“Shit.” Adam suddenly spun them, Kissing Ren and pressing him back against the hard plane of the wall.
Adam’s mouth was rough. Power surged and glowed between them, pushing Ren further into need than he’d ever thought he could go. He stood helpless, unable to move, his hands gripping Adam’s shoulders. Then the tails of Ren’s shirt were jerked from his pants.
Adam dropped to his knees and Ren’s world seemed to tilt. He scrambled to find something to hold on to, something to help him maintain his balance without Adam’s steadying presence. In the end he had to settle for pressing his palms against the wall as Adam’s lips trailed hot kisses down his abdomen. There was a tug at his belt and Adam pulled open his fly with a jerk. Then his lover’s hand gentled as he pulled down the waistband of Ren’s underwear and exposed Ren’s cock.
There was a pause. Adam didn’t move for long moments. Ren had almost caught his breath, almost reached the point where he could look down, when wet heat enveloped him.
A helpless cry ripped from his lips and he arched. Adam’s tongue teased the underside of his cock and Ren thrust forward again, his hips starting a slow pump in and out of Adam’s mouth. With one hand, he released the wall to thread his fingers through Adam’s hair, holding him close while he pushed his cock into Adam’s mouth.
Oh, Adam’s mouth. So different from a female’s. Adam sucked him aggressively, with no hesitation. Took the length of Ren’s shaft into his throat until his nose was buried in golden curls.
Ren’s balls pulled up and tension wound through him. A tingling pressure gripped the base of his spine, spreading through his body, into his cock. With one last cry he thrust deep and came, shuddering as he poured his release into Adam’s sucking mouth. The hard pull on Ren’s cock dragged the orgasm out into what was almost a second peak, taking Ren past what he thought was possible and making the ending as hard and strong as the beginning.
Unable to bear any more of the excruciating bliss, he tightened his fingers in Adam’s hair and pulled him away with a rough hand.
Ren’s knees gave out and he slid to the floor with a jarring thump. He could barely breathe. He sat gasping for air, cock out, with Adam kneeling between his splayed legs.
Before his stunned mind could grasp what had just happened, Adam’s lips were on his again, his come-slicked tongue thrusting into his mouth.
“Come with me,” Adam said, pulling away and grasping Ren’s hand. He tugged Ren to his feet and led him through the house to his bedroom door.
Ren stopped at the threshold, struck by a moment of uncertainty. The enormity of what was about to happen hit him and his courage faltered.
“What’s the matter?” Adam had stopped, sensitive as ever to Ren’s reservations.
“I want this, I want you, but…”
“But what?”
“The idea of being penetrated… I do not know if I am ready for this.” Ren searched Adam’s face, a silent plea for understanding.
“Nothing you aren’t ready for, Ren. There are many ways to love.”
Ren tried to make sense of that, but before he could Adam was kissing him again. His thoughts scrambled and whatever worries he’d had diminished into nothingness. They staggered across the room, kissing and tugging at each other’s clothing. By the time they fell across the bed, they were more naked than clothed.
Cool air washed over him as Adam moved away. A drawer scraped open, then came the snick and sputter of a bottle that had Ren tensing again.
“Touch me. That’s all, just touching.” Adam stretched out beside Ren once more. Taking Ren’s hand, he placed it on his cock.
Adam’s flesh was slick, hot. Ren let his hand slide over it, testing Adam’s length and width before wrapping it in his fist. He touched Adam the way he liked to be touched, holding him with the firm grip he craved, and pumped.
Adam groaned and seemed to sink into the mattress as he went limp. The hard lines of his body seemed to dissolve. Ren let his hand take another hard slide and Adam’s hips rocked into the movement.
“More, Ren. I want it hard and fast. Make me come.”
Ren leaned over and took Adam’s mouth once more. He summoned his power and let it flow, willed it to fill every last corner of Adam’s body, to titillate and tantalize. With his fist sliding around Adam’s cock and his power flowing between them, Ren drove Adam’s arousal higher, determined to give him pleasure like he’d never had before, filling Adam so full of power he glowed.
Once again, Adam took charge, rolling them until he lay between Ren’s thighs and his body pressed Ren’s into the bedding. His hand locked over Ren’s and he thrust into their joint fist. Tongues tangled and Ren found unexpected enjoyment in allowing this man to simply use him, use his body, to take control of their mutual pleasure.
Adam’s hand on his squeezed harder and his muscles went taut. His harsh breath in Ren’s ear became a series of rough gasps, punctuated by cries of harder, more and fuckfuckfuck.
Then he came, his back arching and his groin jerking against Ren’s soft balls and reawakening cock. Adam’s come flowed over Ren’s belly and their clasped hands, a burning heat that cooled to a chill before Adam collapsed on top of Ren.
Adam’s breath fell over Ren’s shoulder in ragged gasps for several minutes before he pushed himself up and rolled to the side.
He didn’t leave Ren completely, though. With one arm wrapped around Ren’s waist, Adam pulled him close.
“Ah, Ren.” The words were a mere whisper against his hair but Ren felt them somewhere deep inside.
Ren closed his eyes and tried to swallow past the tightness in his throat.
