Chapter 40
Hanlon
Consciousness comes back intermittently. It feels like I’m trying to swim through an ocean of mud. I’m aware of voices, but only one stands out.
“…toe,” I try, but I know it’s not right.
Goddammit, eyes, I need you to fucking open.
“…tone,” I try again, getting closer.
“Hanlon,” he answers. His voice clear, strong—alive. “Hanlon, I’m here.”
“Ssstone,” I force out, even though the ‘s’ is a little difficult.
“Skittles, let me see those beautiful eyes. Can you open your eyes and look at me?”
“Tr…ing,” I mumble through dry lips.
“You’re doing so good, baby,” Stone coaxes in that wonderful voice I never thought I’d hear again.
I feel the corner of my mouth twitch at his words. That’s a good sign, right?
Finally, I’m able to open one eye, but everything is blurry.
“Lana, can you put his glasses on?” Stone asks.
My mom is here?
A second later, I feel the familiar weight of my glasses slipping on my face, and I smile at my mom.
“Hi, sweetheart,” she says to me before looking to someone else and saying, “Can you go grab the nurse?”
A moment after that, James enters my line of sight. He pauses at the doorway. “Welcome back, Han.”
“Mmm. Where’s—”
“Over here, baby,” Stone answers immediately.
My neck is stiff, but I manage to turn my head enough to see Stone propped up at a slight angle.
My eyes close again because the sight of Stone is too fucking much, and I break down in a sobbing mess.
His face is black and blue, and purple bruises poke out from under the neck of his hospital gown.
His shin and ankle are swollen where they rest on top of the covers, with a surgical incision running vertically about five inches from his kneecap toward his shin.
“Hey, shhhh. Han, it’s okay. I’m here. We made it… thanks to you,” he coos.
I want to climb into bed with him. Want to hold him, touch him anywhere, everywhere. Feel him wrapped around me again.
It’s clear my fingers are going to be a problem, and I’m going to have to start over at square one to regain my motion and dexterity, but it’s a small price to pay since Stone survived.
Suddenly, what must be my entire medical team rushes through the door, shining lights in my eyes, making me drink water, asking me questions—most of which I get wrong because I have no idea what day it is or how I got here—and poke me all over.
Once they’re satisfied that I can identify my family, swallow without choking, that I’m sore, but not in any frank pain, and that my reflexes are present despite not being strong, they help me into a wheelchair so I can get closer to Stone.
Oh, they’re not happy about it.
In fact, they’re quite pissed, but after proving that I was hellbent on getting to him with or without their help, they lowered my hospital bed, dropped the arm of the wheelchair, and slid my bare ass onto the seat just to move me three feet so I could feel Stone’s hand on my face.
I kiss his palm and his wrist because it’s all I can reach.
“I thought I lost you,” I tell him.
“I would’ve joined you one way or another, Hanlon,” he says seriously. “That mountain was either going to take us both or lose us both,” he says, brushing my greasy, disgusting ICU hair away from my face.
“Please don’t talk like that,” my mother whispers from the corner with Dad’s arm around her. I haven’t heard them say much, but they’re here, so that’s something.
I spend the next hour getting caught up on the events of that night. I text Chase, telling him thank you for staying with me in the ICU, and telling him I owe him a redo. I also text Logan to thank him for risking his life to help me get to Stone.
The team helps me crawl back into bed when my body demands that I lie flat again, and I fall asleep quickly.
“If they don’t go home soon, I’m going to lose my goddamn mind,” I whisper into Stone’s neck as we lie on the couch, nestled under a blanket. My hand is stroking his cock because I’m fucking desperate for it.
We’ve been home from the hospital for three weeks, and our parents have been here just as long.
It’s the beginning of Spring and I’ve been completing coursework remotely.
Of course, I’ll have to go back at some point for final exams and graduation, but I plan to fly back to Vermont for a total of two weeks, pack my shit, and get back to Montana as quickly as possible.
My mobility suffered a pretty big hit from all the brain swelling, and I have to wear ankle braces again, like I did when I was a kid. For longer stints out and about, I have to rely on additional devices to help support my weight, but I’ll fight to regain as much of my independence as I can.
Stone is still under touchdown weight-bearing orders from the orthopedic surgeon, and he, too, has to use assistive devices to get around.
