Page 88 of Spring Awakening

“I’m so close,” she pants in response. Her nose bumps against his, and when he kisses her, she shakes against his hand. Whenshe moans down his throat, he has no ability to keep himself in check, and he spills into her palm. Zach groans. There are stars in his eyes, and he’s not sure he’s ever come that hard, and she had her hand on him for about forty seconds. He takes a deep breath, holding Mali close.

If this were anyone else, he’d be terrified. He’d be worried about the newspaper articles, about the shame. Mali just kisses him.

“Holy shit,” she pants. “Fuck me, I can barely see.”

Zach laughs, and Mali copies him. She wipes her hand against his stomach and hugs him tight, kissing the juncture of his shoulder. He rests his head against the headboard, his palms sliding down Mali’s back, feeling the light sheen of sweat on her skin. He’s so deliriously happy, so unreasonably gleeful, that he feels insane.

“I need to clean up, but you’re so comfy,” she mutters, and Zach is minded to agree, but he almost gave her a UTI tonight already. He lifts her easily into his arms, and she wraps her legs around his waist. His dick twinges at the feel of her wet cunt against him.

“Zach,” she whispers, shuffling against him.

“Don’t start,” he mutters, placing her on her sink. “Doctor’s orders.”

Mali laughs and pulls him in for a kiss with her hands against his jaw. “’Kay.”

He cleans them up as best he can. Mali giggles when he makes sure the flannel is warm and forces her to pee even though she says the toilet seat is cold. He waits outside her bathroom door for her, and she holds his hand on the ten-step walk back to bed.

There’s no space this time. When he crawls into bed, Mali leans against him like that’s where she’s comfiest. He kisses her once on the lips, then once on the nose.

“Zach,” she whispers, and the kisses have done the trick—she’s basically asleep.

“Baby.”

“I never want you to leave.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The shrill sound ofZach’s phone wakes him up from the deepest sleep he’s had in a long time. He scrunches his eyes closed as he searches for it. It takes him a moment before he realises he’s not in his room. Mali’s leg is slotted between his, the smooth expanse of her back exposed. Zach traces the dip of her spine with his eyes. He’s not sure if he can touch her now. Part of him can’t believe it happened at all. He’s waiting for someone to jump out and call him a loser for ever believing she would want him like that. Still, he leans closer and presses his lips lightly against her shoulder.

“I love you,” he whispers. Then he pulls the duvet over her shoulders and begrudgingly leaves the room.

His phone rings for the third time in the time it takes him to grumpily stroll back to his bedroom. Buffy follows him, and he’s going to be fuming when Zach doesn’t feed him because it’s still dark out. The light from his phone burns his retinas, and he scowls when he sees it’s four thirty-five a.m. and it’s his brother calling.

Zach answers because it’s his fifth missed call, and the panic immediately settles into his bones. Something bad must have happened with their mum for Devon to be calling.

“De?” he asks quietly, pushing the door closed.

“Bro, I need you.”

“What? Where are you?”

His brother speaks to someone else for a moment. “I fucked up.”

“De.” Zach closes his eyes. He shouldn’t have answered. He should have stayed in bed with Mali.

“I know. I know. I’m sorry, bruv. Please, come get me.” Devon hasn’t sounded this scared since he got sent to jail the first time. Zach hates it.

Zach sighs, but he knows he’s going to go. “Where are you?” He puts the location into his phone and scowls when he sees it. It’s nowhere he recognises. He has no idea why Devon would be there. Still, he pulls on a tracksuit and tiptoes down the stairs. He wants to leave a note, but his brother is only twenty minutes away, so he should be back before Mali wakes up.

It feels wrong, though. Like he’s sneaking out.

By the time Zach gets to the sketchy-looking industrial estate, he’s a little more awake. More aware of how badly he didn’t want to leave Mali. More annoyed at his brother for continuing to ruin things for him. But Devon did sound scared. Apologetic almost. Perhaps this is the time he’s done with this life. Maybe this is the time he comes home.

“De?” Zach calls out as he walks through the garages. It all feels very nineties low-budget action movie. Especially so when Devon walks out from behind a pillar with Vincent, his agent.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Zach mutters. His agent called a while back, then left him alone. He rarely hears from them, let alone sees them. It’s too close to the start of the season for them to move him, so he’s barely thought about them at all.

“Zachariah,” Vincent says, with a smile. Tosser. “How are you?”

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