by A. J. Truman
“I think so.” But Ethan thought about it, and he always felt good after working out, no matter how strenuous his exercise. “Must be the endorphins.”
“Probably. But you…” Again, Ethan waited for her to finish that sentence. “You have this post-gym glow. I don’t know. You seem a little different.”
Immediately, Ethan thought of his library tryst. Yep, he could not be the same after that. He could feel the blush clouding his cheeks. “Different in a good way, right?”
“Totally.” Lorna’s gaze lingered on Ethan, like she was reading something off him. She cracked a smile. “Totally.”
“Well, I didn’t go to the gym today. I, uh, did a lot of walking around campus. I mean, it was a lovely day.”
She kept smiling and hiccupped out a laugh. “Not a cloud in the sky.”
Ethan backed out of the room. “I’m going to text Jessica, find out where she is. You don’t have to tell her I stopped by. Thanks.”
And then he was gone.
Φ
Ethan finally found his friends at the student union, sprawled out on a pair of lime-green couches. It was only slightly after six, but they looked wiped out.
“Hey guys,” he said. Anna moaned in response.
Jessica sat up and told Ethan all about their afternoon one town over in Cartlon. They’d walked around the downtown, then gone to this all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. Ethan checked his phone once more, but didn’t see any text messages from his friends about the excursion.
“I knocked on your door around eleven-thirty-ish,” Jessica said. “But you weren’t there. I thought your law class was over by then.”
Ethan stared at the tiled floor. No, he’d not been in his room then. He’d been in the library. Very much in the library.
“So. Much. Food. Never forget.” Blake rubbed his flat stomach. He laid atop Preston, who stroked his hair. It’s okay, Ethan told himself. I had an afternoon I’ll never forget either.
“Did you guys get the chow fun?” Blake asked. He brushed nonexistent bangs out of his eyes. “It was ah-mazing. I’m probably retaining about a bucket of water, but it was so worth it.”
“Only you got the chow fun,” Preston said, “and every other type of noodle.”
“Carbs for the win!” Blake shot a fist in the air. Preston massaged his shoulder.
“What were you up to this afternoon?” Jessica asked.
A curtain of red drew down Ethan’s face. Images from today’s library rendezvous flashed in his mind.
“I did some grocery shopping. I needed toothpaste.” Half of that was true.
“Oh, okay. Sorry we missed you,” Jessica said with a shrug. Ethan wondered if Jessica would’ve looked harder for Anna and Preston. There was this magical thing called text messaging.
“No worries.” A smile took hold of him and wouldn’t let go. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t know why lying to Jessica and his friends gave him a rush. He wasn’t one to lie, especially not to friends, but for once, he had something worth lying about.
“What’s so funny?” Blake asked him.
“Nothing.” He had a secret, which felt like a portal to another world for him. “I just…”
His shoulders loosened. Analysis aside, he’d had quite the day—more momentous and scandalous than a Chinese buffet—but he wasn’t about to tell anyone. (Greg probably would be happier about that than him.) A sober buzz lingered through him, and that grin refused to budge.
“Toothpaste,” Ethan said finally. “I don’t know why I do this to myself. I know when I’m going to run out, yet I still wait until the last possible day to buy more.”
“I wait even longer,” Preston said. “Sometimes I use my roommate’s.”
“Do you ask him for permission, or is that just something you take and figure he’ll never find out?”
“My roommate is anal enough to know, but too passive-aggressive to say anything.”
Ethan’s laugh stretched his mouth to the limits. Not because Preston was that funny, but because he was getting away with this lie!
Toothpaste! If only you knew…
“Sounds like the perfect arrangement,” Ethan said.
“It works.”
“Well, now I know how you get that great smile of yours. Lies and petty larceny.”
Ehtan nearly did a double-take at his words. That was exactly what was in his head, and it came out perfectly. Had he forgetten to think?
And I just called Preston’s smile great. That was a compliment. That was a flirty compliment. Right in front of Blake!
