Bad Influence (34 page)

Then he was in deep. Everything hot and tight and pulsing around him. Zeb so perfect around Silver’s cock. Clenching on him, shaking under him. Sucking air in such quick breaths that Silver found himself echoing the rhythm.

In the back of Silver’s mind a tiny alarm shrilled. There was something he was supposed to be worried about, something he had to be careful with, but with his belly pressed against Zeb’s back, balls brushing Zeb’s, it was all Silver could do to hang on against the need to fuck. To drive in hard and deep until his balls emptied.

The pressure eased, and Silver shifted his hips, making more room inside Zeb’s body.

Zeb’s breathing slowed. “So good. You feel so good in me.”

Silver started a slow rolling motion, but Zeb’s hand came down on Silver’s where it rested on Zeb’s hip.

“Just fuck me.”

Silver nodded against Zeb’s back, snaking an arm under his chest, wrapping his hand around the opposite shoulder for leverage. He pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in. Zeb’s hand tightened on Silver’s.

They blew out a simultaneous breath. “Yes.”

It didn’t matter how long it had been. This was as easy and as impossibly good as the first time. So good Silver was afraid he was going to come almost as fast as he had then. Pressure, exquisite rippling friction, gripped his cock along every inch, clinging, milking him with every thrust. The heat inside him ramped up a thousand degrees. He needed Zeb just as out of his mind.

Using the grip on Zeb’s shoulder, Silver shifted them, rocking a little side to side, until he heard the gasp that told him he had the angle he needed. He lowered his head to Zeb’s shoulder and pumped his hips.

A final squeeze and Zeb’s hand was gone. Silver’s ears strained to hear the slap and slide of Zeb’s hand on his cock. It was Silver’s turn to beg. He fucked as hard and fast as he could, but the more he tried to drive Zeb over, the closer Silver got to the edge. He held it back, internal muscles almost cramping with the effort.

“Come for me.” Silver turned his head, lips brushing Zeb’s hair. “Want to feel you come around my dick.”

Zeb bucked forward, body jerking like he was pile-driving an ass under him. Silver put his mouth on Zeb’s collarbone, sucking a small bite into it.

He gasped and shuddered, ass suddenly soft before it locked down hard, pulses constricting around Silver’s cock, pumping him up and over the edge. He let himself go over. A few hard pumps of his hips and then he slammed deep, filling Zeb’s ass with come.

A wave of panic brought him back to earth. No. The condom. It was still there. He flooded the condom. His infected spunk was safely contained. Gripping the base to keep it on, he pulled out of Zeb’s ass.

Zeb tensed, grunted then looked over his shoulder, eyes glittering in the dark. “What—oh.”

Silver pinched the tip and stripped the latex off his dick. Since his brain was no longer hijacked by his dick, he was starting to think dragging Zeb in here probably hadn’t been the best plan.

“Silver?”

He stepped back toward Zeb, dropping the condom on the workbench and putting his other hand on Zeb’s shoulder. The wood chip in his middle finger slid in deeper. “Hope you didn’t get slivers. Guess this wasn’t— Maybe we should have—”

“I came so hard I thought the top of my head would blow off.” Zeb turned and wrapped his arms around Silver’s waist. “Nothing could get through the skin on these hands.” With a squeeze, Zeb added, “And we had the bed and the candles last time.”

Silver’s laugh was barely more than a hard breath. “Yeah, we did.”

Zeb put his hand on Silver’s cheek. “And I’ve never felt closer to anyone than I do right now.”

“But it’s always going to be complicated.” Silver gestured in the direction of the condom. “Even if you fuck me, you’d have to wear one.”

“Maybe we could just focus on what we do have. What we’ve found again.” Zeb’s hand fell away. “Unless I’m the only one feeling like that.”

“No.” Silver rested his forehead on Zeb’s shoulder. “You’re not the only one.”

