Page 42 of Inbetweeners
“Are you delusional? Why the fuck would you think that?”
“Because I’m gorgeous.”
“You’re despicable.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s not a compliment.”
“Aren’t demons supposed to be despicable?” Nix grinned.
Emmett clenched his teeth. “Fuck off.”
“Say that and mean it.”
Emmett gaped at him. Nix moved quickly because he didn’t want to give Emmett time to react. Not until the idiot got his head in gear. He pinned Emmett down and kissed him. Hard. Too hard. It was an angry kiss, but Nix couldn’t help himself.Please don’t push me away.
Their lips were welded together, and when Nix registered that Emmett was letting it happen, not fighting, not trying to buck him off, something broke inside him. Nix clamped his hands around Emmett’s head, pressing harder against his lips until Emmett opened his mouth and let him in. In spite of all the name calling and scorn and criticism…on both sides…Emmett wants me!
The kiss went on, tongues touching, teeth clashing, bodies pushing together. Nix could feel the rigid length of Emmett’s cock pressing against his stomach through the covers on the bed. His own cock was in the same state.He’s kissing me back!
As suddenly as the kiss had started, it ended. To his surprise, that hadn’t been down to Emmett. It was Nix who’d panicked and flung himself back on his own bed, his heart going crazy in his chest. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
“Wow,” Emmett whispered. “Why did you do that? Trying to prove a point?” He paused. “Did you?”
Questions that brought out the worst in Nix. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I have zero sexual interest in you. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Okay? I just needed the kiss to distract you from what I really wanted to do which was—”
“Strangle me. Yep, I get it.”
Nix heard the hurt in his voice.
He curled up facing away from Emmett and soundlessly groaned into the pillow. Why had he done that? Well, he knew why and it wasn’t to shut the guy up. Not exactly. Nix had been behaving like a jerk and Emmett didn’t let him get away with it. Nixneededhim. Someone who was kind and good, even if Emmett was sometimes a dickhead, even if he made Nix sometimes behave like a dickhead.
For a year, Nix had had no one to talk to, no one to be his friend, no one he wanted to be a friend. No one to mess around with, no one to laugh with, no one to tease. He couldn’t trust anyone in Hell. Everyone was out for themselves. No one had touched him with kindness in over a year. Maybe a lot longer than that because prior to dying, Nix’s random hook-ups were short and not always sweet. So, yes, he’d kissed Emmett because he’d wanted to, except when he’d felt Emmett really starting to respond, it had made him freak out.Coward.Yeah, he was.
He shouldn’t have kissed him. It could only lead to trouble. He should have gone out, picked up a guy in a bar, fucked him in the toilets, and scratched that itch to be touched until it stopped bothering him. If he really needed Emmett, why hadn’t he crawled into bed with him, and persuaded him to wrap that annoying, prissy mouth around his cock?
Nix bit back his groan. He wanted to mess up Emmett’s perfect hair, take that superior look off his face, and fuck him until he screamed his name—Nix, not Phoenix. He was pretty sure Emmett was only using his full name because he knew it annoyed him. Yet, did it annoy him? Nix wanted to consume him, he wanted those bright green eyes to look into his as he fucked him and see only him, to want only him, toburnfor him.
He’d lied about the crew he’d want for his never-going-to-happen yacht voyage. He didn’t want a muscular blond with tattoos and piercings. He wanted a sulky, stuck-up, dark-haired guy who picked fault with everything, because Nix wanted to drive Emmett wild with wanting, wanted to…
Stop thinking!
Now his cock was iron hard and he couldn’t wank because he wasn’t going to give Emmett the satisfaction of hearing him and wondering if that was down to him. So, he’d lie here feeling miserable, hoping that Vin had just been a dream and that tonight, if he dreamt, he’d only see himself fucking the hell out of Mr Perfect. On that yacht.
Hope…As if that had ever got him anywhere. Nothing in his life had gone right. It had been a waste of time hoping for anything. Hoping Santa Claus came that year. Hoping his father didn’t come home drunk. Hoping his mother didn’t get high. Hoping his brother didn’t get picked on. That Emmett had chosen to forget memories that had most likely been perfectly fine, if dull, when Nix’s memories were both burned into his brain and scarred onto his body, was something that made his blood boil. Emmett had chosen to forget and Nix would do anything not to remember, but that was the price of what he’d done.
If he’d chosen a different path… If he’d listened to the advice others had tried to give him… If he’d been a better person… A different person… But he hadn’t, and he still wasn’t. He was a piece of shit who’d rarely done anything unless it brought some benefit to himself. He hadn’t cared about anyone—much, apart from his brother, so why should anyone have cared about him? Well, no one really had and now no one ever would. Emmett thought he was a waste of space and he was right.
Nix hadn’t intended to follow his demon masters’ instructions and not do his job well, but if he needed to give examples on his return, driving away from Harry would probably count. Not pressing Malcolm about who killed him was another. But Emmett had also been right about Harry. It had been a shitty trick to desert him like that. The kid had been useful and hewasone of the lingering souls they were supposed to be helping. If there was someone out there wanting to use those…inbetweeners—as good a name as any to describe those who’d not moved on—Harry was easy prey. Naive, eager to please, cute in his way, though not prissy, up-his-own-arse, gorgeous-eyed Emmett.Who I fucking shouldn’t want. Shit.
Nix tried to imagine Emmett crawling into his bed, sliding into his arms, asking him to kiss him again…
“Open your eyes, Nix.”
Not Emmett’s voice, but Nix’s eyes opened. He was back in a room with Vin.Shit! Wake up!Not the same room. This time, a wall of glass gave a night time view of London’s skyscrapers. Vin was wearing a smart grey suit and tie, his dark hair curling to his shoulders.
“You again,” Nix said. “Fuck off out of my head.”
