Weight of Silence(9)

Warm, moist heat slammed down against Gavin’s mouth, and he opened immediately to the powerful kiss. He angled his head and let Jace control it, to explore and nibble and lick, and damn he was good at it. When Jace thrust his tongue into Gavin’s mouth, he felt it in his cock—which had never really lost its wood and was now back at full mast. He wanted to reach down to see if Jace was still hard too. Instead, he ran his hand through Jace’s shaggy hair, surprised by its softness, and Jace pressed into the touch with an eager noise.

Gavin managed to reverse the kiss a little and licked into the moist heat of Jace’s mouth. He tasted Coke and spice and Jace, and it was awesome. They kissed for a long time in the front seat, the position a little awkward, but Gavin was in no hurry to stop. Not until Jace’s hand slid into his lap and pressed hard against his cock. The touch sent electric signals to Gavin’s brain and he pushed up against Jace’s palm.

Jace pulled out of the kiss, but his hand remained where it was. His eyes were wide, lips damp, and he breathed hard through his mouth. He looked sexy as hell like that, and it only made Gavin want him more. Jace rubbed his cock again, and even through his jeans Gavin swore he felt the heat of Jace’s hand. He wanted so badly to know what that would really feel like, and he thrust back a little. Jace’s nostrils flared.

“Tell me what you want, Jace,” Gavin whispered.

Jace searched his face, expressive eyes unable to hide his desire or his nerves, until he made a decision. He didn’t say anything. He simply shrugged out of his coat, and then climbed into the backseat. He settled on the bench, legs open in a wantonly inviting way that made Gavin’s mouth go dry, and he waited.

Gavin gave his body a moment to catch up to his brain’s signals, and then followed Jace into the backseat of the Jeep, positive this was the start of something fabulous.





Chapter Three

Christmas Break



Jace could hear someone knocking on his closed bedroom door, even over the loud bass of the music blasting into his ears via his iPod, but he chose to ignore the knocker. He hoped they’d get the hint and go away. His parents were hosting their annual Christmas party the night before Christmas Eve, and the house was full of guests. People laughing, telling nostalgic stories, and eating the food that Mom had spent two days preparing—with a good amount of assistance from Rey King. The guest list grew every year, and for the first time, she’d brought in help so she could spend more time socializing and less time pulling her hair out. Jace would be expected to paste on a smile and act like a good host to their guests, as he’d done every Christmas for pretty much his entire life.

Tonight he’d gone so far as to put on his best gray slacks and the green sweater Mom had laid out for him. Then he’d promptly plopped down into the big, bowl-shaped Papasan chair that overtook the left corner of his room, stuffed his earbuds in, and proceeded to ignore the party and distant hum of Dad’s Christmas CDs playing on the sound system downstairs.

He simply was not up to the effort of socializing. He’d barely made it through the hoopla surrounding Lauren’s graduation last weekend, and all he wanted to do was rest. Rest and not think. Not about anything.

The knocking continued, louder now that the song on his iPod was changing. The doorknob jiggled, and he realized too late that he’d forgotten to lock the damn door. It swung open. Mom bustled inside in her red dress and jingle bell earrings. She gave him a hard look then pointed at her ears. Jace yanked out the earbuds right as the next song got going.

“Are you going to hide up here all night?” Mom asked. Her annoyance was almost matched by the concern in her eyes. He wasn’t acting like himself and they both knew it. Only Mom prided herself in giving her kids space, and she wouldn’t pry unless he did something really out of character. His sisters had no such boundaries.

“I’m not up for a lot of people tonight,” he said truthfully.

“Still worried about your finals?”

His grades hadn’t arrived yet, and yes, he was a little worried. Then again, accidentally flunking out would solve all of his problems. “A little, yeah. This semester was tougher than I thought it would be.”

“It won’t get any simpler once you declare your major. College is hard work, honey.”

He smiled for her. “I know. I’m trying my best.”

“I know you are. You always do. Speaking of which, can you at least come downstairs for ten minutes? Put in an appearance, for your dad and me?”

Jace couldn’t resist his mom when she asked like that—batting her wide brown eyes and acting like the exhausted hostess when she secretly enjoyed every moment of it. He hauled his tired, aching body out of the chair and dropped his iPod onto the cushion. “Okay, ten minutes.”