Helping Hand (10 page)

articles and advice pages. By the tim e sleepiness finally overcam e him ,

Jez had learned a lot. He wasn’t sure whether he was ready to put his

newfound knowledge into practice y et, but he couldn’t deny he was

intrigued.

Chapter Ten

The following evening was Friday. The house was quiet—they were

the only two in again—and Jez and Mac had their books spread out on

Mac’s bed as they worked on their latest assignm ent. Mac had

deliberately chosen a different essay topic to Jez. He welcom ed Jez’s

help with planning but was afraid that if he picked the sam e question,

they ’d end up with work that was too sim ilar.

They took turns to go through their notes, offering suggestions. Mac

had done a good j ob this tim e, and when Jez told him he thought it was

fine and that nothing needed changing, Mac gave a sm all, pleased sm ile.

“Really ?”

“Yeah, it sounds like y ou have it covered,” Jez assured him .

After that they started writing in earnest, try ing to stay focused and

challenging each other with word-count goals until Mac started y awning.

“My words aren’t m aking sense any m ore,” he said. “I think I’m

done for tonight. I need sleep.”

Jez y awned too, stretching until his back cracked. He rubbed his ey es

and realised how tired he was of staring at a glowing screen. “Me too.”

He closed his laptop and started tidy ing up his books. Mac did the

sam e, stacking them neatly onto his well-ordered desk.

Jez picked up his pile of books, paper, and laptop and headed for the

door. “Night, then.” He was a little disappointed they ’d wasted the whole

evening study ing, but the work had needed doing, and he’d enj oy ed Mac’s

com pany.

After dum ping his books in his room , he went to the bathroom . When

he em erged a few m inutes later, Mac was waiting outside.

“It’s all y ours,” Jez said.

Mac paused, and Jez clenched his fists to stop him self from reaching

for him .

“Com e back to m y room … if y ou want?” Mac offered.

Jez was knackered, but he couldn’t say no to Mac, not when he

looked at Jez with that expression of hopeful vulnerability. “Okay.”

Mac sm iled, and the sight of it did weird things to Jez’s belly.

Jez was glad nobody else was around to see him letting him self into

Mac’s room in his boxers and T-shirt. He got straight into the bed,

shivering as the cold sheets slipped over his bare legs and arm s. It was

chilly today, and the heating in the house was alway s on low to save on

bills. He turned away from the door and lay on his side with the covers

pulled up to his ears, hugging his body for warm th. By the tim e Mac

returned, the bed was warm and Jez was sleepy.

Mac turned the overhead light off, leaving only the dim glow of the

lam p by the bed. The m attress dipped and squeaked as he clim bed in. He

curled his body around Jez and slipped a cold hand under the front of Jez’s

T-shirt.

“Fuck!” Jez started at the chill, but Mac’s hand warm ed quickly. A

slow, lazy arousal hum m ed in Jez’s belly, stirred by the rhy thm ic

m ovem ent of Mac’s fingers where they traced sm all circles onto Jez’s

skin and the hardness of Mac’s erection pressed against Jez’s arse. Any

m inute now, Jez would turn in Mac’s arm s for a kiss and reach down to

stroke him , get his dick out, get him off… but this felt too good, and he

didn’t want to m ove. There was no rush. His ey es drifted closed, and he

let Mac hold him , Mac’s breath warm on Jez’s neck, their bodies slotting

together like puzzle pieces.

Jez woke a little later with a start. Disorientated in the darkness, the

glowing red num bers of an alarm clock that wasn’t his own—he alway s

used his phone—told him it was j ust after m idnight. He rolled onto his

back. Still half-asleep, his brain hadn’t quite caught up with where he was

until his arm brushed a warm body.

Suddenly the events of the evening slipped back into focus. Mac had

invited Jez back to his room … but then nothing had happened. Jez m ust

have fallen asleep on Mac, and instead of waking him up and kicking him

out, Mac had turned out the lam p and let him stay.

