Sterling woke in a mood that Owen couldn't help but feel was a little on the smug side. No wonder, since he'd gotten his way again. They'd both woken during the night, Owen roused from an uneasy dream when Sterling had switched on the light in the bathroom off the bedroom. He would have pointed out that the bathroom had a door that closed, but when Sterling had come back to bed, he clearly hadn't been awake enough to be capable of talking, falling asleep again within moments.
Owen had lain beside him for a while, his cock a resentful ache. Denial was one thing, but this was killing him. He could take care of himself, and he would, but it was going to be a long four months. It didn't matter; that was one stipulation he refused to break, bend, or change. Sterling needed to learn that there were limits, rules. Needed to submit to them as willingly as he submitted to Owen's hands and mouth on him.
As he lay wakeful in the dim room, he thought ahead to the morning. They'd b
“Yes, I can take your ten o'clock class,” Owen said without thinking, giving Shari Temple a sympathetic pat on the arm. She looked like hell, her brown eyes red-rimmed and her nose unpleasantly moist and raw from being blown continuously. “I've only got a few more papers left to grade, and I'm sure the little darlings won't mind another day before the ax falls on them.” He tidied the scattered papers into a neat pile. “Go home, and don't come back until you're better.”“I wouldn't have come in today,” she said thickly, “but Admin said they couldn't—” She broke off to sneeze sloppily, and Owen averted his eyes from the cleanup that followed. “Sorry. They said they couldn't get a substitute in until tomorrow, and I said I'd try, but I can'tbreatheand—”“I'll do it,” Owen repeated soothingly. “Just tell me what you want me to cover, and then go home a
Owen gestured at the room. It was on the top floor, a corner room, with some cheap paneling on the walls that looked subtly askew. Not that much of it was visible; the room was a cluttered mess of furniture, each flat surface piled high with random objects. “There's always one in every house, I guess. The room you never quite get around to decorating; the one where you dump all the stuff you don't want to throw away but don't want to keep. Except I do want to throw a lot of this away—or donate it to charity—because this room would be perfect as a library. I'm sick of having my books scattered around the house where I can't find them.” He gave Sterling a sidelong look, noting the unenthusiastic expression on the boy's face. “I meant it when I said I'd pay you for helping me to renovate it. You're giving up an extra shift to help me today, I know, and I don't want you to lose out.”“You don't have to pay me,” Sterling said, somewh
It took Sterling more than an hour to get back to Owen's house—he hadn't been told to hurry, so he hadn't, and he knew Owen wanted to see him looking good when he returned, so he'd chosen his outfit carefully. His newest pair of jeans, so tight that sitting down was uncomfortable. Black leather dress shoes, the kind that slipped on and off easily. A black shirt made of a silky, satiny fabric—but was some kind of synthetic, he was sure—with the top two buttons left undone.Owen opened the door as Sterling came up the steps and favored him with a smile. “There you are.”“I'm not late, am I?” A slight thrill of anxiety shot through Sterling even though Owen hadn't specified when he should return and there certainly hadn't been any dawdling on his part even if he hadn't rushed.“No, but I was starting to wonder if something had delayed you.” Owen came out onto the porch, still littered with furniture from their e
Owen woke up with a vague sense that something wasn't right and an insistent pain tightening around his head. A moment later the toilet flushed, water ran in the sink, and Sterling came into the room, then looked surprised to see him and gave what might have been an apologetic shrug of his shoulders.“You don't need permission to use the bathroom,” Owen reminded him peevishly.Sterling frowned and, looking worried, pointed at Owen and raised an eyebrow.“And you can stop with the charades and get into bed with me,” Owen told him. “I'm not ready to get up, and I don't want to be alone.” This was a stress headache, no doubt, considering the date, and what he wanted to do right then was close his eyes and go back to sleep curled around Sterling's warmth and hope that when he woke up again he'd feel better, or maybe that he'd find the whole day had passed.He didn't realistically think either of those things would happen, b
Sterling's mother would have come to pick him up at school, but Christmas Eve was the night of his father's work-related holiday party (though never to be referred to as such, Sterling had learned when he was nine, which meant he continued to do it just to get under his father's skin), and there was just so much to do in the days leading up to it. They could have afforded to have it catered, but there were certain things Audrey Baker insisted on, and cooking the food for parties that happened under her roof was one of them.She did come to get him at the bus station on the twenty-third, though, getting out of a silver BMW that Sterling was pretty sure she hadn't been driving when he left for school in the fall. “Will!” she cried, waving a hand, and he raised his in return and picked up his suitcase.His mother hugged him tightly when he reached the car, which was awkward—he was still holding his suitcase. “There you are! It's been so long. Let m
Owen had wondered if Sterling would call him over the Christmas break and decided, more than a little regretfully, that he probably wouldn't. Not because out of sight was out of mind—he was sure that Sterling would be thinking about him from time to time—but because Owen just didn't fit into the world Sterling was returning to.Neither did Sterling, of course.Hearing Sterling's voice so unexpectedly, the phone call coming just long enough after he'd turned out the light that he'd been mostly asleep, had woken him up with the decisive kick of an espresso shot. It still took a moment for Sterling's words to register.“Outside? You're here?” He rubbed at his eyes and then closed them, fumbling for the bedside light and switching it on. The blaze of light brought him a step closer to coherent thought, and he opened his eyes, blinking away the dazzle. “God, yes, of course you can. I'm coming down to open the door.”“T
“Oh, shit, we're late!” from Owen woke Sterling from a heavy drowse. He'd been half-awake for hours, dropping in and out of sleep, so comfortable with Owen's arm around him that the thought of waking fully hadn't been even slightly appealing.Now, though, Owen was jumping out of bed and pulling back the covers, leaving Sterling's bare body uncovered and reacting to the sudden chill with many protests.“Come on, you—get up. I was supposed to be at Jake and Gary's house an hour ago. I have to call them and let them know I'm running late and that I'm bringing a surprise guest along with me.” Owen gave Sterling a fond look, then slapped his ass. “Up! Get into the shower and I'll join you in a minute.”Without complaining out loud, Sterling dragged himself into the shower and let the hot water run over his shoulders and back and (sore) ass, then shampooed his hair. He was loitering, waiting for Owen to come in so he could run
The day after Christmas, Owen woke to the muffled half sound of heavy snow falling. Several inches were already piled up on the outside of the windowsill, which meant there was far more on the ground. At least he didn't have much planned for the day, he thought as he turned over and put an arm around Sterling.“Mmm. What?” Sterling muttered.“Nothing,” Owen said quietly. “Go back to sleep. The blizzard will still be there later.”“Blizzard?” Sterling yawned and blinked. “Seriously?”“I don't know, maybe. A lot of snow, anyway.”Sterling sat up, then winced and rolled onto his side instead. “We should bake cookies. And make a snowman.”“Allow me to introduce you to one of the joys of home ownership in the town,” Owen said dryly. “Namely, snow shoveling.”“Doesn't the city do that?” Sterling asked with another yawn as