ForsakingEternity (9 page)

“Shit.” Adam suddenly spun them, Kissing Ren and pressing
him back against the hard plane of the wall.

Adam’s mouth was rough. Power surged and glowed between
them, pushing Ren further into need than he’d ever thought he could go. He
stood helpless, unable to move, his hands gripping Adam’s shoulders. Then the
tails of Ren’s shirt were jerked from his pants.

Adam dropped to his knees and Ren’s world seemed to tilt. He
scrambled to find something to hold on to, something to help him maintain his
balance without Adam’s steadying presence. In the end he had to settle for
pressing his palms against the wall as Adam’s lips trailed hot kisses down his
abdomen. There was a tug at his belt and Adam pulled open his fly with a jerk.
Then his lover’s hand gentled as he pulled down the waistband of Ren’s
underwear and exposed Ren’s cock.

There was a pause. Adam didn’t move for long moments. Ren
had almost caught his breath, almost reached the point where he could look
down, when wet heat enveloped him.

A helpless cry ripped from his lips and he arched. Adam’s
tongue teased the underside of his cock and Ren thrust forward again, his hips
starting a slow pump in and out of Adam’s mouth. With one hand, he released the
wall to thread his fingers through Adam’s hair, holding him close while he
pushed his cock into Adam’s mouth.

Oh, Adam’s mouth. So different from a female’s. Adam sucked
him aggressively, with no hesitation. Took the length of Ren’s shaft into his
throat until his nose was buried in golden curls.

Ren’s balls pulled up and tension wound through him. A
tingling pressure gripped the base of his spine, spreading through his body,
into his cock. With one last cry he thrust deep and came, shuddering as he
poured his release into Adam’s sucking mouth. The hard pull on Ren’s cock
dragged the orgasm out into what was almost a second peak, taking Ren past what
he thought was possible and making the ending as hard and strong as the
beginning.

Unable to bear any more of the excruciating bliss, he
tightened his fingers in Adam’s hair and pulled him away with a rough hand.

Ren’s knees gave out and he slid to the floor with a jarring
thump. He could barely breathe. He sat gasping for air, cock out, with Adam
kneeling between his splayed legs.

Before his stunned mind could grasp what had just happened,
Adam’s lips were on his again, his come-slicked tongue thrusting into his
mouth.

“Come with me,” Adam said, pulling away and grasping Ren’s
hand. He tugged Ren to his feet and led him through the house to his bedroom
door.

Ren stopped at the threshold, struck by a moment of
uncertainty. The enormity of what was about to happen hit him and his courage
faltered.

“What’s the matter?” Adam had stopped, sensitive as ever to
Ren’s reservations.

“I want this, I want you, but…”

“But what?”

“The idea of being penetrated… I do not know if I am ready
for this.” Ren searched Adam’s face, a silent plea for understanding.

“Nothing you aren’t ready for, Ren. There are many ways to
love.”

Ren tried to make sense of that, but before he could Adam
was kissing him again. His thoughts scrambled and whatever worries he’d had
diminished into nothingness. They staggered across the room, kissing and
tugging at each other’s clothing. By the time they fell across the bed, they
were more naked than clothed.

Cool air washed over him as Adam moved away. A drawer
scraped open, then came the snick and sputter of a bottle that had Ren tensing
again.

“Touch me. That’s all, just touching.” Adam stretched out
beside Ren once more. Taking Ren’s hand, he placed it on his cock.

Adam’s flesh was slick, hot. Ren let his hand slide over it,
testing Adam’s length and width before wrapping it in his fist. He touched Adam
the way he liked to be touched, holding him with the firm grip he craved, and
pumped.

Adam groaned and seemed to sink into the mattress as he went
limp. The hard lines of his body seemed to dissolve. Ren let his hand take
another hard slide and Adam’s hips rocked into the movement.

“More, Ren. I want it hard and fast. Make me come.”

Ren leaned over and took Adam’s mouth once more. He summoned
his power and let it flow, willed it to fill every last corner of Adam’s body,
to titillate and tantalize. With his fist sliding around Adam’s cock and his
power flowing between them, Ren drove Adam’s arousal higher, determined to give
him pleasure like he’d never had before, filling Adam so full of power he
glowed.

