Go Your Own Way (14 page)

Lennox stood. “Get out.”

Lennox scowled at Will as Will shifted from foot to foot. That look was enough to make him sick. He didn’t need pity from some kid he’d met only a few weeks ago. Sex for a few months before he left this town was all he wanted. Nothing beyond that would happen if he had anything to say about it.

Will took a step back from Lennox as he stood.

“What?”

“If you’re going to look at me like a wounded dog, get the hell out.” Will flinched as Lennox moved past him and shoved the trunk away from the door.

He’d said too much. In a few short minutes, Lennox had revealed more to this boy than he had to anyone else in years. At Lancaster, nobody had asked about families; nobody had really cared. How could he let so much slip so easily? They stared at each other. Lennox glowered and pursed his lips. Finally, Will took a step closer and glanced around.

“So, er, is Lucy one of your neighbors then?”

Lennox’s glower slipped. It was one of the worst topic changes he’d ever heard. The answer was obvious, too, but he let it go. Will’s eyes were no longer full of pity that Lennox couldn’t stand. Still, this had been a bad idea, bringing Will here. He was too curious and smart to fall onto his bed naked and start going at it. And that was what made him so attractive. Will wasn’t like most boys, at least not the ones Lennox had spent time with in the past.

He nodded as Will dug out his book and his laptop.

“Yeah, Lucy is fine, but I’d much rather have you living next door,” Lennox added. “Then I could listen to you jerk off through the wall.”

“I don’t do that,” Will said, but his blush said otherwise. And maybe it was Lennox’s imagination, but that blush grew darker when Will looked at him. “I split up the list for everything we have to complete. You get the first five bullet points and I get the last five. Then I’ll print the report at home.”

Lennox watched him pull everything out of his backpack. It was all so new-looking, so well-cared for. And from his sneakers to his neatly trimmed hair, Will had the look of someone raised in a loving environment. Lennox flopped down on the bed. If he’d been different, if he’d come out looking different, would his own life have been like Will’s? His grandparents would still be doting on him, and he’d probably have a brand-new car to cruise around in and a college of his choice to attend next year. Or this year.

It would have been this year if he hadn’t been locked up.

The bed dipped as Will sat down. “Do you have an outlet where I can plug in my laptop?”

“If you want to get electrocuted,” Lennox said before rolling over. He opened his bedside drawer and brought out his CD player. “There’s one on the wall in the bathtub. The lamp and the mini-fridge are using this one. But if you want to turn off the lights—”

“In the—you can’t be serious.”

“Uh huh. Got it duct-taped off and everything.” He hooked his headphones around his neck and turned the volume up.

Will scanned the room for an outlet. Lennox glanced around as well. The rusty heater that always needed a good kick to get going, wedges of pink duct tape holding the curtains over the window and more around the busted doorknob. This wasn’t somewhere a guy like Will belonged.

“Behind the table,” Will said, his eyes falling on the lamp. “Every outlet has two—”

“Forget the laptop,” Lennox murmured. “I’d rather have you plug that dick into my mouth.”

“Is that really the best line you’ve got right now?” Will eyed him with disdain before getting up. Lennox caught him around the middle and pulled him back onto the bed. “We’ve got to finish this. You can fuck your hand after I’ve left.”

“I’d rather fuck you,” Lennox said. “Or let you fuck my mouth.” He wrapped his arms around Will’s chest from behind. “You’d like that, being so deep I can swallow around you.”

Will shivered as his laptop slid off his thighs to the floor. “That’s, well—I’m not interested.”

“But you’re tempted,” Lennox countered as he parted his lips and nibbled Will’s earlobe. His stomach tightened as Will shifted back into him. “Eager, too.”

“Lennox, we—” Will groaned low in his throat.

Lennox ground his hips against Will’s lower back. He was already getting hard, and surely Will wouldn’t be far behind. Will was the only boy he’d ever met who seemed to have a permanent boner.

Will gasped as his head dropped back on Lennox’s shoulder. “Our p-project.”

“Shut up about that,” Lennox said. He plucked open the buttons on Will’s shirt and let his fingers brush the soft skin underneath. A T-shirt would have been easier to work with, but at least once a week Will came to school in a tucked-in, beautiful dress shirt. Today was one of those days.

“But it’s due—”

Lennox silenced him with a swift, deep kiss.

