< Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Christina had been partially right when she’d told Nick at the beginning of the summer that he wouldn’t have time to miss Kevin. He was busier than he’d anticipated being, as things always seemed to creep up and time passed much faster than Nick had been expecting, but he’d still found time, usually at night just before he’d go to bed, or during lunches at school, when he thought about Kevin and what he was doing at college. But for the most part, Nick didn’t spend as much time at home, waiting by the phone or the computer for Kevin to call.

Kevin had been gone a whole month, four weeks at school without him, four weekends without him. Nick had been counting down the days to his return since Kevin mentioned off handed that he might be coming home that weekend. Nick would have been crushed if Kevin had have cancelled, thankfully he didn’t.


Technology was what had made the separation bearable. Every day, Nick would find a little message from Kevin in his e-mail inbox. It ranged from a few words, to a few pages. And midway through the month, Kevin had gotten the idea to send Nick a picture of himself with each e-mail sent. That way, Nick would never have to go a day without seeing Kevin’s face. Not that he didn’t have a picture of Kevin everywhere in his room and in his locker at school, but still, these were daily pictures, taken just moments before the e-mail was sent, which made it that much more special.

Nick had decided to copy Kevin’s idea and do the same thing. Except Nick would always be holding some sort of sign for Kevin to read, usually a message of love or something corny that Nick wanted Kevin to remember. He loved getting Kevin’s replies, hearing what he thought about Nick’s message that day.

Fate had been against them for the past few weeks. Nick hadn’t talked to Kevin on the phone in what felt like forever. They always seemed to just miss each other, and truthfully, Nick’s parents were getting concerned over the amount of time Nick was spending on the phone with Kevin. He would spend upwards of a few hours at a time, chained to the wall by the telephone cord. It wasn’t only a matter of money, because even with their long distance plan, Nick was quickly racking up their phone bill, but a matter of Nick canceling other plans to be home, just in case Kevin might call. So Nick was given an allowance.

He could talk to Kevin for two hours per week, one hour where Nick phoned and one hour where Kevin phoned. Nick was going to tell Kevin about the restrictions when he saw him later that day.

Later that day.

Nick did a shimmy as he opened his locker. He could barely contain his excitement that Kevin was finally coming home for a visit. It was Kevin’s birthday and they would be going out on a ‘birthday date’. Neither had indicated what they wanted to do that night, but Nick knew that whatever it was, he didn’t care. He just wanted to spend some time with his boyfriend before he was forced to go back until the next time he would be able to sneak back for a few days. Nick had put the finishing touches on Kevin’s birthday gift late the night before. Kevin still hadn’t told him what he wanted for his birthday, so Nick took it upon himself to make him a scrapbook. It included various pictures of Kevin and his friends throughout the year, collected with the help of Joey, Brian and Chris. He included pictures that he himself had taken since they’d started hanging out together, as well as random drawings and other items that he felt compelled to include.

On top of that, Nick had used his birthday money from January to buy Kevin a few other smaller presents. And with the help of Lance, Nick had created a CD Rom for Kevin’s computer, equipped with mini movies that Nick had made with his web cam. Nick had taped himself at random times throughout the past month. The videos, as well as the still pictures he’d taken which had been turned into a photo slide show, Lance had come over and showed Nick how to burn it onto a CD for Kevin. The presents were all sitting on his bed, wrapped expertly by his mother who had been proud of Nick’s creativity regarding Kevin’s birthday present.

"How excited are you?" Lance asked as he stepped beside Nick. The hall was half-empty, it was still slightly early in the morning.

Nick spun around with a giant grin on his face. His eyes opened wide and he did a hip shimmy. "SO EXCITED!"

People brushed past them, startled at Nick’s sudden outburst. Both Nick and Lance started to laugh as Nick continued to dance.

"What time does he get in?"

Nick shrugged. "I have no idea. He’d let me know when he got home." Nick chewed his thumbnail nervously. "What if this weekend is horrible? I keep imagining it in my head and it’s so fun ..but what if..."

"Oh god," Justin groaned as he leaned against Mandy’s locker. "Not this again."

"Not what again?"

Justin rolled his eyes and pushed Nick away. "All last night he was going on and on about this weekend, worried about what was going to happen. I finally had to log off to get him to shut up." Justin saw the confused expression on Lance’s face and he laughed. "We were online. I had homework to do, so I just went online, that way we can talk and do homework at the same time without our parents knowing we’re talking."

