by Theda Black
13
THEY’D SEEN NO other cars on the road over the last hour. Seth swallowed against the altitude as the car climbed, ears clicking and popping with the pressure.
Xander turned onto a graveled, winding road rising steeply through the trees. The sun sank low, the hills a dusky purple. The shadows beneath the trees were dark, almost black.
Xander drove slowly and carefully, but the road was in surprisingly good shape, no deep ruts and fairly level. A stream flowed on their left, chattering noisily, swirling around large river rocks and falling over an uneven drop in a rush of white foam.
Finally the road turned and twisted downward again. The stream dropped away, the mountains receding behind twin rocky peaks on either side.
Xander’s car emerged from a serpentine curve onto a relatively level area. The remaining daylight seemed brighter without the hills pressing close.
A gas station and store appeared on their left with a wooden sign painted in peeling red, swaying with the breeze. A garage leaned against the store like an afterthought, beige doors marked by oily handprints.
Down the road was a small church, white with narrow windows and a tall, pointed steeple. A ramp with white rails ran up one side of the porch. The road beyond it curved out of sight.
“I think we’ve got ourselves a bonafide town,” Seth drawled.
“Is that what you call this?” Xander said tightly, eyes scanning the church and the gas station. “Have you ever been this high up in the mountains before?”
“Yeah, but I don’t remember that gravel road cutting off the main road at all. We’re pretty far off the beaten trail.”
Xander pulled into the station lot and switched off the Chevelle’s engine.
“What’s up? You all right?”
“Nothing’s up. We need gas.”
“Fill her up?” Seth asked as he got out, ready to run in and pay. He stomped his feet, trying to jump-start his circulation again.
An old man ambled out of the store in coveralls. He was thin, his back curved, face deeply lined. Gray hair stood out in coarse strands against the breeze. He wore bifocals.
He looked over the top of them. “What’ll it be, boys?”
Xander looked at the old man and then again, closer.
“You all right, son?”
Xander blinked and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Yeah, sorry.” He attempted a grin. “Full service? Really?”
“That’s the way we do it in Twin Wolves. Not likely to change.”
“Twin Wolves? What a great name. Could you fill her up?” Xander held out two twenties. “And do you have a bathroom?”
“Yep, it’s inside. Just go on in.” The old man inserted the nozzle into the gas tank and flipped the switch on the pump. “Don’t get many visitors. Guess you’re driving through?”
“No.” Xander looked up the road toward the church. “Is there someplace we can stay?”
The old man gave them a long look. He nodded. “Take a right half mile up, follow the road. There’s only two houses up there. Beth’s place is the gray two-story on the left. She takes boarders from town, time to time. She’ll be glad to meet you—just tell her Simon sent you.” He patted his stomach. “She’s the best cook in town. You’ll likely be spoiled for other food, time you leave.”
“That’s great, thank you.” Xander hesitated, then held out a hand. “I’m Xander.”
The man held out a thin, gnarled hand, and they shook. “Good to know you.” Simon hung up the gas pump and pulled a money clip out of his pocket.
Xander waved at him. “Keep the change.”
Simon smiled, pleased.
Seth put his hand out. “I’m Seth.”
Simon’s brow wrinkled. He pushed his glasses higher on his nose and peered into Seth’s face, frowning. “You from around here?”
“My family’s lived in the area a long time.” Seth looked at his own outstretched hand and then at Simon, confused. He let his hand drop.
“What’s your family name?”
Seth opened his mouth, but Xander grabbed his arm, jerking Seth toward the store.
“Gotta run, good to meet you,” Seth called over his shoulder, then lowered his voice. “What the hell, Xander? He’s just an old man.”
“You have to piss or not? Do it and let’s go.” Xander opened the faded red door, a perfect match to the sign. A small bell tinkled overhead. “Didn’t you see how he looked at you? Like you’re a big green alien with bug eyes on three-foot stalks that just landed on his parking lot. He’s looking for the bug spray as we speak.”
“He doesn’t like me?”
Xander shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Maybe those are special glasses he’s got on.”
