Page 81 of In This Iron Ground
“Casual,” Nasir repeated, looking at the bruises on Damien’s neck again. Damien tamped down the urge to cover them.
“Yeah.”
“So…you and me…”
“I just…don’t think it’s a great idea to continue, you know, sleeping together.”
“Okay. I understand. I mean, I’m happy for you,” Nasir said. He didn’t sound happy, exactly, but he didn’t sound irritated or bitter either.
“I really am sorry. I mean—”
“You don’t have to explain. Really, I get it. To be honest, I wouldn’t want you smelling like another wolf either, carrying his marks…I mean, it’s not a possessive thing. Or, I don’t know. Maybe it is. I wouldn’t want to own you, I just…”
“I get it. I’ve lived with werewolves for a long time. I get how important scent is, how it’s more about…yeah, I guess it’s hard to explain. But I get how having to battle someone else’s scent during sex would be like…having them in the next room waiting for me or something. Like, their presence would be there. I get how you don’t have to be particularly possessive for that to get in the way of something that should be, you know, between the people in the room.”
“Yeah. That’s kind of exactly it.”
They looked at each other for a moment before laughing under the tension of the moment.
“Okay, well…I mean we can still hang out, sometimes, if you want,” Damien said. Nasir nodded, but something told Damien that he wasn’t being completely truthful.
“Okay.”
“Okay, well. See you.”
“See you around, Damien. It was…it was good while it lasted.”
CHAPTERTEN
Honestly, Damien was surprised that Hakan initiated their next sexual encounter. He’d thought for sure it would have to be him, and he hadn’t known if he’d have the courage to go through with it.
It was only a few days after the first, frantic time. The heat of it lingered inside Damien, but it remained a degree of separation from him. It was a dream he’d had, a vision that had perforated the divide between this dimension and the next. It had happened to some other Damien who had some other life.
Damien sat on Hakan’s couch after spending the day in Hakan’s apartment. They had spent most of the time working, separately but in each other’s company. Hakan was currently sprawled next to him, flipping through Netflix as Damien became engrossed on his phone.
“Oh my God,” Damien said to the screen.
Hakan made a questioning noise beside him. Damien tilted his phone so that Hakan could see the picture of Dee and Lallo that Koko had sent him, tilting his head back in a laugh.
Before Damien knew what was happening, Hakan was pressed against him, his lips on Damien’s neck. Damien jolted, making a startled noise. Hakan jerked away.
“Sorry. I—”
“No, no. It’s okay. You just surprised me.”
After a moment, Damien tilted his head back again, resting it on the couch. He lowered his arm, leaving an unimpeded stretch of air between them. There was only a moment of stillness before Hakan took advantage of it.
His lips were soft at Damien’s neck. Damien felt Hakan inhale deeply and it settled something inside him. The comforting knowledge that his scent, at least, was something Hakan wanted.
The world moved around him suddenly. Damien found himself straddling Hakan on the couch, the press of their bodies intimate despite the obstruction of their clothes.
They kissed for an age. Hakan’s mouth moved from Damien’s own, to his neck, and then back. Damien could feel the pressure building until the subtle rubbing became too much. Not enough.
Damien ground forwards with more intent and revelled in the groan that trembled from Hakan’s chest and into his own.
The next moment, Damien was in the air, legs around Hakan’s waist as he held Damien up.
“This you carrying me thing is gonna get old real fast,” Damien lied. Hakan snorted.
