Page 3 of By The Moon

“Who he loves even if it did take him a long time to get his head out of his ass.”

Louis had no such problem with his mate. He didn’t care that Jerome was human. The only problem he'd had was meeting Jerome at such a young age, but that was over now. Jerome was at university and a man, an adult, and one Louis could now meet, could have a conversation with.

Would Jerome remember him?

Finishing his beer, Louis stood, stretched his six foot tall body, said goodbye to Hugo and thought of Jerome. A second later he was standing outside his mate’s house, watching him leave. “I’ll be fine, Dad.”

“Make sure you are and take things with you.”

Take things with you? Where was his mate going? “I’m going out with friends. Why do I need to take things? I’m not hitting the clubs, you know.”

“Really? Like I wasn’t your age once. Be careful.”

Jerome waved and got in the car. Louis was close enough to hear the name of a club mentioned. So his mate was going clubbing. Maybe now was the time to introduce himself.

Chapter Two

Jerome watched his latest and now ex-boyfriend leave and sighed in relief. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t go beyond kissing with the men he was with, but as soon as they wanted more, he broke out in a cold sweat and backed away. They usually left at some point when he wouldn’t put out, and Den was the last in a what felt like a long line of men. It was actually three, but still.

Maybe it was because ofhim. The man he’d met when he was younger, the one who had saved him. There was something about him. Something that had made Jerome dream of him, of them both. Naked, under the sheets, kissing and touching, licking and fucking.

He’d never had sex, never had a hand job, but he wanted them all with his mysterious savior. Could meeting someone for a few minutes make you avoid all men? Jerome believed so. The man who he’d met, the one he was sure had comforted him when his mom had passed, was the only one Jerome wanted. He tried with men, but nothing worked even when he’d been desperate for something. A spark of lust, of arousal, but nothing happened.

Here he was. Single. Again.

He didn’t care, not that much.

Standing, Jerome left his dorm room and knocked on the door of the room next door. His friend Sage bunked there and hated Stan, his roommate. He hated him so much he faked a break in so he could destroy Stan’s work.

Jerome hadn’t agreed, especially as he knew how much time and effort went into assignments. Sage was unrepentant, and that was when he found out his roommate had come onto him one night and Sage had had to physically fight him off. A kick to the nuts had done the job. Sage had asked to transfer but there had been nowhere to go, so he was stuck.

Sage opened the door, glanced up and down the hallway. “Come in.”

Jerome entered and winced. Sage’s side of the room was neat and tidy. The other side… not so much. There was food all over the floor, dirty clothes, papers, notes, books, used glasses, cups and more as well. Jerome skirted the edge of the destruction and sat on Sage’s bed.

“Is anything living in there?”

“I heard rustling the other night so who the fuck knows? The dirty bastard.”

“Still giving you problems?”

Jerome moved back on the bed until he reached the wall and leaned against it as Sage answered. “He likes to walk around naked and don’t ask me how I know he doesn’t clean his ass after taking a shit.”

“Sage. You need to speak to someone.”

“Don’t you think I haven’t tried that like a thousand times already? There is nowhere else for me to go. I even said I’d sleep on the floor, but nope. Rules and regulations and health and safety. Blah fucking blah.” Sage dropped onto the bed next to him, his blond hair falling over his forehead. He moved it out ofthe way and glared at the mess across from them, his blue eyes growing frosty. “I hope he falls and breaks his legs.”

“Sage—”

“Don’t give me the ‘don’t be mean’ talk. You don’t have to live in this. I’ve taken photos and shown them what it’s like. All they did was issue a warning. Pretty sure I saw a cockroach the other day, but if I complain too much they’ll have a word with me.” Sage kicked some of the shit on the floor. “Where’s what’s his face?”

Jerome sighed because he knew why. “We broke up.”

“No surprise there.” Sage gave Jerome a pointed look. “It’s him. Your mystery man.”

“I don’t even know who he is,” Jerome murmured, then pulled his feet back when he heard rustling from the other side of the room. “You know what? Grab some things and crash with us. Alan won’t mind.”

“Yeah he’s good, you know and I think he hates dickhead as much as we do.”

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