"Except they always know we’re talking," Nick said with a laugh.

Lance snorted. "Stacey was on the computer last night or I would have been on too." Lance was pleased that things with him and Stacey were still running smoothly. They would have their occasional fights, but it wasn’t anything like how it had been for the whole summer.

"You didn’t miss much," Justin assured him.

"Oh," Nick remembered, punching Justin’s shoulder. "Kevin said thanks for the advice on the computer game. Worked like a charm." Justin’s response was a giant grin.

"So, what’s the plan for the weekend?" Lance asked once Justin and Nick had stopped play fighting. The halls were becoming more crowded as more people were arriving at school. "I know there is a party at Kevin’s tomorrow night ...but what’s up for the rest of the weekend?"

"Tonight, Kevin and I are going to do something together," Nick said with a grin. He then remembered what had happened the Friday before and wiggled his eyebrows. "But you’re busy with AJ and the VCR tonight so.."

Lance’s cheeks turned a bright red which caused for Justin and Nick to giggle. "Shut up," Lance whispered.

"Are you seriously going to.."

"Yes!" Lance said, cutting Justin off. "And if you don’t shut up, I won’t ask AJ if I can borrow it for you guys."

That effectively put a stop to anything else Justin was going to say. He desperately wanted to see the movie that Lance had told them about in such explicit detail. "Okay, shutting up now."

"I’ll call you tomorrow," Nick assured Lance. "As soon as we know what’s up, I’ll let you know."

The morning passed by uneventfully. Nick’s mind was never far away from Kevin and his impending arrival. He sped through his math assignment, not wanting to leave anything for the weekend. The last thing he wanted to do was have to waste any of his precious time with Kevin doing school work. Finally, what felt like hours upon hours later, it was lunch. All he had to do was get through lunch and two more classes and he would be done for two whole days. And hopefully Kevin would be home by then.

Nick and Britney headed to their lockers, grabbing their lunches before making their way to the quad. They ran into Justin, Christina and Lance coming out of music. Everyone was chattering excitedly about the final decisions of the school’s production that year. It was down to Jesus Christ Superstar, Beauty and the Beast or Hairspray, which was quickly becoming the new favourite. Someone had suggested it at the meeting a few days prior and the buzz at the school was that it was the favourite.

The gang was so wrapped up in their conversation, that they hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. "Hey," Lance greeted the gang once they’d stepped into the quad. His eyes darted around the gang, surprised to see Joey and Brian at their table next to AJ and Chris.

Chris?

Justin looked up, his eyes almost instantly landing on his boyfriend. It took him about ten seconds to realize that Chris shouldn’t be sitting at their table. His eyes widened and he grinned, breaking out into a shimmy. "OH MY GOD!" He shouted, startling people at nearby tables. "What are you doing here?" Justin was down the path and at their table instantly, he pounced on Chris, not at all aware of the eyes all focused on him. Chris’ laughter was muffled as he laughed against Justin’s tee shirt covered chest.

Nick’s eyes narrowed at Justin’s reaction to Chris. He exchanged a look with Christina and regarded Brian and Joey, who usually didn’t join them in the quad. Before he could process why they were there, he looked one person further to see Kevin smiling at him, an amused expression on his face.


His pulse raced.

Stomach dropped.

Breath caught in his throat.

Kevin was sitting there, smiling at him, chewing his lower lip nervously.

"You ....you’re here?" Nick whispered, in shock.

"Who?" Lance asked, startled when Kevin stood up and slowly walked towards them. Joey, Brian and Chris’ presence in the quad for lunch now made sense, Kevin was here, of course he would want to come to the school to see friends that he’d missed for the past month. Visit teachers that he’d spent four years with, but mostly see his boyfriend who he had been denied for a month. And of course Chris would be there too, an opportunity to spend time with Kevin, but also surprise Justin at school. A tremor of excitement passed through Lance’s body, his stomach fluttering nervously.

Nick was still standing in place; he hadn’t expected Kevin to be there so soon. He rubbed his eyes, as if Kevin would vanish if he got a clearer look. Fortunately, Kevin was still standing before him, more beautiful than Nick had remembered.

"Surprise!"