Ethan gulped down the resulting nerves and excitement that bunched at his throat. He didn’t believe he’d actually said that until he saw Blake flash him a glare. “I guess that’s accurate,” Preston said, baring his perfect smile. He and Ethan shared a look that lasted just a second too long and sent a surge tingling through him.
“You know,” Dave said. “I just realized I need to get some toothpaste. Thanks, Ethan.”
Ethan shrugged. “Anytime.”
Φ
Later, before Ethan went to sleep, he didn’t think about getting left out of the Chinese buffet trip. He didn’t even realize that he’d had his longest conversation ever with Preston without being a stuttering mess. Nope, all he thought about was the crazy secret of that crazy afternoon that his oh-so-cool friends knew nothing about. Maybe what had happened with Greg wasn’t completely horrible. Maybe it really had made him fresher, to use Lorna’s word.
He could still feel the buzz in his fingertips as he drifted off to sleep. And tomorrow, he really did need to buy toothpaste.
CHAPTER twelve
Ethan tried not to look at Greg during class on Thursday. He focused on the lecture and the sturdy, yet droning, voice of his professor. Acing the first exam would erase every bad mark against him, but every few minutes, Ethan found his head craning towards Greg.
The gesture was not reciprocated.
Greg texted on his phone and scrolled through photos—basically the same things he’d done when they first met. Before everything had happened. Ethan had no idea what to expect from today, but was some form of acknowledgement too much to ask?
“You’re so studious,” Ethan whispered. He tried to sound cool and funny like Greg would, but instead it came out accusatory.
Greg let out a laugh and went back to his phone.
Weren’t they supposed to discuss next steps, or had Tuesday been a one-time fling? A one-time mistake? Ethan wished he knew proper protocol in this situation.
Perhaps Greg wanted Ethan to make the first move. He slowly moved his hand toward Greg’s crotch. Like, super-slowly. His hand had the shape of an airplane coming in for a landing.
But nerves got the best of him. Ethan’s plane hand veered off course and gripped the chair arm for a brief moment before tucking itself under Ethan’s butt.
Once class ended, Ethan stood and shoved his notebook into his bag. He figured he should leave rather than risk being blown off for a second time.
“Where are you going?” Greg asked. He threw his own notebook into his backpack. Why did he bother bringing it in the first place?
“I’m just going to get a coffee.”
“We’ll walk out together.”
“Oh, okay.”
They followed the rush of students heading downstairs. When they reached the second floor, instead of continuing down the stairs, Greg tugged on Ethan’s sleeve. He nodded down the hall with a mischievous look on his face that stirred up butterflies in Ethan’s stomach.
Ethan didn’t say a word. This was happening. He followed Greg down a deserted corridor of closed classroom and office doors. The echo of footsteps from the stairs reverberated throughout the hall. They passed professor offices on both sides, and Ethan caught names on the doors. He’d read about those names in newsletters and emails touting the successful faculty of Browerton.
Greg was on a mission. He poked his head into each room, and Ethan realized what he was looking for. An emp
ty room. Ethan’s heart raced with each office they passed. There were esteemed faculty on this floor, scholars with centuries of combined legal expertise and knowledge. And here were two boys searching for a place to screw around without getting caught. Or did they want to get caught?
No, definitely no.
Ethan secretly hoped Greg wouldn’t find anything. It was exciting to hook up in the mostly forgotten stacks of the library, but not where Ethan’s future professors were mere feet away.
At the end of the hall, beside a window looking out into a grassy quad, they found one. It was an empty office with bare bookcases and a desk that only had two pens and a stapler atop it.
“Perfect,” Greg said, nodding as he surveyed the surroundings.
Nerves scorched within Ethan. Other professors were in other offices just down the hall. There was even an office right across the way. He glanced at the placard outside that office and nearly shriveled up.
Wendell Sharpe!
“We have to go,” Ethan said. His breaths turned into shortened huffs.
“Why?”
“This is too risky.” Ethan pointed to Professor Sharpe’s placard. “Exhibit A.”
