Page 4 of Noah
He can’t leave for himself. That’s too hard.
But Will is his friend. Will has told him to do this. And deep down he knows Will is right. Something has to change.
He can’t be obedient anymore. But he doesn’t have what it takes to be disobedient. Not on his own. Which means he needs to accept help. It’s time. He’s as ready as he’ll ever be.
He blinks back to himself and takes in a deep, cold breath. It’s almost Christmas. It’s in the air. This is the best decision. This is what he needs to do.
Jensen Baines is an old army buddy and a friend of Will’s who’d dabbled in the scene but hadn’t felt comfortable. He had a place and a spare room and Noah could go by and take a look.
So here he is. He really wants it to work. Really wants out.
Maybe Jensen Baines will help him.
3
It’s been fifteen minutes. Noah paces to the door and then back out to the edge of the sidewalk in an attempt to keep warm. His gaze catches on a broad-shouldered man in a warm wool coat coming closer. Good grief, he’s attractive.
So attractive that Noah looks away. Master doesn’t like it when he notices other people. He’s gotten into trouble for it on more than one occasion.
Even when he didn’t deserve it.
The man will pass him soon. The temptation to lift his gaze and look one more time is intense. Should he? His master isn’t here. And he’s leaving his master. Hopefully. So why can’t he look? He peers at the stranger from under his lashes, watching him come closer. He has flowers tucked under one arm and a bulging plastic bag in hand while he’s eating an apple with the other. He needs to shave. His hair is long, grazing his shoulders, washed but unstyled. He’s wearing jeans and a plain navy sweatshirt with expensive tennis shoes. Undoubtedly straight, Noah decides. And probably not all that kinky.
He’s close enough now that Noah can tell his eyes are green because of course they fucking are. Sometimes it seems like all the hottest guys are straight.
He realizes the guy is watching him back but isn’t sure how he knows the way the man shifts his bag and takes the apple from his mouth so he now has one hand free, is enough for Noah to recognize him as someone who can defend himself if he needs to.
Noah instinctively takes a step back.
Which is also shocking. When was the last time he took a step back? And from some random guy on the street? What did that even mean? How beaten down is he? The man stops in front of the apartment building and Noah takes out his phone, staring at it as a normal person might so he won’t get caught ogling.
The man is hesitating. “You’re not Noah, are you?”
“I… you’re Jensen?”
The man nods slowly, and looks him up and down, frowning slightly. Then he sticks out his hand to shake, wiping it on his pants first. “Actually, I think my hand is sticky. Let me wash my hands and then we can shake hands. Uh, come on up,” he says, glancing at his purchases and scowling.
“I can wait,” Noah says, and already his heart is beginning to pound. He is too early. He hadn’t even considered how that could be a problem but it is. Once again he’s found a way to fuck things up.
“What? No! Don’t be ridiculous. It’s freezing out here and I’ll just be standing around watching the clock if you don’t. Come on up,” he says and unlocks the door, pushes it open, and Noah follows him inside the building. It’s a pretty inoffensive staircase. Well maintained, and quiet. There is a camera in the corner watching who comes in and who goes out. “The door is reinforced and has a metal frame. The glass is bulletproof,” Jensen says, as he tramps up the stairs.
“Uh, okay. Is that…is it a bad neighborhood?”
“No,” Jensen says, sounding sincere. “Crime rates are actually down 5% within the last year,” he says. “There hasn’t been a homicide in this zip code since last spring.”
“Are you a cop or something?”
“No, just…just like to be informed, I guess,” he says, shrugging. There’s a story there he needs to ask Will about. Who just knows facts like that?
“What do you do?” Noah asks, hoping he sounds confident.
“Uh, not much. I’m home a lot. Which might not be a good thing for you,” he says, and then they are on the top floor. “If you want privacy,” he says, not even out of breath. It was ten flights of stairs and Noah’s heart is pounding.
Jensen hesitates at the apartment door, the only one on the floor, and Noah realizes this must be the penthouse.
“Oh shit, sorry. There’s an elevator, I just never take it,” he says, likely because he can hear Noah dragging in deep lungfuls of air while trying to pretend he isn’t.
“Good to know,” Noah says, swallowing down a gasp. “It’s fine. I guess I need to get back to the gym a bit more than I realized. Uh, I like stairs. I’ll probably do the same thing. I mean, I would, you know, if you let me live here.”
