Ex’s face was flushed with moisture that’d accumulated on his forehead and neck, but his body was still cool to the touch. Goddamn this man was so fucking fascinating to him. He lifted his body just enough to give Ex room to turn over, and the moment he did, their gazes locked. He lined himself up and pushed back inside, letting the world disappear. Nothing else existed in that moment except for his partner. Meridian braced his forearms on either side of Ex’s head, caging him in. Wanting those beautiful eyes solely on him. The base of his spine tightened as he picked up tempo.
“Yes,” Ex encouraged, lifting his legs until they were clamped around Meridian’s back.
He pressed their foreheads together and pumped his hips in a way that made Ex moan his name over and over again. Strong, skilled hands caressed his back and ass as they gazed in each other's eyes and leapt off the cliff together.
When Ex woke this time, he could feel he wasn’t alone before he even opened his eyes. For the first time in two years he didn’t wake up freezing, because there was an obscene amount of warmth radiating from his right side, making him gravitate towards it. He was naked and so was his source of heat as he rubbed himself against hot flesh and hard muscles, completely unashamed when his dick joined in.
“Didn’t take you for a snuggler,” Meridian grumbled, his voice sounding gritty from lack of use.
Ex felt his face heat, but he covered it by burying it between Meridian’s pecs. “Shut up. I thought I was dreaming.”
“Were you dreaming about being a snake? Because you were slithering all over me.”
Ex sighed, not bothering to lift his head. “Are you complaining?”
“No.”
“Should I... go back to my room?” Dammit, he sounded like an over-clingy, one-night stand.
“No.”
His partner really was a man of few words. He thought about how he’d slept, and how he hadn’t had a nightmare or had had to claw his way back to reality. “Dreaming of snakes is better than what I usually dream about.”
The moment got serious, and after several beats of silence Meridian slowly dragged his rough hand up his arm until he reached his shoulder. Ex shivered when his partner began a deep massage, working his way up his neck then across his shoulders. He groaned at the pain from the solid kneading into the large knots at the base of his neck. He hadn’t realized how much stress and tension had settled into that one place, and Meridian was all over it, again showing just how well he knew him.
“You’re really tight, Xavier.” Meridian leaned towards him and wove one of his strong legs between his, making his thigh graze his balls. “I need you to concentrate... and calm yourself down.”
“I’m trying,” Ex confessed. He knew he’d done a shit job at this grieving thing, but fuck. There was no manual to help him along. No one to give him specific orders to follow. They had some of the best military doctors and therapists for them at home base. Maybe he should...
“I know you are. But the way I’m feeling right now, Ex, isn’t good.”
He wanted Meridian to elaborate. But after waiting too long he asked, “Feeling like what?”
“Like I could kill for you.”
Ex moaned again when the pressure got deeper in a particularly sore spot. “You’ve killed plenty for me, Mere.”
“Not like this. This would be different.”
“How?”
“Because now when I kill for you.” Meridian cupped Ex under his chin and lifted his head so he was forced to stare into those damn eyes. “I’m gonna enjoy it.”
Holy shit. Maybe he was one twisted sonofabitch because no sooner had Meridian uttered those words, Ex’s dick went from half hard to stabbing his partner in his abs. His breathing became ragged no matter how much he tried to control it. The lust and passion were raging, having been suppressed for too long. Ex thrust his hips forward, his eyes falling shut.
“We’re going to find the man who wronged you... and I’m gonna make him pay. Dearly,” Meridian promised, kissing Ex’s slack mouth.
“Yeah,” Ex groaned, practically riding Meridian’s thigh like a stallion. He was so damn turned on by this man’s ruthlessness that he was about to come all over them.
“Fuck. Look at you,” Meridian growled, clutching Ex’s hips and pinning him to the mattress. “I’m trying to warn you.”
“Then consider me warned.”
Ex arched his back when Meridian climbed on top of him. He wrapped both legs around him like a whore about to work for a bigger tip and pushed his ache into that hard stomach. He needed only a small amount of friction to send him over the edge again. He wanted to fall like that forever, but he didn’t know if it was possible. They’d have to live in secret, no one could ever know what they meant to each other or it would be their deaths.