Boston Boys [01] - A Life Without You

Jesse’s like a bar of soap: the tighter Adam holds on, the faster Jesse slips away. Or that’s how it feels to Adam.

It doesn’t help that Jesse has a girlfriend back home and claims to be straight, but there’s no way with all the sparks and physical intimacy flying between the two roommates.

When Adam believes he has reached his ultimate happiness, the walls come crashing down with a visit from Jesse’s girlfriend.

Now Jesse has to decide if he can come to terms with his sexuality, while Adam has to learn to accept that Jesse might never be able to crawl out of the closet.

MLR PRess AuthoRs

Featuring a roll call of some of the best writers of gay erotica and mysteries today!

Derek Adams

Z. Allora

Maura Anderson

Simone Anderson

Victor J. Banis

Laura Baumbach

Ally Blue

J.P. Bowie

Barry Brennessel

Nowell Briscoe

Jade Buchanan

James Buchanan

TA Chase

Charlie Cochrane

Karenna Colcroft

William Cooper

Michael G. Cornelius

Jamie Craig

Ethan Day

Diana DeRicci

Vivien Dean

Taylor V. Donovan

Theo Fenraven

S.J. Frost

Kimberly Gardner

Michael Gouda

Kaje Harper

Jan Irving

David Juhren

Thomas Kearnes

Kiernan Kelly

K-lee Klein

Geoffrey Knight

Christopher Koehler

Matthew Lang

J.L. Langley

Vincent Lardo

Anna Lee

Elizabeth Lister

Clare London

William Maltese

Z.A. Maxfield

Timothy McGivney

Tere Michaels

AKM Miles

Reiko Morgan

Jet Mykles

William Neale

Cherie Noel

Willa Okati

Brynn Paulin

Erica Pike

Neil S. Plakcy

Rick R. Reed

A.M. Riley

AJ Rose

George Seaton

Riley Shane

Jardonn Smith

DH Starr

Richard Stevenson

Liz Strange

Marshall Thornton

Lex Valentine

Haley Walsh

Mia Watts

Missy Welsh

Stevie Woods

Ian Young

Lance Zarimba

Mark Zubro

Check out titles, both available and forthcoming, at

www.mlrpress.com

A Life

Without You

Boston Boys #1

eRicA Pike

mlr
press

www.mlrpress.com

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2012 by Erica Pike

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Published by

MLR Press, LLC

3052 Gaines Waterport Rd.

Albion, NY 14411

Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet:

www.mlrpress.com

Cover Art by Deana Jamroz

Editing by Jennifer Ayres

Print ISBN# 978-1-60820-525-7

Ebook ISBN# 978-1-60820-526-4

Issued 2012

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

I want to thank my critique partner and personal cheerleader Norma J. Nielsen for loving this book as much as I do. I’d also like to thank the best editor ever, Jen, for making me do all the edits and rewrites. Mom and dad, thanks for being the ever-supporting parents you are. To my sons: you are my life. Love you all!

“Mmmh,” Jesse groans on my pillow and stirs in his sleep.

My thigh was pressed against his when I woke up an hour ago, and it’s still there, skin against warm skin. I’m afraid that if I move I’ll spoil the beauty of having his naked body in my bed.

So for now I lay on my side and watch him sleep.

The skin over his muscles relaxes and tightens as he breathes.

I’ve admired his athletic build since I first saw him. It helped that I got to see him naked on the very first night he moved in.

I’d decided that morning to tell him early and give him a chance to move out if he wasn’t cool with my sexuality. After the last guy left, I was sure whoever moved in would just move right back out after learning the truth about me.

As soon as I opened the door that morning and saw Jesse holding out his hand, my irritation evaporated in a flash. I shook his firm grip and gawked in fascination as with a smile, he introduced himself as Jesse Jefferson.

Now why I didn’t tell him about my sexuality until a full twelve hours later is still a mystery.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he’d said after dropping his dusty blue jeans with a wry smile playing on his sensuous lips. “I always sleep naked, so if you see my admiral saluting in the morning, don’t take it the wrong way, ‘kay?”

His frankness caught me off guard and he flashed me white teeth as he laughed. I didn’t know whether to look at his too-touchable sun streaked hair or his beautifully exposed privates.

He seemed so natural standing naked in front of another man that I didn’t know what to think of it. I think I may have blushed.

When he finally ducked under his white sheet, I swallowed down my drool and undressed under my own sheet. My penis throbbed hard against my boxer briefs.

He turned off the lights. The throb kept time for at least half
2 Erica Pike

an hour as I stared at the ceiling. His breathing told me he was still awake.

I cleared my throat. “So, why are you moving in now? It’s already been two weeks since school started.”

“My roommate kicked me out because I sleep in the nude.”

“That’s tough,” I said, willing my dick to relax.

“Why didn’t you have a roommate?” he asked.

“Because I’m gay,” I answered.

It was never a secret. I always answered truthfully whenever people asked.