“Relax,” Lennox murmured against Will’s lips. “I already wrote it all out. Notebook on the dresser. You can type it up after we finish.”

If Will was annoyed about being led here on false pretenses, he didn’t say anything. Lennox nibbled on his earlobe and then his jaw as Will panted and squirmed in his arms. One hand clutched the back of Lennox’s head. It was a rough grip, tight and clinging. Lennox popped the last button and pushed Will’s shirt off his shoulders until it was a puddle around his waist.

Freckles. Every spot was another star on a brilliant map of a sky he’d never seen, but one he knew hovered outside the poisonous rim of the city lights. Lennox sucked on a thick patch of freckles along Will’s collarbone. It was a delight to see Will splinter like this, to hold him as he lost his senses and forgot his smart remarks. His hands traced over Will’s heaving stomach, over the warm muscles fluttering under his skin and then up his chest. Will inhaled sharply as Lennox’s fingertips brushed his nipples.

“You have been jerking off to me, haven’t you?” Lennox said, his breath hot on Will’s cheek. Will shivered and shook his head weakly. “Liar. I bet you spent all of last night with your dick in your slick hand, pretending it was my lips on you. Nice, lazy strokes. But you couldn’t get your mouth down there where you want mine.”

“That’s not—” Will shut his eyes as Lennox sucked a meander­ing path along his collarbone and undid his belt. “I’m—wasn’t your m-mouth.”

“Just a hand then?” Lennox kissed the freckled path up his neck. “I guess we can start simple, if you can’t even imagine my mouth on you.”

Will tugged at Lennox’s hair as he unbuttoned his jeans. His stomach was tense now, but Lennox held on, letting his lips and tongue massage Will’s neck until his hips were arching off the bed.

Finally
, he had him. This was his chance to taste, to give in, to feel the euphoria of Will’s body under his hands and lips. To find out just how magnificent Will was going to be, flushed and sweaty as he came.

Will muttered nonsense as Lennox sucked on his earlobe, uttering incoherent little strings of words between surprised gasps and panting.

“Having fun?” Lennox kissed his jaw as he unzipped Will’s jeans and eased down the elastic of Will’s boxer briefs. Lennox groaned as Will’s cock sprung free and arched high toward the ceiling. “That’s answer enough.” He ran his hands over Will’s heaving stomach. “You’re close, aren’t you?”

A small whimper was all Will could manage. They both moaned—Will loudly, Lennox deep and soft— as Lennox took Will in his hand and stroked his cock firmly. Lennox started a slow rhythm, tantalizing and tight, but patient enough to tease. Seeing Will like this, enjoying the arch of Will into his hand and the ragged breaths, wouldn’t last forever if he went too fast. But then Will’s hand closed around his. For a moment, Lennox paused, dreading the worst.

Then Will’s hand tightened around his and carefully started moving again. It was a little awkward with Will’s shaky grip, but after a few clumsy strokes, Will found his own rhythm. Lennox let Will guide his hand, let Will show him how to move in a way Will was clearly familiar with.

“T-tighter,” Will said, his voice high and breathless, his face flushed ruby from exertion and embarrassment. His entire upper body was turning a dull red color that Lennox found himself suddenly fond of. Will’s voice rose, gasping and cracking as his hips bucked and his hand fell away. “Shit, Lennox, I’m—I’m—”

A shout echoed around the room as Will’s body tensed. One of Will’s legs kicked out as he spilled over Lennox’s fist and coated his own belly. Lennox stroked him a few more times until Will slumped limp and weak against him with a pleased groan. His own cock throbbed as Will’s began to grow soft in Lennox’s hand. His turn. His chance for release now that Will was spent. He let Will slump back on the bed and cleaned the come off his belly with several sloppy kisses.

Lennox straddled Will’s hips the way he had in the car and popped his jeans open. Will gave him a sleepy look, but a buzz lingered in his eyes, more pupil than green, as he leaned up to kiss him. It was a rough kiss, messy and careless, as their teeth scraped. Lennox found Will’s hand and thrust himself into it.

“You’re so hot when you come,” Lennox breathed. He licked down Will’s neck, and then back up for a searing kiss as he tightened his grip on Will’s hand and thrust. Once, twice and then he came on their hands with a weak groan.

