Page 73 of Monsters within Men
“Why didn’t youwantto run away? Why did you stay?”
A silence. A heartbeat. A breath held in anticipation.
They surveyed each other in the near dark. Zeke moved ever so slightly closer to him on the bench.
“Because I… like it here? I like our squad. I like being useful. And I’m getting better at it all, slowly. And…” Zeke nudged his leg so that his ankle was brushing Noah’s.
“And?” Noah said, in a barely audible rasp, the words sticking to his throat.
Zeke slid across the remainder of the bench, closing the small distance between them, reaching over to tug Noah’s body closer to him.
That was all the encouragement Noah needed. He cupped Zeke’s face with two hands, then pressed his lips to his.
Zeke gasped. Then gently took Noah’s bottom lip between his own.
Noah moved his hands down to Zeke’s waist, easily lifting him onto his lap, despite his clunky combat suit. Zeke straddled Noah, his eyes flashing between desire and panic in the dim light. Gently, Noah removed Zeke’s glasses, placing them onto the bench. Taking Zeke’s face in his hands again, he opened his mouth with his tongue, feeling him melt against him. He pressed hard on Zeke’s back, forcing him as close as possible to him, and Zeke responded by wrapping himself tighter against him.
The pragmatic part of his brain screamed at him.This is a bad idea, this is averybad idea.
He silenced his inner voice by revelling in the feel of Zeke’s body against his. He sucked Zeke’s bottom lip into his mouth, nibbling gently on the swollen skin, almost laughing at the cherry lip balm he tasted there.
Noah’s hands slid down to Zeke’s neck, thumbing gently at his soft skin. Under his fingers, Zeke’s pulse thudded faster than seemed humanly possible as he released tiny, breathy moans between kisses. He became drunk on the knowledge thathewas doing that to Zeke, that Zeke wanted him just as much as he wanted Zeke. Soon he couldn’t hear the raging wind, or the rain battering the shelter’s roof. He became lost in a fantasy world where it was just him and Zeke. Here and now.
They came apart for air, panting, resting their faces on each other’s shoulders.
“For you,” breathed Zeke, directly into his ear, tingling every nerve in his body.
“What?” choked out Noah, breathless and half-delirious.
“I stayed for you.”
Four little words. Four little words that quickly wormed their way inside of him, destined to stay a part of him forever.
A ravenous fire sparked in Noah’s stomach as he pulled Zeke forcefully back towards him, pressing his lips to his once again. Zeke drew back, staring at Noah reverently, liquefying Noah’s insides.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Noah groaned, even though every part of his body was saying,yes, yes, yes.“I’m your CO.”
“I can keep a secret,” Zeke said, a bashful smirk forming on his lips.
Noah pushed Zeke’s hair back from his face. “I told you to go yesterday because I can’t face losing you, Zeke. I think it would be… I think it would be the final straw. For me.” He took a breath. “I can’t always be there to protect you. Not every time. I wish I could, but I won’t always be there. You’d be safe in the city. You’d have to stay hidden, but you would be alive.”
“But if I go, then who will protect you?”
Noah tried not to laugh at the absurd idea of Zeke protecting him. He ran his hands down Zeke’s arms before squeezing his hands. He brought each one to his lips and kissed them.
“Okay, fine, you have a highly skilled, literal squad of soldiers who’d all die to protect you.” Zeke snickered before continuing, “But what if I don’t want to be away from you now? What if I’d rather take my chances by your side, than be holed up by myself, hiding in some basement?”
“Zeke…” Noah started, but Zeke silenced his protests with his mouth.
“It’s too late,” Zeke whispered, his voice rough and sultry. “There’s no getting rid of me now.”
Zeke’s body trembled as he reached up to brush Noah’s cheeks with his thumbs. Then Zeke’s unsteady hands slid back and upwards to yank on his ponytail with some force—was he was trying to free his hair from its tie? After a final tug, the elastic band snapped, and Noah’s hair tumbled down onto his shoulders. Zeke reached straight for it, scratching into his scalp with one hand as he ran Noah’s hair through his fingers with the other.
It had been a long, long time since anyone had touched Noah like this. He’d forgotten how amazing it could feel. Zeke continued to comb Noah’s hair with his fingers, and a soft moan escaped Noah’s lips as he nuzzled into the touch. With the still-howling wind outside, he barely caught it when Zeke said, “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”
Burning flames of heat consumed him. Abruptly, he surged upwards, pulling Zeke against his chest as he carried him across to the other side of the shelter. He pushed him against the wall, hard. “I would tell you how much I’ve wanted to do this,” he growled into Zeke’s ear. “But I think I’ll show you instead.”
Their tongues slid against each other once more as Noah pushed his lower body into Zeke’s, the hard shells of their suits clashing against each other. He would give anything for them to be anywhere else right now—anywhere else that wasn’t in the middle of a monster-filled war-zone.