Anything else Kevin might have said was cut off by Nick throwing himself into his arms. Nick wrapped his arms around Kevin’s neck and hugged him as tight as he could without cutting off both of their oxygen supplies.

"I came earlier than I expected."

Nick pulled away so that he could stare deeply into Kevin’s eyes. He traced every feature of Kevin’s face, wishing he could kiss his boyfriend but not feeling completely comfortable doing it in front of the whole sophomore population that was currently watching them in awe.

"It is so good to see you." Nick hugged him again, this time tighter than the first time. "You’re here, you’re here, you’re here. I can’t believe you’re finally here."

"Me too," Kevin said with a laugh. UCLA, school, everything else seemed to disappear and Kevin felt as if he’d never left. Things were exactly the same as when he’d left them, the moment provided a familiar sense of home. Kevin never wanted to leave.

"When did you get in?"

Kevin looked at Chris who had an arm full of Justin. "About an hour ago. I went to Chris’, picked him up and went to drop my stuff at home. We came here, I saw a few people I wanted to see and thought I’d wait for you to get out for lunch."

"When can we leave?" Nick asked. There was no way he was going to be able to sit through History or Art knowing that Kevin was in town. He was just going to have to suffer the consequences of skipping class.

"You have cla..." Kevin started so say. He was cut off by Nick’s growl.

"I’m skipping. Can we leave now?"

Kevin looked at Chris who was nodding. "My parents won’t be home until dinner, we can go to my house," Kevin offered. Everyone was up on their feet almost instantly.

"Let’s go," Joey cheered. He clasped his hand with Mandy’s and tugged her towards the entrance to the school.

Kyle, Billy and Emily watched, slightly removed from the excitement. Josh looked at them questioningly, "you coming?"

"Are we invited?" Kyle asked, softly. It seemed like it was something that their inner core group of friends were all doing and they still didn’t know Kevin all that well.

"Of course," Kevin interrupted. "The house is huge, and seeing that the weather has been so good, my parents haven’t shut the pool down yet. So we’ll just hang out outside, or inside, or whatever. I’ve got plans with Nick tonight," Kevin smiled as Nick squeezed his hand tightly. "...so it won’t be a huge bash like the one we’re having tomorrow night, but it’s somewhere we can all hang out until after school at least."

Emily stood up and grinned at Kevin. "Thank you." Kevin paused for a second, looking at the large group of people.

"Is there enough room for everyone in a car?"

A quick inventory was taken. Josh would take Christina, Lance and AJ. Billy could take Kyle, Emily and Britney. Joey would take Mandy and Brian while Kevin would be taking Nick, Chris and Justin. Everyone was accounted for.

They headed quickly through the hall towards their lockers. Nick refused to let go of Kevin’s hand even for a second. As they walked through the school, he kept turning his head to look at Kevin, just to make sure that he was really there.

"What?" Kevin asked after the third time Nick looked at him.

"Nothing." Nick’s lips curled into a grin.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Kevin was starting to get self conscious and wiped at his nose and mouth. "Is something wrong?"

Nick shook his head. He stopped walking and turned around to hug Kevin tight. "I’m just so happy that you’re here. I keep expecting to turn around and find you gone."

Kevin’s cheeks turned pink and he gave an embarrassed smile. He’d almost forgotten the way Nick would watch him, as if in awe. The amount of love and respect, not to mention admiration in Nick’s gaze humbled Kevin immensely. He had to fight not to take that knowledge for granted, as it would be so easy to do just that.

"Have you thought about what you want to do tonight?" Kevin asked softly. Nick was leaning down to throw his things into his knapsack and grabbed his sweater. Looking closer, the hoodie was familiar. As Nick stuffed the hoodie into his bag, Kevin grabbed a hold of the sleeve. "Is this..." Kevin’s eyes darted to Nick’s face which was scarlet.

"Kinda, yeah."

"I’ve been looking for it," Kevin teased playfully. He tickled Nick’s sides, enjoying the sound of his laughter echoing in the locker.

"I borrowed it ..." Nick said. When Kevin raised an eyebrow Nick giggled. "Okay, remember this summer, we were out on the boat with Brian and Rachael and a few of your friends? It was kind of cold?"

Kevin thought back, vaguely remembering the night that Nick was talking about.

"Well, you lent me your sweatshirt. I took it home to wash it, but then forgot to give it back to you."