They both lay there, sweaty and out of breath as they came down. From the foot of the bed, Lennox could hear the thump of his headphones. He didn’t remember slinging them over there, but he must have because they weren’t around his neck anymore. After a few minutes, Lennox rolled off of Will and yanked his shirt over his head. Come was on it, probably from both of them. He wiped his hand off and then flung it to Will for the same.

Will sat up slowly, looking dazed. It wasn’t a look Lennox was used to seeing after a hook-up. Most boys stretched, yawned a few times, cleaned up and got on with their lives. But Will looked lost as he wiped off his hand and tucked himself back into his jeans. Something about the expression on his face made his chest ache. Lennox busied himself with fixing his own jeans.

“Not bad for a virgin, Osborne. Next time, you’ll have to wiggle that ass in the air and let me stretch it out.”

“Who said anything about a next time?” Will spat. He stood up and quickly buttoned up his shirt, but didn’t bother tucking it back in. “Where’s my—give me my backpack, McAvoy.”

Lennox grinned and held it out of reach. “Or what? You’ll trip and give me a blow job? ‘Cause I gotta tell you, I need a bit more of a recovery window.”

Between the color of his face and the way his hair was standing on end, Will looked like a wreck. But worst of all was the hurt that swelled in his eyes.

“Whatever. Keep it. You can type the damn thing up and figure out how to print it out in this toxic waste dump. Here, keep my belt too,” Will added. He flung it at Lennox’s head. The buckle clipped Lennox on the cheek and fell to the floor. “There, now you’ve got a souvenir from another whore.”

Now that Will had started, he didn’t seem to be able to stop. His face changed colors faster than a kaleidoscope and even Lennox couldn’t pretend the tears in his eyes were his imagination.

“That’s all I am to you, isn’t it? Some ass you can have your way with and take advantage of because I’m—” Will growled and made another grab for his backpack. He ripped it from Lennox’s hand before he could blink. “My dad and Karen were right, and I was too stupid and i-inexperienced to take what they said seriously. Now I’m—”

“I don’t think you’re a whore.” Lennox heard himself say it, and although he meant it, he couldn’t believe it had become more than a thought evaporating in his head.

Will stopped talking. His eyes were filled with tears the way Lucy’s used to be when she’d fall off her bicycle or their dad would say something stupid after drinking too many beers. Will’s eyes were full of pain and the gnawing in Lennox’s stomach told him that it was his fault. That, as always, he was responsible for hurting someone and making everything worse. Despite what Lennox said, he’d never done anything to make Will think he saw him as a whore. But that shouldn’t matter. They weren’t going to get closer, and as for Will—who cared about him? He didn’t mean anything to Lennox; there was no reason for him to.

“I’ve met a few whores and, trust me, you’ve got a long way to go if you want to compete with them.”

His words didn’t seem to upset Will. Perhaps Will had already reached his highest level of distress and this was all the crying Lennox would have to deal with. Lennox moved past him and flipped open his notebook.

“Here.” Lennox shoved it into Will’s hands and moved his trunk away from the door. “That’s everything. Just type it up, check grammar. You know, all that good student college-level stuff you’re aiming for.”

Lennox opened the door and frog-marched him from his room. His home. The little dingy, dim room that was all he was worth to his grandfather. Will must see him the same way.

Lennox reached out and gave Will’s ass a firm squeeze. Will gasped and the notebook fluttered to the ground.

“See you tomorrow, sweet cheeks. Maybe we can sneak off to an empty classroom and move on to blow jobs.”

He slammed the door in Will’s face. Lennox kicked over his stack of books and rumpled his blankets until he couldn’t smell Will’s cologne anymore. No more cinnamon and vanilla tainting his nostrils or the stale air in his room. He had to get that smell out, to stop thinking about that last devastated look on Will’s face. After shoving his trunk back into place and testing the door, Lennox dropped back onto his bed and yanked the nightstand drawer open once more.

He replaced his CD player under the small box of condoms and the half-empty bottle of lubricant. His cigarettes were in there as well. He plucked the pack up and opened it. Only two were missing. Since he’d been dumped here, Lennox had finished the pack he’d had during the first week of adjusting to this place. After that, he’d bought this one and flipped his lucky cigarette. It was a ritual he’d picked up from another boy at Lancaster, something to pass the time after activities ended for the day. The boy had said his dad had given each cigarette in the pack a letter, picked one letter that represented something important to him, something that might bring him luck, and flipped that cigarette over to save for last.