“Mm….” He scratched his jaw before he sat up next to me. “I caught that too. Originally, I’d figured it was because he didn’t want to interrupt our dinner, but now I think Brett’s been hurting Jackson.”
My eyes widened. “What do you mean? Why do you think that?”
“Jackson winced like he was in pain when I patted him on the shoulder before I left.” Daniel looked down at the carpet while he gathered his thoughts. “He’s also lost weight. It hadn’t properly dawned on me until I felt his shoulder under so many layers tonight. He’s always been slim, but his shoulder…. It felt too thin, you know?” He shook his head. “The way he flinched…. Something isn’t right.”
Leaning over, I placed my hand gently on his knee, giving it a quick squeeze of support. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m not sure. There’s a difference between wanting to help and butting in where I’m not wanted.” He shrugged and looked up at me with sad eyes. “Before I left, I reminded him that he had my number and to use it if he needed to, but is that enough?”
Answering that question wasn’t something I had a lot of personal knowledge or experience in. Being a frat president came with a whole raft of responsibilities and duties, one of which was being someone my brothers could talk to if something was eating at them. In the time I was president, more than oneperson had come to me after each of our semester breaks to talk about family members that had been in or were still in a domestic violence situation. Unfortunately, the numbers always swelled after the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. Each time, I’d done what I could to help, but it never got any easier being only able to give out helpline numbers and pamphlets before I patted them on the shoulder to assure them that they weren’t alone.
The closest I’d physically been around something that sounded even remotely close to what Daniel was describing was about a year ago when one of my frat brothers had discovered his overbearing girlfriend had cheated on him at a family wedding, only for her to show up a couple of days later like nothing at all had happened. All I could think to do at the time was offer support to him, like I had with all our other frat brothers, and follow his lead on how he wanted to handle her. As far as I was aware, she’d never physically abused him. Would my response have been different if she had?
Should I have done more than I had? Not just for that one frat brother, but for all my frat brothers who had reached out to me? Had the pamphlets I’d handed them been helpful at all? To any of them? Or were my closed-door meetings with them all just lip service—nothing more than a waste of time and glossy paper?
Regardless and more importantly in this instance, I didn’t know Jackson, not like Daniel did. The best I could probably do to help would be to act as a sounding board for him to talk things through and support him if he wanted to do something to help his ex-husband get free from a dangerous situation. I gave him a gentle smile. “I don’t know Jackson the way you do, but maybe that’s all you can do for now? You’ve offered him a lifeline he can use if he wants to, but if you want to do more while I’m here, I’m happy to help where I can.”
He gazed at me, his eyes soft. “You’re not worried about me still being in love with him?”
The corners of my lips twitched. “Nope. It’s obvious to anyone with a functional brain that you adore your daughter and would move mountains for her. Given thewayhe left, I can’t imagine any respect you had for Jackson would have survived intact. Without unconditional respect, you can’t love unconditionally.” I shrugged. “With how long you two were together, I’d be surprised if you didn’t still care for him. But in love with him? Nah. Not anymore. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth helping if he’s in an abusive relationship.”
A long silence draped comfortably over us until Daniel said quietly, “I think I was wrong about you.”
I tilted my head to the side curiously. “How so?”
“I kept fighting whatever this thing is between us because of your age,” he said. “I kept thinking you were too young for me. But you’re not too young. Not really.” He lifted his hand to cup my jaw, his thumb stroking my cheek softly when I leaned into him. “You might be young in age, but you’ve got an old soul.” His pupils dilated as he looked me over. “You really are so fucking beautiful, Marshall. Inside and out.”
Holy shit, was he finally giving in? Letting go of his hang-up about the difference between our ages? Even though I felt my hand involuntarily flex against his knee, I stilled, scared that if I made any sort of sudden movement, I’d lose the ground we’d gained. “No one’s ever called me beautiful before,” I murmured, flickering my gaze between his eyes and his mouth that I suddenly and desperately wanted to taste again.
“They’re all fools,” he said softly, leaning forward until his lips tenderly pressed against mine.
Embarrassingly, I squeaked in surprise as Daniel slowly and gently pushed me back on to the sofa until I lay lengthways on it. The remote clattered to the floor when he stretched out aboveme, but neither of us cared. My eyelids fluttered shut as I melted under him, my hands quickly finding their way up his back to draw him down closer to me.
My lips parted, and his tongue wasted no time in licking its way in to meet mine. I felt his body shift as he relaxed on top of me, even though he was still leaning a little to the side to spare me from his full weight. His lips gently caressed mine, his beard tickling my chin enough that I was sure if we continued to kiss like this, the beard burn he’d leave on me would be immense.
When he rolled his hips against mine, I groaned at the feeling of his hard length rubbing through his jeans and mine to massage my own throbbing cock. “Oh sweet baby Zeus….”
He pulled back enough to position me exactly where he wanted me. “You like that, beautiful?” He rolled his hips again, making my head tip back in pleasure, my mouth opening wide to let out a silent moan. “You like how ravenous you’re making me?”
My knees parted quickly and easily, allowing him to settle between my legs, where I hoped he’d want to live for the foreseeable future. I planted my feet flat on the sofa cushions and used the leverage to thrust up against him, my hands shifting down to his ass to hold him steady so we could grind against each other.
Still leaning to one side, his fingers gripped my T-shirt and pushed it up so he could pinch my nipple. “Look at you, how gorgeous you are. You think you could take my huge cock? You’re such a tiny little thing. I bet I’d ruin you. I’d wreck your hole so you’d never want anyone else. You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you?”
I moaned as I convulsed under him, squirming as he continued to grind against me, his hips circling and pressing against all my good spots. Christ, I hadn’t realized that Danielcould talk like that. If he kept at it, he’d make me come. And I wanted more. So much more.
He buried his face into my neck to nip at my pulse point. “Fuck…. You’ve been teasing me so much these last couple of days. Ever since I first saw you at the gas station. Can I truly have you? Such a pretty little cocktease. You have no idea how much I want you right now.”
Oh God.The things he was saying, the way they were turning me on…. My hands let go of their grip on his ass and dove between us, scrambling at the button and zip of his jeans. “Please!”
He licked and sucked at my neck while he lifted his hips enough for me to open his pants and push them and his boxers down. “Good…. Get me free. Just like that. Now you, beautiful.”
The backs of my fingers brushed against his hard, thick cock as I targeted my pants next. The heat from his length was scorching, making me desperate to feel him against me. Throbbing and pulsing in me. My hands were shaking as I scrambled, nearly yanking my zipper apart in my need to get closer. I whimpered when my pants refused to cooperate.
“Shh….” With one last suck at my collarbone, he lifted enough so he could look down between us. “Relax, beautiful. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” His calloused fingers ran down my arm, stilling my frantic movements, until my hands settled on his hips. Tugging at my zipper, he lowered the tab with ease, then pushed my pants and boxer briefs down my thighs. “There we go. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“What…? But…?” I looked up at him in a confused daze. Why wasn’t he pushing my pants down all the way? Wasn’t he going to fuck me? I’d roll over for him as soon as he got my pants free, but he wasn’t pushing them down. What was happening? “You don’t want to fuck me?”
“Oh, you perfect, gorgeous man. I can’t wait. You’ve got me so close already with all your little sounds, making me want you so bad.” He thrust his bare cock against mine, and the heat was everything I’d been expecting it to be. Precum slathered between us, making each glide slippery as hell. “You can come like this, can’t you?”