Regular crutches are out because he has another three weeks in the cast on his arm, so he has to navigate using a forearm crutch that matches mine.
Thankfully, the fractures to his vertebrae aren’t severe, and he only has another week left in the cervical collar.
Needless to say, if we thought our parents hovered before, they’re on a mission to outdo themselves now with both of us being down and out. They also cockblock at every turn, like there’s some unspoken rule that we’re to neglect our dicks while they’re within a ten-mile radius.
As if she can sense I’m groping him under the blanket, my mother pops back into the living room with hot tea for us both and Advil for Stone, right as his cock starts to get hard in my hand.
“Here you go, boys. How are you feeling after your nap?” she asks in an annoying singsong voice.
“Like I need to get laid,” I grumble into Stone’s chest, making him chuckle.
“What was that, honey?” she asks.
“Nothing.”
“Hey, Lana?” Stone starts, trying to turn his head to look at my mom.
“Yes?”
“Since Hanlon and I are just going to stay here on this couch for a couple more hours, do you think you and Dad could do me a huge favor and run something over to Ricochet?”
James comes into the living room at the sound of his name and says, “I can take it, Stone. Lana can stay here in case you boys need anything. What is it?”
“It’s a going away gift for a friend of mine.”
I look up at Stone quizzically.
“I had the team take a photo in front of Logan’s helicopter. Thought it might be nice for him to take it with him…especially since I’m not in it. I had it framed and matted, and they called yesterday to tell me it’s ready.”
“I can handle that on my own,” Dad says, but Stone is relentless.
“The frame, maybe, but I need it wrapped, and no offense, Dad, but I’ve seen your work. I’d actually like this to look nice. Please? The frame shop is on the way to the ski resort. It won’t take more than an hour. Han and I are good. We’ll be in this exact spot when you get back.”
I smile because the urgency in Stone’s voice matches how I’m feeling.
Our parents share a look, and finally, Dad shrugs, and Mom rolls her eyes, knowing exactly what’s happening.
“Fine,” she relents. “But you two better not have moved a single muscle by the time we get back,” she says, pointing a finger at us. “I mean it.”
Stone salutes her with a relieved smile, knowing I’m going to fall face-first on his dick as soon as they’re gone. “Yes, ma’am.” His arm is draped across my back, and I’m draped across his chest carefully. I always take the inside of the couch since I have fewer precautions when I move.
Stone rubs my back with his uninjured arm and wraps his casted wrist around me, too. Signs of our physical affection still make our parents uncomfortable, and I know Stone’s doing it to light a fire under their asses and get them out of the house faster.
“One hour,” my mom says as she turns toward the guest room.
“Got it,” I yell back before looking at Stone and whispering. “Think you can come three times in an hour?”
“Are you kidding? I can probably come three times in fifteen minutes at this point,” Stone replies.
“Boys, come on. I’m still standing right here,” James says, scrubbing a hand down his face. He’s been slightly more tolerant than my mom, but only because he stays silent instead of voicing his opinion.
“Oops, sorry,” I say sheepishly.
“No, you’re not.” He moves into the kitchen and then comes back, tossing a roll of paper towels at us. “Here. Just do me a favor and don’t get up for cleanup, okay? Your mother will have a coronary.”
“Would you mind grabbing the lube, too?” Stone manages to ask with a straight face.
“Too far, son,” our dad says, walking down the hallway after my mom.
Five minutes later, they’re out the door. The relief I feel at being left alone with Stone for the first time since the night we almost died is overwhelming. Part of me just wants to feel him breathe.
We’ve talked about that night a couple of times in bed, under the cover of darkness, our voices kept low as we spilled our lingering fears and anxieties, but neither of us has fully processed it. Maybe we never will.
But a larger part of me needs to feel just how alive he is. I need to hear his moans of pleasure instead of pain.
Despite working with occupational therapy three times a week and doing my exercises without fail, my dexterity still isn’t great since my physical symptoms stem from neurological deficits, but I manage to pull Stone’s cock free from his pajama pants and wrap my hand around his smooth shaft.
His hips thrust forward, but when they do, the movement drives his heels into the couch, which puts pressure on his shin.
“Ow, fuck.”
Okay, so this won’t work. I carefully climb over him and help him sit upright instead of lounging back against the arm of the couch. Once he’s comfortable, I sink to my knees in front of him.
