Ghosts that Watch Us

15

His office. He would go to his office first and clean himself off as best he could before making the trek across campus to his house. What a filthy, embarrassing sight he must be, muddied and bleeding. And all because that damn boor had distracted him on his walk. He limped up the stairs, hand trembling on the rail, his other arm draped across his stomach feeling knotted in shame and rage. Fumbling with his keys, he finally unlocked the door, groaning as the warm air hit his frozen face and neck. His scarf—where was it?

Just as he was kicking the door closed, a hand shot in, his dirtied scarf clutched in long fingers.

Sean pushed in and slammed the door shut, cheeks pink, slightly out of breath. He must have run after him.

“Your scarf,” he said rather uselessly, a hard enough edge to his voice that displayed a measure of his own confusion as to why he was in Ellory's office.

Ellory twisted away. “Get out!”

“What the f**k’s your problem, huh?” Sean asked, confusion being taken over by anger. Ellory hadn’t realized Sean had followed him to his desk until he was being spun, Sean’s hands hard on his shoulders.

“Get your hands off me, you beast.”

“I was trying to help you. You’re being a complete s**t for no reason.”

Ellory sneered, and Sean’s eyes darted down to his lips. “No reason, right? Maybe I don’t like fraternizing with assholes.”

“I’m not an asshole—I brought your raggedy scarf back!”

Ellory bristled. “It’s not raggedy! It’s cashmere. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Sean hauled him closer, their faces inches apart. “Yeah, you would wear designer, wouldn’t you. Pretentious s**t like you?”

Hands on his chest, Ellory struggled to push him off, but Sean was so strong, his fingers wrapping the entire width of Ellory's arms, and a twinge of arousal broke through the anger fogging his mind.

“You’re being unreasonable,” he tried, but Sean had him backed up against the edge of his desk, flakes of mud and grass left trailed over the floor, and he thought that maybe he was being the unreasonable one.

“I’m not the one screaming and fighting with the person who tried to help them up after they took a pretty hilarious spill.”

“You’re a jackass,” Ellory gasped, bucking and yanking on his arms, but it was no use. Sean had him trapped in his iron grip.

“I’m just trying to help, alright?” Sean whispered, fingers loosening a fraction on Ellory’s biceps. His eyes darted over Ellory’s face and neck. “You’re covered in it. Here.” He took Ellory’s scarf and tried wiping at his cheek. Incensed again, Ellory jerked away and Sean reacted fast, grabbing his chin and making Ellory face him. But before either knew it, Ellory was jumping forward and kissing Sean, their mouths crashing together, teeth clacking, hands clutching at his hair. There was a moan, he wasn’t sure who did it, but then Ellory wrenched away, breathing hard. Lifting his arm, he slapped Sean, all his strength in one hard smack, Sean's head snapping from the force of it. Sean groaned, strands of hair hanging in his eyes. Ellory stood rooted to the floor, hand frozen in the air, eyes wide, cheeks spotted with bright color.

“Don’t touch me,” he gasped, and Sean grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket.

“You kissed me!”

“Yes, well…I regret it!”

“Like hell you do,” Sean growled and kissed him again.

They surged together over the edge of his desk, Sean crowding him against it. Ellory wrapped his arms around Sean’s neck, dragging him closer, both bumping hard against the desk, knocking over a cup of pens, his clock, jarring his computer monitor so it rocked and danced on its base.

Sean’s hands were pressed flat to his spine, forcing Ellory to arch forward, their hips crushed together. He hardly felt the aches and bruises of his fall, nor the cut to his knee, which was probably still bleeding. All he felt was lovely warmth and the rasp of beard bristles on his chin, the raw strength of the man before him, his full lips devouring Ellory’s own, their chests heaving against each other.

When something crashed to the floor, a wooden paperweight shaped like a water lily, they broke apart, both staring and breathing hard.

"You've been ignoring me lately," Sean breathed, giving away that he cared. 

Ellory's fingers clenched in that brown hair. "Don't I always."

Sean almost snarled. "This was different. You don't snap at me anymore. You won't even look at me now."

Ellory's eyes dropped, as if to prove a point. "Maybe I don't want to look at your stupid face."

Sean growled and grabbed his chin, fingers nearly bruising. "Don't get cute."

"Shut up," Ellory whispered. "You're insufferable. I can't stand you."

Rolling his hips, Sean let Ellory feel how hard they both were, their erections trapped in their trousers. Sean lifted his eyebrows, goading Ellory with an irritating oh yeah? look that set Ellory's teeth on edge. Neither of them really knew how this happened. Neither of them really knew how it hadn’t happened yet. 

"Prove that you can't stand me," Sean spit out.