Page 17 of Another Chance
8
Stepping back, allowing Theo to enter the house first, Eric was overwhelmed with a sudden burst of nostalgia. How many times had they come in from playing outside all afternoon, called in to dinner, with the light around them looking exactly as it did now?
Too many to count. It seemed odd to Eric that there was no smell of cooking food in the house, though his mother had been gone more often than she’d been here for years. His father didn’t even pretend to live here anymore.
There was some awkwardness here that hadn’t been there back then, when everything had been so free and easy between them, everything had just seemed to work. No effort, no drama.
That had been back before Eric had realized that he was desperately, hopelessly, irredeemably in love with Theo, of course.
Silent simply because it was easier that way, Eric led the way to the bathroom. He had a first aid kit there, well used, and he grabbed it and then took a deep breath and slipped his shirt off over his head, tossing the ruined fabric away and gripping the gleaming white surface of the counter as he tried to see his own back.
What he saw made him wince. He knew, he did, that he was lucky not to be more seriously hurt after almost being hit by a truck and then having a giant tackle him out of the way, but it looked a little bit like someone had taken a cheese grater to the vulnerable, defenseless skin of his back.
He was going to need to clean it, he realized, and that was going to hurt like a son of a bitch. There were still a few small pieces of gravel embedded in his skin, and even reaching them was going to be impossible.
Eric raised his eyes in the mirror, looking past his own reflection to see Theo behind him. Theo, staring at him outright, and not in horror, not from what Eric could see.
There was this strange light, this heat, in Theo’s eyes, and it sparked answering heat in Eric’s body. He had to fight back a groan when he saw Theo’s eyes, and he could almost swear that he even felt them, a light, tingling pressure, as they skated over the bare skin of Eric’s shoulders.
Once or twice, when they were teenagers, there had been something deep in Theo’s eyes, something which Eric wasn’t even sure that Theo realized was there, which had made Eric have more hope than he maybe should have. It had only been little glimmers back then, but it had always made Eric feel like he had little bubbles of hope and joy rising in his stomach, like he might just float away with happiness.
What he felt when he saw Theo look at him now made him feel like not only might he float away, but that it was inevitable. It was everything, every moment they’d had, times about a million, until Eric felt his entire body tingling under that gentle, but intense, regard.
There was something between them. Wasn’t there? When he’d been a teenager, he’d always been so sure that he’d just been imagining it, but there was no imagining this. Eric couldn’t breathe. As in, he literally had to struggle to draw air into his lungs.
He couldn’t stop looking at Theo’s eyes. The bathroom wasn’t all that big, and Theo was only a few short feet away from him. The reflection of him was perfect, those strong features, even the light fuzz of his stubble on his chiseled jaw. Most of all, though, he couldn’t look away from those eyes, not purely brown or green or gold but rather a mixture of the three which held him utterly spellbound.
More than that, though, it seemed like Theo felt the same way. Like he was having just as much of a hard time, finding it just as utterly impossible, to look away. It was like, in some way, they both felt safe letting their eyes lock because it was through the protective interference of the mirror, not direct eye contact.
Slowly, Theo took a step toward him, and Eric had to fight off a surge of hope, even more wild than any he’d felt before. He could feel the heat of Theo’s body against his torn, bruised, and bloodied back, and maybe it was good that the injury was there because otherwise, Eric might not have been able to keep himself from leaning back against him.
Though with the signals that Theo was giving him, maybe the other man wouldn’t mind as much as Eric would have assumed.
Moving carefully, Theo reached out and took the clean bandage which Eric had pulled out, then soaked it in hydrogen peroxide. Eric kept watching Theo in the mirror as the younger man, with an expression of intense concentration, started to clean the dirt out of Eric’s skin.
By himself, Eric probably would have just jumped into the shower and let the hot water do the work. It would have hurt like a son of a bitch, but it would have worked. Theo’s touch, however, was much gentler, and it almost didn’t hurt at all.
Theo had surprisingly soft hands, Eric couldn’t help but notice.
With his movements careful and deliberate, Theo soon had the wounds cleaned, and by then, the bleeding had mostly stopped. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, the sensations involved in having them all cleaned, but at the same time, his skin tingled everywhere Theo’s gentle hands touched.
Theo cleared his throat behind him and tossed the crimson streaked bandage into the garbage can.
“Uh … that’s probably just about done it,” he said, and his voice sounded strange to Eric, just a little bit strained. “Do you think your, um, legs …” Eric couldn’t help but notice that Theo looked directly down at Eric’s ass, not at his legs, “Do you think they’re as bad?”
A smirk tugged at the corners of Eric’s lips. Theo was so damn cute. It was too bad that Eric really needed to make himself stay mad at the man because it would be far too easy to fall in love with him all over again.
“Look, Teddy, if you want me to take my pants off, all you gotta do is ask,” Eric said, smirking wider as he saw the brilliant rush of color flood up into Theo’s cheeks, way high on those incredible cheekbones of his, staining them pink.
Yeah, so. Theo had always been utterly adorable, but that had only increased with time. It was hard to remember that he was supposed to be mad at this man when he was busy wanting to brush his lips over those cheeks where the color was painted.
Eric had some mercy when he saw that Theo seemed to be utterly unable to even speak. All of a sudden, though, he couldn’t help but remember that blond man, that Liam, that he had seen draped all over Theo in those pictures. How much of this innocent virgin act was just that, an act?
Only why would Theo even bother? Surely he knew he could have Eric anytime, unless Eric managed to make himself a whole lot stronger, to somehow galvanize him against how this man made him feel.
“Yeah, my legs feel pretty torn up. I can do them myself, though, if you think it would be weird …”
Theo laughed, and the expression transfixed his face, making his handsome features seemed to glow. Theo’s voice had always been so animated. Now he was impossibly beautiful on top of everything else. It just wasn’t fair.