How was he ever going to leave this man?
* * * * *
What a difference one night could make.
Sitting at his desk, Adam tried to ignore the tense silence hanging between him and Ren. Just last night they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms. Today Ren couldn’t look at him. He’d been tense and distant since Adam woke.
Maybe it had been too much. Maybe Ren’s curiosity would have been better left unappeased. Or maybe this was the brush-off. He’d gotten his one night with a man and he was ready to go. End of his holigay. The thought made Adam feel used and soiled inside.
Adam shouldn’t have brought him here. Ren obviously didn’t want to study the box and the awkward politeness of the day after was grating on Adam’s nerves.
Frustrated, he focused on trying to read the box again, determined to distract himself from the unwelcome possibilities Ren’s standoffish behavior raised.
A word almost came together before the meaning skittered away again. What was wrong with him? He fiddled with the lighting trying to get a better look. Next he blocked off sections with paper and when that didn’t work, he did rubbings of the entire box.
An hour later he was no closer to solving the riddle. The characters seemed to dance and shift, revealing a word here and there before fading into gibberish once more. Sometimes Adam would swear the words weren’t Hebrew at all, but Greek, or Latin or even modern English. If Ren hadn’t had such an easy time deciphering it, he would have thought it was decorative nonsense.
Adam leaned back in his chair and turned his attention to the man who stood at the window, watching the gray clouds boil and roll.
Ren. There was another mystery. He obviously was familiar with this type of covenant box, could read it with no effort, and yet he refused to share any information. Requests to read the words aloud were met with a flat refusal.
He read Hebrew, kept kosher and seamlessly followed all the laws and traditions that went with being Jewish. Adam had almost convinced himself Ren was Jewish. Last night had confirmed that wasn’t so.
Renatus wasn’t circumcised.
Adam clenched his teeth together. He would not let this bother him. He’d had non-Jewish lovers before this. He’d even fucked uncut men. He’d never had a problem with the state of a man’s foreskin. Besides, Ren wasn’t here long-term. Adam couldn’t keep him, so w
hether or not he was cut shouldn’t be an issue.
So why was he letting himself get tied in knots over it?
Picking up a sheet of rubbings, he glanced over the images.
Death to those…
“I think I have part of it.” Adam put his finger on the words before he could lose them. Without taking his eyes off the now-illegible characters, he fumbled for a pen and wrote what he’d seen on the spot.
The words drew Ren from the window to lean over his shoulder. Adam closed his eyes. Leaning into Ren, he breathed in his scent. An unexpected heat stung his eyes, but he blinked it away. He would not get emotional over a man he’d met only two days ago, a man he really knew nothing about.
A man with whom there was no future.
“That’s correct.”
“Why won’t you help me any more than that?” Adam snarled, his irritation surfacing in a rush.
Damn this man for making him want things he couldn’t have. Ren was going to disrupt his entire life then fly away without a backward glance, and he wouldn’t even tell him what the box said. Was a simple translation so much to ask?
“I’ve told you. The words are not intended for you. When they are your truth, you will see them.”
“And I’ve told you, I don’t want to hear some mystical, New Age tripe. I want to know what the fucking box says. I want to know what’s in it. But I can’t read it. I can’t open it. What is so important about this thing and why do you seem to know all about it?”
Ren rounded the desk and sat heavily in one of the chairs there, his expression filled with misery.
“Its value is nothing to you. To me, it is…”
“Go on, it’s what?”
Ren took a deep breath and looked Adam in the eye. “I need you to give me the box. I must take it home with me.”
“No.” Adam’s answer was pure belligerence. It was his box. He was going to figure out how to open it, what it said, what it all meant. No fucking way was he handing it over so Ren could leave.
“I know you do not understand, Adam. I was sent here to retrieve it. Please trust me. You are a man of faith. Have faith in me.”
Adam ground his back teeth together. He would not be swayed by pleading. It wasn’t going to happen. This box wasn’t going anywhere. Not if it would keep Ren with him another day or even just another hour.
“The box stays here. Don’t bother trying to take it, because I’m locking it in the department safe.”
Ren pulled back, hurt clouding his face.
“I cannot take it without your consent. I wouldn’t even if I were able. That you think such a thing of me…” His mouth snapped shut and the muscles of his jaw bunched. All Adam could do was sit and watch Ren struggle with his hurt while his own heart trembled.
“I will leave for now,” Ren finally said, his words barely audible. He rose and took the two scant steps to the door.
“Ren, stop.”
The words froze Ren in place. He stood at the door, one hand on the knob. Adam barely dared to breathe, feared the slightest noise or movement and Ren would vanish.
“I don’t want you to go. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not ever.” He couldn’t stop the words in time. The truth he wanted to ignore hung between them. He’d fallen in love. Totally, heartbreakingly in love.
With a man he couldn’t keep.
Ren turned and leaned back against the door, his face desolate. “I cannot stay. Your world has no place for me. Mine has none for you. All I have is my task. I was sent here to find that box. Now it’s found. I must take it and leave. There is no other option.”
“There’s one. Don’t do it. Forget it’s been found. Pretend to keep looking.”
