Things were going to be hard enough trying to work out the finances to live together—paying for his tuition would be almost impossible.
I finished washing up as the thoughts played ping pong in my head, going back and forth. By the time I was dressed and ready for bed, I was done. This was one of those nights where I wanted Daddy to get me ready and tuck me in. I’d had enough of the real world.
I was hoping Jay would be asleep by the time I came out but no such luck. He was sitting up on the top bunk, reading. It was almost like he’d waited up for me because as I walked over to the closet to put my dirty clothes away, he started settling down for the night.
“Would you turn off the light when you’re done?”
It was actually a simple straightforward question. I was immediately suspicious. The little bug was never that quiet. “Sure.”
Getting the overhead lights and making my way back over to the bed, I climbed in and turned off the little lamp on the desk. It plunged the room into darkness and I was keeping my fingers crossed that I could get some sleep.
No such luck.
“Hey, Bryan?”
I knew it was too good to be true. “Yes?”
“What’s in the box?”
Shit.
****
The fact that we were in the cafeteria was the only reason I didn’t throw something at him. “It’s not funny!”
Maddox laughed and nodded. “Oh, it is. I bet you nearly had a heart attack.”
“I don’t know what the hell he was thinking.” I was exhausted, hungry, and in no mood for Maddox to make me crazy first thing in the morning.
We’d arranged to meet for breakfast before our first class but that was when I’d pictured getting a good night’s sleep. Between my already racing thoughts about our living situation and Jay’s insanity, I’d tossed and turned all night.
“Nothing, evidently. I can’t imagine asking someone about their personal shit like that.” Maddox was shaking his head but at least he’d stopped laughing. “What did you say?”
“I ignored it and told him to go to bed!” There were probably better ways to handle it but at the time, I couldn’t think of any.
“Did he leave it at that?”
“What do you think? No, the bug didn’t. He wanted to know if I was doing drugs.”
Maddox spit coffee all over the table. “What?”
“Where was he raised that privacy means drugs and crazy shit?”
“We know he wasn’t brought up remotely normal, just the little things he’s already said raised huge red flags. It had to be another ‘my parents said’ thing.” Now Mad was starting to look like he felt bad for the guy.
I was frustrated enough not to be too embarrassed this morning, so I looked around to see if anyone was too close and dropped my voice. “I’m a young gay guy; what did he think was in the box? I know it’s not like regular stuff, but he should have been able to guess it was something personal.”
Maddox was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of his chair. There was no getting him to function this morning. Thank God, he’d let me have coffee. Taking a sip, I looked around, waiting for him to calm down.
“I can’t get the picture of him opening the box and seeing it full of dildos and lube out of my head.” He started snickering again.
“That’d be better than what he would find. I can’t bring the box back to the dorm. I’ll go crazy.”
“What do you mean?” He looked confused.
“It’s in the trunk of my car. You have to take it to your room.” I wasn’t going to negotiate. There was no way I was going to bring it back to mine.
He must have seen how serious I was because he nodded and reached out to grab my hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll keep the box. This is an easy day for both of us. How about we meet at lunch and head out to get Chinese or something? Just the two of us. Then we’ll swing by my place on the way back and drop the box off.”
“Yes.” That would be perfect.
“Love you, B.” This time his smile was sweet and I could see how much I meant to him in his eyes.
“Love you, too.”
Venting complete, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “Oh, I wanted to talk to you about the living together thing.”
“What do you think? I know we were going to take some time but it’s all I’ve been thinking about.” He looked at me anxiously and started pushing his food around his plate.
“I think living apart, especially with the way it is now will make us both crazy. We can’t study in our rooms and you’re not even able to get a full night’s sleep with your computer vampire being up all night. I say we start looking around this weekend and see what’s out there.” I might have been nervous about some things but living with Maddox wasn’t one of them.
I wanted my Daddy back.
“You’re sure? I don’t want to push you into anything.”
“I’m sure. I want things to go
back to the way they were over the summer. I know it won’t be exactly the same with classes and probably jobs but…but I miss our routine and just being with you.” The heat in his eyes let me know he understood exactly what I’d been trying to say.
