Page 27 of Best Friends

Jesse tried to speak, but his throat was too dry. “I—” He swallowed thickly. “I… I don’t… really know.”

Hayden’s lips turned into a grimace. “A whole lot more of the same. Nothing.” He turned back to the door. “Go home.”

“As soon as I left Benji that night… I came right here. You weren’t home.”

Hayden paused at the door, his back to Jesse. He didn’t turn. Didn’t say a word.

“I came here… because I…” Jesse let the words drift off and knew fear was once again silencing him. Say it. Tell him… “Because I’ve been in love with you for years and have kept it bottled deep… I thought it would destroy our friendship if I ever said a word.”

Hayden turned slightly, his stare intent.

“I shoved it so deep that I didn’t know how to let go…”

Hayden dropped his bag at the door and took two steps closer. “How long?”

Jesse shrugged. “I don’t really know… I think it started that night… at the sorority party.” He paused. “That intimacy… I don’t know, maybe it lit a fire inside me. The more I got to know you over that year… it just grew. But I knew you weren’t interested in me, so I hid it. Until hiding became the norm.”

Hayden was silent.

That silence nearly broke him. Jesse was opening himself up… uncorking the bottle…

Had he misread the signs? Fear nearly swallowed him whole right there on the spot. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“I didn’t understand why I wanted another guy. I wasn’t gay. So I spent the last few years proving to myself that I wasn’t gay. I slept with just about any woman I could get my hands on. The partying just took over my life… I couldn’t do it anymore, Jesse. I couldn’t hide how I felt for you. When I kissed you… and you pushed me away…” He paused, and Jesse could feel the hurt rolling off Hayden in waves. “When you pushed me away, it tore me apart.”

Jesse took a step closer. “I didn’t want to push you away… all these years of hiding how I felt… it just happened. I regretted it as soon as it happened.”

“I chalked the first one up to me being drunk. So I tried again… without the liquid courage. Still… you pushed me away.”

He took another step closer. “I did. And I’m sorry I did.” They stood inches from one another, stares locked. “I won’t pull away again.”

Jesse closed the gap and tentatively pressed his lips to Hayden’s.

Hayden didn’t kiss him back. Didn’t pull away, either. When Jesse leaned back, he searched the man’s face, seeking some kind of response.

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. I’m too late.

Jesse went to take a step back…

But Hayden reached out and grabbed a handful of Jesse’s shirt before dragging him closer. Jesse gasped when Hayden’s lips landed on his, the tickle of that beard scratching his face. Hayden’s hunger was evident. Jesse moaned against the man’s lips, his blood pressure rising.

Hayden lured him in through the door before it was shut behind them. Jesse was slammed against the back of it, a hard body pinning him there. His best friend feasted on his mouth. Jesse was just as hungry for those kisses. He’d waited eight long years…

“I need you,” Hayden whispered against Jesse’s mouth.

Jesse’s only answer was to kiss Hayden back, running his palms against his friend’s muscled chest. He grabbed the bottom of Hayden’s tee and pulled it over the man’s head. They broke the kiss for a few precious seconds and nearly slammed together again in their desire.

Clothing began to fly off, piece by piece, until they were both naked. They hadn’t even made it out of the foyer. Hayden pushed Jesse to the stairs leading up, but he ended up tripping and landing with an oof onto one of the bottom treads. Without missing a beat, Hayden began trailing kisses down Jesse’s neck and chest.

Back arching as he was laid back onto the stairs, Jesse’s head fell back onto another tread. The second he felt a tongue slide along the length of his hard cock, he moaned in anguish.

Eight long years before, he’d watched as Hayden had been blown, wishing it had been him on his knees doing the sucking. Now he was about to be on the receiving end of that same pleasure. Jesse had dreamed of this, but never thought it possible. He looked down his body to where Hayden circled the tip and groaned when it disappeared between two firm lips.

He observed, the sensation so surreal that he wasn’t sure that he wasn’t dreaming. The sight of his cock being drawn into Hayden’s mouth, over and over again, entranced Jesse. His body shook with need, the mounting pressure up his spine pushing him to the edge too quickly.

Jesse bit his tongue between cries of pleasure, trying to ward off the orgasm threatening to crash into him and leave him shattered. Looking away, he couldn’t continue to see the visual before him. It was too overwhelming. The prize he’d denied himself for so long… now that it was in his grasp, it threatened to completely consume him.

On Hayden sucked, drawing Jesse higher and higher. Unable to keep the visual feast from his eyes, he reopened them, breathless with need.

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