Page 142 of The Menagerie
“I know the feeling,” Rowan sympathizes, picturing his two older and three younger siblings and all the hell he’d go through to keep them safe.Especiallylittle Marc, the youngest of them, though the most levelheaded.
“Basically raised her.” Quiet, subdued, and Rowan has to strain to hear Mal over the thumping bass music. “Jamie and Scott, my brothers, they fucked off pretty early on, in and outta juvie then jail for dumb shit. So it was just me and Ames most’a the time, dealin’ with Larry. When I moved out after I came out to Larry, I took her with me. Couldn’t let her stay with that fucker alone.”
“She’s close to your age, though, right? What, two or three years younger?”
“Two. Always kinda felt like I had to be her big brotherandboth her parents growin’ up, y’know. ’S why when anyone fucks with her, it gets to me. Feels like I failed her or some shit.”
“You were just a kid yourself, Mal. You didn’t know what you were doing. ’Sides, she can make her own choices.”
“Still feels like it’s my fuckin’ fault.”
“If it helps, she turned out good,” Rowan tells him, meeting his eyes from where they’d been unsubtly focused on the V of his exposed chest. “So did you.”
The smile that Mal throws his way nearly stops Rowan’s damn heart.
“All right, no more depressin’ shit on my birthday,” he declares when Rowan’s own smile grows naturally. “You dance, Red? For real?”
“Yeah.”
“C’mon.”
Rowan’s skin prickles where Mal grabs at his wrist, slides his hand down until their fingers lazily interlace and thentugsRowan toward the dance floor. The crowd parts for them and closes behind them, and all of a sudden, the sanctity of their table is gone, and they’re surrounded by nameless faces, yet still in a world entirely of their own.
And look…. Rowan knows how to dance. He spent long enough dancing in seedy clubs in his youth to have picked up more than a few tricks. Now that he’s older andsaner, he knows even better how to move his body in any number of ways. So yeah, he knows how to dance. Hedoes, but when Mal grabs on to the lapels of Rowan’s shirt and presses their lower halves together in a slow grind, it’s clear thatdancingisn’t on his mind.
Not like he’d been doing with the others. Silly. Goofy. Cute as hell. No, Mal’s leering at him with an intensity that Rowan has only ever seen from him when he’s about to act up during their scenes. When he wants to get destroyed by Rowan. Maybe this time Rowan’s gonna gethisshit rocked.
The thumping music makes Rowan’s jaw vibrate, and the friction of Mal’s jeans against his own clothing burns his muscles as they start to move together. Slow, so goddamn slow to the bassy music, but deliberate. Filthy. And goddammit, much more of this and Rowan’s going to get hard. Right here in front of all these people.
But fuck, Mal’s so attractive. The light cascades onto him, illuminating sharp cheekbones, a pointed nose, and long, curling eyelashes.
It shouldn’t surprise Rowan that Mal’s a good dancer. The guyknowshow to move his body; that much was made abundantly clear from their very first scene together and every one since.
The staccato of the percussion-heavy song guides their movements, Mal undulating and grinding against him in heavy swirls and suggestive thrusts. It’s for his own sanity as much as Mal’s sake that Rowan grabs him by the hips and spins him around, tugging his ass back against his hips. ’Cause if Mal keeps looking up at Rowan likethat, all lidded eyes and plush lips, Rowan’s not sure he could stop himself from kissing him.
And here he wouldn’t even have subspace as an excuse.
He wonders if Mal thinks about their accidental kiss as much as Rowan does. Wonders if he wants a real one as much as Rowan does. But as Mal’s firm ass collides with Rowan’s hips, all thoughts of the kiss are wiped from his mind.
It isn’t until a familiar song comes on that Mal really ramps it up. The bouncing, lilting melody has them starting a dirty grind to the beat of the music. It’s “The Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. A perfect analog for how Rowan feels about Mal.
Mal grinds his ass back against Rowan, Rowan’s hands magneting to his hips to guide his movements while the song encourages following his lead.
They dance in sweeping rough circles as their bodies press impossibly closer together, Mal’s hands closing over Rowan’s and dragging them over his body. Pressing forward into the heat of Mal’s ass as desperately as Mal’s pressing back against him. Guided by Mal, Rowan’s hands roam over his chest, feeling the hard planes of muscles and the soft curves between them. And like the song says, Rowan loves Mal’s body. Can’t get enough of it as they grind together to the beat.
He chances a pass up Mal’s neck, fingers tangling in the gold chain and inadvertently tugging it against Mal’s throat. It’s an accident. Really it is. But Mal dips his head back against Rowan’s shoulder and moans up at the ceiling, and, well…. The second time’s not so accidental, Mal’s hips finally stuttering in their steady rhythm.
Rowan releases the chain, replacing the harsh metal with the soft pads of his fingers, Mal’s Adam’s apple bobbing against him. Feeling the rapid thrum of his pulse even over the vibrations of the bass and the sporadic jostling of the couples around them.
The song all but fades out as their hips and hands move on their own. Mal flings his arms back to clutch at Rowan’s neck as his back arches, a rush of cool air filling in the gap between them. It’s too much. Rowan pulls him back flush against him and gasps at the lightning that crackles through his core. He’s so fucking turned on, feeling the soft tickle of Mal’s hair on his lips and the firm weight of his body against him.
And then Mal’s turning in Rowan’s arms, clothing dragged askew as he invades Rowan’s space, invades his body and mind and continues his filthy grind again from the front.
Fuck, Mal’s hard. Rowan knows he can feel how hard Rowan is too.
It’s too much.So much, and God, Rowan wants him. Fuck public decency. He wants nothing more than to hike Mal up into his arms and fuck him against the nearest flat surface. Hell, he’d even drop to his knees right here on the dirty floor and suck Mal off if it meant getting some kind of relief from the throbbing in his veins.
It’s going to be hell waiting a whole week to be inside him again.
