Torn (29 page)

“The feeling’s mutual, Ace. Thank
you for making my second base experience so special.”

“You deserve special, Sky Torres,
and I can’t believe a guy like me got lucky enough to get a girl like you.”

“
Nate.”
It was so the
other way around. How had I been lucky enough to get him?

Sky

Christmas Day

“Diego, I forgot the cranberries
and Janice has some extra, I’m going to run down to get them.”

“Who’s Janice?” Pops called as he
sipped on a beer on the couch, yelling encouragements at the game on TV while
Mom and I were setting the table.

“Someone I work with. She never
stops talking though, so I might be an hour or so. Can you keep an eye on the
turkey?”

“What about Sky? I’m watching the
game from last week, you know how much I was looking forward to it.”

“I want her to come with me, I
may get away early if I use the excuse that she’s waiting in the car.”

“Mom,” I groaned. It was bad
enough that I wasn’t going to see Nate and Josh today, now I had to sit in a
car on some stranger’s driveway for God knows how long?

“Don’t argue, you’re coming. I
hardly see you anymore, we can catch up in the car.”

“Fine.” I headed to the refrigerator
to grab a bottle of water and frowned as I spotted a dish full of cranberries
at the back of the fridge. I pulled them out and turned around to wave them at
her, and maybe tease her for being so old her eyesight must be failing. Instead,
I jumped and almost dropped them to find her standing right in front of me. She
snatched them out of my hands and gave me a fierce look as she shoved them back
in the fridge, tucking them behind something so they weren’t immediately
visible. “Ermmm, what’s–”

“Sssshhhh,” she whispered sharply,
cutting me off. “See you in a while, darling.”

“Ok,” Pops called, as Mom dragged
me behind her and we headed out to the garage.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

“Just trust me. Get in the car
and I’ll explain on the way.” She winked at me and climbed in, so I did too and
buckled up as she activated the garage door to open. She flicked her head for
me to look on the back seat, and I gasped as I did. There was a stack of
containers filled up, just like for Thanksgiving.

“Mom?”

“I can’t bear the thought of
those poor boys not having a nice dinner. We’re going there and I’m going to
dish up for them while you go and have a few minutes alone with your boyfriend
to suck face, or whatever you youngsters call it nowadays.”

“Mom,” I laughed, my heart
soaring to know she hadn’t only gone to all the trouble of making another
Christmas dinner for Nate and Josh, without mine or Pops’ knowledge, but that I
was going to see them both after all. She had invited them to join us, much to
Pops’ chagrin, but as expected, Nate had refused to leave his mom alone.

“Well, I was your age once, too.
So was your father, and he’s forgotten that. I’d have been so disappointed to
have been kept from him on such a special occasion. And it’s not right, their
mother doesn’t look after them, and the less we say about that Billy and his
mom, the better.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed with
a sigh. Billy was refusing to talk to Nate because of me choosing him, so Josh
and Billy had fallen out as well. But instead of being grateful for all that
the brothers had done for him and thinking about what a miserable Christmas
they were going to have stuck at home with their drunken mom, Billy and his mom
had gone out of state “to visit friends.” At least that was the story he’d told
them when, despite everything, Nate asked them to come over. I knew better.
They’d gone on an all-expenses-paid cruise. “Thank you so much, Mom, I really
appreciate it, but when did you have time to do all of this?”

“I promised your dad some favors
if he went and played golf with one of his new work buddies yesterday, so he
was none the wiser.”

“What sort of … no, don’t answer
that,” I stated firmly when it clicked. She giggled like a schoolgirl and I
rolled my eyes.

“Sky?!” Josh’s face was a picture
as he opened his front door to find us standing there, loaded up with food.

“Meals on wheels. Merry Christmas!”

“Nate,” he hollered over his
shoulder. “He’s just taking a shower, should be out in a minute. Ma threw her
bowl of Captain Crunch at him earlier, he was covered in it,” he chuckled. “Come
on in. Here, Mrs. Torres, let me take those off you.” He whisked the containers
out of her hands and headed over to the kitchen island.

“How can he laugh about it?” Mom
whispered, shaking her head with pity in her eyes.

“Because I think they’d both cry
if they didn’t.” Mom took some containers off me after she shut the door, and
we went to join Josh. He was in his jeans with a gray sweatshirt that said “Sexy
Men Read” on it, which made me smile. I’d given it to him for Christmas. I was
touched he was wearing it without even knowing he’d see me today. He just needed
a pair of black-rimmed glasses to be the hottest studious guy that ever walked
campus. We’d found our way back to our comfortable friendship again, which was
so good. He had yet to see me and Nate together though, having decided he’d
rather take the bus to and from college on the days Nate could drive, and
avoiding his baseball practices as well. He was fine with Nate on his own, so I
hoped in time he’d feel he could be around us as a couple, too. He came and
enveloped me in a tight hug and kissed the top of my head.

“Merry Christmas, Sky, thanks
again for my gift.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied,
kissing his cheek. I’d spent the morning in a flurry of texts from Nate, Josh,
and Liam, between helping cook. I’d texted Billy too, but he hadn’t replied. “And
thank you for mine too, I love it.”

“Sorry it wasn’t much,” he
grimaced as he released me.

“I
love
it,” I repeated.
He’d given me a CD of the latest
Sia
album that I hadn’t gotten around
to purchasing.

“Nate!” he yelled again. “Sorry,
he usually has music on in the shower. I think it’s a good distraction, he
spends ages in the damn thing.”

