“I miss you too.” Etienne sighed. “Just a couple more days, and then I have a few days off.”
“We’re going to spend at least one of them in bed, right?” Adam asked. “You, me, a dozen donuts….”
Etienne laughed but then sighed again. “I actually have to go see my dad.”
“He’s in Toronto?”
“Just outside, yeah.” Etienne sounded distinctly unhappy.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“You’d do that?”
“Of course. Anyway, it’s only fair—you met my parents way before you expected to.”
Etienne huffed amusement. “Yeah, but your parents are nice.”
“Only on the outside,” Adam said darkly.
That got more of a laugh, as intended.
“We’ll talk about it when I get back,” Etienne said. “There are some things you should know, but I don’t want to do it over the phone. Speaking of which, I should go.”
“Wait!” Adam said. He pulled his shirt up and took a picture of his abs and the semi he’d been sporting since Etienne had started talking.
Etienne caught his breath sharply. “Cary, fuck—”
“Use it tonight,” Adam said, knowing his voice had gone husky. “Go in the bathroom or something.”
Etienne groaned. “I’m standing in the middle of a motel with a boner, and it’s all your fault.”
Adam hummed. “Can I touch myself, please?”
“Yeah,” Etienne rasped. “Get yourself off and show me the mess you made after. I’m going back to the room before I poke someone’s eye out with this thing.”
Adam was laughing as he disconnected, but it didn’t last long. Neither did he. He sent Etienne a picture less than five minutes later of the cooling come splattered on his belly.
God, Etienne responded. I can’t wait to see you.
16
Etienne took the stairs up to Adam’s apartment two at a time, too impatient to wait for the elevator. He was breathing hard but barely noticed as he topped the last riser and ran down the hall.
Adam jerked the door open and dragged him inside, wrapping himself around Etienne’s form like a clinging vine. Etienne just managed to get the door kicked shut, staggering under his weight as he dropped his bag. His eyes prickled at the rightness of Adam in his arms, kissing his throat, stubble rasping against Etienne’s skin.
“Hi,” Adam said, going up on tiptoe to wrap his arms around Etienne’s neck. He kissed him before Etienne could respond. “How are you? God, you smell like the bus. It’s so good to see you—”
Etienne kissed him back, cutting off the flow of words, wet and hungry and possessive.
“Talking later,” he growled, and muscled him toward the bedroom.
Adam went willingly, although he was so wrapped up in Etienne’s limbs that they nearly tripped several times. They toppled onto the bed and Etienne swarmed him, yanking Adam’s pants down and shoving his shirt up.
“Fuck,” he murmured, almost to himself. Adam was wide-eyed and panting underneath him, squirming but clearly struggling to be patient.
“Tenny,” Adam said, nearly a whine.
Etienne took pity on him and swallowed him down, relishing the taste and feel of him on his tongue as Adam bucked and muffled a shout. Etienne set a brutally hard pace from the start, hand taking what his mouth couldn’t, until Adam went tense as a bow string, hand tight to the point of pain in Etienne’s hair as he spilled down his throat.
When he collapsed back to the bed, Etienne wiped his mouth, feeling immeasurably smug. Adam tugged on his hand.
“That’s a good look on you,” he said, words slurring slightly.
Etienne bent and kissed him, knowing how much Adam liked tasting himself in Etienne’s mouth. “I’m gonna come on your face,” he informed him, and Adam groaned and nodded.
It was a handful of minutes, his breathing harsh and unsteady and heartbeat thundering in his own ears, before he felt the familiar tingling sensation, the pressure building in his gut. His hand sped up and Adam closed his eyes, tilting his face as Etienne hunched forward and came, creamy spurts hitting Adam’s cheek and jaw to slide down onto his throat.
Etienne caught himself on one hand, gasping for air. Adam looked deliciously debauched, hair on end, lips red with kisses and skin streaked with Etienne’s come. He stretched, smiling, and opened his eyes.
“Welcome home,” he murmured.
Etienne bent and kissed him again. “Thank you. Shower?”
“Mm.” Instead, Adam tried to pull him down to the bed.
Etienne resisted, wanting to get the smell of the road off, but Adam blinked up at him pleadingly. He needed this, Etienne remembered, the physical intimacy with nothing being asked of him. Feeling like an asshole, he leaned over for a tissue, wiped Adam’s face off, and then lay down, gathering him into his arms. Adam’s breath was warm on his collarbone, hair soft where it tickled Etienne’s nose, and he made a contented noise, burrowing closer.
I could spend years doing this and never get tired of it, Etienne thought.
They shared a lazy shower and even lazier handjobs, the edge of need blunted. Adam fell apart so beautifully in Etienne’s arms, shuddering through orgasm with his head tilted back and mouth open, that it drove Etienne over the edge too, until they were panting and clinging to each other to stay upright.
Adam started laughing first, pulling away and turning to rinse off his front half. “Can you imagine if we’d been separated for a month?”
Etienne nipped his shoulder. “Don’t even say it.”
Later, they lay in bed, Adam tucked against Etienne’s side, quietly enjoying each other’s company.
Finally, Etienne stirred. “I have to go see my father tomorrow.”
Adam made an encouraging noise.
“Do you… did you still want to come?”
“Absolutely,” Adam said. “If you want me there.”
“It might make it easier,” Etienne admitted. “Might make it worse. I don’t know.”
“You said, at dinner with my parents, that your mom left?”
“When I was six, yeah.”
“Oh, Tens.”
Etienne lifted a shoulder. “I barely remember her.” A feeling of warmth, like being in her arms, a snatch of song he could never quite catch the thread of, and hot tears falling on his face. He closed his eyes, banishing the memory. “She had issues, I guess. Didn’t want to be a mother.”
Adam swung a leg over Etienne’s thighs as if holding him to the mattress but said nothing.
Etienne stroked his arm, lying across his chest. “My dad… tried. But he had a full time job and a six year old kid and no idea what to do with him.”
“What did he do?”
“He had a garage. He used to park me in the corner with a pair of rubber balls and make me do drills with them for hours after school. When it was cold enough, I’d do drills on the pond outside our back door. Summer was lacrosse, which was only an interim for hockey and a way to keep my hand-eye coordination up to par in the off months.”