Chapter 10 Liam
ten
Liam
A Few Weeks Later
It starts with a dare.
Linus O’Donnell leans against the fridge, cup in hand, claiming the air around him. I met him at party a couple months ago. We’ve been hovering around each other ever since. Haven’t fucked yet, which is a first for me, but I kinda like where this is going.
No matter where we run into each other, we always seem to gravitate into conversation and low-level flirting.
I know he’s into me, which is why I haven’t gone there. Everything in my entire being tells me this could be something real. Not a body for the night.
Not another secret.
The problem is, Linus is a relationship guy, and I don’t do commitment. No time for it. Padraig has practically been married off to Stevie, since he was sixteen. It’s stupid. We have our whole lives ahead of us.
Besides, I can’t tie myself to any one person.
Music’s where my heart is. Fireball’s become the piece of me I salvaged from the wreckage of my family. It’s kept me alive. Gave me somewhere to put the rage, the hurt. Even with the Felicity drama, I’d be nothing but scars and silence without it.
Linus is unexpected. Unsettling. I haven’t figured him out yet, but he’s under my skin. Sharp eyes. Calm voice. Broad shoulders, thick forearms. His beard is neat and tidy. Fuck me, he’s handsome with full lips I like to imagine around my cock.
I want to fuck him. This much, I know. Whether there’s more to it? I’m not sure.
Linus watches me as my mind cycles through all the reasons this is a bad idea.
He doesn’t say much. He observes. Listens.
Dissects situations internally before offering his thoughts.
When he does speak, his Dublin accent is smooth and low.
Confident. His laugh is joyous. Free. It stirs something I haven’t let myself name.
I keep looking at those lips. My cock thickens under my jeans.
Backing down from sexual tension isn’t in my nature.
I do want him. Fuck, I do.
We’re at a party off campus. Another rundown house with sagging floors and overpriced thrift-shop rugs.
A few people pretend to care about a pretty, raggedy-ass girl in the corner playing insipid cover tunes on a beat-up acoustic.
Linus leans next to me against the chipped tile counter, sipping warm beer from a Solo cup like it might become something better if he wills it to be true.
“I can’t feckin’ stand Justin Timberlake,” he grumbles, barely audible over the latest offering from the songstress.
I glance sideways. “Finally. Someone with taste.”
“Aye.” His lips twitch. “Manufactured talent. The girl has a decent voice, though.”
I lift my cup, filled with water, toward him. “Music scene isn’t what it used to be.”
He quirks a brow. Licks those luscious lips. He knows my band is killin’ it right now.
The air shifts.
His shoulder brushes mine. He doesn’t move away.
The dare’s in his eyes before it hits his mouth.
A silent one.
If I lean in, will you?
“I live off campus,” I say. Casual, like I haven’t been thinking about this for months. “Not far. Place I share with my twin, Padraig, his girl Stevie, and our singer.”
He tips his cup in acknowledgment. “You bring many lads home then?”
“No.” I try to sound nonchalant. “Keep my sex life outta the house usually.”
Linus steps toward me. “Why?”
There’s a moment. Long enough to choose if I’ll lie.
“My da was in a car accident when we were seventeen.” I don’t look at him, my eyes are fixed on the sticky tile where my boots are planted. “Didn’t heal right. He couldn’t work. Got hooked on pills, then whiskey.”
Linus doesn’t speak. His shoulder brushes mine.
“Summer after first year, I brought a lad home.” My eyes burn. I’ve never uttered a word about this outside our family, and we avoid the topic like the plague. “He caught us in the hallway. Lost his mind. Said some things…”
It takes a minute for me to continue.
“Padraig stepped between us first. Took a punch to the face. I got shoved down the stairs. Split my head open. Out cold. It all happened in front of my three wee brothers.”
Linus doesn’t move or flinch.
