Love Lessons (37 page)

Kelly wanted more.

He tried to turn his head and catch Walter’s mouth—he met his lips a few times, but it was a tease, not what he wanted. Figuring it out, Walter pulled out, leaving Kelly aching and empty until Walter rolled him over, pushed his thighs against his chest and pressed into him again, catching his mouth in a kiss as his cock resumed its previous engagement. Kelly moaned into Walter’s mouth, shaking—from this angle, Walter could fuck deeper, and it made Kelly feel like he’d die with want.

Walter nipped at his lips. “I have to be careful. This is your first time, and I don’t want you to be sore.”

“God, I want to be sore.” Kelly nipped back, thrusting his hips against Walter’s cock to take it deeper inside. “Oh God, please.”

“We have all the time in the world, Red. No need to rush.”

Kelly was done with all the time in the world. He wanted
now
. “Fuck me, Walter,” he whispered. “Please.
Fuck me.
”

Walter did. Kissing Kelly with so much tongue it gave him goose bumps, Walter spread Kelly’s legs wide and pounded against his body until their skin slapped, until Kelly’s cock bounced between their bellies. Walter fucked Kelly hard, fucked him deep, fucked him long and slow and fast. He tucked Kelly’s legs to one side, then another, placing Kelly’s legs over his own shoulders until Kelly lay flat on the bed, speaking in sexual tongues as Walter both pounded into him and jerked his cock toward its inevitable end. Kelly came abruptly and hard, feeling like his whole body exploded and shattered across the room. When he came around, Walter was winding up for his own release. Kelly watched him through bleary eyes, watched his lover’s eyes close, his mouth open, watched everything strip away as he lost himself and came.

When Walter collapsed onto the bed beside him, Kelly made his weakened limbs move enough to pull him close, twining them back together. His backside twinged, and he realized Walter was right. He was going to be sore.

He couldn’t, however, bring himself to care.

Holding Walter tight, he pressed lazy kisses to his cheek and chin. Walter burrowed in against him, laughing with little breath to spare.

“Shit,” he said, and laughed again.

Kelly kissed him on the mouth, slow and lazy.

I’ll never leave you.
Walter’s words from the restaurant echoed in Kelly’s heart, sinking there like lead. Kelly shut his eyes and threaded his fingers into Walter’s hair.

I love you, and I don’t want to ever leave you, either.

Except even as he thought this, he thought too of his family’s dwindling bank account, of his mother’s lack of a job, of what three more years of Hope would do to their finances, what it would mean for Lisa’s chance at going to school, any school—and Kelly knew that while he didn’t want to leave, he couldn’t promise, not honestly, that he wouldn’t.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The documentary production went very well, and Jax promised an Oscar-worthy film by the time they returned from break. Ethan’s computer nerds stood by ready to roll, and Rose printed the posters and prepared the graphics and copy for social media. Really, Walter thought, it was a shame they couldn’t put all this on their resumes, because it was better than half the internships they could sign up for.

He had dinner with Williams before Walter went back to Northbrook—Thai takeout in Williams’s office with the traditional bad coffee. They’d remained in their usual contact since the campaign began, but their conversations were always slightly stilted, and they kept the door wide open and their voices at levels allowing others to verify they weren’t colluding on plans. Tonight, however, they were the only two in the building, and Williams declared he didn’t care. Wearily, he shut the door and handed Walter a box of red curry and rice.

“Don’t give me details,” he said, “but tell me that you’re not killing yourselves over this. If I lose my job
and
you all flunk out of college, I’ll never live with myself.”

“We’re fine. You give us most of our grades, and last I checked, we’re still working our asses off for them.” He aimed his fork at Williams. “You’re not losing your job.”

Williams shrugged and dipped into his green curry. He looked so defeated. “Holtz says there’s good odds that this Regent meeting will smooth things over.”

Walter brightened. “There
is
a meeting then?”

