“You don’t have to go,” Rutledge said into his ear, panting slightly as his hips rocked into him.
“What?” Shawn managed.
“You don’t need to work there.” A deep thrust. “I’ll pay—”
“Don’t even start.”
“You accepted money before,” Rutledge said, hitting his prostate, again and again.
“Don’t.” Shawn balled the sheets in his fists. It was too much. “Too sensitive.” He tried to remember what they were talking about. “You know it was different before.”
Rutledge’s hips went still, making Shawn whine in frustration.
“How was that different?” Rutledge said in a strange voice.
Shawn blinked dazedly. It was the first time they’d even remotely talked about this thing between them. “I gave you blowjobs because I needed money,” he said quietly. “I fuck you because I want it.”
“It?”
“Because I want you.”
Silence.
Shawn felt himself blush and told himself not to be silly. It wasn’t like he’d said something Rutledge couldn’t guess himself: it was blatantly obvious they wanted each other. But they had never actually said it.
“What?” he said, a bit defensively.
Making a low noise in his throat, Rutledge kissed him again and, changing the angle, set a steady, immensely satisfying rhythm.
“Good?” Rutledge asked hoarsely between his thrusts.
“Yeah.” Shawn couldn’t stop small moans from escaping his lips. “So good.”
His moans grew progressively louder with every thrust, his balls tightening as he approached orgasm.
“Yes, that’s it,” Rutledge said into his ear, kissing it. “Want you.” He pressed wet, hot kisses all over Shawn’s neck, his thrusts losing their rhythm but not losing any of their power.
“Want you,” he said again, his tone different somehow.
A rush of pleasure hit Shawn hard, and he came with a groan, shaking with his entire body. God.
He was only vaguely aware of Rutledge thrusting into him for a while before he finally went still on top of him. Then, to his disappointment and relief, Rutledge pulled out and rolled off him.
Opening his eyes, Shawn turned his head.
Rutledge lay on his back, his eyes wide open. His face was flushed a bit, his chest heaving, but he was far from being relaxed. There was a small frown on his face, his lips pressed into a thin line.
At last, Rutledge got out of the bed, got rid of the condom, and started dressing.
Shawn sat up, eyeing Rutledge’s tense shoulders. “Can you give me a ride to work?”
Rutledge’s hands stilled on the buttons of his shirt.
Shawn wasn’t sure why he’d asked. He knew Rutledge’s house was in a completely different part of the city. It just wasn’t practical for him to give Shawn a ride if he had a lot of work waiting for him at home—he would waste hours if he did that.
Seriously, why had he asked? It was silly.
Shawn stretched out his aching muscles, working out the kinks in his neck.
“Yes,” Rutledge said tersely, looking away again. “Get dressed.”
Shawn got out of the bed and padded to him, shivering a bit; the room was chilly.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” he said, awkwardly, buttoning the rest of the buttons on Rutledge’s shirt.
Rutledge looked down at Shawn’s fingers. He had a grim expression on his face. “I want to.”
Chapter 19
Professor Bates was a dick.
At least that was what Shawn thought as the man ignored Shawn and continued walking.
“There’s nothing to discuss, Wyatt,” Bates said sharply, walking faster. “The assignment was due yesterday. I won’t make an exception for you. It’s your own fault. You’re irresponsible! Thermodynamics is the most important branch of the science and you don’t understand it. If you fail my class, which is looking increasingly likely, it will be deserved.”
Shawn grimaced. Yeah, it was really his own fault. He shouldn’t have spent so much time studying for his Fluid Mechanics paper, trying to impress Rutledge. He hadn’t exactly impressed him.
“But—”
“Stop trying my patience, Wyatt,” Bates snapped, shaking his head. “What’s wrong with students these days?” And Bates started ranting about students’ sense of self-entitlement, lack of focus, and lack of humility, looking more annoyed by the minute, and Shawn realized there was no way Bates would give him extra time to complete the assignment.
“Eric,” came a familiar voice from behind them.
Shawn tensed and didn’t look his way. Dammit. Rutledge was the last person he wanted to witness this.
“Is something the matter?” Rutledge said.
“This boy is lazy and irresponsible!” Bates said. “He doesn’t do his assignments on time and now he asks me to give him a few more days! How is he going to be an engineer when he cannot even manage to pass the core courses?”
Shawn wanted the ground to swallow him up. Rutledge was the most intelligent man he’d ever met. He probably thought Shawn was dumb as a rock. Not that it mattered what he thought. Except it kind of did. It mattered. Too much.
“I was of the same opinion as you, Eric,” Rutledge said, his voice indifferent. “But Wyatt has shown some improvement over the past few weeks. Give him a day. If he’s late again, fail him.”