it to pull him gently upward. He stumbled out of the car and I put my arm around him. Maybe he didn’t need quite that much help, but it made me feel better to touch him.
Gus seemed to be in shock, not speaking, not even looking at where he put his feet, so I guided him upstairs and into my room. There was no way I was leaving him by himself right now. The fact that he didn’t make a single joke about getting into my bed only solidified my impression that he was very much not okay.
I walked him into the rather opulent attached bathroom. It was large enough to have a walk-in shower and a jacuzzi tub. I flipped the lid closed on the toilet and made him sit, then walked over to the tub, stoppered the drain, and turned the taps on.
After a minute, I added some of the bubble bath liquid Hadley had sent me for whatever holiday happened in August. It smelled like wildflowers, which was a little incongruous for this time of year, but it would work.
Then I turned back to Gus. The fall he’d taken had looked nasty, and I wanted to make sure he hadn’t reinjured his shoulder, or worse. I crouched down so I was eye-level with him.
“Hey, kid. You still here with me?”
Gus looked up, his eyes glassy with tears. “I didn’t imagine it, did I? There really are people after me?”
His words hit me so hard I grunted. I hadn’t realized that the whole time I’d been questioning the veracity of Gus’s dreams, he had been too. What must it be like, feeling that untethered from reality, not knowing if you could trust your own mind?
And to have it confirmed for you in this fashion?
“They won’t get you,” I said firmly. “I won’t let them.”
“I think a part of me hoped I was making it all up.” He sounded so broken. “But it’s all real. They hurt me. They want to hurt me again. They want—”
“Shh, shh, it’s okay. I won’t let them. I promise.” I took his hands in mine and squeezed. “I think you’re in shock. I want you to take a bath and warm up until you feel more human again, alright?”
Gus blinked and looked at the tub like he was just noticing it for the first time. I released his hands and reached for his shoes, untying the laces and slipping them off his feet. Then I pulled off his socks and stood so I could slide his sweater and T-shirt up over his head.
There was something oddly intimate about undressing him like this. It was so different from the teasing motions he’d gone through only hours ago, getting dressed in front of me.
Which wasn’t to say that my cock didn’t react to the sight of Gus’s bare chest, that my mouth didn’t water as he stepped out of his jeans, and I could see the outline of his cock nestled in his briefs. I ached to take him in my mouth—and to take him other places too.
But Gus needed my help right now. He needed calm and warmth and security, so I pushed my baser instincts away as I tugged his briefs down and didn’t give his perfect little cock more than a passing glance. Or two.
Or three.
I led him to the tub, now halfway full. “Come on, it’s nice and warm now. You can get in.”
Gus looked over his shoulder, his eyes still so wide. “Will you get in with me?”
There was no trace of a smile. No teasing quirk to his lips, no eyebrows arched. I nodded and pulled my shirt off.
It took a minute to get situated in the tub. I hardly ever took baths to begin with, and I definitely wasn’t used to taking them with other people. But eventually, I leaned back against the porcelain wall in the deep end and pulled Gus to my chest, nestling him between my legs.
I grabbed a washcloth and poured a dollop of shower gel onto it—lemon verbena scented, also courtesy of Hadley—and began rubbing it along Gus’s arms. He still wasn’t talking, but he gave a contented little sigh as I drew it up past his shoulders and onto the back of his neck. It was the most normal, Gus-like noise I’d heard since we’d left Birch Bay, so I decided to keep going.
I brought the washcloth around to his front, getting his neck and chest sudsy, then along his sides. I