"Forgot?" Kevin asked. Nick shrugged.

"And I was going to return it, but you never asked for it. So I said to myself, if he asks for it, I’ll return it, but if he doesn’t, he’s probably forgotten about it and won’t miss it anyways. You didn’t ask for it and so ..I kinda kept it." Nick bit on his lower lip as he shut his locker, fastening the lock. He turned to look up at Kevin, blue eyes wide, lower lip protruding. "Did you want it back?"

Kevin groaned, Nick wasn’t playing fair. He had been looking for it, but when he couldn’t find it, he assumed that he’d just lost it somewhere, or put it in a box in storage. It wasn't a big deal to him, he had dozens of other hoodies, not to mention the thought of Nick wearing his sweater sent delicious chills up his spine. Nick had perfected the art of pouting and Kevin was putty in his hands.

"I want you to keep it," Kevin whispered. He leaned in to softly kiss Nick’s jaw, giving anyone watching the impression that he was whispering something in the blonde’s ear.

"Really?" Nick breathed. His pulse was racing and his stomach fluttering at a nearly nauseating pace. It was just a sweatshirt, but it was Nick’s favourite and he hadn’t wanted to part with it.

"Yes, really." Kevin lingered for a second, inhaling Nick’s familiar scent. Before he pulled away he whispered, "I so want to kiss you right now. I’ve wanted to kiss you since you walked into the quad."

Nick’s knees buckled and he was about to fall when Justin stepped in behind him and caught him.

"You, Kevin Richardson, need to wait until he’s somewhere and sitting before you try to kill him like that." Justin’s eyes were dancing and his lips were curled into the permanent grin he’d had since noticing Chris in the quad.

"He can kill me like that any time he wants," Nick sighed dreamily. Chris chuckled as he tugged Kevin down the hall towards the exit to the parking lot.

Kevin tossed Chris the keys to his SUV. "You’re driving!" Everyone else had already gone ahead, Joey mentioned that he would take everyone to the back and they’d wait for them there.

"ME?" Chris asked in shock. Kevin had never let him drive his car, no matter how many times Chris begged and pleaded. He raised an eyebrow and waited for Kevin to rescind the offer.

"You." Kevin grabbed a hold of Nick to stop him from getting into the passenger side seat. "And you, are in the back with me."

Justin grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Nick. Nick blushed, doing a shimmy when Kevin turned to look at Chris.

Nick climbed into the back of the SUV, Kevin followed close behind. They were buckled up in case they were pulled over, but Nick was sitting in the centre seat, not leaving any room between him and his boyfriend. Mumbling could be heard from the front seat from Chris who growled as he slid into the driver’s side.

"Hey," Kevin whispered, pulling Nick even closer. He wrapped an arm behind Nick’s back, pulling the blonde so that they were nose to nose.

"H..hey," Nick whispered back. "Why are you letting Chris drive?"

"Because when we get to my house, there are going to be a dozen people there, I can’t wait until they all leave to kiss you."

"Then why the fuck did you invite everyone over?" Chris growled. He was still adjusting the seats and mirrors to accommodate for his shorter height. The yelp of pain echoed in the car from Justin pinching his thigh. "What?"

"Leave them alone," Justin warned. Chris glared at him, but Justin glared right back. "Think about it, you haven’t seen me for a month, but you haven’t seen everyone else as well. They’re all expecting you to hang out with them, and you want to, but you also want free time with me. What do you do?"

Chris shrugged.

Justin pinched his thigh again. "You invite everyone over, but the whole ride to your house, you make out with me." Justin’s eyes met Kevin’s in the rear view mirror. "We’ll take the scenic route."

"Awesome," Nick said. The rest of his words were cut off by Kevin’s mouth, hot and insistent on his.

It felt like home. That’s what Nick’s mouth felt like, tasted like. Kevin had gone without this pleasure for far too long, and in one moment it had felt like a lifetime, but in the next, it was as if he’d never been denied. He remembered the way Nick would mewl and whimper as Kevin’s lips manipulated his, his tongue darting everywhere in Nick’s mouth, trying to savour every last bit. When the car started to move, Kevin barely registered it. He was too lost in Nick’s arms to care about anything except Nick’s mouth and the wonderfully blissful things it was doing to him.

