Helping Hand (8 page)

with Gem m a. Jez watched as she tossed her hair and looked at Mac

seductively from under her lashes. Mac sm iled and m oved closer. Jez

tore his gaze away, an uneasy feeling lodged like stone in the pit of his

belly.

“Excuse m e.” He spoke into Gabi’s ear so she’d hear him over the

deep bass of the m usic. “I need to pee.”

“Okay.” She carried on dancing, unconcerned.

Jez pushed his way through the bodies until he reached the door at

the back that led to the toilets. There were two sets of doors between the

club and the toilets, and when the inner door swung shut, it was quiet, with

the noise from outside alm ost com pletely gone. Only one other guy was

in there, and Jez j oined him at the urinal. He really did need to go; the

beer was a heavy weight in his bladder. The other guy zipped up and left,

and Jez was aware of som eone else com ing in behind him . A large figure

m oved in close beside him , in clear breach of unspoken urinal etiquette.

When Jez realised it was Mac, he relaxed.

“All right,” Jez greeted him . “Having fun? Gem m a seem s cool.” He

tried to keep his tone casual, but he wasn’t sure if he m anaged it. There

was a tightness in his throat that lent tension to his voice.

“Uh, y eah. She’s great,” Mac replied. Jez tried to squash the

j ealousy that twisted his gut. “What about y ou and Gabi? Are y ou gonna

go for it? I think she’s into y ou.”

Jez glanced sideway s, try ing to gauge Mac’s true feelings, but Mac’s

face gave nothing away as he stared at the tiled wall.

“Yeah, why not?” Jez replied briskly. “It’s about tim e we got som e

action, right?” He tucked him self away and went to wash his hands. He

looked at the reflection of Mac’s back in the m irror. Mac’s broad shoulders

stretched the fabric of his T-shirt, the bunched m uscles visible through the

thin m aterial.

When Mac j oined Jez at the sinks, he was still avoiding Jez’s gaze. Jez

took the opportunity to stare, cataloguing the sharp line of Mac’s j aw, the

shadow of his stubble, and the deep brown pools of his ey es. Jez clenched

his teeth in the uncom fortable silence.

As they went back into the m ain part of the club, the sweaty heat of

dancing bodies, the scent of perfum e vy ing with cologne, and the loud

pulse of m usic assaulted Jez’s senses. He felt dizzy for a m om ent, losing

his footing slightly as he adj usted to the sudden change from the cool

quiet of the toilets. Mac put his hand on Jez’s shoulder, the weight of it

steady ing him .

“You okay, m ate?”

“Yeah. Yeah… j ust a bit too m uch beer. I’m not used to it.”

They found their friends on the dance floor again. Gabi approached

Jez as soon as she saw him , a sm ile on her face and a sway to her hips.

He let her take his hands and pull him close. He m et Mac’s gaze over the

top of her head, though, and they stared at each other for a m om ent

before Mac turned away.

Jez lost him self in the rhy thm of the m usic and the sensation of

Gabi’s body m oving with his. The alcohol had dulled his senses but done

nothing to ease the discom fort that sat heavy in his chest. But Gabi felt

good against him , and even though his heart wasn’t in it, his body

responded. He let him self fall into the well-practised m oves of seduction,

holding her close and stroking her back, leaning down so he could press

his face into her neck. She sm elled as pretty as she looked, floral and

sweet, but it wasn’t what Jez was craving.

When their lips finally m et, it felt inevitable, but all Jez could think

about was what it would be like to kiss Mac instead. To have a body larger

than his own in his arm s, to be leaning up to kiss instead of down. He

closed his ey es and pulled Gabi closer, try ing to blot out his traitorous

thoughts and feeling like an arsehole for not appreciating her.

Jez had no idea how m uch tim e passed as they kissed and danced

and kissed som e m ore—an hour or so, perhaps? Eventually Gabi pulled

his head down and said into his ear, “Do y ou want to get out of here? You

can com e back to m y place.” She drew back and sm iled, hopeful.