Jez sidled away, try ing not to disturb Mac as he pushed the covers

down on his side, about to clim b out and creep back to his own room . But

Mac threw his arm across Jez’s waist and snuggled closer.

“Don’ go.” His voice was slurred with sleep. Mac put his head on

Jez’s shoulder, and the sweet, warm scent of his hair filled Jez’s nostrils.

Mac’s arm was heavy, and Jez was too tired and too com fortable to put up

m uch resistance.

“You sure?” Jez didn’t want things to be awkward in the m orning.

Sexless cuddling wasn’t norm ally their m odus operandi, but Jez was into

it. He was into every thing with Mac, it seem ed.

“Yeah. ’S nice.” Mac’s voice was a deep, contented rum ble, like a

giant cat purring.

It was nice, so Jez stay ed.

In the m orning it wasn’t awkward at all. Mac woke Jez with a hand

on his cock, and after he’d got Jez off, Jez returned the favour with his

m outh—less m ess to clean up that way, he figured. Plus he was getting

kind of addicted to the feeling of Mac in his m outh, the fullness and the

stretch, the sounds that Mac tried to stifle as he cam e.

Afterwards Mac pulled Jez back up the bed and pushed him onto his

back, kissing him , lazily at first but then with building intensity. Soon they

were both hard again. They stripped their clothes off between kisses until

they were naked and grinding together. Jez let Mac do what he wanted,

spreading his thighs and arching up against him , digging his fingers into

the m eat of Mac’s arse and encouraging him to thrust. Mac pinned Jez’s

wrists to the bed and kissed him hard, his tongue pushing deep into Jez’s

m outh as their cocks rubbed against each other’s bodies in a rough slide of

alm ost-too-m uch friction on Jez’s sensitive dick. It felt like fucking, the

way they m oved together, the growing heat and desperation.

Jez m oaned, the sound alm ost lost in the kiss. He bucked against Mac,

so close now and burning with it, cock aching and trapped against Mac’s

hip.

Mac grunted and cam e, m aking every thing slicker and squelchier

and infinitely dirtier. Jez tore his hand free from Mac’s grip and worked

his hand between them . He stroked him self furiously, hand wet with

Mac’s com e, until his body arched and his orgasm ripped through him ,

leaving him gasping and shaking.

So much for less mess, he thought as he got his breath back. He

chuckled.

“What’s so funny ?” Mac asked, lifting his head from where it was

resting on Jez’s shoulder.

“Nothing.” Jez sm iled, and Mac sm iled back. He had a pillow crease

on his face, but his short hair didn’t look m uch different after being slept

on. Jez’s dark blond m op was probably like a bird’s nest.

Mac kissed him again—a brief, sweet brush of lips and stubble that

m ade Jez’s heart twist in a way that freaked him out.

“You’re squashing m e,” Jez said, squirm ing, then winced at the

sticky rem inder of what they ’d j ust done as Mac rolled off him and cool

air hit the m ess on his belly. “You weigh a ton.”

Mac snorted. “You weren’t com plaining a few m inutes ago.” His

voice was teasing and intim ate, and he still had a possessive hand on Jez’s

hip.

“Oh bollocks, look at the tim e.” Jez glanced at the clock and then

leapt out of bed. “I need to be at work in half an hour. I’ve got to hurry.”

He grabbed a towel off the back of Mac’s chair. All was quiet in the

house, and the bathroom was right opposite Mac’s door. He didn’t have

tim e to waste with putting his clothes back on. “See y ou later, y eah?”

“Sure. Have a good day.”

Jez spared one last glance at Mac. Naked and covered in j izz was a

good look on him . The m em ory of it would see Jez through a long busy

day in the café. He walked out of Mac’s bedroom door, pulling it shut

behind him , and nearly crashed into Josh. Josh had obviously j ust com e

upstairs, still wearing the clothes he’d left in the night before.