Once again, Adam took charge, rolling them until he lay
between Ren’s thighs and his body pressed Ren’s into the bedding. His hand
locked over Ren’s and he thrust into their joint fist. Tongues tangled and Ren
found unexpected enjoyment in allowing this man to simply use him, use his
body, to take control of their mutual pleasure.

Adam’s hand on his squeezed harder and his muscles went
taut. His harsh breath in Ren’s ear became a series of rough gasps, punctuated
by cries of
harder, more
and
fuckfuckfuck
.

Then he came, his back arching and his groin jerking against
Ren’s soft balls and reawakening cock. Adam’s come flowed over Ren’s belly and
their clasped hands, a burning heat that cooled to a chill before Adam
collapsed on top of Ren.

Adam’s breath fell over Ren’s shoulder in ragged gasps for
several minutes before he pushed himself up and rolled to the side.

He didn’t leave Ren completely, though. With one arm wrapped
around Ren’s waist, Adam pulled him close.

“Ah, Ren.” The words were a mere whisper against his hair
but Ren felt them somewhere deep inside.

Ren closed his eyes and tried to swallow past the tightness
in his throat.

How was he ever going to leave this man?

* * * * *

What a difference one night could make.

Sitting at his desk, Adam tried to ignore the tense silence
hanging between him and Ren. Just last night they’d fallen asleep in each
other’s arms. Today Ren couldn’t look at him. He’d been tense and distant since
Adam woke.

Maybe it had been too much. Maybe Ren’s curiosity would have
been better left unappeased. Or maybe this was the brush-off. He’d gotten his
one night with a man and he was ready to go. End of his holi
gay
. The
thought made Adam feel used and soiled inside.

Adam shouldn’t have brought him here. Ren obviously didn’t
want to study the box and the awkward politeness of the day after was grating
on Adam’s nerves.

Frustrated, he focused on trying to read the box again,
determined to distract himself from the unwelcome possibilities Ren’s
standoffish behavior raised.

A word almost came together before the meaning skittered
away again. What was wrong with him? He fiddled with the lighting trying to get
a better look. Next he blocked off sections with paper and when that didn’t
work, he did rubbings of the entire box.

An hour later he was no closer to solving the riddle. The
characters seemed to dance and shift, revealing a word here and there before
fading into gibberish once more. Sometimes Adam would swear the words weren’t
Hebrew at all, but Greek, or Latin or even modern English. If Ren hadn’t had
such an easy time deciphering it, he would have thought it was decorative
nonsense.

Adam leaned back in his chair and turned his attention to
the man who stood at the window, watching the gray clouds boil and roll.

Ren. There was another mystery. He obviously was familiar
with this type of covenant box, could read it with no effort, and yet he
refused to share any information. Requests to read the words aloud were met
with a flat refusal.

He read Hebrew, kept kosher and seamlessly followed all the
laws and traditions that went with being Jewish. Adam had almost convinced
himself Ren was Jewish. Last night had confirmed that wasn’t so.

Renatus wasn’t circumcised.

Adam clenched his teeth together. He would not let this
bother him. He’d had non-Jewish lovers before this. He’d even fucked uncut men.
He’d never had a problem with the state of a man’s foreskin. Besides, Ren
wasn’t here long-term. Adam couldn’t keep him, so whether or not he was cut
shouldn’t be an issue.

So why was he letting himself get tied in knots over it?

Picking up a sheet of rubbings, he glanced over the images.

Death to those…

“I think I have part of it.” Adam put his finger on the
words before he could lose them. Without taking his eyes off the now-illegible
characters, he fumbled for a pen and wrote what he’d seen on the spot.

The words drew Ren from the window to lean over his
shoulder. Adam closed his eyes. Leaning into Ren, he breathed in his scent. An
unexpected heat stung his eyes, but he blinked it away. He would not get
emotional over a man he’d met only two days ago, a man he really knew nothing
about.

A man with whom there was no future.

“That’s correct.”

“Why won’t you help me any more than that?” Adam snarled,
his irritation surfacing in a rush.

Damn this man for making him want things he couldn’t have.
Ren was going to disrupt his entire life then fly away without a backward
glance, and he wouldn’t even tell him what the box said. Was a simple
translation so much to ask?