“Whatever. I’m not asking, so don’t you tell me.”
Seth ignored him. “They Live. John Carpenter? It’s an old movie. You put these glasses on and you can identify who’s an alien and see subliminal messages everywhere.”
Xander closed his eyes and spoke low. “Fuck me, I told you not to speak.”
Seth shook his arm and looked at him, his eyes dark. “Don’t say that to me. Not when I can’t.” He paused. “Hope old Beth doesn’t complain when we ruin her sheets.”
Xander looked amused. “How are we going to ruin them? Do you have super glue for jizz?”
“Maybe.”
“If she takes in boarders, though I’ll be damned if I know where they’d come from, I’m pretty sure a little jizz won’t surprise her. Or we could wash our own sheets.”
Seth raised both eyebrows. “Sure, no problem. We’ll just go to the laundromat next door to the mall.” He walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. “That was sarcasm,” he added loudly through the door.
“I got that. Thanks.”
14
THE OLD GRAY farmhouse spread comfortably across the clearing, warm lamp light from the windows lying in rectangular patches across the lawn. A smoke tree in front of the house stretched its branches wide, purple blooms a dark mist in the dusky light.
Xander parked in the double driveway winding around to the back of the house. He and Seth walked to the front yard, climbed the wide porch stairs and knocked on the screen door.
A woman opened the door immediately, framed in cozy lamp light from behind. She was in her early thirties, tall, with warm brown eyes and dark blonde hair.
Before they could mention Simon’s name, Beth had welcomed them inside. They trailed behind her as she led the way to the living room.
“He called her already,” Seth whispered.
“She’s not old, either,” Xander whispered back.
The walls were covered in faded floral wallpaper, a massive, overstuffed couch running alongside one wall. Across the room, a young woman sat in front of a darkened fireplace, her face tired and worn. A little boy sprawled at her feet, scribbling long strokes of purple crayon over a dinosaur.
“Xander, Seth, this is Sandra and her son, Billy. They’ve been here—what, going on a year? Seth and Xander are staying with us a few days.” Beth smiled.
Sandra nodded. “Nice to meet you. It’s been a long time since anybody new came through Twin Wolves. Say hello, Billy.”
Billy scrambled up, tossing his coloring book aside. He raced around the coffee table, then again, round and round, eyes sparkling mischief, dark hair a cloud of fine curls. He stopped, picking up a toy fire truck, and warbled a siren sound.
“Where’s the fire?” Seth smiled at the boy.
“He’s showing off. He’s not used to visitors.” Sandra shook her head and looked up at Xander. Her eyes widened. “Wow, you’re really tall.”
Billy stopped running to stand by his mom. He leaned back to look up at Xander and almost fell over. Xander grinned at him.
After introductions, Xander and Seth hauled their bags into the house, following Beth upstairs to their room. She hadn’t asked if they wanted separate rooms, which Seth thought was a pleasant surprise.
Billy was already seated at an oak table in the center of the room. “Hello!” he said loudly. He bounced up and down in his seat.
“Hey, there.” Xander pulled out a chair, hitting a back leg against the wide hutch that ran almost the length of the wall behind them. He sat down across from Billy.
“Hi, Billy.” To Xander, Seth said quietly, “Did you scratch the hutch?”
Xander shrugged.
Dinner was meatloaf, fried potatoes and green beans. There was plenty of food, and Beth encouraged everyone to pile their plates high.
“My God, this is good.” Xander wolfed down another mouthful.
Seth nodded agreement, digging in. “Simon was right.” When Beth looked at him questioningly, he said, “He says you’re the best cook in town.” He was pretty sure she’d known already, and the small vanity made him grin.
Billy stuffed another bite in his mouth. He ate some of everything, even the green beans.
After dinner, Seth and Xander helped with cleanup, then headed upstairs again in silence. Xander opened the door to their room, gesturing Seth in before him.
The house’s age was more evident in their room, the walls dark and hung with old paintings, the floors polished hardwood. The queen-sized bed sat beneath a window on the opposite side. They stood, staring at it like it was the only thing in the room.
