Mom was quiet for a moment, the silence bearing down on me before she asked, “You really want this, don’t you? For us to come.”
She knew me too well. She could hear it in my voice. “Yeah, I mean, like I said, just so you can get a feel for my life now.” I would not tell her again that I could come and get them.
“I don’t want you to have to come and get us. That’s not fair. I had some work done on the car anyway. It’s running better than it has in years.”
“You did?” I frowned. How in the hell had she swung that?
“And we’ll leave early. The drive is only two hours, but if Molly and I take it in thirty-minute increments so I can get out and stretch, it should be fine.”
“I don’t mind coming there, Mom.”
“No, no. That’s okay. It’s important to me that I do this on my own.” Because she didn’t want to seem like she couldn’t. She didn’t want to depend on me. I understood that.
“So you’ll come?” My pulse danced beneath my skin. Fuck, I’d really wanted this more than I’d let myself see.
“Yes. Molly will love it, and I really do want to meet all your friends.”
And as much as I wanted that too, it also scared the living crap out of me.
But she’d said yes, and I couldn’t go back now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Harrison
Things were busy leading up to Thanksgiving. There was always a lot going on in school around that time, things I hadn’t even considered. Zander’d had his first end-of-quarter grades a while back, and was now trying to get as much as he could in before the approaching holiday breaks.
The dealerships were busy as well—people upgrading cars or buying gifts and preparing for upcoming after-Thanksgiving sales.
The last week, though, Zander had been on edge for another reason. He would never admit it, but he didn’t have to. He was nervous about his mom and Molly coming to Atlanta, about them meeting me and staying at my house, and all the other thoughts that often plagued him.
I wondered if he regretted it, if he wished he’d never asked or if he wanted to find a way out of it, but I was too big of a coward to ask him. I was afraid I wouldn’t like his response. While Zander wasn’t real big on taking the chance of getting hurt, I wasn’t either.
It was the day before they were to arrive, and he’d cleaned my house about fifteen times. I kept a clean place already. How he found anything to do, I didn’t know, but Zander was determined as hell when he got something in mind. It was one of the things I loved about him.
He walked through the living room, wearing a pair of sweats and nothing else. When he went to dust for the eleven thousandth time, I wrapped my arms around him from behind and buried my face in his neck. “Relax.”
“Did you know that there has probably never been a time in history where a person told another to relax and it just happened? It usually makes it more stressful.”
I chuckled into his skin. “Good point. I’ll take that into consideration, Dr. Van Helsing.”
He placed his hands on my arms, holding me. “Vampire hunter?”
“He was the first to come to mind besides Dr. Lecter. I’d rather not call you someone who might eat my flesh.”
The vibrations from his laugh traveled through him and into me. Zander turned, looked at me, a familiar sparkle in his gray-blue eyes. He was unwinding some and probably didn’t even realize it. “We haven’t played this game in a while, Dracula.”
“Wait, so you want to hunt me?”
“Or maybe I want you to suck me.” He bared his neck again. I growled in response, my cock filling, coming to life. I leaned down, teased his skin with my teeth, rasping, then biting gently so as not to leave a mark. The last thing I wanted was for his mom to see that and know I was doing all these naughty things to her son that I absolutely loved doing.
I love him. The words teetered on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them down, instead taking Zander’s mouth.
We ended up on the couch, making out for a while, before I knelt on the floor, tugged his sweats off, and deep throated his cock. He cried out, threaded his hand through my hair, tugging until it stung, while I worked his shaft with both my mouth and my hand.
He made needy noises in the back of his throat, alternated between them and, “Yes, Harrison. So good. Why is it so fucking good with you?”
Because I love you, and you feel it. Maybe because you love me too?
Christ, I wanted that.
It didn’t take him long to spill down my throat. I stood, shoved my jeans down, and jacked off until I painted his chest with my load.
“Feel better?” I asked.
“Yes, but give me a few minutes, and I’m sure I’ll be freaking out again.”
I sighed, hooked my finger beneath his chin, and tilted his head up. “It’ll be fine. I’ll follow your lead, okay? No one will know anything you don’t want them to know. We’re friends who like to fuck, and that will stay between us.”
We were more than that, so fucking much more, at least to me.
Zander held my gaze for a moment, watching me, before he nodded and turned away. “Is there anything we need at the grocery store? I can run and pick some things up if you want.”
He grabbed his sweats, and without another word, walked out of the room.
* * *
We went outside when his sister texted that they would be there in ten minutes. I kept my distance from Zander, as if standing too close would make them take one look at us and know.
My stomach had been doing somersaults all day, an unfamiliar tightness in my chest. Now I was just as worried and freaking out as Zander was. In a few minutes I would meet the family of the guy I was in love with…his mom, who was only a few years older than me, who would probably think I was some kind of creep for being with her son.
This was a fucking mess.
“Is it unsexy of me to tell you that I’m now freaking out a bit?” I asked, hoping it somehow helped us loosen up.
“See? I told you! This is so… I’ve never been in this kind of situation before.”
“Me neither. I blame you. I’m too old for this.”
“Now you finally admit you’re an old man?” he teased back.
“Anything for you, Mr. Wescott.” I winked.
He smiled, the tips of his ears pinkening the way I loved.
Zander didn’t have a chance to say anything more before a small, older Toyota pulled up. The car had clearly seen better days. There was a dent in the side, the paint lightened from years in the sun.
Once they parked, Zander went straight to the driver’s side, and I stood around like a fucking idiot who had no real place there—which was more true than I wanted it to be.
Zander opened the door, reached in, and helped his mom out. She was a beautiful woman, so much of Zander’s features coming from her. They had the same brown hair with streaks of honey in it, the same slim figure, though she was shorter and slightly curvier. And when she hugged him and smiled, I noticed two things—first, that he’d also gotten his full lips from her, and second, that she looked young, maybe younger than me, despite being a few years older.
“How was the drive? Did you do okay? Were there any troubles? Is your back hurting? I can help you inside and then come back for your things,” Zander rambled.