Page 48 of Saving You

Ridge had a feeling it wasn’t because he was a man but because Oz had dated shit people who never let him feel like himself. And that was the tragedy of this whole thing. But he wasn’t going to get into that now. He leaned in and took the gift Oz offered him, this time with less tongue and far more gently than he had been before.

Oz sighed into it, giving as much as he was taking, and he broke the kiss off right before Ridge needed air. ‘Clean up?’

‘Let me.’ Ridge swung his legs over the bed, then shuffled to the bathroom and rummaged around for washcloths. He eventually found them in a messy pile in the bottom drawer of the vanity, and he ran the water until it was warm.

He washed himself up first, then wet the cloth, added a single pump of the fragrant hand soap from the glass jar, and walked back to find Oz sitting up against the headboard. He was picking at dried globs of come in his pubes, which made Ridge laugh.

‘Shower later,’ he said after he had Oz’s attention. ‘But this will help for now.’ He used a careful hand to spread Oz’s legs apart, then began to wipe him down. He paid special attention to the streaks in his hair, then on his stomach.

Finally, he met Oz’s gaze and held it as he rubbed the cloth over his dick. Oz sucked in a breath. He was clearly very sensitive after. It could be something fun to play with, if Oz wanted to try.

But that was for another night.

‘Feel okay?’ he asked after he tossed the cloth toward Oz’s laundry basket.

Oz grabbed the edge of the sheet and covered himself before nodding. ‘Feels…weird.’

Ridge wanted to be insulted, but he couldn’t be. He felt the same way, because what was supposed to happen now? They weren’t even really friends before all this mess. Oz had always held strict boundaries, so when the family barbeque turned everything upside down, Ridge had no idea where he was supposed to stand.

‘Bad weird?’

Oz shook his head. He shifted to the side, and Ridge realized he was making room for him. They were both still naked, and he was feeling very vulnerable, but the one place he wanted to be was back in Oz’s arms. He settled himself close, then laughed when Oz pulled him in for a snuggle.

‘Does it always feel this nice after?’ Oz asked.

Ridge shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never really dated long term, and none of the guys I slept with wanted me to hang around after.’

Oz was silent for a good, long while. ‘I like this.’

Ridge shifted sideways and let his temple rest on the top of Oz’s head. He lifted his Y hand between them and gently shook it back and forth. ‘Me too.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

OZ

He felt changedand yet entirely the same. He supposed it was the same way as when he’d lost his virginity. He’d had the experience—a first that could never be replicated, and yet, nothing about it was special.

Except this time, it did feel special.

It hadn’t taken long for Oz to realize that Ridge was paying attention to him—not just to his words or his expression but to the subtle shifts in his body. When Oz twitched with pleasure, Ridge dove deep into what made him feel good until he felt like he was going to lose his mind from it. When he shied away, Ridge stayed away from whatever spot had made him cringe.

And when it was all over, when he expected Ridge to leave full of regrets, the man had climbed beside him in bed and held him instead. Simple as that. They didn’t really talk about it, but they didn’t avoid the whole thing either.

Ridge made it clear he was up for doing it again—for doing more next time—and while Oz knew he was going to be hurting himself the longer he let this go on, at least he wasonlyhurting himself. Ridge’s heart was clearly protected by his desire to never date, and Oz didn’t blame him.

Still, the man would make an amazing partner, and it was still wild that he was single. He understood Ridge’s explanations for it all, but he didn’t buy it. He couldn’t. How could a messy work schedule and a Deaf daughter chase people away?

Of course, Oz couldn’t pretend to understand the queer community. He existed alongside it, but in spite of the fact that he was bisexual and had been since he discovered he wanted to bone both Rick and Evie inThe Mummy, he was too afraid of exploring what that might mean for real.

So maybe he was missing big parts of that culture the way he’d been missing all the subtle, inherent things in the Deaf community. Christ, had his family really gotten in the way of two worlds that should have been his to explore? He wasn’t sure if it was fair to blame them entirely for the second one, though his parents had made it very clear how they felt about “the gays,” as they always called them.

They were fine to exist, but in their family? Absolutely not.

Well, he was done playing by their rules and living up to their expectations. School had opened up a new universe for him to exist in as a Deaf man, and now Ridge was offering him a hand into something he’d been craving for longer than he wanted to admit. Maybe this wasn’t a forever thing, but Ridge was giving him something that would last for the rest of Oz’s life.

He would always be in debt to him, and he hoped that they could at least stay friends so he could attempt to repay him for the gift he was currently giving.

It was hard to go to work the next day. He remembered the first time he’d slept with his girlfriend and how strange he felt. Three hours after he’d spasmed three pumps inside her and filled a condom with gobs of pent-up spunk, they’d walked to the 7-Eleven for Slurpees, and he swore the cashier looked at him like he knew that Oz had not waited until marriage to give it up.

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