Better Be Sure (Harrison Campus 1)

“Holy shit!” Jack wrung Ed’s hand.

The front of the plane lifted and gained altitude to clear the trees and streetlights between them. It rushed over them with blinking lights and a wake of cool air that lifted the blanket.

“Whoa.” He finally released his death grip on Ed’s hand. “That was wild.”

Ed laughed and ran his hand through Jack’s brown hair. The thrill working from head to toe shot back to his groin.

A knowing smile curved Ed’s lips. “The next takeoff is in another twenty minutes.”

Jack slid his hand around the back of Ed’s neck. “Hmm, what to do with the time…?”

“There’s the picnic if you’re hungry.”

“I am hungry….”

Ed twisted his body, pressing closer, and Jack locked him there, throwing a leg over Ed’s. Gods, he was hungry to kiss Ed again. But first, he had to know more. “You said no one knows you’re gay. Doesn’t your family suspect?”

The lust in Ed’s eye dissipated, and he tried to roll back. Jack squeezed his thigh, keeping Ed in place, making Ed met his eyes.

“I hope not,” Ed said.

“Why?”

“Because they love me, and I kinda like that.”

“You don’t think they’ll accept you?”

“I’m too afraid to find out. It might be as simple as just telling them and they don’t care at all. Maybe just opening up and telling them would make them the happiest parents in the world. But… what if it doesn’t?”

“The unknown is scary. Sometimes coming out is easier dreamed of than done.”

“You’re not going to gently nudge me to man up and get over it? Just tell them?”

“No, but….”

Ed tensed.

“It would be easier if you were out.” For purely selfish reasons, mostly. Jack could ask Ed to be his date for the spring formal, and he wouldn’t have to worry about moving out of his dad’s fraternity house. Worry about letting Marcus down. He also liked the idea of having a boyfriend who would hang around no matter where Jack went. A guy who wouldn’t feel ashamed to have him at his side.

It would be easier if Ed was out. “But right now I feel ridiculously warm around you. Relaxed. Like I could just hang here and have nothing to say and it wouldn’t be uncomfortable.”

“And yet that sounded rather frustrated.”

Jack nipped Ed’s lips. “Yes, because it’s true.”

“And being in the closet sets the timer on us.”

“This isn’t first date discussion.”

Ed sighed. “I want to be upfront. I’m not coming out, Jack.”

“One day you’ll meet a guy who’ll be worth the risk.”

“Is this your way of telling me it’s over before it’s started?”

Jack cupped the side of Ed’s face. “It should be.” Nervous hope filled Ed’s eyes, and again something hard tugged in Jack’s chest. “I like what I know about you, Ed.”

“I like you too.”

Jack swallowed the small well of disappointment and focused on the cute guy looking at him with relief flooding his expression. “You are really hot.”

Ed smirked. “Oh yeah?”

Jack pushed Ed onto his back and rolled on top of him. Their stomachs touched where both their shirts had lifted, and their hard-ons nestled against each other. Ed lifted his head, coming for Jack’s mouth. Warm tongue slipped into his mouth, and Jack melted into the kiss. He tangled one of his hands together with Ed’s at their side, while Ed’s other hand made a delicious trail over his shoulders, down the base of his spine, to settle at the curve of his ass.

Jack rolled his hips into the kiss, and Ed pressed up into it, breaking away from the kiss to gasp. His exposed neck drew Jack’s attention, and he lightly dusted kisses under Ed’s ear. Kisses turned to nibbles down the cord of his throat, and at the junction of his neck and shoulder, Jack grazed his teeth and sucked hard.

The effect was immediate. Ed bucked and flipped them over, pinning Jack down with his toned body. Hands pushed under Jack’s shirt as Ed’s kisses turned wild.

The blanket had twisted between them, an annoying extra layer between their groins. Ed licked a line down his neck. Air made the streak tickle and, fuck, how could simply kissing Ed be more intense than anything else he’d done?

The roar of the next plane sounded around them, growing and growing.

Ed rocked against him. Jack steered Ed’s mouth to his and kissed him through the vibrations rumbling the truck bed.

Color burst overhead as the plane lifted, and a slam of air waked over them. All senses were on overload, and Jack was one thrust away from spilling in his pants.

“You’ve ruined me,” Jack said once the plane’s engine was a mere drone in the sky. “No other date can live up to that.”

Ed had slowed their kisses, possibly—hopefully—in the same predicament as Jack. “Good.”

Jack raised his eyebrow but didn’t want to reengage in their earlier discussion. Maybe Jack and Ed should make the most of what each was willing to give and enjoy it while it lasted.