Seth cleared his throat, his pulse loud in his ears.
Xander pressed his lips together, nostrils flaring, nodding in Seth’s direction. He didn’t meet Seth’s eyes. “I’m taking a shower.” He walked toward the bathroom, flinging his T-shirt off over his head, not looking where it landed.
Seth watched Xander’s shoulders move, the muscles flex in his back. The door slammed shut.
“Hurry!” Seth called. The tension between them felt like a rubber band, stretched thin with Xander’s absence. He stared at Xander’s shirt on the floor, then sank slowly down on the bed and gripped his knees hard, waiting.
Xander was back in record time, towel wrapped around his waist, dark hair wet and combed off his forehead. Droplets of water gleamed on his chest. He looked at Seth, at the white fingers gripping his knees. “Hey.”
“Yeah.” Seth studied the veins on the backs of his hands.
“You should go if you want a shower.”
Seth nodded, walked to the shower. The bathroom was long and narrow, done in pale green and white. He brushed his teeth and took his clothes off, folding them and putting them on the back of the toilet.
The water was too much for his overly sensitized skin. He washed and rinsed quickly and turned off the water, then stood motionless, hands against the shower wall, trying to regain his equilibrium. Water drip-dripped down the drain.
Xander opened the bathroom door. He froze in the doorway, eyes roving over Seth’s body through the transparent shower liner.
Seth was out of the tub in a heartbeat. He pulled Xander inside and closed the door, pushing Xander against it with his body. The feel of Xander’s body against his was overwhelming, body heat sinking into Seth’s wet skin, thigh to shoulder. He crashed his mouth into Xander’s.
“Fuck.” Xander grabbed at Seth.
Seth grabbed a fistful of Xander’s hair and yanked, his elbow cracking against the door. He ignored the pain, pulling away from the kiss, drinking in the sight of Xander’s long neck bared before him, exposed and vulnerable. Xander waited, silent, breathing hard.
Seth pressed his mouth under Xander’s jawline and sucked, biting gently. Xander’s grunt vibrated against his lips. He rubbed Xander’s chest with a wet hand and found a nipple, teasing and stroking, feeling it stiffen, then followed with his tongue, swiping slow and wet.
Xander groaned. It triggered something in Seth. All of the slow, mounting frustration of having wanted him so much over the semester crested, threatened to wreck whatever self-control he still had. He tried to slow his breathing, sliding his face to rest against Xander’s collar bone. He pressed his hand flat to Xander’s chest, concentrating on the curve of skin and bone beneath his fingers.
Xander panted above him, head flung back, fingers gripping Seth’s shoulder. He took a quick look at Seth’s face and groaned, banging his head against the door in frustration. “What is it?” His voice was hoarse.
“Nothing. Just want to slow down.” Seth pressed a blunt thumbnail gently into Xander’s nipple.
Xander rolled his head against the door and looked at him, eyes dark, with that peculiar defenselessness Seth had seen from him before.
Seth smiled a little, suddenly uncertain. “That okay?”
Xander stepped away from the wall and into Seth again, fitted himself to him, their cocks knocking against each other. He put his mouth to Seth’s ear. “I don’t know. Depends on what you do next. All you have to do is move one more time. Or just fucking breathe on me, and I’ll come, Seth. You know that? You’re making me crazy.” Xander kissed him slowly, deliberately, then stepped back. “But yeah. It’s okay.”
Seth laughed and rubbed a hand over his hair, blew a shaky breath out.
Xander closed his eyes, squeezed them together. “It is. It’s okay.”
“What, Xan? What’s wrong?”
Xander walked out of the bathroom and sat on the side of the bed. He put his head in his hands and spoke in a loud, cadenced rhythm, cupping his hands over his ears as if drowning someone out, trying to speak over them. “He’s here, Seth, shit. He knows. Trying to get to me. I don’t want him to see you. He hasn’t seen you. Don’t let him touch you. Go away, okay? Just leave.”
