Page 17 of Soulmates

“You two need sleep,” Professor Hooper said. “You’ve been awake for…well, I’m not actually sure, but it’s got to be close to thirty hours at this point. You need rest.”

“How are we going to keep contact if we’re asleep?” Maddox asked. This was good. Let Maddox take over. Jake couldn’t think in anything resembling a straight line.

“You will stay at my house in one of my guest rooms. I’ll spell your hands together and alarm the room.” Forrester gestured for them to follow.

Professor Hooper followed. “I promise we’ll figure this out. We’ve known you most of your lives. Or at least known of you. We’ll find out more about this ritual and the bond and fix this.”

Neither Maddox nor Jake answered. Optimism was in short supply.

“Look, a soul bond can only occur between what used to be believed to be soulmates. The idea of a single soulmate has gone out of favor in this modern age of hookup apps, but it used to be revered among magic users and nonmagic users alike, or at least the idea of soulmates. Jake’s light soul going into Maddox proves that you are already bonded. That’s a good sign that we can fix this,” she promised.

“Okay,” Maddox answered.

Maddox and Jake stood in the dean’s guest room with Forrester staring at them as if trying to work out a puzzle. They needed sleep, no question there. One look at Maddox’s red-rimmed eyes told Jake how desperately his friend needed as many hours as they could get.

“Alright, we need to get the two of you into that bed while maintaining contact in a way that will not give me nightmares. Um, take off your shoes. And socks.”

Maddox and Jake exchanged wary glances, but did as they were told. With their hands locked together, they had no choice but to wiggle out of their shoes and socks, using their feet and one hand. Maddox did an ungraceful hop, which Jake chose not to admit was adorable.

“Shirts?” Dean Forrester asked.

“Um, off, I think,” Maddox answered, glancing at Jake to be sure. Jake shrugged.

“Okay, Maddox, step on Jake’s foot.”

“What? Why?”

“To maintain skin contact. Now, I’m tired, overly sober for this visual, and I need to research, so if you would please.”

Maddox did as told. “You can let go now and pull off your shirts.”

Maddox and Jake reached for their shirts at the same time, pulling them over their heads, arms brushing. Maddox’s warm breath blew across Jake’s shoulder, and Jake thought he could maybe live with this if he could keep these impossibly light touches from Maddox.

“Hands again, please. Great. Now, whatever else you chose to remove, I don’t want to know. I will set clean clothes and towels in the bathroom across the hall. You cannot leave this hallway, and only these two rooms will open to you. Get some sleep. I will see you in the…morning or whatever the hell you’d call the end of this ridiculous night.”

Chapter 15

They took turns peeing, which was weird. Not that Jake hadn’t been in the room while Maddox peed before—they’d been friends since they both existed— but now feelings were out in the open, and having dicks and feelings out at the same time made it different. And they’d certainly never peed while holding hands. Gods, he was tired. And how could he let himself think of Maddox’s dick after he’d nearly chased him to death and somehow transferred his soul out of his body?

“Jake? You ready to go to bed?”

“Hmm?”

Maddox pulled him along, like he’d been doing for what seemed like hours, but stopped at the end of the bed and looked at him. “Jake, please look at me.”

“Must I?”

Maddox laughed. Gods, what a sound. “Please, Jake.”

Jake did. Maddox reached up and once again stroked the skin under his eyes. “I am not mad at you. I am not scared of you. But I am exhausted, and I want to get in bed and go to sleep so badly. Can we do that?”

“Yeah.”

“Loving these monosyllables.”

Jake lightly shoved him, and they maneuvered themselves, with significant profanity and laughter, under the covers. They didn’t kiss, though Jake wanted to. They didn’t hold each other close or touch more than their joined hands, didn’t talk about what all had happened, what it meant, what Maddox meant to him. Jake wanted to talk about all of those things, but in the end, he settled for quiet, for knowing they were safe—knowing Maddox was safe, at least for the time being.

Into the silence, Maddox said, “I can’t sleep in these jeans.”

---