Helping Hand (3 page)

Mac. “It’ll be going in the wash any way. I j izzed all over it.”

Mac wiped his hand on a dry bit of the T-shirt, then balled it up and

passed it back. “Cheers.” Mac’s cheeks were pink, and he licked his lips.

He avoided Jez’s ey es, but his gaze slid over Jez’s torso in a way that left a

tingle in its wake. He zipped his j eans back up. “I’m gonna go to bed

now.”

“Okay.” Jez deliberately kept his tone light. Mac looked like a

spooked anim al, and Jez didn’t want to say any thing to m ake him m ore

uncom fortable. May be if he acted like this was a com pletely norm al

thing for two straight guy s to do on a quiet night in, Mac wouldn’t freak

out and m ake things uncom fortable. “Night, m an. Sleep well.”

“You too,” Mac m um bled as he departed, laptop under one arm and

his back to Jez.

Chapter Three

Jez’s hopes of carry ing on as norm al were dashed to pieces the next

day. He didn’t see Mac until late m orning, and when they eventually

crossed paths in the kitchen, Jez greeted him j ust like he norm ally would

with an “All right, m ate,” and a grin, but Mac wouldn’t look him in the

ey e.

Mac m uttered a quick hi and turned away from Jez to rifle through

the fridge. Jez stared at his back for a m om ent and then decided this

wasn’t his problem . It wasn’t as if he’d coerced Mac into any thing. Mac

was a big boy, capable of m aking his own decisions. It stung a little that

Mac so clearly regretted this one, but whatever. He’d get over it

eventually, and Jez wasn’t going to lose any sleep in the m eantim e.

Jez took his tea through to the living room and sat on the em pty sofa.

Dani was in the corner of the other sofa, eating noodles, with her long

purple hair tucked behind her ears. Josh, with dark shadows under his

ey es, was curled up at the other end reading and m aking notes. He’d been

out all night. Jez had been eating breakfast when Josh let him self in and

headed straight for the coffee. When Jez asked if he’d had a good night,

Josh had grunted noncom m ittally, so Jez hadn’t pressed him .

Mac j oined them without a word, carry ing a huge plate of

sandwiches and a glass of m ilk. He crossed the room to sit in the

arm chair rather than taking the space beside Jez.

“Is it okay if I put the TV on?” he asked Josh, who was lost in his

book with a frown of concentration on his sharp features.

“Yeah, fine.” The silver ring in Josh’s lip glinted as he glanced up and

gave Mac a quick sm ile.

Mike drifted downstairs around lunchtim e, hung-over and tired,

followed shortly by Shawn, who was in an even worse state.

“You look rough, Shawny,” Jez said. “Good night, was it?”

“Awesom e.” Shawn grinned, then lifted his j aw to proudly show an

angry red m ark on his neck. “Look.”

“Jesus, did y ou pull a vam pire?” Dani teased.

“She was very into m e. What can I say ?”

All six of them hung out in the living room m ost of the afternoon. It

was raining outside, and none of them had any plans, so they enj oy ed a

lazy Sunday of TV, banter, and a bit of study ing for those who had

deadlines. The whole afternoon Jez didn’t m anage to catch Mac’s ey e

once, and it wasn’t for want of try ing. He m ade a point of including him

in the conversation, m entioning the film they ’d watched last night to try

and get him to interact. But even when he j oined in the conversation, Mac

looked at any one rather than Jez. The awkwardness between them was

painfully obvious to Jez, but nobody else seem ed to notice. If they did,

they didn’t com m ent.

Eventually, by late afternoon, Jez was fed up with it. Making the

excuse of needing to call his fam ily, he went up to his room and hid out

there for the evening, only going back down to grab som e dinner, which

he ate upstairs. He didn’t see Mac again that night.

As the week progressed, Jez saw little of Mac.

Considering they were on the sam e course and norm ally sat

together, it was im pressive that Mac m anaged to avoid him all week. He

left the house early instead of walking in to lectures with Jez and spent a

lot of tim e study ing in the library rather than at hom e.

When their paths crossed in the com m unal spaces in the house, Jez

m ade the effort to act norm ally around him . As far as Jez was

concerned, nothing needed to change. What they ’d done together was a

bit of fun and nothing to stress about—but that didn’t m ean Jez could

forget about it. He didn’t want to forget about it. It had been seriously hot,

and even if it was a one-off, he’d be filing it away in his own personal

spank bank for y ears to com e.

Jez was frustrated at the distance between them , but he didn’t think

pushing would fix it. He went out running on Wednesday afternoon to

burn off som e excess energy and his irritation at Mac’s avoidance. The

weather had turned m uch cooler. It was early October, and they were

well into autum n now. He ran through town and up over the Hoe, where a

stiff sea breeze whipped his hair and a few drops of rain stung his cheeks.

The sea was choppy and m urky grey, reflecting Jez’s m ood. Shaking it

off, he picked up his pace, heading out along the sea front before finally

circling back hom e.

That night he slept better than he had in day s.

As the weekend approached, Mac started to relax around Jez again,

and they fell back into the easy friendship they ’d enj oy ed before. On

Friday, Mac took his usual seat beside Jez again in their m orning lecture,

and Jez welcom ed him with a nod and a sm ile. The professor droned on

about glaciers, and Jez was distracted—and he wasn’t the only one. He

caught Mac staring at him a couple of tim es, and then Mac would flush

and look away quickly, obviously still em barrassed about what had

happened.

They stay ed in together on Friday night when all the others had

plans—alone again for the first tim e all week. Jez was half expecting Mac

to hide out in his room and avoid him , and he was relieved when that

didn’t happen. Instead Mac j oined him in the living room in front of the

TV, and they ended up watching The Walking Dead on DVD.