Greg checked his phone. “He’ll be in the lecture hall for at least another ten minutes as suck-up students yak his ear off.”
Ethan grimaced. That could’ve been him.
“We have time,” Greg said.
“Not a lot.”
“I know. That’s part of the fun.”
“You and I have wildly different definitions of fun.” But at that moment, Ethan forced himself to repress a smile. Maybe this was a little fun for him, only because it was so wildly un-Ethan-like.
Greg closed the office door with care, letting it click shut. He took Ethan’s hand, which made him forget about Professor Sharpe for a second, and they walked to the bookcase.
“It’s an empty office at the end of the hall. Nobody’s coming in here.” Then Greg’s lips creased into one of his smirks. “Probably.”
“Probably?”
He shrugged. “You never know.”
Ethan went to close the blinds, but Greg blocked his hand. “Nobody’s going to see us either. We’re two stories up.”
Greg reached into his warm-up pants and readjusted his probably growing erection. That got Ethan’s heart racing.
But we’re surrounded by other professors! They’ll hear us!
“Seven minutes until Sharpe possibly returns to his office,” Greg said.
“How do you know it’s seven minutes?”
“It’s an educated guess. Now get on your knees.”
Ethan did as he was told and felt a rush from Greg’s command. As much as Greg could get on his nerves and as much as Greg seemed to make a sport out of making Ethan uncomfortable, he knew in that moment, he was wanted.
He was eye-level with Greg’s nether region, which was flat and grey. His pants hid any type of protuberance. Ethan placed his palms on his thighs, hoping that would calm him down. It didn’t. Being in this office mixed with Greg moments away from unveiling himself sent Ethan into overdrive. He was so scared and excited that he didn’t know which feeling would win out. They caused an electric current to surge through him.
“You ready?” Greg peered down at him with a smile, but then it faded into a concerned look. “Be honest.”
Ethan nodded. His hands gripped Greg’s elastic waistband, but he couldn’t go farther. He took a deep breath. He had only given a blowjob once, to a guy he’d met online last summer. Not his proudest moment. Ethan had worried about getting an STD the whole time. Here, he was dealing with a totally different beast. Emphasis on the beast.
Greg placed his hands over Ethan’s and massaged them. His thumbs swirled circles by Ethan’s thumbs. It actually seemed a little sweet, like maybe Greg understood how scary this was for him. He then unsheathed his sword.
Ethan was face to face with Greg’s dick, dangling there like the rope he’d had to climb in gym class. It quickly stood at full attention. He took it in his hand and leaned forward, enveloping Greg in his mouth.
“Yes,” Greg moaned, and it made Ethan moan, too.
He wasn’t sure what he was doing. He was a guy, though, so he had basic instincts on how to work with Greg’s equipment. Still, he figured Greg had probably had better from some sorostitute. Ethan was a hard worker who wanted to do a good job and refused to embarrass himself. This would be an A-plus blowjob—or at least an A-minus—no matter what. He wasn’t sure what Greg liked, so he tried different tactics to see what got the best reaction.
He moved his hand and mouth in synchronized motion, letting more of Greg enter his mouth each time he went down. Greg ran his fingers through Ethan’s hair and tried to grab a clump before probably realizing it was too short. One of the many differences between getting blown by a guy versus a girl. Ethan raised his free hand up to Greg’s firm six-pack, feeling the wonder that was Greg’s body.
It made Ethan move his hand and mouth faster.
“Fuck yeah,” Greg whispered. “You like sucking dick in a professor’s office?”
“So far, yes,” Ethan said, then looked up. “Wait, that was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it?”
Greg pushed Ethan’s head back into the fray. He kept making noises of pleasure that drove Ethan wild. For now, in this moment, he had power over Greg. He could make this boy moan and tremble. He felt his reservations falling off him, making him lighter, more nimble, more ravenous.