“He—why hasn’t he seen me?” Seth looked at him, his stomach gone tight and heavy. Xander sounded and acted (crazy) like someone disturbed. Caving from the pressure of working too hard to put himself through college, maybe. Someone who needed help.
Three grown men. All of them knew Xander. All of them lost their minds. How?
He remembered Stephens’ voice in the hall, repeating the names of demons and gods. Names from Xander’s dreams.
Batshit crazy, all of it.
But three men. What if there’s something to it? If nobody believes him?
“I don’t know. But I don’t want him to see you.”
“Maybe—maybe he can’t.” Was this the first step? Or only the first Seth recognized? Buying into it. Falling down the hole.
“He wants to—he felt how I want you. He knows.” Xander stood up. His face had gone pale, eyes wide. “Leave. Okay? Please. If he takes me over, he’ll want you.”
“I’m not leaving. Push him out, dammit.”
“He wants to fuck somebody, Seth, you get it? He smells it on me, reads all of it from my body. It makes him stronger. It’s his wheelhouse.”
Seth flashed onto Stephens’ face last night. His hands curled into fists. “I don’t want you to—not with somebody else. Not again, okay, not yet.” He’d been wrong, he’d lied when he’d said he didn’t know if he could handle it. Because he couldn’t. Couldn’t watch Xander go, knowing he'd somehow find someone else.
“You knew when you came with me. I told you,” Xander pleaded.
“What if it ruins—this. You and me.” Seth spread his arms, waving at himself and Xander. “You want that?”
“You know I don’t, Seth. But it won’t be me doing it.”
“That’s bullshit. You’ll feel it.”
“Dammit, yes, I’ll feel it. I’ll come and it’ll make me fucking sick to my stomach, and I’ll hate myself more until I feel like I’m choking to goddamned death on it. It’s still better than him having you.”
“Not from where I’m sitting, okay? Don’t ask me to leave you alone with this.”
Xander raised his head from his hands and looked at Seth for a long time. He pulled back the covers on the bed and propped pillows und
er his head. Gripping the headboard in one hand, he pulled his body higher in the bed, then reached down and stroked himself with the other hand, slow and firm. His dick swelled, tip growing wetter. He smeared the wetness over the head, making soft noises in the back of his throat. “Watch me. Keep me with you, Seth, make me remember why I can’t let him—” He cupped his balls in his hand and pulled gently.
Seth wanted to touch himself but didn’t. “Xander. Fuck. I want to touch you so bad.”
Xander looked at Seth, his eyes wide and dark, open-mouthed. “I want your dick in my mouth,” he breathed, twisting his hand over the head of his cock. “I want to push my fingers in your ass. I want my tongue buried in you, want to fuck you with it, taste you. Everything, all of it. Wanted you since the day you walked in our room.”
“Goddamn,” Seth choked. “Don’t say that, God, not when I can’t—”
Xander’s hand moved faster, gripping tight behind and twisting up, over, dragging back down, dusky skin pulled tight. Wetness slipped over his fingers. “Oh fuck, fuck—” He arched off the bed, stomach muscles bunching tight and round, and fucked into his fist, moaning Seth’s name. Come spurted over his chest and stomach.
Seth watched and lowered a hand slowly, dreamlike, gripping himself, throbbing into his hand. He stroked once, twice, closed his eyes and came.
15
SETH WOKE, LOOKING over at the chair where Xander had spent the night. He sat up, heart hammering. The toilet flushed. He sagged against the headboard. He heard water running. Xander came from the bathroom, buttoning a black shirt. He sat on the chair and dug beneath it, fishing, pulling out his high tops and tugging them on.
“Where we going?” Seth asked, throwing aside the covers and getting out of bed. “Give me a minute to hit the bathroom and I’ll be ready.”
Xander jumped a little when Seth leaned to kiss him, a quick brush of lips. Xander’s eyes were red and tired, his face pale, but he smiled at Seth. He’d shaved, and it made him look younger.
At the door, Seth turned. “Don’t leave. I’ll be right out.” He waited until Xander nodded.