Josh’s ey ebrows disappeared under his dark fringe as he took in Jez’s

appearance. Jez’s stom ach was em barrassingly sticky, and he probably

stank of com e. He was blushing so hard, he felt as though he m ight

com bust.

“Good night?” Jez asked weakly.

“Not bad.”

“I was heading to the shower….”

Josh’s lips quirked as his ey es raked down Jez’s body. “Probably for

the best.”

“Josh….” Jez said pleadingly. But he had no idea what to add. “This

isn’t what it looks like” wouldn’t cut it, because it was exactly what it

looked like.

“Chill, Jez. Your secret’s safe with m e. Mac’s too.”

The way he said it, Jez believed him . Weak with gratitude, he

thanked Josh and scurried into the bathroom to scrub the evidence away.

When he went into his room after showering, Mac was waiting for

him there, fully dressed and standing awkwardly by the bed.

“Who the fuck was that on the landing?” His tone was sharp, and his

face pale and anxious.

A flash of hurt shot through Jez. So this is how it feels to be a guilty

secret. “It was only Josh. Don’t worry, he was cool. He won’t say

any thing.” Jez towelled his hair dry.

“Are y ou sure?”

“As sure as I can be.” Jez went to his drawer to get out clean boxers.

It felt weird walking around naked in front of Mac now that the play ful

intim acy of earlier had vanished.

“Good.” But Mac still sounded doubtful. “We need to be m ore

careful.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jez y anked on his underwear, facing away from

Mac. He didn’t trust his face not to betray him .

It was chilly and drizzling outside, and as Jez hurried through the

dam p Ply m outh streets, his heart was heavy. The shops were full of

Christm as display s, all glitter and fairy lights and stupid, expensive gifts.

The holiday s were fast approaching. Only a couple of weeks left in the

term before they ’d all be going hom e for Christm as.

Jez sighed. May be a break from this weird thing he had going with

Mac would be good for him . He felt stupid and angry with him self for the

kernel of hurt in his chest that lingered after their last conversation. Of

course Mac didn’t want any one to know about them . Hell, Jez wasn’t

ready to broadcast it either. But Mac’s reaction to Josh catching them only

served to reinforce the cold certainty that this thing between them was

going nowhere. If Jez was truly honest with him self, what they had

wasn’t enough for him any m ore. The sex was great, but it wasn’t all

about the sex for Jez now. Sleeping in Mac’s arm s last night had touched a

part of Jez that no am ount of hand j obs would satisfy.

After a stressful start to the day, things only got worse. The café was

busy, Jez’s boss, Helen, was in a foul m ood, and every thing that could

possibly go wrong, did. Distracted, he kept m essing up people’s orders,

and after the third com plaint that involved a drink or a plate of food being

sent back, Helen bawled him out in front of half the custom ers. Jez hung

his head and didn’t argue back. He knew he was in the wrong.

At the end of his shift, Helen called him into the office for a chat.

“I’m sorry I lost m y tem per earlier, Jez.” She sounded as though she

m eant it. She wasn’t usually one to lose her cool. “I’m having a bad day

—well, a bad week, actually —but I shouldn’t have taken it out on y ou.

Any way. There’s no easy way to tell y ou this, but I’m going to have to let

y ou go.”

Jez stared at her in shock as the words sank in. “But—”

“It’s not because of today.” She was quick to reassure him . “And it’s

not j ust y ou. We’re having to lay off both our part-tim e workers. But the

café’s in financial trouble, and the only way we can stay afloat is to m ake

som e staff cuts. We sim ply can’t afford to keep y ou on. I’m sorry.”

It was a sm all fam ily -run place. Helen and her husband Paul both

worked there, along with one other full-tim e em ploy ee.

“But it was so busy today. How will y ou m anage?”

“We’ll have to find a way. Me and Paul are going to work longer

hours to m ake up for it.”

“Okay. I hope y ou can m ake it work.”

There wasn’t any thing else for Jez to say. But he was gutted. He’d