“I’ve told you. The words are not intended for you. When
they are your truth, you will see them.”

“And I’ve told you, I don’t want to hear some mystical, New
Age tripe. I want to know what the fucking box says. I want to know what’s in
it. But I can’t read it. I can’t open it. What is so important about this thing
and why do you seem to know all about it?”

Ren rounded the desk and sat heavily in one of the chairs
there, his expression filled with misery.

“Its value is nothing to you. To me, it is…”

“Go on, it’s what?”

Ren took a deep breath and looked Adam in the eye. “I need
you to give me the box. I must take it home with me.”

“No.” Adam’s answer was pure belligerence. It was his box.
He was going to figure out how to open it, what it said, what it all meant. No
fucking way was he handing it over so Ren could leave.

“I know you do not understand, Adam. I was sent here to
retrieve it. Please trust me. You are a man of faith. Have faith in me.”

Adam ground his back teeth together. He would not be swayed
by pleading. It wasn’t going to happen. This box wasn’t going anywhere. Not if
it would keep Ren with him another day or even just another hour.

“The box stays here. Don’t bother trying to take it, because
I’m locking it in the department safe.”

Ren pulled back, hurt clouding his face.

“I cannot take it without your consent. I wouldn’t even if I
were able. That you think such a thing of me…” His mouth snapped shut and the
muscles of his jaw bunched. All Adam could do was sit and watch Ren struggle
with his hurt while his own heart trembled.

“I will leave for now,” Ren finally said, his words barely
audible. He rose and took the two scant steps to the door.

“Ren, stop.”

The words froze Ren in place. He stood at the door, one hand
on the knob. Adam barely dared to breathe, feared the slightest noise or
movement and Ren would vanish.

“I don’t want you to go. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not ever.”
He couldn’t stop the words in time. The truth he wanted to ignore hung between
them. He’d fallen in love. Totally, heartbreakingly in love.

With a man he couldn’t keep.

Ren turned and leaned back against the door, his face
desolate. “I cannot stay. Your world has no place for me. Mine has none for
you. All I have is my task. I was sent here to find that box. Now it’s found. I
must take it and leave. There is no other option.”

“There’s one. Don’t do it. Forget it’s been found. Pretend
to keep looking.”

“Adam—”

“Give me a day. Two days. I’ll hide, throw it away. We won’t
mention it again. I won’t even ask why it’s so important if you’ll just stay.”
Adam could hear his own desperation, the frantic plea in the words, but he
couldn’t stop them from coming. He needed this man more than he needed his next
breath.

Ren came to him, his steps agonizingly slow. Leaning over
the desk, he took Adam’s face in his hands and brushed his lips with sad
kisses. “I wish it were truly that simple.”

“It is that simple. Don’t go.” Adam couldn’t keep the pain,
keep the begging out of his voice.

“I must.” Ren straightened and returned to the door, opening
it this time. “You finish with the box, then I must take it.”

Ren was giving him time, delaying. Giving him time to deal
with the reality of imminent loss.

Adam’s heart crumbled and dreams he hadn’t let himself
acknowledge withered.

“Adam?”

He forced himself to look up, to meet Ren’s eyes. That
beautiful mouth opened, as if on the brink of saying something, perhaps making
an impossible promise. Or maybe that was just Adam’s heart hoping.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be waiting in the hallway.”

The door closed behind Ren with a soft click and Adam choked
on his own pain.

Chapter Seven

Adam stood at the window long after the sun set and the
campus grounds were enveloped by night. An occasional student wandered between
the puddles of light beneath the lamp posts, but nothing intruded on Adam’s
thoughts. Nothing broke his silence and solitude.

The box sat on his desk, gleaming in the light of the lamp.
The mystery of it no longer appealed to him. With Ren’s declaration it had
changed from a puzzle to be solved into tool to tie Ren to him.

A soft knock sounded at the door. With sudden alacrity he
took in the lateness of the hour and cursed. How long had Ren been waiting for
him?

“Come in,” he called, moving to the desk. The door opened
behind him with a subdued snick, then closed just as quietly. “I’m sorry to
keep you waiting. I’ll put this away and we can go.”