Ow, goddammit. I grab his arm as I stumble back, pulling him with me. He rips his arm free of my hold, trips over his feet and falls.
Time seems to stop.
His eyes are very dark and wide as he drops, his mouth open.
Then his skull cracks on the floor, his eyes fall shut, and his body goes slack, sprawled on the carpet.
Son of a bitch. “Jet!” I drop to my knees and wonder what I should do. Oh fuck, oh fuck! I grab his shoulders. “Jet, can you hear me?”
A low groan and his eyes flutter open. “Ugh.” He blinks at me. “Not fuckin’ deaf.”
“Jet.” A laugh escapes me. “Dammit, asshole, you scared me. Can you move?”
He lifts his hand, and I clasp it in mine. I haul him to a sitting position, and he lists to the side, face paling.
“Come on, I’m taking you to the ER.” I walk him to the bed and seat him down on it. “You cracked your head pretty hard on the floor.”
“I’ve got a thick skull,” he mutters, his grip tightening on my arm. “Not going anywhere.”
Stubborn idiot. “I wasn’t asking you.”
“Fuck you, J.” His hand tightens on my arm, grinding my bones together. “I’m fine.”
Is he, though? “Will you let me take care of your pigheaded ass?”
“Nobody can take care of me.” Quiet. Too quiet.
I ignore that. “Why did you leave work early? Was it because of the diploma thing?”
“Fuck, you spoke to Candy.”
“Talk to me,
motherfucker.”
He snorts, shakes his head. “I’m a loser, man. I’ll get fired. I’m not ready to take the damn GED exams yet. I shouldn’t have thought the likes of me can work in a shop like that.”
“Shut up, dude. You’re bright. You can do this. Let me help you. Just…” Fuck. “Just don’t shut me out. You know I’d do anything for you.”
“Anything?”
He won’t look up.
My hands are shaking. I’m shaking. Looking down at his dark head, I find myself lifting a hand to touch his wild spikes. Not stiff with gel as I expected, but soft. My fingers burrow in his hair, and I tug lightly, pulling his head back.
He looks up at me and swallows hard, his neck arched.
Bared.
A sudden urge to bite down and suck on it hits me out of nowhere, and my insides tighten. My dick stirs, starting to harden.
I jerk away from him, wipe my hands on my pants. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” He leans back, bracing his hands on the mattress, and looks at me, a long, steady stare, out of place on someone half-drunk who’s just gotten a hit to the head. “What do you want, J?”
“I don’t like guys,” I blurt out, although my dick is fully hard now, painfully trapped behind my zipper. “Okay? I don’t.”
“Got it.” Lazily he reaches down and rubs his hand over his crotch. “It’s okay. I also happen to like chicks more. They’re so soft and warm.”