3. Jacques – Then
three
Jacques – Then
T he frat I’d pledged to was fucking awesome, but the best things about it were my neighbor, Travis, and my roommate, Lincoln.
Travis and I had nicknamed Lincoln Rusty, not because of his flame-red hair, but because he seemed rusty when he was interacting with people. Sometimes it was as if he’d forgotten how to communicate with humans. He was the quietest introvert I’d ever met. I hadn’t been sure how he’d managed to get through pledge week, but then I heard he was a legacy, which gained him automatic entry to our frat.
He didn’t seem to like being here most of the time, but it didn’t take me long to figure out why he’d pledged—the frat house was quieter than the dorms. We were all science majors, so even though we could party it up, we all worked hard.
Rusty fascinated me. We’d been here for two weeks, and I’d spent far too much of that time staring at the way his slim body moved. His long fingers flitted across the keyboard like hummingbirds, and I knew exactly when he’d run his hand through his messy crop of hair from how it stood up on end. The way his freckles bunched around his green eyes when he frowned or his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat when he swallowed were unforgettable.
When Rusty was in front of his computer, he came alive. He’d type frantically, coding something, pause for a second to push his black-framed glasses up his nose, then go straight back to typing. Sometimes he’d stop and run what he’d written, watching with a quiet smile, bright eyes, and cheeks flushed rosy red. Last night’s project had blurred his screen, and a stick figure twirled across it, dancing just like the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins —the original movie that Mom loved.
When he was coding for real, he created game apps that were as addictive as Candy Crush . Coach had confiscated my cell phone, banning it from the locker room before practice while the beta version of Rusty’s game was on it. It was no surprise, but every hockey player on the team was competitive as fuck. Someone had watched me play it, and within minutes the whole team was trying to beat my high score. It wasn’t my fault that we’d missed our start time on the ice—I was just the freshman. No one even listened when I’d told them we were late.
Rusty’s games were bold, quite the opposite of the shy man I was beginning to get to know. When there were more than two people in the room, he’d slink off to the side and hold up the wall, hands in his pockets with his hoody pulled down to conceal his face. I was sure he did it so people wouldn’t be able to talk to him, but I was also learning that people constantly commented on his hair.
He was slowly coming out of his shell with me and Travis. It was easy to get overwhelmed by Travis, though. Our neighbor was quite literally the life of the party. He was loud and always the center of attention everywhere he went. People flocked to him because he made them feel good about themselves. He was the broest of bros, the guy who wore a cowboy hat around campus, had a beer in his hand whenever it was past noon, and had quickly become the frat’s resident beer pong champion. But he was also the man who walked girls back to their dorms when they were drunk, purely to make sure they got home safe. He volunteered at the old peoples’ home and flirted shamelessly with every resident, and he loved his battered, rust-bucket Dodge pickup like it was a brand-new Ferrari.
“Gauthier,” Travis shouted as I wiped my brow.
It was hot and clammy in the main room of the house—far too many bodies were crammed inside. Half the people there were making out on any available surface while the other half writhed to the beat the DJ was banging out.
Travis was holding two red Solo cups up high. He was a head taller than everyone in the main room, so our drinks were safe from getting spilled—something Travis took very seriously. Our eyes met, and our stares held. Electricity sizzled through my veins.
He was so.
Fucking.
Sexy.
I licked my lips, and his eyes darkened, his gaze never leaving mine as he passed me the beer. Heat rushed through me when our fingertips brushed, and I took a gulp of the beer, wishing I could touch him anytime. We danced until we were breathless, our circle expanding and contracting with the girls that joined and left us. But he was the one who held my focus. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him the whole night. He was magnetic, drawing my attention and keeping it.
I barely registered when Fitch, the prez, cut the music and kicked everyone out. It was 2:00 a.m. but I didn’t want to stop. Chatter surrounded us—plans being made to party on. I wanted to follow Travis wherever he went, but I couldn’t. We all had classes in the morning, and I had practice tomorrow and a game the day after as well. He turned away from me, and I swallowed, disappointment sitting heavy in my gut.
