Rare - Briar Prescott Page 0,85

and kissed Alex again.

19

Alex figured he’d been tossing and turning for at least a couple of hours. It was a miracle Noah hadn’t woken up yet. Then again, Alex had exhausted the man pretty thoroughly, wringing out one orgasm after the other over the course of several hours.

Alex should have been tired himself, and he’d almost fallen asleep when they’d collapsed into bed sometime around midnight, skin still wet from the shower they’d taken together. But then Noah had mumbled, “Christ, I don’t want to go to work tomorrow,” and promptly passed out, leaving Alex feeling like somebody had taken a knife to the protective bubble they’d surrounded themselves with.

How could he have forgotten that Noah’s vacation was ending? Okay, so he hadn’t exactly forgotten, had he? He’d just conveniently pushed it out of his mind and figured he’d deal with it later.

Well, later had arrived.

Not that there was much to deal with. People worked, so it was completely normal for Noah to do the same, but Alex couldn’t help but dread the moment the real world would push its way back in.

For one blissful week, he and Noah had cut themselves off from the rest of the world, the only contact to the outside the occasional run for food, but mostly they’d stayed indoors, slept, made love, talked, laughed, reconnected.

Everything had been perfect, but now, in the middle of the night, doubts crept in. What if Noah changed his mind once reality kicked in? What if the pressure from Noah’s mom and the medical community turned out to be more than Noah could handle? What if Alex wasn’t enough? What if, what if, what if.

He finally threw the covers aside and got out of bed. He wandered to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and took a seat at the kitchen table. For a while, he just sat, trying to relax and banish all the pessimistic thoughts about the future. Eventually, as it became clear that it didn’t work quite as effectively as he’d hoped, he pulled out his laptop that he’d brought over the other day. Positive thinking didn’t help, so Alex was going to go for distraction as he opened his web browser, typed in Rhnull blood and started reading.

Alex woke with a start.

“Easy,” Noah said from somewhere above him. Alex groaned as he lifted his head up. He looked around, confused as hell. It took a moment for last night to come back to him. He’d been agitated, and then he’d migrated to the kitchen not to disturb Noah… And then he’d apparently passed out and used his laptop’s keyboard as a pillow.

“Christ,” he muttered as he rubbed his palm over his face. “What time is it?”

Noah looked at him with a curious expression. “A little after five thirty,” he said as he took Alex’s hand and pulled him up. “Come back to bed.”

Alex followed without protest. He had no idea how long he’d been asleep behind the kitchen table, but there was a crick in his neck, and he felt like crap. Once upon a time he’d been able to sleep anywhere, but it seemed he was starting to lose that particular talent.

Alex fell on the bed, which was still warm and smelled like him and Noah. He inhaled deeply. Alex didn’t know if it was the almost-sleepless night or the early hour of the morning, but he felt way too vulnerable for his liking. His first instinct was to get out of bed and go for a run to clear his head, but before he could do that, Noah started tugging him up the bed until Alex was lying on his side and Noah had wrapped his body around Alex from behind, spooning him, cocooning him, pushing the reality far away. Alex finally felt himself relax.

“Want to tell me what’s wrong?” Noah said quietly against Alex’s ear.

Alex closed his eyes. He didn’t particularly cherish the idea of spewing all his insecurities out, but then Noah kissed the nape of Alex’s neck and hugged him even tighter, and the decision seemed to be taken out of Alex’s hands as he opened his mouth and started talking.

Noah listened quietly as Alex spilled his guts. Laid all his insecurities in front of Noah’s feet for him to see, holding nothing back.

“It’s stupid, but I guess I’m afraid,” he finished.

Noah was quiet for a little while, digesting what Alex had said. “You don’t trust me,” he concluded.

“No,” Alex denied quickly. “That’s not it.” But there was