Williams winced. “Shit, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

“Already forgotten.” Except he was so calling Rose on the way home. He didn’t want to torture the professor any further, though, so he changed the subject. “How’s the family doing?”

“Fair. Stressed. I have applications out all over the country, and a couple of colleges have put me into consideration for interviews. Karen wants me to wait until Holtz does his thing, but honestly, I have to have a back-up plan in place. Getting a new position isn’t easy in any event, but add my age and lack of publishing and it’s almost impossible. But she doesn’t want to move, and neither do the kids. So it’s hell.” He sighed. “Sorry, I’m a real Debbie Downer.”

“I hate that they’re doing this to you. It makes me insane.”

Williams reached over and squeezed his arm briefly, then fussed with his mouse, scrolling through his email while he continued to speak. “I’ll make it through. It’s you I worry about. Tell me good things about your life, Walter. I know you’re hopelessly in love with your roommate and he with you, so I assume that’s all good. Doing anything together over break?”

Thinking of Kelly made Walter ease a little. “No, he has to go back home. His mom got laid off, and he wants to be with the family. I think he has some crazy idea about getting a job over break, but yeah, that’s what he’s doing. I’m heading home to do First Attendant prep work with Cara.”

Williams stopped messing with his mouse. “Is Kelly’s family okay? Do we need to look at some scholarships for him?”

“That’s probably a good idea, though they’ll have to be academic, not need-based. He’s in that crappy middle bit where his family still has income but is about to lose it. So he won’t qualify for loans until next year. I know too that his dad won’t want him taking loans, either. But Kelly’s obsessed because his sister is on deck to go to school.”

Williams frowned. “Hope is pretty damn expensive. I hope he’s able to continue.”

Walter went still. His shoulders tightened, so much so that he felt a sharp pinch in a tendon on his left side. “What do you mean?”

“Just that if he’s in that much of a financial snarl, he may have to transfer out.” When Walter went white, Williams swore and sat up. “Shit. God, I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. He won’t transfer, Walter. Ignore me.”

Walter was having a hard time breathing. “You think he’ll have to leave Hope?”

“I don’t think anything. Debbie Downer, remember? Like you said, scholarships. There are a few that are for need-based but don’t have anything to do with FAFSA requirements. I know a few people who know a few people. We’ll get him sorted, okay?” He studied Walter’s face for a second, then sank back in his chair and wiped his forehead. “Okay. Good. That’s settled. Just don’t ever look at me like that again.”

Walter blinked. He felt dizzy and off focus. “What do you mean? Look like what?”

“Like I’d killed your dog in front of you. Though God knows I’ve already let you down enough this year.” He pinched his forehead. “Seriously, ignore me. I’m not in a good head space. It’s funny, I prepared all year to be told I was losing my job, but somehow I still wasn’t ready.”

Dimly, Walter was aware something significant had just happened. Some part of him was able to pull back and assess the situation, observing both that Williams had brought up a valid point about Kelly and Hope and that Walter had pretty much freaked out at the idea of Kelly leaving. Worse than Williams leaving. He couldn’t observe this long though, because even acknowledging it made him feel very…bad. He swallowed and put the Thai down on the edge of the desk.

Williams swore under his breath. “Subject change. Tell me about your Valentine’s Day. I don’t even care if I hear something inappropriate. Tell me about your date, because knowing you, it was spectacular.”

Walter thought about the trip to St. Louis, the fancy dinner, the way Kelly’s face had lit up at all the special touches, the way he’d felt in Walter’s arms. He meant to tell Williams about that, but instead when he opened his mouth he said, “He gave me a Disney movie.”

Williams raised his eyebrows. “For Valentine’s Day? Which one?”

“
Pete’s Dragon
on Blu-ray.” Walter stared at the Thai container, smiling to himself as he remembered. “He kind of has a Disney fetish, and I told him once that I loved that one as a kid. So he got it for me. We’ve watched it twice already.”

Williams smiled and eased back into his chair. “Perfect. What’d you give him?”