“Oh God, yes,” he moans. “I’ve missed this mouth so fucking much.”
The fingers of Stone’s non-casted hand thread through my hair as I happily bob on his cock. It doesn’t take long before he’s swelling in my mouth, leaking precum onto my taste buds.
This is the first chance we’ve had to be together like this, not only because of our parents, but healing is exhausting.
Eating, bathing, and simply moving from the couch to the bed take a massive effort, and our bodies haven’t had enough energy to respond to intimate touches like normal… until today.
Until right now.
“Hanlon…” Stone pants above me.
“Mmm?” I hum with my mouth full.
“I fucking love you, and I’m about to come already.”
I appreciate his body’s responsiveness because breathing can still be a bit of a challenge for me. Well, drawing deep breaths anyway, and it’s made even harder when his dick is in my mouth.
I stroke his shaft with my hand to help push him over the edge. When his body tenses as he comes, he cries my name.
His flavor is just what I needed. The reminder that his heart still beats, his lungs still fill with air, and his cock still craves my touch. I swallow half and hold half in my mouth while I check in with him with a raised brow.
“Yeah, baby. I’m great. I just wish I could return the favor,” he says. Because he injured damn near every part of his body, it’ll be a while before he can fully engage, but I have a solution for that.
Quickly removing my pants, I straddle his hips very carefully, making sure to keep my full body weight off him.
My dick is hard and throbbing between us, and he wastes no time wrapping his uninjured hand around it, smearing precum around my head.
It’s not enough for a handjob though, so I open my mouth, and we watch as I spit out his cum.
It lands on my dick with a satisfying sound and he immediately gets to work.
Wrapping my fingers over his, we pump my shaft together.
“Fuck, I needed this,” I tell him. “Needed you.”
My phone starts ringing with the robotic sound of a FaceTime call.
My mom.
Ignoring it, I return my attention to the sight in front of me and the way my release feels as it builds under Stone’s hand.
“That’s it, baby,” I encourage, gently thrusting into his hand. “I’m gonna come,” I announce in warning. “I’m…” I trail off in a series of grunts and pants.
“Give me what’s mine, Han,” Stone says, his voice thick with desire as cum paints his chest and hand. Once the aftershocks have stopped, I lean my forehead against his, trying to catch my breath when his words coast across my lips. “That made me hard again.”
I smile from my perch on his lap.
“Tell me what you want,” I command.
“I think if we prop my leg up, you could fuck me on my back if you’re up for it,” he says.
“Do we have enough time?” I ask.
“Han, we’re adults. We’re in love, and we just suffered through the most traumatic thing either of us has ever endured. I’m glad our parents got over themselves enough to come out here, but we didn’t ask them to stay, and I don’t want to hide in my own fucking house anymore.”
“Okay,” I agree, albeit hesitantly. He has a point, but I’m certain neither of our parents would recover if they walked in on that.
I start trying to figure out the best way to position his leg when he stops me.
“Not here! In our room!”
Oh.
Yeah, that makes more sense.
Laughing, I help Stone off the couch.
“Look, man. You told me you wanted me to fuck you. I was just trying to make that happen as fast as possible.”
It’s a bit awkward getting down the hall, but I trust Stone to manage himself, and he trusts me to do the same. We’re both so out of shape that we’re panting by the time we make it to the bedroom, but I’ll be damned if I give up now.
I triple-check to make sure the door is locked before helping Stone undress and get into bed.
After placing pillows under his leg until he’s comfortable, I sit back on my heels to drink him in.
We both had showers this morning and have mostly been on a diet of soup and protein shakes because our bodies have other things to worry about besides digestion, and neither of us has had much of an appetite since the avalanche. I’m thankful for that right now.
“You sure you’re good to try this?” I ask, checking in.
“More than,” Stone reassures me. “Just remember it’s been a while, so, you know, go slow.”
“I’ll go so slow that I drive you crazy and have you begging for my cock.”
I reach down to stroke him once, just to help him relax into my touch, but he catches my hand.
“Consider him primed. I wouldn’t touch him until you’re seated inside me and ready to come yourself.”
I can’t fight my smirk as I reach for the lube and a couple of toys and begin working him open.
“Duly noted.”