Decision time.

Jez scanned the dance floor for Mac and saw him , still dancing with

Gem m a. They weren’t kissing y et, but Jez assum ed it was only a m atter

of tim e.

“Yeah, okay. But I need to go to the toilet again.” He didn’t really.

But he wanted a m om ent to clear his head; to be sure he was m aking the

right decision.

He brushed past Mac as he went but didn’t catch his ey e.

He didn’t realise Mac had followed him until the door to the toilets

slam m ed shut behind them . Mac had Jez pinned up against the wall

before Jez knew what was happening. Mac’s face was set, a m uscle

ticking in his j aw as he glared down at him .

“What the fuck, Mac?” Jez didn’t m ake any m ove to push him away.

His heart was going like a trip ham m er, and the scent of Mac’s sweat was

m aking him harder in thirty seconds than Gabi’s kisses had in an hour.

The crash of Mac’s lips against his was the last thing Jez expected.

Frozen with shock, his m outh went slack as Mac forced his tongue into

Jez’s m outh, greedy and dem anding. But after a few seconds, Jez’s brain

caught up with what was happening, and his body followed with a hot

surge of arousal. He grabbed Mac’s face in both hands and held him there

—not that Mac was try ing to pull away. It felt like Mac was try ing to take

up residence in Jez’s m outh, and Jez was okay with that. He gave as good

as he got, kissing Mac back fiercely, eliciting a groan that went right to

Jez’s cock.

The sound of the outer door m ade them spring apart. They gazed at

each other for a split second, ey es wide, breath panting, and then Jez

ducked around Mac and went to the sink. Having a piss would be a

phy sical im possibility right now, even if raging erections at the urinal

were socially acceptable.

Mac headed for a cubicle, and the door clanged shut, followed by

the scrape of a bolt.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The other bloke who’d com e in headed to the urinal. Jez’s hands

shook as he ran cold water on them and splashed it onto his burning

cheeks. He stared at him self in the m irror, taking in his hectic flush and

dark pupils that nearly eclipsed the blue of his irises. His cock ached.

Jez waited. The newcom er seem ed to take forever to piss while Jez

washed his hands slowly.

Finally the other guy left.

“He’s gone.” Jez’s raised voice echoed off the tiles.

No answer.

He tried again. “Are we going to talk about what j ust happened?”

Mac opened the door, his cheeks as flushed as Jez’s, but he m et Jez’s

gaze and held it. “Not here,” he said. “Back at hom e?”

“Now?”

Mac nodded.

Chapter Eight

The walk hom e was tense. Thankfully they didn’t have far to go

because it was near to freezing now. They walked quickly. Their breath

m ade clouds of vapour, and the chill stung Jez’s cheeks. Dressed for

clubbing, they only had thin j ackets with no hats, gloves, or scarves.

Silence stretched awkwardly between them . Jez had no idea what to say.

His stom ach was full of ram paging butterflies as he wondered what was

going to happen when they got back to the house.

Mac finally asked, “Was Gabi pissed off at y ou for ditching her?”

“No,” Jez said. “But I told her I was feeling sick, so she couldn’t

argue with that. She gave m e her num ber.”

“You gonna use it?”

“I dunno.” Jez doubted it. It wouldn’t be fair to string her along when

he wasn’t feeling it. Mac’s rough kisses had obliterated all m em ory of her

lips. “What about y ou and Gem m a?”

“Nothing happened between us. She was dancing with Mike when

we left, so I didn’t bother to say any thing.”

Back at the house, Jez let them in. He went straight upstairs, and Mac

followed him in silence. Jez pushed open the door of his room , and the

creak of a floorboard told him that Mac was still behind him . His heart

thum ped against his ribs, and he felt dizzy with nerves. Jez switched on

the bedside lam p and turned. Mac looked huge in the dim light, and the

y ellow glow softened his features as he m et Jez’s gaze. He swallowed, the

click of his throat audible in the silence.