He pulled Greg’s dick out of his mouth. It was rock-hard and thick and mighty and shiny from his saliva. Ethan gripped it in his fist, and his eyes widened. He wanted it. More than anything else in this world, he wanted it. He didn’t know what he was doing here, but he didn’t care. Only one thing mattered. I want that big, fucking dick in my fucking mouth right fucking now.
Damn, that felt good to say.
Ethan shoved it back in and went down to the base.
“Fuck,” Greg said. He let out a trembling moan. “Take it.”
And Ethan did. Over and over. Reaching the base and managing a quick lick of Greg’s balls before coming up for air. He loved it each time. He wondered for a second who this was because it couldn’t be him. But that thought quickly vanished, and his ravenous, hungry self repossessed him. Total savage.
“Stop,” Greg said.
“Oh, you want me to stop, do you?” Ethan uttered in an attempt at sexiness that would make Jessica Rabbit cringe.
“Stop.” Greg pointed toward the hall.
And Ethan did stop. Footsteps clunked on the floor, and they got louder.
Professor Sharpe.
Ethan could hear his muffled voice through the walls. If he could hear him, could others hear them?
They looked at each other. Ethan jumped up, and Greg closed up shop. Ethan felt the wood creaking under Professor Sharpe’s steps. But just as soon as Sharpe was there, he was gone. His door slammed shut, and Ethan exhaled.
“That was close,” Ethan said.
“Yeah. You scared?”
“Yeah.” Ethan realized that that wasn’t a bad thing. It only added to the rush.
He pulled down Greg’s pants and got back on his knees. Greg was still half-hard. Ethan began sucking him off again, and he was fully hard in no time.
He devoured Greg’s cock, shoveling it in like dinner after a day of hard labor. Greg pushed his head down, and that made Ethan grip his dick with more force. He moved faster. Up and down. He felt for the six pack and grazed his fingertips along the taut muscles. Greg panted.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Greg said, almost with desperation, and Ethan could see the finish line.
Then he tasted it in his mouth. Ethan swallowed Greg’s bitter load, something else he had never done before but enjoyed. He smiled triumphantly, pleased that he could successfully please Greg.
“Wow,” Greg said. He brushed a hand through his hair. “That was so fucking hot.”
“Yeah, it was.” Ethan sat in the desk
chair.
“Damn, you’re good. That’s the best slobs I’ve ever gotten.”
“Slobs?”
“That’s what we call blowjobs, my brothers and I.”
“Your frat brothers?”
“Yeah. I’d never discuss this with my actual brother.”
Ethan didn’t know Greg had an actual brother. That was the most personal thing he knew about him, and it sent a warm feeling zipping through his chest.
Greg rubbed Ethan’s head and looked directly into Ethan’s eyes. This was a good moment, but the high Ethan had been on was quickly melting away. He wondered just how many slobs Greg had received in his life. He realized that, even though Greg may not fool around in public with other people, this was still but one in a long line of blowjobs for him. Suddenly, Ethan felt like a slut.
Was this terrible? Not even the public part, but just that he let himself go along with this. Greg must think he’s some gay nerd he can exploit for his own sexual gain. It hadn’t dawned on Ethan until this moment that perhaps hooking up in public wasn’t the worst part of their arrangement, but rather that they had an arrangement at all.
Greg used his underwear to wipe off his dick and got himself situated. “So I wouldn’t be opposed if we did this again.”
“What happens if we get caught?”
“We won’t get caught.”
“How do you know?”
Greg didn’t have an answer for him.
“Maybe we could fool around in private sometime,” Ethan said. He stopped himself from proposing his dorm room. While he did have a single, he didn’t want to risk his friends catching Greg leaving his room. Or worse, having them hear what was going on. This arrangement was meant to stay secret on all fronts.
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Greg said, and Ethan didn’t argue.
Greg sat on the desk. “I think you enjoyed yourself, Ethan. Hmm… You need a nickname.”
“Why?” Ethan spun in the chair, but ground to a halt the second that it squeaked.
“Everyone has a nickname. I don’t know half the names of the guys in my frat. Your friends never gave you a nickname?”