Justin and Chris had no issues with making out in front of people, Nick had never been one for exhibitionism. Right now, he couldn’t have cared less if the whole world was watching them. Kevin was kissing and licking at his mouth like a man starved, and all Nick could do was grab a firm hold on Kevin’s arms and wait for the world to stop spinning. In the back of his mind, he could hear Justin’s surprised gasp and Nick assumed that it was because Kevin’s hand had just slid underneath his baggy shirt and over his groin. There was a hot, pulsing, swelling organ underneath Kevin’s hand and Nick whimpered loudly as Kevin palmed it roughly.

"What?" Chris asked Justin. He saw that Justin’s cheeks were a deep scarlet and his eyes were riveted to the side mirror. Looking into the rear view mirror, Chris could see Kevin’s hand covering where Nick’s groin was and rolled his eyes. "Oh Jesus," Chris groaned. He watched as Kevin’s eyes opened and his best friend gave him the finger. Chris only winked causing Kevin to smile against Nick’s mouth.

In a move that surprised Kevin considerably, Nick boldly repeated Kevin’s actions, cupping Kevin’s erection and stroking it through his jeans. "Oh fuck Nicky ..." Kevin whimpered softly. "I’ve missed you so much."

"I can tell," Nick cooed. He licked his lips, pleased as he watched Kevin’s eyes follow his tongue’s movements. To tease his boyfriend, Nick repeated the action, licking his lips once more, this time slower and sexier. His hand kept stroking Kevin’s groin until finally Kevin had to still his hand.

"I’m going to come."

Justin’s gasp echoed through the car. Chris looked over to find Justin palming his own erection, staring out the window with an expression of shame and embarrassment on his face.

"Stop turning my boyfriend on," Chris complained. Justin moaned while shaking his head.

"Shut up."

Kevin hadn’t heard Chris or Justin. All he could focus on was Nick’s heavy breathing in his ear and the feel of Nick’s hand, massaging him to orgasm. "Fuck ...seriously Nicky ...you’re making me so hard."

Nick smiled as he nibbled on Kevin’s jaw. He licked a path up to Kevin’s ear where he sucked playfully on the lobe. "I like that I make you hard. I like making you come." Nick’s voice was so low that only Kevin could hear him. The older teen’s eyes opened and he turned to meet Nick’s gaze, green eyes focused intently on blue. It was Nick who gasped at the intensity of Kevin’s stare.

"Nick.." Kevin whispered. His eyes fluttered shut again and he gripped the seat beside him hard. Chris had turned the music up so that he wouldn’t be forced to listen to their sexual activities, affording Kevin and Nick a little more privacy than they’d had.

"Come for me, Kev. Let me watch you come."

Nick hadn’t been this sexually explicit before he left, Kevin was sure of it. It seemed that a month apart, had awoken something in Nick that had previously been lying dormant. Kevin found that he was enjoying this new Nick, and so he turned his head to blindly meet the blonde’s mouth with a kiss. "Just a little more Nicky," Kevin whispered against Nick’s plush lips. "Almost there."

The car stopped and Chris jumped out as fast as possible. He was joined by Justin who was still clutching onto his groin tightly. As they headed up the drive to Kevin’s house, Chris looked back to see that neither Nick or Kevin had made a move to exit the vehicle. Seeing that Chris was looking back, Justin too looked over his shoulder at the exact second Kevin threw his head back

Justin gasped, his knees buckled. He’d just witnessed Kevin orgasm and Nick lean in to swallow his cries of pleasure. He threw a heated glance in Chris’ direction, disappointed when Chris shook his head.

"Not here, no way."

"But .."

"No buts," Chris stood firm.

Justin looked back at the SUV where Kevin and Nick were now free of their seat belts and kissing again, Nick on Kevin’s lap straddling him. There was a longing expression of desire on his face and he grudgingly followed Chris towards the back yard where they could hear everyone else.

Kevin pulled away to catch his breath and noticed that they weren’t moving. In fact, he wasn’t sure that they’d moved at all in the past ten minutes. It took one glance out the window to see that they were at his house, parked. Alone. Chris and Justin had left them alone and gone in, without them.

"Nicky," Kevin whimpered. Nick’s mouth attached to the side of Kevin’s throat, licking and nibbling on the skin there.

"Yeah?"

"We’re here."