“My older brother pays for college. Padraig and I are here at Wazzu so I’m not in danger.” I press my palm flat against the wall beside me, grounding myself. “So I don’t have to hide who I am.”
Linus speaks low and steady. “You don’t have to be afraid with me.”
I nod once. Doesn’t undo anything. I don’t know this guy, really. Yet his words, somehow, settle something inside me “I’m fluid. Bisexual. Pansexual. Hell, I don’t know. I like fucking who I want. Not the judgment from others.”
“Aye.” He exhales through his nose. “Sounds familiar.”
“Yeah?”
“My da’s a politician,” he says quietly. “Mum’s on the school board. Church every Sunday. Before I came here, I broke up with my long-time girlfriend. I cheated on her. Let a guy blow me on a family vacation. I couldn’t tell my parents or my siblings why. None of them would understand.”
I laugh bitterly. “Catholic guilt’ll kill us all.”
“Not if we fuck it to death first.” He flashes a grin. Licks his lips. Fixes me with those eyes.
The heat between us shifts.
A dare.
Could we be something?
His hand grazes mine where it rests against the counter. I flip mine over, let our fingers link.
He watches me. “Do you want to kiss me as much as I want to kiss you?”
I don’t say yes. I pull him toward me. He cups my face. No hesitation. His mouth crashes into mine, hot and assertive.
We leave the party with a buzz, and not from alcohol.
Linus walks beside me, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket, shoulders hunched against the late-night chill. I match his pace, each step syncing closer to his, like I’m already memorizing the rhythm. He doesn’t say much. Doesn’t have to.
I feel him.
We cut through the side alley skirting the cracked pavement near the dumpsters. My rental house glows dimly ahead, porch light flickering. There’s something charged in the quiet between us now. Anticipation.
He hesitates when we reach the steps. “This your place?”
“Aye.” I twist the knob and push open the front door into the warm air.
In the low hallway light Felicity is standing in front of my room wearing a see-through top and a hoodie knotted around her waist. She freezes when she sees me with Linus. Her eyes rake over him, with his hand on my back and our bodies brushing in a deliberate way.
The air turns icy.
“How interesting…” Acid drips from her tongue. “Guess I’m not your type after all.”
Linus pauses beside me.
I don’t flinch. “You never were.”
Her nostrils flare. “Funny, you weren’t complaining last time we fucked.”
Linus shifts his weight but doesn’t step away.
“Ages ago.” I meet her gaze, unbothered. “As I told you, doesn’t mean I want more.”
Her laugh scrapes like glass. “You’re nothing but a sad little fraud who’ll fuck anything to feel something.”
The words land like shrapnel. Sharp, targeted. I freeze.
Her bedroom door slams shut before I can recover sufficiently to reply.
Linus waits until the echo fades. “You’re in a band with her?”
“Gotta love the drama.” I try to ignore my urge to punch a wall and instead lead him into my room. “Full disclosure, we hooked up a couple times. Her idea. Got possessive. Now, I have no choice but to ignore her.”
He glances over at her room. “Is it working?”
“No, unfortunately.”
I kick the door closed with my heel. The click reverberates in my chest.
“She’s the reason I haven’t brought anyone here,” I confess like it’s a sin.
Linus steps between my legs. “Yet, here I am. So, you’re into me?”
I don’t answer.
He tilts my chin up with two fingers. “No?”
“You’re… different.”
Linus doesn’t ask how. Doesn’t need to. He kisses me, unhurried, mouth parted, tongue tracing the edge of mine. His hands cup my jaw, then slide through my hair. I grip his hips, drag him close.
When we part, we’re both out of breath.
He pulls off his hoodie, then the shirt beneath. His chest is solid, dusted with dark hair, tattoos inked across his biceps and ribs. Designs I plan to trace with my tongue. His belt clicks open. He strips down to briefs and waits, watching.
I undress methodically to let him take me in. His eyes roam my body like he’s cataloging every inch. I’m as rigid as a steel pole.