He waved off the girls we’d been dancing with and shook his head, motioning with his thumb over his shoulder to the stairs. A wave of heat hit me. Want surged through me.
Moments later, Travis and I stumbled upstairs arm in arm. We were far too loud as we climbed up, but where Travis was high from the energy of being surrounded by so many people, I was masking the desire that was singing through my veins, taunting me with his proximity. I’d been half hard the whole night. Watching him move was as addictive as a drug. I couldn’t help but imagine him stripped naked and moving like that on top of or under me.
I’d seen him take guys and girls into his room, so I knew he swung both ways, but before tonight I doubted whether he knew that I did too. No one did. I was in the closet purely out of practicality. Hockey is For Everyone had been around for a few years, but my experiences with hockey was that it was still the bastion of the straight, white, cis man who openly yelled bigoted comments on the ice. I didn’t want to be their target. My goal was the NHL, and if that meant keeping a part of me under wraps until I got there, so be it.
His back muscles shifted under my hand, and I bit back a moan. He was built, muscles stacked on muscles, and with his height, he screamed power.
Travis tripped, shoving me against the wall of our darkened corridor. There were only three rooms on this level, and of the six of us who occupied it, four were either passed out on the sofas downstairs or inside their rooms with their hookups already.
He straightened but didn’t move back. Our bodies were aligned from chest to toes, and I barely resisted the urge to pull him closer. He looked down at me with darkened eyes, and I sucked in a breath. I’d never noticed how blue they were before. The stormy desire darkening them was such a turn-on.
His tongue darted out and wet his bottom lip. It was sexy as fuck.
He was sexy as fuck.
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until he leaned closer and whispered, “Breathe.”
I exhaled heavily and then sucked in another breath, breathing him in. His cologne was woodsy and fresh, reminding me of the outdoors where he loved to hike. His stubble rasped across my face, and the heat of his breath along my throat awoke gooseflesh over my whole body.
My hands acted on their own, and I reached for his waist. My fingers found the pale strip of skin between his low-riding jeans and T-shirt, and I gripped his waist, tugging him against me. My heart was hammering in my chest, my entire body feeling like a livewire at having him so close.
Travis’s low rumbly hum was a match to dry tinder. I went up in flames. Desire roared through me, and my semi hardened to the point of pain. He stilled, focusing solely on me. It was a mindfuck of the best kind. Travis was larger than life and constantly on the go, but the potency in his stare fried my brain cells. I was already addicted.
I wanted this moment to last forever, to feel his hardness against mine. But I needed more too. Travis read my need for more in the way I squirmed against him. He moved one hand to my waist and slipped it under my hoodie before sliding it up to my nipple and flicking his thumb over it. I gasped when his cool fingers brushed my sensitive skin. He caged me in with the other, pressing his hips against mine. His mouth hovered just out of reach, and he smirked when I leaned in trying to capture his lips.
He was in control tonight, and I was more than okay with it. Desire whipped through me, my cock leaking like a sieve. My whole body was begging to feel him naked against mine.
“Jacques,” he whispered, his raspy tone reverent.
I moaned when he nudged his nose against mine and slid his hand down to my jeans. He played with the button, and I couldn’t help the way my hips bucked into his, desperate for more of his touch.
“Want you,” I whispered on a moan as he palmed my erection through my jeans. He’d captured my attention the moment I’d met him, and it hadn’t abated for a single second since. I wanted him every way I could get him. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t done much of anything with a man before—a fumbling kiss in the locker room of my high school gym was as far as I’d gone with a boy. But I knew now. I had no doubt what I wanted.
I blindly reached behind me for the doorknob to my room. It turned easily, and I grasped his nape and dragged him straight into my room.
The lights were off, and I could hear Rusty’s soft breathing. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Travis, but at a guess, Rusty was fast asleep.
Travis shut and locked the door quietly, and I tangled my fingers in his hair, pressed him up against it, and tugged his lips to mine. One brief, chaste kiss and a low moan had need and want exploding inside me. Our lips crashed together, our tongues dueling and our teeth clicking as we explored each other’s mouths. We moved as one, both of us toeing out of our shoes and stripping off our jeans as we took the few steps to my bed.
