A thrill of excitement washed over Oliver, and he smiled as he waved the comment away. “Thank you, but don’t say that. I’ve been having a hard time containing myself. All my shopping recommendations have changed from kickboxing gear to bottle cleaners and onesies.”
“Well, you can never have too many onesies.”
“For thebaby.” Oliver said, slapping Lucas’ arm. “Anyway, the shower should be hot enough now.”
Lucas nodded and followed him into the hallway, stopping at the threshold of the bathroom. He glanced at the front door, then back at Oliver, the same restless expression crossing his face. “Look, if you want to go, then go,” Oliver said, unbuttoning the top of the pink shirt. “I won’t be offended…”Though he really, truly would be quite offended. “And I can return the shirt when the heat is over…”Lucas was never getting the shirt back. “Besides, you have work tomorrow and you need sleep…”Please stay.
The alpha stepped across the threshold and silenced him with a hard kiss. “I don’t think you quite understand, Reed,” he whispered against his lips.
“What do you—” Lucas kissed him again, pushing him back against the porcelain sink. No one had ever kissed him like Lucas White—as though time itself could wait, whilst he held him in his arms.
“Lucas—” he whispered, gripping the front of his mud-streaked vest. “What’s wrong?”
The alpha huffed and dragged his lips to Oliver’s hairline. He inhaled a few times before saying, “I can honestly say that if someone came through that door right now, they wouldn’t leave here alive. Not even the postman.”
Oliver flushed and clapped a hand over the alpha’s mouth. “I’ll not accommodate talk of violence, thank you very much. And besides, I’ve never once invited the postman in for a cup of tea. The neighbours would talk.”
Holding Lucas’ gaze, he unbuttoned the rest of the pink shirt, letting it fall open to reveal the pale expanse of his chest. Dried slick and seed clung to his skin as a licentious reminder of what had occurred between them. Lucas’ eyes trailed down the length of his body, pausing at the deep cut of his hips and exposed cock. His lip twitched as he ran his thumb along the fine boning of Oliver’s clavicle.
The next heat wave was a few hours off, but Oliver could feel the nervous anticipation pulsing through his legs.
“Don’t let the water go cold,” he whispered, as Lucas tugged the shirt’s collar to expose Oliver’s bare shoulder. The alpha cocked his head and planted his lips into the crook of his neck, sucking the scent gland until it ached. Tipping his head back, Oliver let the shirt slip from his other shoulder, leaving him completely naked in Lucas’ embrace. He felt vulnerable, so blessedly, intimately, vulnerable.
“The water—” he mumbled, tugging the back of Lucas’ hair a little harder than was polite.
The shower was an immense relief to his tightly wound body, and Oliver sighed as he pressed his face into Lucas’ shoulder. “Is it still green?” He asked, not looking up as Lucas scrubbed the last of the shampoo from his pond-coloured hair.
“A little, but it’s barely noticeable.”
“Maybe I should just dye it.”
“Don’t you dare,” Lucas chuckled.
As Oliver gazed down at the alpha’s toned stomach, he noticed a silvery scar coiling from the top of his left hip to the bottom of his ribs. Frowning, he ran a finger over the bumpy skin. “What’s this?” He asked, as shampoo foam slipped between his feet and towards the drain.
Lucas hummed, scrubbing shampoo into his own hair. “It happened when Joshua died.”
Oliver’s gut twisted as he kept his eyes fixed on the alpha’s skin, unsure if he should ask about it. Eventually he decided that,yes, he really wanted to know, and that Lucas was enough of a grown-up to tell him to mind his own business if he wanted.
“On the train in Barcelona?”
“Yeah. I got wedged between two carriages, a piece of metal nearly sliced me in half.”
“Jesus. I’m sorry to hear that,” Oliver replied, kissing the alpha’s chest.
Lucas sighed and shook his head. “I’m not. Eighteen months of PT was worth the cost to bring his body home. And the counselling. Lots and lots of counselling.” Lucas gave a small smile and flicked Oliver’s chin. “You can ask me about him, you know?”
“W-Well, I mean… not if you don’t want to talk about it.”
Shrugging, Lucas ran the washcloth across his chest and behind his neck. “I don’t mind, Reed. And besides, Joshua would have liked you.”
Oliver scoffed, “I doubt that.”
Lucas smiled. It was the kind of smile that lit up his entire face, encapsulating the happiness of their friendship, despite its tragic end. “He would. Because there’s only one other person in this world that could scowl hard enough to make a social worker quit her job. And that was him.”
Oliver bit his lip as it threatened to twist into a smirk. “I like the sound of him already.”
“You see? Plus, healsohad a penchant for shitty cars. God, our parents used to go mad at us for racing up and down Eldershot High Street.”
