Collaring Chaz (Dante's Infernal #2) - Joel Abernathy Page 0,14

school.”

“Again?” he frowned in concern. “I thought he was going to therapy.”

“He was, but he stopped going without telling anyone. Mom only figured it out when she found the messages he’d deleted from the shrink in her email trash bin.”

Chaz grimaced. “Man, that’s sloppy.”

“Yeah, we at least had to forge shit,” I snorted. “They have it easy these days.”

“You’re starting to sound like an old man,” he said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

I rolled my eyes. “At least with Cash around, I’m not the oldest member of the band anymore.”

Then, it occurred to me this was the longest we’d hung out in years without either getting trashed or fucking. “You wanna stay and watch a movie or something?” I asked.

The hesitation returned, and he drew his bottom lip under his teeth. “I dunno.”

“We can watch the Addams Family,” I said, knowing that was the one thing guaranteed to win him over. If he ever didn’t want to watch the Addams Family, I’d know he was either dead or had been replaced by a pod person.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “...Original or remake?”

“Either. And the sequels.”

“Okay! I’ll make popcorn.” He was already leaping over the back of the couch.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d have to go in late to the studio tomorrow, but this was more important, and I was pissed at Dante anyway. Probably better for me not to go in guns blazing, because Cash was sure to intervene, and then it would just be a whole thing.

Which, incidentally, was exactly why band members shouldn’t date each other, let alone get married--but that ship had already sailed, and it was never coming back to the harbor.

I grabbed some blankets as Chaz made popcorn, and we settled in on the couch. Usually, he immediately wedged himself between my side and the arm of the couch, but he was keeping his distance tonight.

Why did that feel so weird? He was my best friend. Cuddling once in a while was one thing, but when had it become the norm? So much so that I felt like something was wrong if he wasn’t hanging off me.

Chaz had always been a little clingy. It was just how he was, but somewhere along the way, I had started to expect it. I was usually the one who initiated sex, if it wasn’t mutual, but not the gentler stuff. But maybe…

I did the classic cornball move of stretching out my arm so I could slip it over the couch behind him. He didn’t seem to notice, so I spent the next few minutes looking for the right time to pull him close when I realized what I was doing.

What the fuck? This was Chaz, not some stranger I was trying to seduce. Nothing had ever been weird between us before, so why the hell should it be now?

The second my arm rested on his shoulders, he stiffened up a little, but just when I was afraid he was going to pull away, he snuggled against my side.

Just like that, the world was right again.

Content, I settled in to watch the movie and actually made an effort to start paying attention. Every now and then, I’d see him mouthing his favorite lines out of the corner of my eye, but he wasn’t as into it as usual. When I realized I was stroking his arm absently, I decided to take it a little bit further and slipped my hand into his hair. I often grabbed it during sex, keeping him right where I wanted him while he was sucking my dick, but I’d never actually taken the time to stroke it and notice how soft it was.

He looked up at me, confusion in his tired eyes. The circles around them were darker than usual, and he wasn’t even wearing eyeliner, so I knew the sleep thing hadn’t really improved.

Before either of us could say anything, I closed the gap between us and kissed him. He gave a muffled cry of surprise against my lips, but I just kissed him harder and pushed him back onto the couch.

“Raf…” His voice was rough as he looked up at me, his face a charming mask of confusion.

“What, did you think I wasn’t ever gonna take you up on that offer?” I smirked, wrapping my hands around his slender wrists to pin them to the sofa cushion. The stark difference in our builds was usually a turn on, but he felt more fragile than