The Endless Road to Sunshine - Nicky James Page 0,84
distant part of my brain, I knew this wasn’t fair to him. But when he deepened the kiss, when he brushed his tongue with mine, it was so easy to forget. It was so easy to let it all go. Shut down. Turn it off.
For some reason, Skylar’s presence and tender affection blanketed me, dampening the pain.
Skylar guided me to the bedroom. He undressed me and encouraged me to lie down. For a brief moment, I forgot who was older in this… not relationship, but… whatever it was. Was it wrong to let him take care of me like this? Was it wrong to let him take me away for a while? If it was, I wasn’t strong enough to stop it.
Chapter SIXteen
Skylar
How Jason wasn’t fed up with me sharing his bed, I had no idea. I’d stayed every night this week so far. Tuesday morning, I’d found him on the couch again, curled under a blanket, peaceful as anything. Then I’d noticed the empty bottle of Jim Beam on the coffee table and understood why. I didn’t know when he’d gotten up or how full the bottle had been to begin with, but clearly, the sedation from our fuck session hadn’t lasted long enough.
Wednesday morning when I woke up, he was gone. The apartment was quiet, and a note on the table claimed he was out for a run. My first class started at eight, so I was long gone before he got home. Perhaps he’d planned it that way. It didn’t matter. A text later that afternoon landed me back in his bed Wednesday night.
Thursday morning, Jason was half on the floor with his face buried under a pillow because my feet were aimed in the wrong direction, and I’d probably been kicking him. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d hoofed a guy in the mouth and given him a fat lip in my sleep.
It was still dark outside, and the clock on the floor read 5:07. I maneuvered myself the right way on the bed and curled up beside him. Once I was comfortable and stopped moving, Jason lifted the pillow off his head a fraction and peeked out.
“I thought you were asleep,” I said.
“I’ve learned, in less than a week, it’s wiser to sleep with one eye open while you’re here.”
“Did I kick you in the face? Is that why you’re hiding under your pillow?”
He moved his head on top and repositioned his limbs so they weren’t draped across the floor before tucking himself under the blankets. I’d made a mess of those as well, and he had to shift them around a lot to cover himself.
“Not the face. It was close. You caught my shoulder good though.”
“Consider yourself lucky. I broke a guy’s nose with my elbow in Germany. Blood everywhere. He cursed me out in German for a solid twenty minutes while throwing my clothes at me, then he kicked me out of his apartment. It was awful. Gave another guy a fat lip once. That was with my foot.”
“Who knew sleeping with you was a contact sport?” Jason was almost smiling, and despite the conversation, I beamed.
“I like to keep guys on their toes.”
Jason stretched and rolled, checking the time before facing me again. “Are you awake, or should I take a protective stance again before closing my eyes? Do I need a cup? How many guys have almost lost a testicle?”
I chuckled. “None so far. You could be the first. I think I’m awake. You?”
“I haven’t slept much, to be honest. Just lying here. Thinking.”
“You do too much of that.”
He shrugged and picked at the sheets between us.
“Why do you feel so guilty?”
His gaze darted up. It was hard to make out his eyes in the dark, but I could tell they were wide. “What do you mean? I don’t feel guilty.”
“That’s a lie.”
“About fucking you? Maybe at first, but…”
I grinned. “That’s not what I meant, but you do still feel a little guilty about that too. I see it. You’re right. It’s better though.”
His brows knitted together. “Then what are you talking about?”
“About what Morgan did. Why do you feel guilty for his crime? It was beyond your control. You didn’t know.”
When it came to discussing his husband, I’d learned to tread lightly. Jason talked some but became overwhelmed fast. I didn’t know what would happen if I pushed him beyond his limit, but I wasn’t willing to find out.
Jason didn’t answer my question right away. He withdrew inside his