Pulling wet pants back up over recently swollen body parts made for a really uncomfortable trip back into the house. Silver tried switching on the kitchen light, forgetting the power was out. He patted his way through the kitchen to the bathroom to flush the condom. He’d half expected Eli to pounce as soon as they hit the kitchen door, but he and Quinn and Marco were lying in wait, Marco on the air mattress, in the living room.

“Thought maybe you got washed away.” Eli glanced up from the tablet, face reflecting in blue and white.

“We were in the garage.” Silver shivered. The a/c wasn’t running, but the house was still cool enough to chill his wet skin.

“I know. I saw the light when I went to check.”

“Was your
date
good?” Marco tipped his flashlight in their direction. “Eli told me you’d had plans tonight.”

“Seriously?” Silver didn’t know who he was more exasperated with. Eli or Marco or himself for giving them so much ammunition. His boxer briefs were tucked in the front pocket of his cargo shorts, and he hadn’t bothered with a shirt. Zeb looked even more…fucked. Untucked, stained shirt and wrinkled slacks.

“Let me have that for a minute.” Silver yanked the flashlight away from Marco. To Zeb, Silver said, “C’mon,” and started for the stairs. Dealing with the Inquisition would be easier after they cleaned up.

Zeb pulled Silver back. “Uh.”

“What?”

“I can’t stay.”

They had to do this with a fucking audience? Silver backed Zeb toward the dining room.

“I don’t have another change of clothes. And these are—”

“Trashed,” Silver finished for him.

“I’d invite you home with me, but…”

Silver nodded. He didn’t want to hassle with Quinn and his overdeveloped sense of responsibility. Plus there was Marco. He was only there because of Silver. It wasn’t exactly fair to stick Eli and Quinn with babysitting duties.

“When’s your next night off?” Zeb asked.

“The day after forever? I don’t know. I’ll see the new schedule tomorrow. And text you.”

Silver wasn’t sure who moved first, but the space between them disappeared, foreheads pressed together, arms around each other’s waist. Not kissing, but sharing breath.

“Name the time and I’ll be there.” Zeb’s hands rested on the base of Silver’s spine, one stacked over the other, hot on his cold skin.

He wanted to believe in that touch, like he wanted to believe in the promise. “I go in front of the judge a week from today. The sixteenth. I’d like you to be there.”

“What time?”

“One o’clock.”

“I’ll be there.” Zeb’s prompt answer didn’t seem possible. Silver knew the last day of school was June 18. Quinn had been counting it down on the kitchen calendar.

Silver didn’t know he’d leaned back until he realized he was searching Zeb’s eyes for the truth.

“It’s another assessment day. The kids are gone by eleven forty-five. I’m supposed to be there, but as long as my paperwork is done, I can get it off.”

Silver nodded, and Zeb kissed him.

“You’re not going to jail.”

Silver didn’t trust his voice, so he nodded again.

Zeb tipped up Silver’s chin. Like in the garage, the kiss gave him the air his tight lungs wouldn’t let him have.

Silver stepped back sooner than he wanted to. “I’ll go get your stuff from upstairs.”

“It’s right here.” Zeb pointed the flashlight at the laptop bag in the corner of the dining room.

“Right.”

Nothing felt right. Zeb might feel like finding each other again put his life back together, but as far as Silver was concerned, all the pieces were still up in the air.

Quinn met them in the hall and took the flashlight from Silver. “I’ll walk you out.”

None of it was Quinn’s fault, but with potentially a week left of freedom, this whole setup felt like a leash around Silver’s neck. Was he really going to spend it going to work and studying for some stupid test?

He stood at the open door as Quinn and Zeb went down the steps through the steady rain. “Don’t take the daddy role so seriously, Quinn. It’s not like I was a virgin.”

Eli came up behind Silver. “I think he’s kind of worried Marco’s brother might show up again. Told me to not go anywhere alone for a while. Like I can’t take care of myself.”

Silver heard the eye roll in Eli’s voice. Zeb turned back for a second, shaking his head and smiling.

As the possibility Silver was just starting to put some hope in got in the car, his brand-new responsibility came up and bit him in the ass.

