It was with butterflies in his stomach that Ellory looked forward to the end of each day, when Sean would sneak into his last class and sit in the back row, smiling down at Ellory finishing up his lecture. Together, they would head to Ellory's place and make out on his couch—bruising kisses that left Ellory with burns on his chin from Sean's beard, and a chain of mottled marks from collarbone to collarbone, Sean's big hands hauling him closer. They slept curled up together in Ellory's bed, the nights cool enough to have the sheets tossed over them, the window cracked open to let in the fresh air of dawn.
It was a Tuesday afternoon that Ellory spied Sean slipping into the topmost seat of his lecture. He looked down to hide his smile, ruffling the papers before him. His students were taking