“Me too, B.” He squeezed my hand again. “I’ve been thinking about the money. If we both got part-time jobs then the money your mom could pay should be enough. We’re going to have to get pretty good jobs, though. Fast food and stuff like that isn’t going to be enough to pay for groceries and utilities.”
“So, Mom’s money would pay for the rent?” There hadn’t been time to plan out the finances, but what he said sounded right.
“It should. If my parents don’t lose it and let me use the money they were going to pay for the dorms, then it will be easier.” Maddox started to relax and I could see the wheels in his head turning.
“So theoretically, we could move into something after Christmas?”
“Yes. As long as we can get jobs.”
That seemed like a long time away but I knew it would be here before we knew it. There was tons of stuff to look into before then. “That’s the plan, then. Jobs and apartment hunting. And I was kind of thinking about the dinner with your parents…”
He must have thought something was wrong because he frowned. “Is something wrong?”
I knew what he was thinking. “No. I’m not chickening out. I had an idea. It’s a little bit…sneaky, though.”
“What is it?”
“What if you told them you were making accounting your major and finance your minor so that you could balance out your dad’s business better? You know…make it more well-rounded or something. Give them the impression that you were still going to go to work with him. Maybe phrase it so you’re not exactly lying but not telling them the whole truth?” I cringed a little inside because I wasn’t sure what he would think of it. It was more underhanded than anything I would usually say. “I don’t want them to do anything crazy like stop paying for college.”
He didn’t look shocked. In fact, he sighed and leaned back in his chair looking as guilty as I felt. “I thought of doing the same thing. Yeah, it’s technically wrong, but college was when, not if in my house. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that they started with the assumption I’d work for him. So I don’t feel bad about it. Does that make me terrible?”
“No, it was my idea too.” I gave him a wicked grin. “We’ll be underhanded together.”
That got me a devilish grin and he leaned toward the table, “I already like being naughty together. I think underhanded will be fun. As long as it’s with you.”
I couldn’t help the blush that crept up my cheeks. He went back to eating his breakfast, a smug look on his face. He was going to make me crazy, and we didn’t have time for that. “Just finish your food. We’ve got to get going.”
“Would you rather I ask how you’re feeling?” Heat flared in his eyes, and for a minute I was back there in the woods draped over his lap.
I might be sore, but there was no way I was going to tell him that. Besides, I wouldn’t change anything we’d done. Ignoring the question, I went back to focusing on my food. He chuckled.
“I’ll have to check you later and make sure you’re doing okay.” His voice hovered between teasing and erotic, sending a shiver down my spine.
Naughty, sexy scenes flashed through my mind. What was he going to do? Was he really…I looked up, and seeing the expression on his face, knowing he was going to look me over thoroughly—my hardening cock decided it liked that idea. My head wasn’t so sure. Besides the whole lack of privacy thing, I didn’t know if he would let me come or not.
The fantasies were going to drive me crazy.
CHAPTER 12
Maddox
I was driving him crazy, but his reactions were so cute I couldn’t help myself. The reminders of checking on him and that I still owed him a punishment for being naughty had him constantly on edge. He’d blush and you could see his imagination running erotic ideas through his head.
Bryan had been hard since we’d met to go to lunch, so his level of arousal wasn’t my fault. I had a feeling he’d been thinking about other things besides school while he was in class. That was okay because I had, too. I went back and forth between thinking about spending time with him at lunch and what we’d done the night before.
At this point, moving in together would be the only way to keep our grades up. Having our special time always just out of reach would make us both crazy. Maybe that was the excuse I should use for my parents. “I have to move in with him or we’ll be so distracted that nothing will get done.” Maybe not. Bryan might die of shock even though my parents probably wouldn’t notice.
Lunch had been fun and it had been good to get away with him. We needed to do that more often. I also had to crunch the numbers and see what kind of hotel room I could afford. Saving as much as possible for the new place was a priority, but we were going to need some alone time soon.
