Chapter 36

36

ZACH

Jason and I remained at the hospital until around midnight, when his mom shooed Jason home to get some rest. He tried arguing with her, suggesting she needed the rest more than he did, but she wasn't having it, so he'd finally relented.

We fell into bed just after one a.m., Jason pulling me in close like he had earlier in the afternoon. He was asleep almost instantly, the rhythmic sound of his breathing comforting, though my mind wouldn't quiet as easily.

I couldn't stop thinking about the devastated look in my father's eye when we'd arrived at the hospital that evening. Never had I seen him like that, not even when Mom died. I knew he'd been sad. I'd seen his tears at the funeral. But back then, there'd been a stoicism about him, as if he refused to allow any cracks in his facade. I wasn't sure whether that had been for our benefit or because he'd simply been too stubborn to break, but whatever the reason, it had further widened the rift between us. He'd become hard. Difficult. Cold. And at least where I was concerned, impossible to please.

Tonight, though, he'd seemed…unmoored. A man lost at sea with no hope for salvation. We'd exchanged a few words, mostly an update on Drea's condition, but otherwise, we'd sat in silence, lost in thought. He barely touched the food I'd brought him. When Jason had come by to tell me his mom was sending him home, I'd been torn. On the one hand, I wanted to escape, to flee the room so heavy with worry. The weight of my father's fear was suffocating.

But on the other hand, I was hesitant to leave him alone. It was an odd feeling to want to be there for him, though it shouldn't have been. He was my father, and I loved him. But just a few months ago, I'd wanted nothing more than to escape his presence and run away to UCLA to put as much distance between us as possible. And now, I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want him to suffer in silence. And I didn't want to leave Drea either. What if she took a turn for the worse and I slept through it? If Dad had to be the one to tell me, what would that do to him?

In the end, Dad urged me to go, insisting he was fine and I should get some more rest. I'd relented, if only because I didn't want to add to his stress with an argument.

So there I lay in Jason's arms, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. He'd told me about the call from the fire station today and I was glad to hear of it. I hoped that, with time, he'd see that his reaction in that moment wasn't indicative of his ability to perform his job. It was the action of a man with a huge heart who cared deeply about those who were important to him.

I thought I'd become one of those important people. He was definitely important to me. So much so that it was overwhelming at times. We'd started this thing just a couple of weeks ago, and at the time, it had felt big. Important. But it had been fun and exciting too. Those fun and flirty feelings had deepened, stretched their roots down and down and down, so deep it'd take a hurricane to rip them out.

It was terrifying to feel something that big, that deep, that strong.

I yawned long and hard, my jaw cracking and eyes watering from the force of it. Jason mumbled something in his sleep, his hold tightening around me for a moment before relaxing again. I tried to focus on his breathing, matching my own breaths with his, until eventually, I slipped under too.

I awoke with Jason's hand wrapped around my cock, his grip loose as he lazily stroked me. He'd pulled the band of my briefs down below my balls, but I wiggled around, yanking them over my ass and down my thighs, giving him more freedom of movement. He chuckled in my ear but, thankfully, continued to stroke. "I take it this is okay?"

"Mmm. I told you yesterday my body is yours to explore." I shoved my ass back into his erection just to emphasize the point and was rewarded with a low groan. My cock jumped in his hand at the sound.

Abruptly, I pulled out of his grasp and rolled over to face him. "I have a better idea," I said, tugging at the waistband of his boxer briefs. He obliged by pulling them off and tossing them on the floor.

"What did you have in mind?" I gave him a smacking kiss on the lips before yanking my underwear the rest of the way off and tossing them aside. I loved how open he was becoming. How unreserved and willing to explore he was.

"Do you have lube?"

His face colored adorably. "No. I don't, um, have…that."

I brushed a kiss across his lips. "We need to get you some." I waggled my eyebrows ridiculously, hoping to win one of his smiles. I was rewarded with a small one and an even deeper blush. "What about lotion?"

He leaned back, opened the bedside table drawer behind him, and pulled out a small bottle of generic unscented body lotion. He held it out to me with an eyebrow raised, silently asking if this was what I was looking for.

"Perfect," I said, taking it from him and flipping the cap. I poured a dollop in my hand, snapped the cap shut, and tossed it aside, out of the way. "Lie on your back."

Once he was in position, I swung my leg over his hips and lowered myself until our dicks were aligned, both of us groaning at the contact. I watched his face as I took both of us in hand and smeared the lotion around us. His eyes were glued to the sight of our cocks together, a little crease of concentration forming on his brow while his mouth hung open. I wanted to look down, to see what he saw, but I couldn't take my eyes off his face. His eyes flashed up to mine, and I caught a glimpse of those blue depths before they fluttered shut and he tilted his head back on a moan.

At last, I looked down, watching as I glided my fist up and down our shafts in slow, deliberate motions. We were both cut and long, though he was thicker, and the sight of our dicks together, tunneling through my fist, was quite possibly the hottest thing I'd ever seen.

I began moving faster, rolling my hips with the motion, my balls brushing against his with the movement. Little zaps of sensation surged through me with each stroke, the combined friction of my hand and his dick, along with those brushes of our balls, an exquisite kind of torture.

I continued to ramp up the pace, my strokes becoming more and more frantic as I chased my orgasm. With the way Jason was whimpering and pumping his hips along with me, I suspected he was close as well. "Come on, baby. Let go. Come for me."

His thighs tensed beneath me, his entire body going rigid as hot ropes of cum spurted from his cock, landing on his chest and abdomen. I continued stroking, moments later mixing my cum with his as my dick erupted all over him. I gritted my teeth, doing my best to keep myself upright as my thighs shook from the effort.

Jason leaned up, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me down for a sloppy kiss. I could feel the mess we'd made smushed between our bellies as our tongues tangled and teased. I pulled away, resting my forehead against his, smiling as we tried to catch our breaths.

"Did you get that idea from porn?"

"Yes, actually. I've wanted to try it with you since the first time I saw it."

He chuckled. "Yeah? What other ideas have you been wanting to try?"

I waggled my eyebrows. "Mmm. You'll have to wait and see."

He tilted his lips up, brushing them against mine. "Can't wait."