Chapter 44: Chapter 44

It takes a moment for Alex to take the towel himself, but once he does, Ryan tugs and pushes and pulls until he has them both situated in the bed, as opposed to on it, and draws the thin sheet up over both of them.

“Stay here tonight,” he says, when Alex makes a noise of dissent, and he places his hand over Alex’s, that is pressed to the towel. “Just for tonight, stay here.”

Alex frowns.

“Why did you come?” Ryan presses.

There is a pause, and then Alex says, “He kept coming into my room to have a go. So I sneaked out.”

“And then you came here.”

Alex nods.

Ryan watches him for a moment longer, then slides his hand around the back of Alex’s head and closes the gap between their prone faces. The kiss is unusually hesitant, slow and gentle—ridiculously gentle— reminding him a little of last summer and the uncertainty he’d felt about everything.