Walter told the story of their St. Louis trip, which ended up bleeding into the story of how they accidentally got lost on the way home and had dinner in some weird barbecue joint where Walter personally inspected the kitchen for allergens and Kelly sat mortified in the booth. Williams laughed, and they ate their Thai, and when Walter finally got on the road for Chicago, he was still smiling as he thought of hanging out with his advisor. It had been like old times, after the bumpy start. He was determined to make sure they had one more year of doing so, and that any time he felt like visiting Hope he could do that again, for as long as Williams wanted to be there.

Northbrook of course put an immediate damper on his bliss, but he had been ready for that. His mother had been frosty at best since he’d run away at Christmas, and he would have skipped coming home entirely, but he wanted to check in on Tibby and he’d promised he’d help Cara. He took care of his sister first, booking several full days at the barn to watch her ride and promising to go to a Saturday show after he had his big prep meeting with Cara.

Tibby seemed to be doing well—their grandparents had shown up the week before, and Grandma Claire had been keeping tabs on Tibby, it turned out, making sure she was okay. Walter made a mental note to send her a bucket of flowers and chocolates and an album full of pictures of him and Kelly. His mom was also a happy surprise. She told him she’d switched to a new therapist and was working hard, always taking her meds. She’d fired the cleaning service too and did the work around the house herself because it made her feel productive, like that time they’d worked together. Something told Walter there was no way his mom was now in perfect mental health—there would be more awkward moments and nasty shifts—but the fact that she was clearly trying meant a lot.

Cara wasn’t as easy. She was in full bridezilla mode, with the wedding only two months away, and every message from the caterer or florist contained a potential international incident and opportunity for every woman in the room to break down weeping. In Cara’s defense, Walter could tell her mother and grandmother and her mother-in-law-to-be only threw oil on the fire and made sure it had plenty of coals. So on the Friday night before he went back to Hope, he took her down to Boystown, plunked her at the bar at Roscoe’s and got her completely smashed.

“I just want to go to Vegas,” she sobbed into her appletini. “I want to marry Greg. But I can’t do this wedding.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Walter told her for the thirtieth time and signaled the bartender to switch her over to water for a bit. “Give me the list of things you want me to do, and I’ll do them. Tibby will help too.”

“You can’t. You have Williams to save.” She sobbed harder. “I’ve been a horrible friend because I haven’t been helping you.”

She pretty much had been horrible, but after watching for a week what her life had become, Walter understood why. He wiped her face with a bar napkin, wondering if he should tell her that her mascara had pulled a Tammy Faye or if it was best to let that ride. “Kelly’s helping me, and Rose. Even that dingbat Ethan Miller is pulling his weight. We’ve got Williams. You keep working not to lose your mind before you walk down the aisle.”

“I tried so hard,” she whispered. “I tried not to let it go crazy. I don’t know how I lost control.” She hiccupped. “Then my work has been bad, and Greg is all stressed—” She picked up a napkin and blew her nose into it.

Walter stroked her back, kept her hydrated, repeated soothing refrains. When the bars closed, he got her home, stopped on the way to let her vomit, and spent the night at her house and made sure she was done emptying her stomach. He woke before she did, went downstairs and had a long talk with her mother about Cara’s stress level.

Checking his phone, he saw he had about two hours before they were supposed to start stuffing wedding-favor bags and take Cara to her final fitting. Slipping out to a local coffee shop, he ordered a soy latte in honor of Kelly, then called him up and smiled as his boyfriend answered the phone.

The post-break blitz to save Williams went, Kelly thought, as well as it probably could. The documentary was well-received and seemed to renew the interest in saving the communications department, and the negative side campaign, including the hacking, helped make the administration look particularly bad. Walter had said there would be a meeting of the board of regents, and true to form, they had one scheduled for the last week in April. They planned to discuss the departmental issues and announce their decision the last week of classes in May, which also happened to be the week before Cara’s wedding.