An Invitation
Twenty-three months and five days. That’s how long his mother had been out of jail this time around. She’d managed to make it into the half-way house for the first six months, and had held down a job for over a year. For the first time, Todd felt hopeful she might make it. His mother had always been damaged, broken. She’d had a hard road as a child. At fifteen, she’d gotten pregnant with Todd. Her parents kicked her out of the house and the boy who’d knocked her up wanted her to have an abortion.
Maybe she should have. Maybe her life wouldn’t have been such utter shit if she’d gotten rid of him in the womb. He thought about Tuck, the pain and sadness he’d worn like second skin lately, and felt a stab of guilt. He’d been keeping Tucker at arm’s length when it came to his mother, but he hadn’t meant to damage their relationship.
Belinda was a lot. He didn’t want to put Tuck through the drama. Tucker’s mother had completely abandoned him. How could he understand Todd’s sense of responsibility to a parent?
He’d been thrust into the role of protector in the first grade. Todd remembered walking into their trailer and finding his mother passed out on the living room floor, her pants soaked with piss, and vomit dried in the threadbare carpet. Her skin was sallow, her cheeks were gaunt, and her eyes were closed. Todd’s heart raced as fear froze him. When Belinda moaned, relief came in the form of tears that clouded his vision. He ran to her.
“Mommy,” he’d said, giving her shoulder a shake.
“Help me, baby,” she’d whispered hoarsely. “Help me sit up.”
He’d been small for six-years-old, but he’d managed to prop her up with pillows and blankets until she was sitting up. He’d stared at her, worried that her every breath might be her last, but when she kept breathing, Todd had gone into action. He’d wet a towel and cleaned her up the best he could, and then after he put a pot of water on to boil, adding coffee straight into the pot until the water turned dark. He strained the grounds with a wire-mesh food strainer into a mug. Belinda kept saying over and over how he’d saved her. How he saved her every day.
Todd shuddered when he remembered how proud he’d felt at her praise. How she’d made him feel important. Over the next several years, he’d gotten better at making coffee and taking care of his mom…until he’d been taken away and placed in foster care.
Today his mother asked to meet him for breakfast—and wanted him to invite Tucker. She planned to introduce her boss, Collin Summers, who owned the diner where she worked. Supposedly, this was the guy keeping Belinda on the straight and narrow.
God! The way she talked about the man, you’d think he was the second coming. A part of Todd hated him already—the little boy in Todd who believed he was the only one capable of taking care of her. However, he didn’t want to make trouble for his mom. She had a job, and if she wanted him to meet this Collin guy, he would. He didn’t want to be the trigger that sent her spiraling out of control again. But what about his world? Fuck! Belinda’s world seemed to be coming together while his was falling apart.
Man, there was so much he wanted to say to Tuck, so much…
But how? When Tuck had suggested he needed to get professional help, like Todd couldn’t handle his mother, it had angered Todd more than he’d imagined anyone or anything could. Tucker was supposed to be on his side, but even he thought Todd was in over his head. Was reconnecting with his mom more he could handle? He didn’t want to completely shut down on Tuck.
God, Todd missed him so fucking much.
In the tiny apartment kitchen, Todd wiped down the counters. Straightened the coffee mugs until all the handles pointed in the same direction. He almost cried out when he saw a few stray grains of coffee scattered just behind the coffee maker. Quickly, he cleaned them up too. He had half an hour before he had to meet his mom. Ten minutes until he had to leave. Plenty of time to dry-mop the kitchen floor.
He went to the utility closet just off the living room and stared at the door next to it. Tuck’s bedroom door was closed. Todd held his breath as he slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open a crack. Tuck was all sprawled out on top of his sheets in nothing but a dark blue pair of boxer shorts that hugged his gorgeous ass. Todd grimaced when he noticed the comforter wadded on the floor.
On auto-pilot, he started toward the blanket then he noticed the magazines in disarray on the dresser. “Goddamn it,” he muttered.
Before he could fix the mess, Tucker said, “Leave them be.”
Todd turned sharply, guilt gutting him like a blade. “You’re awake.”
Tuck sat up and rubbed his face. “Yep.”
Fuck! Tuck looked good when he was groomed, but he looked even better tussled. His short blond hair stuck up in multiple places, and his hard abs moved hypnotically when he scratched his arm. It had been a whole week since he’d touched Tucker’s body. A whole week since he’d held him in his arms. A week since he’d made love to the only man who’d ever mattered in his life. He licked his dry lips, trying to ignore his growing erection. Less than ten minutes until he had to leave, he reminded himself.
Tucker raised a questioning brow and lay back on the bed, stretching, his own cock bulging under the blue cotton fabric. One week since he’d wrapped that length between his lips. One week…His skin burned with fevered need. Something was broken between them, and Todd knew it was his fault. It was broken and sex wouldn’t fix the problem.
Tucker rubbed his palm over his groin. An invitation.
No, sex wouldn’t fix their problem, but a quickie might act like a bandage, stemming the blood loss on their hemorrhaging relationship. When he didn’t go to Tucker, the blond Adonis got up and crossed the floor to him. Todd’s knees felt squishy as he slowly exhaled.
Tuck pressed his palm over Todd’s heart.
“I have to go,” Todd said, his voice no more than a whisper.
“Then go,” Tucker told him. He brushed back the curls falling around Todd’s ear. Leaning in, he said, “Unless you want to stay.”
Todd felt like he would burst his skin. Every cell in his body wanted to stay…wanted to be in Tuck’s arms. “I…”
Tuck robbed him of his response with a kiss that claimed and demanded. Todd stepped into Tucker’s embrace, opening for the languid strokes of Tuck’s tongue as Tuck’s hands massaged down Todd’s back to his ass. They grinded their hips together, and Todd let himself drown for a moment in the intense feeling of Tucker’s hardness against his own. Oh God, how he missed this. How he missed Tuck.
He swallowed hard at the swell of emotion threatening to choke him. Tucker’s hands on his chest, his waist, pushing at the band on his jeans, nimble fingers unbuttoning, unzipping, his cock in Tucker’s hand. Oh yes. Yes. It was the first time since his mother’s call that he’d stopped thinking.
Tucker broke from the kiss, pushing up Todd’s shirt and dipped his head to tease Todd’s nipples, taking one between his teeth, tugging gently before laving the tip. He gave the other nipple the same attention before he moved his kisses lower. Todd’s cock hardened in response, and his balls tingled as blood rushed away from his head.
Beep. Beep. Beep. His phone alarm snapped him from the lusty haze. He stepped back, disengaging Tucker from his body, grieving the loss of his boyfriend’s touch. He couldn’t give in to impulsive behavior. Not now. Not with so much to lose.
“I have to go,” he said. He couldn’t look at Tucker. He knew if he did, he wouldn’t be able to leave, then his mom…”I’m sorry. We’ll talk to tonight, but I really have to go.” He zipped his jeans. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “She needs me.”
As he walked out, he heard Tucker say, “I need you too.”