Page 99 of The Quarterback
He only wanted to be loved, and cherished, and needed by one person in the world.
And he was.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The lights werelow in Nick’s condo, but not so low he didn’t see the lump on Nick’s couch when they walked in. He hung back in the kitchen as Nick crossed the living room. “Hey,” he heard Nick say as he knelt. “I didn’t know you’d still be here.”
A hand rose, reaching for Nick, and Colton heard Justin’s sleepy voice. “Wanted to be here for you in case it didn’t go well.” A bone-cracking yawn cut off whatever else Justin was going to say. “Did you find him?”
“I did.”
“Did you guys talk?”
“Yes. He’s here with me.” Colton saw Nick’s gentle smile curve in the moonlight shining through the balcony windows. “I didn’t see your car in the garage. How did you get here earlier?”
“Walked. I needed time to think.” Another yawn. “Should I go? I can call an Uber. Wes passed out again, so he can’t pick me up.”
“No.” Nick tucked the blanket up around Justin’s shoulders. “Stay. Sleep.” He leaned forward and kissed Justin’s forehead. Justin made a noise, something between a grunt and a snore, and then rolled toward the back of the couch. Nick ran his hand over Justin’s head, fingers trailing through his hair, before he rose and came back to Colton.
“That’s one of the things I love about you.” Colton kept his voice low. “I love how you are with Justin. I love the kind of father you are.”
Nick’s cheeks flushed. He carefully set his car keys on the counter. “I don’t think I’m a very good father sometimes, or even a good man. I failed you and him. I thought I was doing the best I could for each of you, but all I did was let you both down.” He held out his hand and took Colton’s fingers in his. Kissed each of Colton’s knuckles. “I hurt Justin by keeping this from him because I thought it would end. And I hurt you by not telling you that I never wanted it to. And I hurt myself because I buried my own feelings.” Another kiss, this time to the back of his hand. “I got so busy taking care of other people that I forgot I could want, and need, and yearn, too. And after I left Cynthia… I didn’t imagine I’d fall in love again. But I did.”
“The only thing I ever wanted more than football was for someone to love me.” Colton’s voice was small and soft. His deepest secret, laid bare for Nick to have and to hold.
“I do love you, Colton. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Every night, after you fell asleep, I’d stay up and watch you as long as I could. I didn’t want the day to end, because I didn’t want to be closer to the day you’d leave. I had to tell myself what we had was just summer and we were just a fling because I couldn’t face the idea of loving you and losing you. But all the lies I told myself didn’t matter. I fell in love with you anyway.”
“I should have told you what I wanted,” Colton murmured. His gaze traveled over the lines of Nick’s forearms, his moonlight-touched skin. “Everything changed inside me when I was with you. I didn’t know what to think or what to do when I fell for you. The only thing I knew for sure was that I loved you, and I wanted a life with you. But I didn’t know how to make that happen.”
Nick wrapped his hands around the back of Colton’s neck. His fingers played in the short strands of his hair. “We start again, with nothing hidden from each other.”
Colton nodded. He kissed the inside of Nick’s wrist, over his veins and delicate tendons.
Nick’s hands cupped his cheeks. “Come to bed? It’s too empty without you.”
Colton knew his way to Nick’s bed by heart, and he steered Nick there, leaving Justin and his snores in the living room. He tumbled to the mattress with Nick without breaking their kiss, then shimmied his way up the bed as Nick straddled him and they started pulling off each other’s clothes. “You’re wearing my favorite T-shirt,” Nick murmured. “Well, not really a tee shirt. You’re missing the tee part.”
Colton grinned as he threw the cutoff shirt to the ground. “I want to see you wear it.” His hands slid up Nick’s naked back, and he sucked a hickey into Nick’s pec as Nick struggled out of his jeans, groaning and uncoordinated, trying to hold Colton to him and undress at the same time.
Then Nick shoved him back and descended on Colton, tearing his athletic shorts down his legs and taking his cock into his mouth. Colton whined, spine arching, thighs quaking, hands sliding into Nick’s hair as he thrust into Nick’s hot mouth until his cock hit the back of Nick’s throat. Nick moaned, and Colton’s thoughts fled. Nick’s lips and tongue slid around him, slick with saliva, and suctioned hard around his length, sucking a little bit more down Nick’s throat with each glide. Colton’s fingers dug into Nick’s scalp, tugging on his hair as he burned the sight of Nick with his lips wrapped around his cock into his brain.
Nick pushed Colton’s spread thighs up, bending him in half so Nick could dive into his ass. Nick devoured him, and Colton’s spine melted as his bones burned. He panted, his head tossing back and forth on Nick’s pillow. He bit his lip, trying to hold back his cries. Justin was nearby. And yeah, Justin seemed okay with them now, but there was a difference between being okay with something and hearing your dad fucking your friend through the mattress.
He’d thought that night was going to be the beginning of so much more for them, and now that he was back in Nick’s arms, he wanted to feel Nick as close as he possibly could again. He fumbled on Nick’s nightstand, knocking Nick’s alarm clock and watch to the floor before finding the bottle of lube. He shoved it down the mattress and into Nick’s grasp.
Two slick fingers slid inside him. He grabbed his pillow—crumpled, like it had been held to Nick’s chest, like Nick had done exactly what Colton had—and pulled it over his face, screaming into the down. Lips wrapped around his cock again as Nick’s fingers curled toward his prostate.
An inferno shot up his spine, fire that tried to drown him and consume him all at once. He gasped. Shoved the pillow away and stared down at Nick, watching him as he moved his fingers inside Colton. Their eyes met. A third finger slid in. Nick sucked Colton almost all the way down to his pubes. “Now,” Colton pleaded. “Now, Nick, please.”
Nick swirled his tongue around the head before pulling off. He kept his fingers inside Colton’s ass as he reached for the lube, but he dropped it, his hand shaking too much to slick himself, and the bottle rolled toward Colton.
Colton grabbed it. He poured a small oil slick into his palm, but there was no such thing as too much lube. He reached down and ran his soaked hand over Nick’s rock-hard length.
Nick groaned, breathing in hard, short pants like he was desperately trying to control himself. His fingers curled again, digging into Colton’s prostate until Colton’s world went white. He fell back, a soundless scream tearing from him as he clawed at the mattress.
He was empty for a moment, and then Nick wasthere, his cock at Colton’s ass as he fell forward and caged Colton between his arms. Their foreheads rested together, eyes boring into each other’s, lips grazing with every shaking breath.
And then Nick pressed inside him, easing forward all the way. Like he was coming home.