My moan was long and low when I finally got my hand around him. He was hot to the touch and huge—long and girthy enough to be both jealousy inducing and terrifying at the same time. I was going to need to work up to having him inside me.
Travis’s gravelly moan spurred me on. I swiped my thumb over the slick bead of precum at his tip and spread it down his length, using it to lube my strokes.
He palmed my ass with both hands, spreading my cheeks. The whisper of cold air against my sensitive hole was like a caress. I canted my ass, chasing more of the feeling, and at the same time, I dragged my dick along my knuckles.
“Grasp both of us,” he directed.
I did, and the silky skin of his cock against mine almost did me in. I moaned, and he pulled me closer, trapping our dicks between us. But I needed more. There were still far too many clothes in the way. I wanted all of him naked and against me.
I let go of him, but his grunted protest quickly died in his throat when I yanked my hoodie and T-shirt off, leaving myself naked.
“Fuck,” he muttered, tracing his fingertip down my chest to the tip of my cock that poked out next to his from between our pressed-together hips.
“Get naked,” I ordered, lifting the hem of his Henley.
He was even more gorgeous bare, and I dragged him onto my bed, collapsing on the mattress with him on top of me. Bloody hell, being pinned underneath him, his cock pressed up against mine, was a fantasy come true. He rose onto his elbows and nudged my legs apart with his knees. I wrapped them around him, unashamed of my neediness. When he traced a path down my throat with his lips, I dug my fingers into his ass and bucked my hips up. Sensation exploded in me, my balls drawing tight and every nerve ending in my dick lighting up. I cried out, and Trav moaned.
We breathed each other’s air, and I tasted every corner of his mouth as we rutted together. The bed creaked, and our sweat-soaked skin slid against each other’s. The pressure of his erection against mine was like a zap of lightning with each thrust. The tingling in my spine started low, my balls constantly massaged with every thrust. Our combined precum leaked onto my belly, lubing our way. It only intensified the ecstasy.
Bloody hell, I was already on the edge after just a few thrusts. The noises coming out of me weren’t human, each grunt and cry as Travis hit another sensitive spot on my already aching dick sending me into the clouds.
He chuckled and shushed me. “You’ll wake up Rusty.”
I cried out at that, the thought of his eyes on me catapulting me to the edge of the point of no return.
“You like that, don’t you?” he murmured against my throat before he licked my Adam’s apple. “You want your roommate to come over here and join us? Put those talented fingers to use?”
“Yesss,” I hissed. “Fuck, just the thought….”
“You want his dick in our mouths?” Travis asked, and I saw stars.
I arched up and cried out again, my dick pulsing as my orgasm crashed into me. Liquid heat flew through my veins, my body shaking as I unleashed, pouring jet after jet of cum between us. The slick lubed Travis’s way, and he snapped his hips harder—once, twice, then followed me over the edge, pumping his cum onto my belly.
We were breathing hard, the wetness between us leaking onto my sheets and down my crack. Travis rocked his hips again, and my still-half-hard dick twitched. I groaned and slid my hands up his back holding him in place while I kissed him again. This time it was a lazy kiss, our tongues touching and retreating familiarly. I was sated, literally lying in a puddle of goo, and yet, I could have done this all night.
“He’s hot, isn’t he?” Travis asked, then pressed another kiss to my jaw. He didn’t need to name who he was talking about.
“Yeah. I can’t keep my eyes off him.” I angled my head to give him more room. I ran my foot down Travis’s leg, the crisp hairs of his thick calf against the arch of my sole were a reminder of exactly who was in my bed. Butterflies fluttered in my belly, the realization of just how right it was between Travis and me as reassuring as it was exciting as fuck. I’d looked before and I’d once kissed a boy, but I’d still wondered, unsure whether I really was pansexual or just curious. Now I knew. Now I had no doubt. I already wanted to do it again. I just hoped Travis did too. I ran my gaze over Rusty’s sleeping form and the desire, the want, for him to be right next to us was overwhelming.