Taking Bryan’s hand as we started walking up the steps to my dorm, I had an idea. “Hey, why don’t we see if that dollar theater has anything remotely interesting playing.” I dropped my voice to a teasing whisper, pulling him close. “We could have so much fun in the dark, B.”
Bryan lost his footing for a minute and stumbled. I caught him before he could go down but it told me all I needed to know. His response was distracted and stuttering. “Um, sure. Um…sounds like fun.”
As we made our way up to my room, I kept whispering naughty things into his ear. Wicked ideas about what we could do in the dark. All that came to a screeching halt when we walked into my room.
“What the hell!”
My dresser was covered with computer equipment, my TV nowhere in sight, and several of my drawers were open showing more computer shit and paperwork.
Where were my clothes?
Bryan stood there in shock, with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open. He started shaking his head. “What was he thinking?”
“He’s insane if he thinks I’m living like this! I already told him that he couldn’t use my dresser. Where the hell are my clothes?” We started poking around the room and found my TV in the closet and some of my clothes in there too. Bryan found the rest of my stuff in a garbage bag under the bed. Maybe I should have been grateful he hadn’t thrown it away, but I didn’t see it that way.
“You have to go talk to Housing about this.” He was still shaking his head, clearly not sure what to do in the situation.
I wasn’t sure what to do either—with the crazy roommate or my clothes. With no dresser and almost no closet space, where was it supposed to go? I wasn’t going to leave it under the bed. So we settled on leaving it in the bag but setting it on my bed. That was better, but now I had nowhere to sleep.
“I have to go now. I can’t put it off any longer. Are you okay with going with me? I’d rather have a witness who saw this too.” I wasn’t sure if they didn’t believe me or if something else was going on. I knew a guy who got new housing when his roommate snored really bad freshman year. Why was I having to put up with crazy?
“Of course. And pictures might be a good idea?” He looked like he wasn’t sure what would help. I had no idea either. I never thought the insanity would get to this level.
“Yeah, probably.” We took pictures of everything we could think of from the blackout curtains to my clothes stuffed all over the room before we set off for the housing office.
Bryan was quiet for a while but eventually, he glanced over at me, a concerned look on his face. “You know you might have to call your parents about this. If the administration won’t do anything for you, they might for a parent calling in talking about legal action or something. There’s no way your parents would put up with someone keeping you from getting a good education.”
I sighed. “I want to be able to handle this on my own, but you’re right. I might not have a choice. Who knows? Maybe it will help my case with them about the whole ap
artment thing.”
As we walked into the housing office, the woman who was sitting at the front desk looked up at me and frowned. “I’m sorry, sir. But nothing—”
I gave her my best Dom look and tried to think of how my father would handle the situation. Giving her a firm expression, I interrupted. “It’s gotten worse. His behavior is borderline criminal at this point. I have no access to sunlight in my room and no one enforcing school quiet hours. I also have no dresser because he moved all of my things this morning to make room for his computer equipment. I need to speak with a lawyer. But at the very least, I think I have solid grounds for vandalism because I just found my clothing in a garbage bag. I want to speak with someone in charge, right now.”
I didn’t look around to see what Bryan’s expression was, but his hand tightened in mine. I looked at her and tried to make her see that I was serious and had been pushed too far this time. After a few seconds, she nodded and stood. “If you would give me a few minutes, please. I’ll see if I can find someone to discuss the situation with you.”
She might have been vague about who she was going to see but it was clear when she walked down the hallway and into the Director of Housings’ office who she meant.
Bryan leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Isn’t there a food chain here that doesn’t go right to the top? He can’t be the first person she talks to about problems.”
Nodding, I knew I had to look confused. “That’s what I was thinking. I’ve gone through everything online. There are three or four other people I should have had to talk to first. What the hell is going on?”
“Either they’re tired of you being a nuisance or they know he’s crazy.” Bryan looked back at the door the woman had gone through. I could see his mind working. “Why would they give you a roommate they knew was nuts?”
That was a very good question.
However, before I could say anything, she came walking back out the door. Giving us a very neutral expression that made me think we were on the right track, she calmly spoke. “Director Harris will see you now. If you could follow me.”