I coughed and nearly choked,
thinking that singing along to music wasn’t what he’d been doing in the shower
last night.

“Everything ok?” Nate’s voice
drifted into the room and we all looked around. This time it was Mom’s turn to
choke and splutter when he appeared with a small black towel around his waist.
“Shit!” he uttered, then shot Josh a glare. “You could have said we had company.”

“We also have Christmas dinner,
thanks to Mrs. T and Sky. Go get some clothes on, you’re embarrassingly out of
shape.”

“Hardly,” Mom murmured under her
breath, making me turn to give her an incredulous look.

“Cougar,” I warned. She laughed
and turned around to ask Josh where the plates were so she could dish up.

I turned to face Nate and raised
an eyebrow as he grinned at me and held out his hand. I quickly looked back
over at Mom, but she just smiled and gave a gentle nod. I knew Pops wasn’t
going to hear that I’d disappeared with a half-naked Nate, or totally naked
Nate bar that little towel struggling to conceal him. I took the hand he
offered and he hurried us out of the lounge and into his room. The second he
shut the door, he spun me back against it. There was no teasing this time. His
lips and hands were hot and needy, just like mine. Before I had a chance to
second-guess myself, I’d tugged the towel off his body and reached down to grip
his cock the way he’d shown me last night.

“Sky,” he croaked, slapping his
palms on the door on either side of my head. “Jesus, your mom and Josh are
nearby, my ma too.”

“So don’t make any noise. Unless
I’m doing it wrong and you need to tell me.” I worked my hand up and down his
shaft, and he buried his face in my neck with a muffled moan as he let me carry
on. He was so hard, but the skin around it was so soft and velvety, and he was
warm, except for that piece of metal that I kept skimming over, making him bite
my neck as he mumbled words I couldn’t even make out. I remembered what he’d
said and swept my thumb over his glossy head, feeling the sticky texture
coating it, wondering what he might taste like. I reached down with my other
hand to cup his smooth balls, and they hung heavy in my palm as I continued to
stroke him, fast then slow, squeezing then releasing. I could hear him panting,
his hips starting to thrust himself into me as I tried to remember what Liam
had told me guys loved. I grinned as I remembered and while I gently squeezed
his balls, I extended my middle finger, pressing firmly on the skin just below
his anus and stroking it.

“Jesus
fucking
Christ!”
Nate exclaimed as he lifted his head, his mouth ajar and eyes on fire. “Fuck …
fuck … oh fuck. Yes, baby, that’s it, faster, harder, don’t stop.”

“Sssshhhh,” I giggled, kissing
him to shut him up, but so proud that I was doing something that made him react
like that. A few more strokes had his eyes widen, imploring me not to stop, and
I knew the moment it was coming as his body stiffened and his back arched. He
quickly smothered my hand with his, and I looked down to watch them working
together to milk his climax from him as he emptied himself into our joined hands
with a muffled curse. “Ok, Ace?” I asked, as his shoulders jerked up and down
while he tried to catch his breath.

“A-ok,” he nodded with an
ecstatic smile. “Damn. Best Christmas ever! No wonder you’re so smart, you pick
things up quick.”

“Your cock or the hand job?” I
teased. He chuckled and shook his head.

“Don’t move, keep your fist
closed,” he advised as he carefully extracted himself and kept his fist wrapped
around himself as he padded over to his bedside table. He pulled open the
drawer and extracted a few wet wipes, cleaning himself up, before bringing a
couple more over and taking care of the mess inside my clenched hand.

“Prepared like a boy scout. Not
your first time jerking off in your bedroom, huh?”

“Definitely not, more so since
you breezed into town,” he laughed as he tossed the wipes in the trashcan. I
watched him as he quickly pulled on some boxers, his gray jeans, and a black
V-neck sweater, then raked his hands through his hair furiously, getting it back
into the messy unstyled look I loved so much. He finally turned around and came
back over to clasp my face.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I smiled.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” he
murmured as he gave me a gentle kiss that told me how happy he really was to
see me.

“Merry Christmas,” I replied when
we broke apart, me feeling like I was going to faint. “You still haven’t opened
your present?” I asked, sure I’d spotted it under the very pathetic-looking
tree they had in the lounge. It was their only decoration, with a few strands
of multi-colored tinsel and some flashing lights, some of the bulbs of which
had burned out and not been replaced. I hated that they struggled so much.

“No. I told you, I wasn’t going
to see you today, so I wanted to keep it until I went to bed,” he reminded me.
I felt my heart melt at the reminder that he’d said he wanted his last thoughts
of what was likely to be “a pretty miserable fucking Christmas,” to be of me,
and suddenly it would be the best Christmas ever.

“You say the sweetest things,” I
sighed, pecking his lips. I’d gotten him a leather cuff bracelet in black. It
had three braided strands that wound around and were secured with a silver buckle.
I’d seen it and thought how Nate it was. I hoped he’d like it.

“Have you opened mine yet?”

“No.” I smiled up at him and ran
my finger over his right eyebrow. “Because what you said about my present made
so much sense, even though spending the day with Mom and Pops wouldn’t have
been crappy, I’d have missed you so much too. I liked the idea of having you as
my last thought.”

“So, let’s FaceTime later and
open them together?” he suggested. “It might be late, Ma always finds the
holidays tough.”

“I’ll wait up, you’re worth it.
Come on, we’d better go. I don’t want them thinking we’re having sex in here.”