“How old were you when you weren’t a virgin?” Marco asked, holding another flashlight.

Silver knew how Marco would react to the answer but admitted the truth anyway. “Seventeen. But not for lack of trying a lot sooner.”

Marco sighed then turned the light on Eli’s face.

“Fifteen, but we’re not talking about it.”

Marco frowned.

Silver put a hand on Marco’s shoulder. “I guess we need to get you a phone. And some clothes. How long are your classes paid for?”

“I don’t know.”

Silver hoped it was the way the flashlight made shadows that put the haunted look in Marco’s eyes.

“We’ll go to the college and talk to them.”

“We’d better start early then,” Eli said. When Silver looked at him, Eli added, “You said clothes. And this will make Quinn happy while I be your bodyguard. Nine o’clock?”

At least it would keep him from obsessing over how many days of freedom he might have left. And it would be nice making sure Marco had things a little easier than Eli or Silver had. “Yeah. That’s fine.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Outfitting Marco with a few basics was more fun than Silver had expected. Free to be himself, Marco felt less like a responsibility and more like a friend again. Silver and Eli split the costs of a couple changes of clothes and a prepaid phone with one hundred minutes on it. When Eli found a pair of alarmingly tight and tiny shorts for Marco and announced they’d be perfect for Pride, Marco’s delight at realizing he’d be able to go made Silver sorry he’d miss seeing it. Being in Mount Vernon meant the restaurant was packed all day during Pride.

Marco went from bouncy to pinging off the walls when the trip to the Bursar’s Office let him know his fall classes had already been paid for. Silver tucked the big packet of financial-aid information into his backpack.

“I don’t need to pay again until November,” Marco pointed out, as if the money would magically appear by then.

Of course, despite Marco’s obliviousness, Silver didn’t have grounds for criticism. Marco had been homeless for less than a day, and he still knew more about his future than Silver. Until less than a month ago, Silver hadn’t really believed he had one.

“After your friend’s shelter opens, I can move in there.”

Eli’s eyes met Silver’s. “That might not be for a while. But we’ll manage something.”

Marco nodded, smile still bright. He had complete trust in Eli. And why not? If it weren’t for Eli—

“C’mon.” Silver steered them east. “I owe you another freaky ice cream.”

“You owe me a hell of a lot more than that. But we can start with some ice cream.” Eli winked.

Silver’s work schedule was perfect. That is, for someone trying to save up enough money to cover the first, last and security on an apartment. For someone who wanted to spend maximum time with his sort-of boyfriend before he left for six weeks or indefinitely, the schedule sucked. He had the Monday of Doom—otherwise known as his court date—off, having made it clear he had an appointment he couldn’t miss. But that was it—until after Zeb was gone. He had a call out to the other waiters and had offered to take any weekend shift Kaivon didn’t want for the entire summer to be able to leave by four on the day before Zeb left.

Figuring Marco’s endless questions were probably making it hard for Eli to get anything done, on Thursday Silver brought Marco down with him to work. Marco had two summer school classes starting at three twenty. Quinn and Eli were going to drive down to pick him up to make sure Timo didn’t cause any problems. They all must have reminded Marco three times each to call campus security if Timo showed up.

Seeing Marco peering into his laptop at a back corner table, Silver realized how much he’d been asking of Zeb when showing up that night on the run from Path to Glory. Full responsibility of someone not even legally able to vote. Food, clothes, school. If Zeb had taken him in, it wouldn’t have been much of a relationship. Being dependent on Prince Charming for everything might have worked for Cinderella and Eli, but for Silver and Zeb, it would have been a disaster. Right now there was a chance to salvage things, assuming everything worked out on Monday.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he ducked into the toilet to answer it.

The
yeah
rising to his lips got substituted for a nervous
hello
when he saw the number. Did lawyers ever call with good news?

“Don’t panic.”

The lawyer’s first words had the exact opposite effect. Obviously there was something to panic about.