I continued to kiss him, stroking his body and reveling in the feeling. Appius surprised me by catching on and kissing me back. I could see he would be a quick study, if he had someone to teach him. He even brought his hands to my sides and held me as though handling an entirely foreign substance, but one he was curious about.
There wasn’t time to waste with that either. I shifted to take one of his hands, bringing it between us and pressing his palm against my aching cock. While still kissing him, I moved his hand to show him I wanted him to bring me off.
“Like you do with yourself,” I panted between kisses. “It’s just a different angle is all.”
He nodded, like I was one of our instructors who had just demonstrated how to set a splint or something, and moved his hand.
He was a quick study with that too, curling his fingers around my cock and rubbing my length. I was glad my body was still a little wet, though it would have been even nicer with a bit of oil or ointment.
It was more than enough to get me where I needed to go, though. I braced my hands on the shelf behind Appius’s head and continued to explore his mouth with hunger as he pumped his hand.
It felt good. It was exactly what I needed, exactly how I wanted to forget the situation we were all in. I chased the pleasure, not worrying if Appius was enjoying himself—though I could feel that he was—or what would happen when we were let out of the closet. I deserved that pleasure, deserved that orgasm like it was a prize I’d worked through the entire course to earn.
I groaned loudly as I tipped over the edge, shooting cum across Appius’s chest and stomach. He sucked in a breath as well and kept moving to squeeze every drop out of me, which I appreciated up until the point when it was too much. Then I plucked his hand away, dropping it to our sides, and pulled him away from the shelf to continue to kiss him.
I wanted Appius more after I’d come than before. That was unusual, or had been since coming to the Old Realm. He was nice and attractive, and I felt like he needed me to help him grow up. The whisper of an idea that he would make the perfect companion to get us both through the rest of this insane winter and on to spring—if we lived that long—reverberated in my head. It might be morally dubious, but it wasn’t like I would force Appius to be my pup or anything. I would just subtly hint that if he ever wanted to do this again, if he felt alone or anxious and needed comfort, he could spend at much time as he wanted in my bed.
Before I could say the words, though, before I could stop kissing him or back away, the closet door flew open, flooding us with light.
“Time!” Leander shouted.
When he saw me and Appius tangled around each other, cum still damp on Appius’s belly, and as the two of us blinked at him and jerked apart in shock, Leander laughed.
“Why am I not surprised that you actually went through with it?” he asked, grabbing Appius’s arm as if he would drag him out into the main room and show him off to everyone else.
I wedged between the two of them. “Laugh all you want, Leander,” I said, keeping my voice low, “but leave him his dignity.”
For half a second, I thought Leander was going to pick a fight. A flash of indignation came to his eyes. But when I shook my head to emphasize my point, he backed down. I think we both understood that each of our actions and reactions had been born from the fear and uncertainty of the moment, so I could forgive Leander his callousness, and he could forgive my lack of humor.
“Good enough,” he said. “Castor and Virgil are as much of a mess as the two of you. So are Nicodemus and Roe, so it’s not like you’ll be singled out for actually playing the game the way it’s meant to be played.”
“I have to go out there, in front of everyone, like this?” Appius asked, his voice high and thin.
“Not like this,” I said, turning and grabbing a towel from the nearest shelf.
I used it to wipe the cum off Appius’s front while we were still in the closet, and when Leander backed away, nodding to me as if he were impressed with the care I was showing one of the newer students, I stepped out of the closet first to make certain we didn’t have a rapt audience.
As it turned out, we barely had an audience at all. It didn’t matter who had ended up in the closets as part of the game, everyone else was sloshing around in the water, kissing and groping, sucking and fucking. Just as I’d predicted, the whole thing had turned into an orgy. It was decadent, lewd, wicked, and desperately needed by everyone who was taking part.
I even spotted Lucius at one corner of the pool, he and Justus—who also preferred women—siting close to each other, red-faced, their hands hidden under the water, which was churning around them as they got each other off.
That brought a grin to my face. “Lucius is actually enjoying himself,” I commented to Leander as he and I, and Appius, stood off to the side of the room.
Leander made a noncommittal sound. “Even a prick like Lulu needs his prick pulled now and then.”
I sent Leander a wry look. “And what about you?”
“Well,” he said, shifting his weight to one hip and raking me with a lascivious look, “I got off with one of the bathhouse attendants while you were in there—”
“We were only in there for fifteen minutes,” I laughed before he could go on.
“More like twenty,” Leander said with a sniff. “Anyhow, I had mine, but I would definitely be up for more, if you’re game.” He sidled closer, sliding a hand over my ass.
I always had a response to Leander, and that moment was no exception. But I was still very aware of Appius standing behind me, trying to hide from the rest of the group. And if I was honest, my need for escape had given way to increasing exhaustion. If we were all going to die at the hands of King Julius’s soldiers tomorrow for healing revolutionaries, then I wanted to go to my death well-rested.
“Actually,” I said, inching back from Leander, “I think I’ll go to bed now.”
Leander gasped dramatically. “Conrad, you wound me.”