“Do y ou want a drink?” Jez held up the half-full pint glass. “I got

som e cider because it was on special offer. It tastes a bit rough, but it does

the j ob.” Jez was in the m ood for the buzz of alcohol tonight. It m ight ease

the awkwardness between them .

“Yeah, thanks.”

Jez went to the kitchen to get the cider and another glass for Mac.

He’d bought a couple of two-litre bottles, deciding that even with his

econom y drive he could treat him self to a few drinks at the weekend.

Plus he owed Mac from the weekend before.

They watched a few episodes back to back. Jez refilled their glasses

whenever they were em pty and got the second bottle from the kitchen

when they finished the first one. As the alcohol seeped through Jez’s

sy stem , he felt warm and relaxed. He found him self slum ping sideway s,

half leaning on Mac’s solid bulk beside him . It was com fortable, and Mac

m ade no m ove to put any distance between them . Jez was relieved that

things were okay again. He’d m issed Mac this week while Mac was being

weird.

Mac’s glass was sitting em pty on the coffee table again, so Jez

leaned forward and unscrewed the cap on the second bottle. It fizzed up

as he poured it, m aking a frothy white head that filled the top third of the

glass.

“Oops.” He handed the glass to Mac, and their fingers brushed, the

warm contact m aking Jez’s belly fizz like the cider.

“Thanks.” Mac’s sm ile was lazy and open. He hadn’t sm iled at Jez

like that since last weekend.

Jez grinned back, losing him self in the beautiful stretch of Mac’s lips

and the crinkles at the corners of his dark brown ey es. “You’re

welcom e.”

“Are y ou try ing to get m e drunk?” Mac asked. His sm ile turned

teasing, flirtatious alm ost.

Jez felt his cheeks heat as he held Mac’s gaze for a few exciting,

uncom fortable seconds. “May be.”

He sat back again, watching the screen but no longer taking any of it

in. His attention was all on the warm th of Mac’s thigh alongside his and

the solid press of his shoulder. Jez breathed in and caught Mac’s scent:

clean laundry and shower gel, but beneath that the woodsy scent of skin

—warm m ale skin. It rem inded Jez of school locker room s, wrestling with

his m ates, and unwanted adolescent erections. He rem em bered the

sounds of Mac’s hand on his cock last weekend and the stifled m oan when

he cam e, and—

Fuck.

Jez’s cock tingled as it swelled and thickened. Beside him Mac

laughed at som ething on the TV and took another long swallow from his

glass.

Jez followed suit, draining what was left in his with a few large gulps,

and then he stood. Brave—or stupid—from alcohol and horniness, he

turned to Mac, not bothering to try and hide the obvious line of his sem i in

his tracksuit bottom s. “I’m gonna go and watch som e porn and have a

wank. Do y ou want to com e?” As soon as the words were out of his

m outh, he realised what he’d said and snorted, adding, “No pun

intended.”

Jez’s accidental double m eaning m ade the m om ent less awkward

than it m ight have been, and Mac laughed, but then he flushed and his

gaze slid down Jez’s torso to his bulge and back before he spoke.

“In y our room ?” His expression was wary.

“Yeah, that’s where m y laptop is, and I’m not sure I want to m ake a

habit of spanking the m onkey in the living room .”

But I wouldn’t mind making a habit of doing it with you.

He m anaged to resist the urge to say those words out loud. He hadn’t

had enough cider to com pletely obliterate his verbal filter, thankfully.

Mac was still staring at him but not m oving.

“Okay, I’m going.” Jez turned away, regretting having m ade the

suggestion. They ’d only j ust got back to norm al after last weekend, and

now Mac would probably spend the next week avoiding him again. He

felt stupid for suggesting it after Mac’s obvious discom fort all week.

But the TV switched off as he reached the door, and he heard Mac’s

footsteps behind him . Jez grinned but didn’t turn around, and as Mac

followed him up the stairs, Jez was buzzing with excitem ent, his arousal

building at the thought of what was about to happen.

In Jez’s room Mac hung back while Jez picked up his laptop and

m ade him self com fortable on the double bed. Mac waited uncertainly

until Jez patted the space next to him .

“I can’t believe I’m doing this again,” Mac said, but he j oined Jez on

the bed as Jez ty ped in his password and pulled up his porn bookm arks.

“It’s no big deal.” Jez shrugged, try ing to reassure him . Although Jez

wasn’t sure he m anaged to convince Mac or even him self. This wasn’t

the sam e as a group of lads j erking off to porn. The fact that there were

only two of them added a lay er of intim acy that couldn’t be denied. But

Jez didn’t want to exam ine it too closely right now. He j ust wanted to get

off.

“This one’s good.” Jez clicked on a fairly standard porn vid that he

often j erked off to. It was straight-up porn, nothing kinky, and the girl was

pretty and looked like she was enj oy ing it. He was aware of Mac beside

him , his body tense and his breathing shallow. Jez wondered why Mac

had agreed to this when he was obviously a m illion m iles out of his

com fort zone. Outwardly ignoring him , Jez took the lead again and was

the first to start touching him self. He leaned back against the headboard

and palm ed his stiffening dick through his trousers, forcing him self to

relax as the building rush of anticipation flooded through him . He’d

forgotten how hot it was j erking off with com pany. May be he was an

exhibitionist and liked putting on a show? Perhaps next tim e he hooked up

with a girl he could try doing it for her if she was into it and see if it felt as

good as it did doing this with Mac.

A rustle of clothing beside him brought his attention back to Mac. Jez

saw m ovem ent out of the corner of his ey e, and a quick glance

confirm ed that Mac had his hand shoved down the front of his py j am a

bottom s.

Jez bit back the urge to encourage him ; he didn’t want to spook him .