Page 47 of Surface Scratch
Marcus’s mouth met his, his fist still pumping between their bodies, burying Caleb in another snarling kiss that sounded more animal than human. The hand on his hip snapped up to his throat, squeezing him and pinning him against the pillow. The fire inside Caleb burned brighter, his hands clawing for any inch of flesh on Marcus’s back he could reach as he felt every muscle in his abdomen tense, his body curling inwards around the building pressure. He teetered on the precarious edge of climaxing, his body seemingly confused by the mix of pain and pleasure that consumed him like Marcus had.
He tried to warn Marcus again that he was close, but the only thing that fell from his lips was a whimper that morphed into a long moan.
“F-fuck, I’m going to come,” Marcus moaned into his ear. He lost all sense of rhythm between his hand and the rocking of his hips, his movements picking up speed with each gasp. “Come for me, Caleb. I want to feel you come.”
Those words pushed him over the edge. Marcus’s teeth buried themselves in his shoulder and the hand around his throat tightened, pressing his Adam’s apple inward. Caleb heard himself shout as lightning shot through the core of his being and spilled out onto Marcus’s hand, every one of his nerve endings jolting and spasming as the dark room flashed white before his eyes. Marcus’s body twitched on top of him, his breathing labored and harsh against Caleb’s bony shoulder, his hand still lazily pumping their softening cocks between sweat-slick bodies.
Caleb dropped his arms from Marcus’s back, gasping desperately for air as he tried to come to his senses. He tried to will his legs to stop shaking, but it seemed like that made it worse. White dots faded in and out of his vision as he stared up at the darkened ceiling, dancing in front of his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.
“That was…”
The weight shifted off him as cool lips pressed against his forehead. “Incredible,” Marcus finished his sentence for him as he felt around the bed,
Caleb shuddered as Marcus rubbed a soft material over his stomach, wiping away the result of their furious activity that was already growing cold on his skin. He felt his eyelids growing heavier, his mind completely clear except for the occasional aftershock of his orgasm that elicited a satisfied sigh, making him curl his toes against the soft sheets beneath him.
Marcus’s strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him back into an embrace and drawing the covers up to hide their naked bodies from the chill of the room.
“Are you… Was that…?” Marcus’s voice trailed off, his tone soft and tinged with apprehension. He suddenly grew tense. “Are you okay?”
Caleb nodded, his awareness of his surroundings slipping away from him. His body sank into the mattress like he had been swallowed up by quicksand. His eyes wouldn’t open, and the skin on his neck stung, the taste of copper still lingering on his tongue. Yet none of that stopped him from drifting off to sleep, a faint smile stretched across his lips.
Chapter Fifteen
It was the jostling of the mattress beneath him that pulled him back into the world, followed by a loud thud off to his right as something heavy fell nearby. Caleb groaned as he pushed himself off the mattress, his shoulder aching and tight, nearly giving out as he did. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, trying to convince them they needed to open. What time was it?
He brushed his hair out of his eyes and looked toward the sound. Marcus was crouched beside the bed, pulling on the same work pants he’d abandoned on the floor the night before. Caleb grinned at him, but Marcus didn’t seem to notice, his eyes trained on the door of the bedroom.
“Holy shit, he’s not dead?” Ophelia’s high-pitched voice deadpanned from the doorway.
Oh fuck.
Caleb met her stare, her big brown eyes blank and bored as she stood in the hallway just beyond the door they had left ajar during their… activities. She held a large glass mixing bowl filled with milk and cereal against her chest, standing perfectly still aside from the arm that spooned the colorful food into her mouth. Caleb pulled the sheets tight around his waist as he felt his face begin to glow, the heat of his embarrassment growing in splotchy patches down his throat and onto his chest.
“Ophelia, out,” Marcus huffed as he buttoned his pants.
She pointed her spoon at him. “You’ve got something on your face,” she said, squinting at him before she pointed her spoon at Caleb. “And you’ve got something… everywhere.”
Caleb’s hands went to his face. His skin felt dry and vaguely sticky, like he had drooled a pool onto his face in his sleep. He glanced back at his pillow, his eyes wide as he looked down at the streak of dried blood on the white cotton pillowcase where he’d lain. The sheets were in a worse state, looking like something out of a horror film.Oh shit.
“Koko kara dekeite,” Marcus said sternly.
“I’m not even in your room, I’m in the hallway. You’re the pervert that left the door open,” she said before taking another scoop from her giant bowl of cereal.
He started toward the door. She flashed a devilish grin at him, spoon hanging out of her mouth, and yanked the door shut with enough force to make the pictures on the wall rattle.
Marcus crossed his arms over his chest, one hand reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he sighed. “I’m sorry, I forgot about the door,” he said. He held out his hand. “Come on, let’s go take a shower.”
Caleb’s mouth fell open at the invitation. “Together?” His pulse quickened. He had never taken a shower with someone before.
Well, he hadn’t done what they did last night with someone before either. Nor had he even daydreamed about the more… bloody aspects of it. He swallowed hard, the echoes of the sounds he’d made bouncing around in his head and making his skin burn brighter with embarrassment. Goosebumps erupted all over him when he recalled Marcus’s teeth sinking into his skin as they came together. More than once he’d allowed himself to wonder what their first moment of intimacy would be like, even after he learned what Marcus was, but he hadn’t considered that it would be so vicious or so bloody.
Nor had he considered how much he would be into it.
“Of course.” Marcus grinned, his own face smeared with blood.
* * *
He stood in front of the large mirror on Marcus’s dresser, staring at the map of shallow red lines along the right side of his neck, stretching the skin to see how sensitive the area was. It burned a bit, but other than that, it was more unsightly than painful. Like he had been attacked by an extremely pissed off cat. The hickeys and the puncture wounds on his shoulder were another story.