“What are we doing?” Jez’s voice was hoarse.

Mac shrugged, a sm all m ovem ent of his shoulders. “Can I kiss y ou

again?”

Jez huffed a nervous laugh. “You didn’t ask the first tim e.”

Mac’s lips twitched. “I didn’t know I was going to do it till it

happened.”

“Get over here, then.”

This tim e the kiss was cautious, m ore like a first kiss than the crazy

im pulsivity of before. As their lips parted and tongues touched, Jez closed

his ey es and let the slow wave of sensation engulf him . Mac’s hands

cupped his face at first, still chilled from the winter air outside but

warm ing fast. Jez held Mac’s waist, tugging him closer until their hips

bum ped together. God, Mac was hard already, and Jez was getting there

fast. He slid his hands lower and palm ed Mac’s arse, half expecting him

to pull away, but he didn’t. Instead he groaned into Jez’s m outh and kissed

him m ore hungrily. The rasp of his stubble on Jez’s was alien and thrilling,

and the size and strength of Mac’s hands as he slid them up the back of

Jez’s T-shirt and stroked them over his skin were so different to what Jez

was used to. He shivered.

“Sorry, are they cold?” Mac m urm ured.

“Yeah, but don’t stop.”

Overwhelm ed with arousal and the thrill of finally getting to touch

Mac like this, Jez wanted m ore. He was done being cautious. Mac had

started this, and Jez was going to take what he could get while it lasted. He

kissed Mac again, hard and deep, and slid his hands up the front of Mac’s

T-shirt, palm ing over the ridges of Mac’s abs and up to his chest. Mac’s

skin was sm ooth, and his nipples hardened under Jez’s teasing fingers. Jez

stroked and pinched lightly, and Mac whim pered, pressing his hips harder

into Jez.

Jez broke the kiss to pull his own T-shirt off, craving skin-on-skin.

“Yours too,” he dem anded.

Mac only hesitated for a second before com ply ing.

They kissed again, and the contact of their warm , bare chests

pressing close together m ade Jez’s balls ache with the need to com e. So

good, so fucking good. He grabbed Mac’s hips and hauled him closer,

grinding their erections together. It was am azing, but it still wasn’t enough.

“Com e on,” he gasped out between kisses, pushing Mac towards the

bed. “Lie down.”

They fell sideway s onto the m attress, breathless and laughing as the

springs squeaked. Jez kissed Mac again. He couldn’t get enough of it. Mac

was so big and strong, sexy in a way that Jez hadn’t fully appreciated

before. As they kissed, Jez got his hands on Mac’s fly and fum bled with

the buttons, clum sily unfastening them so he could reach inside for Mac’s

cock. Once he’d got Mac’s erection free, he did the sam e for his own,

then started to stroke Mac in earnest.

“Oh,” Mac gasped.

“Yeah.” Jez’s voice cam e out sounding wrecked. Mac’s hot silky

hardness in his hand felt am azing. He thrust his own cock against Mac’s

hip, hissing at the catch of rough denim on his sensitive cockhead.

Mac took the hint and wrapped his large hand around Jez, and Jez

fucked into the grip of Mac’s fist, biting back a m oan.

It was m essy and desperate, all biting kisses, stroking hands, and

awkward thrusting. Jez was rem inded of his first hand j ob—m ore

enthusiasm than coordination, but it hadn’t m attered because it was

som eone else’s hand on his dick and that was all he’d cared about. Now

this was hot because it wasn’t j ust som eone else. It was Mac, his m ate, his

straight m ate, and this was all kinds of fucked-up and probably really

unwise, but Mac was kissing Jez like he owned him , and apparently Jez

was a total sucker for that.

He clim axed with an undignified whim per, slicking the tight channel

of Mac’s fist with warm com e as he turned and pressed his face into

Mac’s neck. He didn’t want Mac to see his expression. He was too raw, too

exposed, afraid of what Mac m ight find there. As he shook with the force