15. Present Day

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PRESENT DAY

HARRISON

I t's the darkness and the green glow distorting everything. The howling of the storm and the skeletons. We aren't going to die in here the way they did. I can halve our rations, which gives us four days. While the storm is disrupting the radio signal, when it ends, we can call for help and, if needed, be dug out.

Max is just freaking out.

I carefully fold the letter, trying not to think about how much I want him. The way my dick is half-hard and aching for him to touch me again. I place the letter back in Cyril's pocket, well aware this is an echo of their situation.

Fucking weird, that's what this is.

Max is waiting for me to respond, but I'm not sure what to say. I don't want to say that I thought he was straight, though that is true. As far as I know, he's only dated girls. I don't want to say that I've been thinking about him as more than a brother, a friend, because that will get weird fast.

"Why did you kiss me back?" Max's voice is low, like he isn't sure if he wants to hear the answer.

I'm not sure I want to tell the truth. But I don't want to keep it a secret that I take to the grave either. Life's too short and unpredictable. I draw in a breath. If he can screw up the courage to kiss me, I can have the balls, to be honest. "Because I've wanted to kiss you for the last two years."

He doesn't know how hard I have been fighting this attraction. Jay would be furious, but he's not here. I'm not sure if that makes this better or worse.

Worse, because Jay was the only person stopping me. Worse, because when Max kissed me, I was glad there was no one standing in the way.

"Two years?" Max echoes, staring at me.

Yeah, it's weird. I shouldn't lust after my best friend's little brother. Though Max isn't little anymore. He's a couple of inches taller and built.

"Tell me, if Jay was still alive?—"

"He's not. And he wouldn't approve if he was. And if he was alive, we wouldn't be here. You'd be on this trip with him. I was always the third wheel."

"Tricycles need three wheels." I try to laugh at my own lame joke, but it doesn't quite work. "Growing up, you were like my younger brother. I didn't want things to become strained between us. But damn..." I shake my head, remembering that moment when I saw him for the first time in a year, and lust smacked me over the head so hard I almost dropped to my knees. "When I came home two years ago and saw the man you'd become… Fuck, that sounds creepy…" I'm not doing a good job of this at all. "I believed being more than your friend was impossible."

Did I want to do this trip for Jay or to get Max alone?

One reason is honorable; the other is much closer to the truth I never wanted to admit.

"I'm not sure when my feelings changed from admiration to something more. But I've been aware of this growing need every day of this trip. Like a part of me knows it's now or never." He bites his lip, which is a cute habit he's had for as long as I've known him. Like he needs to take a moment before he speaks, and his teeth will stop the words from falling out.

I reach out and brush my thumb over his lower lip. "I was never going to walk out of your life, Max. I'd rather have you as a friend than not at all."

Even if it cut me every time, I saw him and couldn't touch him the way I wanted. He takes up such a big piece of my heart, my life, that there'd be nothing left without him.

"Is that your way of telling me this isn't going to happen?"

If I was a better man, I would agree. That's the smart thing to do. But no one ever accused me of being smart. "That depends on what you want to happen. Are we going to fool around to kill some time? Or keep this as a holiday fling? Or do you want to be my boyfriend?"

All those options sound good to me, but the last one is what I want. I want someone to come home to, and I want it to be Max. But that's not fair to him. I've seen so many military marriages fail because of the separation.

"What do you want?" He counters.

I bark out a laugh. "No, I asked you first."

He's silent for a couple of heartbeats. Have I pushed too hard, too soon?

Finally, he sighs and glances at me. "I never gave it much thought beyond wanting you. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know what fooling around with a guy feels like."

The skeletons are watching, and if their ghosts are here, they're probably getting jealous that we are taking a chance when they didn't. Or they are cheering us on and living vicariously through us?

I'm not sure which is weirder.

But it doesn't stop me from pulling Max into my lap. I tug his hips close enough that there is no way he can avoid feeling the hard length of my dick trying to break out of my pants. He gasps but doesn't pull away. I turn off the flashlight, so the only light is the green from the glow sticks, which are practical but not sexy.

His arms loop around my neck, and it's only then that I let my hands grip his meaty ass. Fuck, it's perfect.

It's killing me to wait for him to make the next move.

But I can't rush this. I don't want to scare him away. Not now that he's sitting on my lap, and his dick is waking up and pressing against mine. He leans in, lips brushing mine in another tentative kiss as though he expects me to push him away in a sudden change of mind. This time, I wait for him, for his need to demand more.

His fingers spear into my hair as his tongue traces the seam of my lips. And I open for him, ready to give him everything that he wants.

Max rolls his hips, grinding against me. He feels so fucking good, I want him naked beneath me and begging for more. I want him pressed up against the shower wall, head thrown back in pleasure as I suck his dick.

"Maybe we should go back to where our bags are?" He whispers against my lips, taking another kiss.

"You don't like the audience?" At least they aren't heckling.

He glances at the skeletons. "No. Besides, they deserve to rest in peace."

"If we get up, I want to unzip your pants." I want his cock in my hand and on my lips. I want to find out what he tastes like and how he sounds when he comes.

"Will you be unzipping yours?"

"Do you want to wrap your hands around my dick?" Please say yes. I need him to say yes. I don't want him to freak out because he's getting it on with a guy.

He reaches between us and softly traces over the ridge of my cock, straining against the fly of my pants. "Yes."