“Adam—”
“Give me a day. Two days. I’ll hide, throw it away. We won’t mention it again. I won’t even ask why it’s so important if you’ll just stay.” Adam could hear his own desperation, the frantic plea in the words, but he couldn’t stop them from coming. He needed this man more than he needed his next breath.
Ren came to him, his steps agonizingly slow. Leaning over the desk, he took Adam’s face in his hands and brushed his lips with sad kisses. “I wish it were truly that simple.”
“It is that simple. Don’t go.” Adam couldn’t keep the pain, keep the begging out of his voice.
“I must.” Ren straightened and returned to the door, opening it this time. “You finish with the box, then I must take it.”
Ren was giving him time, delaying. Giving him time to deal with the reality of imminent loss.
Adam’s heart crumbled and dreams he hadn’t let himself acknowledge withered.
“Adam?”
He forced himself to look up, to meet Ren’s eyes. That beautiful mouth opened, as if on the brink of saying something, perhaps making an impossible promise. Or maybe that was just Adam’s heart hoping.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be waiting in the hallway.”
The door closed behind Ren with a soft click and Adam choked on his own pain.
Chapter Seven
Adam stood at the window long after the sun set and the campus grounds were enveloped by night. An occasional student wandered between the puddles of light beneath the lamp posts, but nothing intruded on Adam’s thoughts. Nothing broke his silence and solitude.
The box sat on his desk, gleaming in the light of the lamp. The mystery of it no longer appealed to him. With Ren’s declaration it had changed from a puzzle to be solved into tool to tie Ren to him.
A soft knock sounded at the door. With sudden alacrity he took in the lateness of the hour and cursed. How long had Ren been waiting for him?
“Come in,” he called, moving to the desk. The door opened behind him with a subdued snick, then closed just as quietly. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I’ll put this away and we can go.”
“You didn’t keep me waiting, lovely human.”
Adam spun at the feminine voice. A woman stood by the door. Her hair picked up bits of light, shining like spun gold in the darkness of the office. One ring glinted in her lip and another at the tip of an eyebrow. Despite the piercings, she reminded him of a model, thin and lithe, with a figure guaranteed to make anything she wore look good.
She should have been lovely, but something about her felt wrong. There was an ugliness about her. Adam was struck by the urgent need to make her leave. He jerked into motion, grabbing the box to lock it up.
“I’m sorry, I was expecting someone else. It’s past office hours and I’m not available. You can call for an appointment—”
“Can you read it yet?”
Her words stopped him dead. “I don’t know what you’re talking about and I really don’t have time to discuss it now.”
“Your lies sound so sweet.” She stalked across the tiny office, her hips rolling suggestively with every step. She perched one hip on the edge of his desk and her batlike wings gave a delicate flutter.
He blinked and looked again.
She had wings. Not some cheap costume prop, but real living and moving wings. They were small, her wingspan less than her outstretched arms would be, but they were there; thin skin stretched between fragile bones.
Adam’s knees gave out and he collapsed into his chair. The woman on his desk giggled, a throaty and mirthless noise. She carried with her an aura of foreboding so thick he choked on it.
Not human. Whatever she is, she isn’t human.
“Who are you?” The words were forced past his fear. He glanced at the door behind her, judging his escape options. There were none. She had effectively cornered him behind the desk. He clenched his teeth and tried to hide his frustration.
“Ren didn’t tell you about me, did he? I’m hurt.”
Ren knew this…creature? He studied her with renewed interest and even more apprehension. A smug smile curled her pouty mouth and she slithered off the desk to circle behind his chair.
The path to the door was clear. Adam tensed, ready to make a run for it, to get to Ren, to get them both somewhere
safely away from this thing.
“I can read the box.”
The hiss in his ear stopped him and snapped Adam’s attention back to the woman. Her hands cupped his shoulders and moved down to stroke over his biceps. Goose bumps of revulsion crawled across his skin. Everything within him screamed to get away from her.
He curled his hands over the arms of his chair, holding on until his hands ached and his knuckles lost their color. Insidious whispers seemed to come from somewhere inside his skull.
Read the box. It’s what you wanted. Ask and I’ll share the secrets Renatus won’t. Just ask me.
“How can you read it?” Adam’s eyes narrowed and he studied the intruder.
“Easily. I have a stake in what’s inside. So do you.”
“Then why can’t I read it?”
“You can. Just ask and I’ll reveal its secrets. Ask and receive.”
Ask me. Invite me into your head. Let me in. Read the box. Ask. Just ask.
The words filled his head in a pervasive murmur, a demand that clouded his mind. He tried to shake it off, but the voice grew louder, more insistent. Word overlapped word until all he would hear was a garbled hiss spurring him to ask, to speak. It consumed him, obliterated all other sounds. His office was gone. The box was gone, everything outside her voice ceased to exist for him.
There was only the woman with wings and the need to ask her something, to beg her. She could make this all stop.
Ask…
He opened his mouth, helpless to resist her, desperate to make the roaring in his head stop.
“Be silent, Adam!”
The woman’s spell over him shattered. The voices in his head vanished. He swung to stare at the door, disoriented by the abrupt silence.
ForsakingEternity Page 7