Page 5 of Fortress
“—but it’s bullshit. You got six stitches in you, you’re telling me they don’t twinge?” Jake brightened. “Hey, that’s right, you’re not on the good stuff—you can drive us! See, I knew I was a genius for teaching you to drive.”
“I am not driving you into town for an ice cream and beer run,” Tobias said flatly. “Roger bought groceries yesterday, sowe have everything we need, including beer, which you arenotallowed to drink yet. You don’t need to end up ripping your stitches and damaging your ribs more than they already are. We’ll get ice cream when we’re ready to celebrate.”
Roger’s voice rumbled from the study. “At least one of you knuckleheads got some sense.”
Tobias flushed and dropped his eyes, though Jake looked amused and at ease. Fuck this. Fuck this fear.
Jake reached over to squeeze Tobias’s foot. “Yeah,” he said, maybe a little louder than necessary, and Tobias felt grateful again, as he so often did beneath the anger at himself. “That’s a real nice idea, ’cept there won’t be much to celebrate if I end up croaking from boredom.” Jake twirled the pill bottle from the end table, grinning up at Tobias. “C’mon, Toby, I’m gonna fuse into the couch cushions here. If you’re so set on cooping us up like a couple of fuzzy chickens, you ain’t got a reasonnotto take your meds, right? And don’t tell me that your arm doesn’t hurt like a bitch.”
“I didn’t say anything because it’s healing,” Tobias said with dignity. “And itdoesn’thurt because I don’t overwork it. Maybe if you tried that, your knees wouldn’t be in such bad shape.”
“Well, looks like I’m gonna have to now, what with Nurse Tobito on my case.” The words might have been chiding, but Jake still sounded delighted. Tobias knew that the more he “sassed,” the less Jake would think about the pain in his side and leg.
So Tobias sighed theatrically and snapped closed the biology textbook in his lap. “Okay. Since I’m mean enough to deprive you of ten miles of rough road, the least I can do is find something else for you to do. I could read to you? Or we can watch a movie.”
Jake grinned, easing back down into the couch. “Nah, we’ve about burned out Roger’s DVD player. Let’s have some book time.”
“So generous,” Tobias drawled, even though he was. Jake always was. He pulledThe Outsidersfrom his backpack and rested his back againstthe opposite end of the couch with his legs carefully stretched alongside Jake’s but away from the injury. “Okay,” he said. “I’m going to start with the intro...”
That night, while Jake was in the bathroom, Tobias spent a few minutes arranging the extra pillows he had gotten from the cupboard Roger had shown him earlier. When Jake emerged, limping less obviously now, he snorted in amusement when he saw the careful line of pillows down the center of the bed.
“You got an urge to make a pillow fort?”
Tobias paused, searching his memory for the phrase, then looked questioningly at Jake.
“It’s just a game kids play. Building, uh, houses and stuff out of pillows.”Jake approached slowly, studying the barricade of pillows. Tobias knew he was also putting off the moment he’d have to lower himself to the bed. “I’ll give it a shot if you want, Toby, but you’re the one always telling me to take care of my banged-up ribs.”
“No,” Tobias said, and gave the final pillow a pat. “This isn’t a children’s game, it’s just—a little extra protection. In case I have another nightmare.”
“Oh.” Jake scratched his jaw. “Dude, it’s a nice thought, but I don’t think that’s gonna work.”
Tobias drooped, looking at his construction. Maybe the pillows hadn’t been a great idea, but it was the best solution he could think of—other than him sleeping elsewhere. He squashedthe worry that he was selfish for not suggesting that. He knew Jake wouldn’t like that idea any more than he did; it wasn’t just his greedy freak nature.
As always, Jake read him as easily as Tobias read his books. “See, you may be okay with the cloud cover, but there’s no way I’ll get much rest with you on the other side of a mountain of feathers and cotton.”Jake sat gingerly on the bed, his face tightening into a grimace, and Tobias bit his lip in sympathy.
“We could—just try one?”Tobias removed most of the pillows, stacking them on the chair by his side of the bed and leaving one long pillow down the middle.
“If it’ll make you feel better.” Jake leaned against the headboard. “Just don’t be surprised if I toss it to the floor in the middle of the night. C’mere, Toby.”
Tobias moved closer, nudging against the pillow median, legs curled up under him. Jake touched his hairline, moving over the curve of his cheek, to stroke a thumb under Tobias’s chin. Tobias leaned into the touch, eyes half closing.
“I’m gonna risk your elbows cause it’s worth it to me. I’d put up with a hell of a lot more pain than that to have you near me. You know that, right?” Jake’s voice was low, with a barely discernible huskiness. A shiver ran down Tobias’s spine, and he inched closer and rested his fingers on Jake’s shoulder.
Even feeling that much of Jake’s muscle and skin beneath his hand, through his shirt—that was enough to make Tobias shiver again, his heart pump harder.
They didn’t usually do this. Jake was always insistent about the PG rule when they went to bed. They could touch hands, arms, chests, but they never kissed like they did the day on the beach.
But tonight, something about Jake’s warmth, his half-tense slouch—just the fact of his presence and health when Tobias hadbeen so afraid a couple days ago—let him sway closer to bring his lips to Jake’s.
It wasn’t supposed to last more than a couple seconds. But kissing Jake (or perhaps any kind of kissing, though Tobias didn’t want to try it with anyone else) was a new kind of alchemy that he wasn’t prepared for. So quickly it melted every thought in his head, every intention, and lit up all these nerves and sources ofpleasurein his body he’d never known existed. Faster than lightning the synapses sparked, each one like a torch flaring up to illuminate a whole new unknown realm.
It was so easy to slide into it, to lean into Jake and let the kiss guide them, their hands slipping behind each other’s back, tightening around shoulders, stroking the sensitive skin on their neck and jawline—
Jake made a new noise, a low moan that ignited dozens more torches in Tobias. He had never, ever imagined thatanythingcould feel this good, and he wantedmore more moreforever, more of the sizzling pleasure between their bodies, as long as it felt just as good for Jake—
Without meaning to, he’d twisted in the bed to face Jake, one knee against Jake’s hip, the lone pillow he’d meant as a guard now between them. If it hadn’t been there, he might have climbed right on Jake’s lap, desperate for more of the white-hot beautiful skin contact that set off those tsunami waves ofpleasure—
In the next instant, the pillow’s presence jolted him back into himself. Uncomfortable, unfamiliar pressure, an ache that confused him, and then horror smashed all the good feelings away.