Nick pulled away and looked out the window. "So we are." He leaned back in to keep kissing Kevin, frustrated when the older teen pulled away. "What?" Nick asked, pouting.

"We should go inside," Kevin argued weakly. He pulled Nick down so that he could kiss him again. Their tongues battled back and forth erotically. "They’re ...all ...."

"Okay," Nick agreed, not moving.

"You're going to have to get up," Kevin laughed. Nick’s eyes opened, their gazes locked. "And I have to change."

"We can continue this later?" Nick begged, kissing Kevin again. With a nod, Kevin pulled away.

"Definitely continuing this later."

They adjusted clothing and tried to make themselves as presentable as possible. Kevin took him through the front door, using his key to gain entrance to his house. He informed Nick that he would be going upstairs to change, since his jeans and underwear were slightly uncomfortable, and no, Nick could not accompany him.

"But," Nick pouted, "you might need help."

"I don’t need help," Kevin said. He refused to look into Nick’s eyes, therein lay his downfall. Nick could get anything he wanted with the bat of an eye, the pout of his lips.

The back deck was in full swing as Nick slipped through the sliding doors, hoping to be unnoticed. Lance was the first to acknowledge his entrance, whispering something to Justin. Justin turned to look at Nick although refused to meet his eye. Instead, he ducked his head down, turned a brilliant shade of red and became very interested in the conversation occurring between Chris and AJ.

It was surprisingly warm for the last day of September, but no one had decided to swim. Joey had managed to bring out one of the extra ghettoblasters they kept in the pool house and slipped a few CDs in as they waited for their host to arrive. Nick ignored the various cat calls that accompanied his journey across the deck and took a seat beside Lance.

"Hey."

"Hey," AJ cackled, wiggling his eyebrows. "Bout time you guys decided to join us."

Nick subconsciously rubbed at his kiss swollen lips and felt his whole face ignite in embarrassment. "Yeah.."

He tried to telepathically force Justin to look up, but his best friend’s eyes were riveted on the concrete before him. Lance on the other hand, looked as if he was about to burst.

"Where’s Kevin?" Chris asked with a smirk. Nick shrugged.

"He had to go upstairs for a second," Nick suddenly felt ashamed and dirty. The whole gang knew why they had been late, although he knew they assumed it was just making out, and they were right, it still felt awkward. Not to mention Justin had refused to even acknowledge his presence, which hurt more than anything. He should have stopped when Kevin first suggested they stop, and now he wondered if Kevin too was angry at him. Nick bit his lower lip, willing himself not to cry. The emotional aspect of Kevin’s return was finally catching up with him and he didn’t know where to channel all of the excess emotions.

He looked up and caught Chris’ eye, surprised to see a look of respect there.

"You okay?" Lance asked. Nick had gone from one extreme to the other, in less than twenty seconds. One minute he was on top of the world, happier than Lance had ever seen him, but now it looked like Nick was barely holding on, ready to burst into tears.

Nick shook his head, he couldn’t find his voice to answer Lance. Looking at the rest of the group that was sitting with them, they were all pretending not to notice, continuing their conversation as if nothing had happened. His eyes darted up, and Nick was surprised to see Justin watching him curiously. There was an expression in his best friend’s eyes, something that Nick didn’t recognize.

Lance looked between the two friends and sighed. He knew that Nick and Kevin had been in the car for so long making out. That was both obvious and expected. They’d been apart for so long, the first thing they’d want to do was reestablish their physical relationship. But he couldn’t figure out why Justin was so affected by it, and why it was affecting Nick’s mood. In a split decision, he stood up and brought Justin and Nick with him.

"We need to talk."

"What?" Justin squeaked, surprised by Lance’s sudden movement.

"We need to talk," Lance looked over at Kevin who had since, come downstairs and was talking to Joey and Brian about something. "Kevin? Can I use your house for a second?"

"The whole house?" Kevin asked, joking. Lance rolled his eyes.

"One room. Kitchen."

Kevin nodded. It was then that he noticed Nick’s distraught expression on his face and felt his stomach bottom out. "Everything okay?"

"Yep, peachy keen," Lance answered as he dragged Justin and Nick across the deck and into the kitchen. When they’d all made inside safely, Lance shut the door and crossed his arms over his chest. "Care to tell me what the hell is going on?"


End Chapter 23


Chapter 24 >