He’s hard, too. Impressively so.
We move at the same time.
His mouth finds mine again, more urgent now, all heat and want. I push him onto the bed, climb over him. His thighs part for me without hesitation. I kiss his throat, the hollow of his collarbone, the line of muscle down his chest. I drag my tongue over his nipple, then bite lightly.
“Fuck—Liam.” He fists the sheets.
I look up. “You good?”
“Aye.” His hand threads through my hair. “Don’t stop.”
I quirk a brow then drag my mouth lower, lave him through the fabric of his boxer briefs until he’s panting.
I hook my fingers in the waistband and pull them down.
His phenomenal cock springs free. Thick, long.
Dark at the head. I wrap my hand around the base, stroke once, then lick a line up the underside.
HIs deep, guttural grown reverberates through my bedroom.
I take him in my mouth, inch by inch, until my nose brushes the hair at his base. I hold there, swallowing around him.
His whole body tenses. “Christ.”
I set a rhythm. One hand stroking what I can’t fit, the other sliding up his torso, feeling every breath. His hands roam my back, then grip my ass, pulling me closer.
“Wanna taste me on you,” he wheezes hoarsely.
I ease off him with a wet pop and crawl up his body.
He flips me without warning, straddles me, mouth crashing to mine.
His hips grind against me, causing our cocks to rub together.
He licks into my mouth like he owns it. Like he’s marking territory.
Within moments, we’re a jumble of sweat and hunger, hips grinding in sync.
Linus curls his fist around both our cocks, knuckles grazing my stomach with every stroke. There’s no lube. Only my spit and our pre-come making it lubricated enough to slide. Messy enough to make me lose my mind.
The friction’s perfect. Rough and real. Skin dragging over skin. He frots us faster, hand working us like he knows the edge and wants us teetering on it together.
“Fuck,” I wheeze “I’m gonna—”
“Come with me.” He nibbles my chin.
We do. One brutal, blinding second and we’re both spilling into his fist, our come mixing, hot and thick, smearing over each other’s skin.
It’s lascivious. Intimate. Ours.
Linus keeps stroking us through it, softening the pressure.
It’s the most intimate experience of my life. He slumps against me, chest heaving, hand still wrapped around both our cocks like he’s reluctant to let go.
I don’t want him to. I reach down and cover his hand with mine so we’re both gripping our softening shafts. Eventually, our hands loosen, leaving a smear of drying come across our bellies. I should be embarrassed by how fast it happened, by how badly I wanted this, but I’m not.
I’ve never felt more wanted. More seen.
Linus shifts, pulling his arm under my neck again, settling in like he belongs there.
“That was…” I start, but there’s no word strong enough.
“Yeah.” His thumb brushes my jawline.
“I’ve had sex.” I keep my eyes averted from his. “A lot of it. Never felt so fuckin’ good.”
He doesn’t tease. Doesn’t smirk. “Same. Aside from the resort, this is my first time doin’ it with a guy, though.”
I’m floored. He chose me. I’m gonna make this so good for him.
I turn toward him, nuzzle into the slope of his shoulder, and let my eyes close. For the first time in ages, I don’t feel the need to guard anything. Not my voice. Not my skin.
I want this to mean something. “Stay. Let’s keep going.”
“I wasn’t plannin’ on leaving.” Linus shifts closer and wraps both arms around me. Kisses the side of my throat.
His leg slides between mine. My chest rises against his.
There’s nothing rushed or desperate left in either of us.
I’m struck by a strange kind of ease I’ve never felt after sex.
My body aches in all the right places. Muscles coiled, lips tender, nerves still humming.
Something deeper settles low in my chest.
He doesn’t feel temporary.
Linus curls around me like he’s supposed to be here. A quiet certainty. A sense of home.
I breathe in and let the thought settle like an anchor.
I fall asleep. Wrapped in Linus.
For the first time in forever, I don’t feel alone.