Jesse, snuggled in his sheet, was quiet for a full second before his back convulsed in a rising laughter. “That’s a good one,” he said in between laughs. “I suppose I laid that one out for you. I like your humor, Adam. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.” Maybe I should’ve pursued it. It would have been easier for him to really know it and have his freak-out, before I grew to like him too much.

But a perverse part of me was curious to know when he would figure it out and how he would react. Mostly, I really didn’t want him to leave. I thought if we became buddies first he might react more positively.

A month later and he still doesn’t have a clue.

I watch his pure face on my pillow as he draws in slow breaths, so peacefully oblivious of my wild fantasies. The heat from his thigh is almost overbearing.

It’s like I’m lying to him every day. He innocently says and does things that I snatch up and twist into something sexual in my dirty mind. We’ve become great buddies and I’d feel crushed if he left, but it’s time to tell him how things are.

I wonder what he’ll do when he wakes up. Jump out of bed with a scream? Tear the sheet off my body to cover himself and thereby reveal my hard-on? Shove his clothes on and move out?

Or slide his arm around my body and kiss me, like I secretly A Life Without You
3

dream about every single day? It’s hard to guess.

Jesse groans again and shifts his body to lie on his back. His cock slides fully erect against my sheet as he moves. What I wouldn’t give to be the object of his dreams right now.

I want to run my hands down his chest, feel the heat of his relaxed body, and let my palm rest on his slow breathing stomach.

I want to tuck the other around his neck, push his head upwards, and then slowly lower myself into a kiss. How would he react to that? I could turn it into a joke if he’d get angry. He’s very liberal as it is, so maybe it would be okay. He even smacks me on the butt and winks sometimes when he passes by. Can’t I make homo jokes as well, or do such jokes only work between straight guys?

Maybe I should just pretend to be asleep when he wakes up.

My heart thuds in my ears when Jesse’s eyelids flutter open halfway. A narrow beam of sunlight flashes in his eyes and bathes his honey-tanned skin in a golden hue. His eyes close and I’m afraid to breathe. These are my last moments of lying next to him with my thigh still pressed against his.

“Oh, man, what did I drink last night?” he says in a raspy voice and rubs his eyes with the heel of his palms.

“A lot,” I say, and he jerks, clearly not expecting me to be so close.

He lowers his hands and rolls his head towards me. His eyes shift in and out of focus, like a camera lens trying to capture the best clarity. “What…? Why are you…?”

I can’t help it. I push my face against my extra pillow where I lie on my stomach and keep one eye on him with smile on my lips.

“Why am I in your bed?” he asks and lifts the sheet to check.

“Naked.”

So far, so good, but under my pillow my hands are shaking badly. Even with my insides wrung with worry, I can’t help but to tease him.

“How much of last night do you remember?” I ask, lifting
4 Erica Pike

my eyebrow.

“Remember?” His brow furrows and he rubs his face again.

“Uh, we went to that pub, drank a lot, nearly fell into a fountain, and ate a lot of pineapple someone brought – which I’m never eating again, by the way. I’m pretty sure it was spiked.” His hand slides under the sheet and rests on his stomach, just above the nicely outlined erection.

“And then we went to a party,” I help and lift myself up to rest on my elbows.

“Yeah, we partied with some foreign exchange students… I didn’t smoke anything, did I?” Jesse asks with a frown.

I shake my head and try to keep the corners of my mouth straight.

“Umm, we talked to some people, and…did Chester set himself on fire?”

“It was nothing serious. Eric used the fire extinguisher on him.”

Does he really not remember the most crucial moment of my young college life?

“We played a game. Spin the Bottle?”

“Yes.”

I swallow several times while I try to still my hands. It feels like my heart is beating in my throat. “And – and – and –” His brow furrows again. “We kissed?”

I gulp down a bucket-full of saliva before I answer in the best casual voice as I can manage. “When Eric challenged you to kiss a man and you wouldn’t, he accused you of being insecure about your sexuality. So you kissed me – tongue and all. You’re a very good kisser.” I wiggle my eyebrows.

“Oh man. I’m so sorry about that,” he says and moves to sit up. “Argh!” he groans between bared teeth. “Fuck! Why the hell does my ass hurt so much?” He slowly lowers himself back down.

A Life Without You
5

“You don’t remember that, eh?” I ask. I figured he didn’t. He was very, very drunk. So drunk that he could hardly stand.

“No?” he responds, his voice reluctant. He’s not facing me, but a tawny eye keeps glancing my way.

I inhale deeply. “Well, we came back here, and you wanted to kiss some more. One thing led to another…”

“No.” He whips his head towards me, eyes wide. “I would never let a guy ass-fuck me. No way.” His response was so fast that it had to have been the first thing that’d popped into his mind when he felt the pain earlier. Not surprising, with two guys naked in the same bed.

I raise myself up and lean over him. His eyes travel down my exposed body, stopping at where my erection is clearly visible under the sheet. “Actually, you fucked me,” I murmur with a smirk. I’m having a hard time containing the laughter rumbling in the pit of my stomach, but at the same time I feel like I’m about to empty my stomach of whatever I drank last night. I take a few calming breaths through my nose as I watch him intently.