Hide Away With Me

Chapter 2

Ryan had begun hiding out in the Willace Ave. witch house regularly since that first night six weeks ago. He would trudge the five miles through the woods almost every night. His mother and stepfather had been fighting after it came to light that Ryan, in fact, had four broken ribs on his right side. As he walked, he recalled the look on Zane’s face when he removed his shirt so Julie could look. The bruising was bad, worse than he thought it would be and he thought Zane was going kill someone, didn’t know who, but someone. He didn’t think Zane was the type to be protective over someone he barely knew given what people said about him, but then again no-one truly knew much about him.

Zane hadn’t been to the house for the first few days after that night, but he had gone back and noticed Ryan hiding out in the cold. He had set up the heater and sat next to Ryan, wrapping him in a hug effectively warming him up. That next night Ryan arrived at the house to find a stack of blankets and a full propane tank for the heater, a note pinned to the blankets read ‘Stay warm.’ Simple and sweet. The gesture seemed more thoughtful than Ryan was sure it was meant to be, and he couldn’t help the flutter he felt in his heart. He had turned o the heater and wrapped himself in a blanket, settled in and fell asleep. He awoke to Zane trying to sit o. the mattress as quietly as he could. He stated a sincere “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to wake you.” before placing an arm around Ryan and pulling him close.

Ryan made is way through the old door that wouldn’t quite close, through the small living area and around the staircase their hiding spot. He found Zane sitting with his arms a crossed, head down, hood up, sleeping. He had only seen Zane sleep a couple times; it always caught him off guard. Zane coughed a little and shifted so his head leaned against the wall and lolled to the right, one leg stretched out the other knee bent. He didn’t look comfortable but not uncomfortable either. Ryan shook his head and smiled to himself, enjoying the moment for a bit. He knew once he woke Zane there would be hell. Not directed at Ryan of course, but his new black eye would set Zane off. Ryan took a deep breath and drop suddenly onto the lumpy old mattress intentionally disturbing Zane’s nap.

Zane grunted out a “Hey.” and chuckled a little as Ryan scooted close and laid his head on Zane's shoulder.

“Hey.” Ryan returned softly. Zane wrapped his arm around him as he always does, pulling him in close, not yet opening his eyes. “How’d you know it was me? You were out.”

“I just know.” Ryan could hear the smile in Zane’s voice, making him smile to himself. He debated pushing further or letting Zane go back to sleep when the man shifted and looked right at Ryan

“Damn.” Zane placed his hand on Ryan’s chin lifting his face to get a better look, he was pissed. “What happened?” Zane kept his voice calm, he learned early on that raising his voice always made Ryan anxious, so he feigned calm in order to keep Ryan calm. It didn’t always work. Ryan could see the anger in Zane’s eyes and knew it wouldn’t end well for his stepfather if he said more than he needed to. He could tell that his silence weighed on Zane, he wanted to tell him what was going on, but he didn’t want to cause more problems between his mom and stepfather. As far as Ryan was concerned, if beating the crap out of him kept Allen from hitting his mother, then so be it.

“It’s nothing, I promise I’m okay.” Ryan shook Zane’s hand off gently and nudged Zane a little, so he leaned back against the wall. Ryan laid against Zane placing his head on the man’s chest and reveled in the warmth. Zane wrapped both arms around Ryan and placed a soft kiss to the top of his head and rested there. Zane’s heart rate was steady, but Ryan could sense his anxiety, he didn’t know what to do to help make him feel better…, that’s a lie he did know, he just couldn’t do it. He twisted his fingers into Zane’s hoodie and closed his eyes for a minute, a sense of safety wafting through him. He realized he hadn’t been sleeping all that well, exhaustion making itself known as he began to drift off to sleep.

Zane didn’t know how much time had passed or when he had fallen asleep, but he woke with a start. Thunder rocked the night like a grenade, a flash of lightning followed by more thunder, loud and threatening of a storm. He shook Ryan awake and reached over to turn off the heater.

“Get up, its fixen to rain and this place has a s**t roof.” His voice was low not wanting to startle Ryan, but another flash of lightning followed almost instantly by thunder made the other man jump and grab for Zane’s hand. Zane tucked the heater into its normal hiding spot, pulled Ryan to his feet and the two made their way to his car. The rain hit hard and heavy just as they pulled out onto the road to head to Zane’s house for the night.

Zane loved the rain, the smell, the way is sounded hitting the roof of the car, but he hated the thunder and lightning. Memories of pain flooded his mind when it stormed like this. His mothers face when he didn’t do what she asked, the faces of the men she let into his room in the middle of the night, always made more terrifying by the lightning and thunder. He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter with ever flash of light begging his mind to shut up. He was so distracted he almost forgot to hit the gate opener when he pulled into the driveway. If Ryan noticed he didn’t say, and Zane was extremely thankful for this. He had worked hard to face his past, but he was still afraid of telling people about it. The only people who knew anything about it were his therapist, his parents, and the Child Protective Services and police who took him from his mother’s care when he was seven. He was sure others knew but they didn’t live here and that is all that mattered.

Ryan stared at Zane as he unlocked his front door and let them into the warm dry apartment. He had noticed Zane had become tense when the weather turned bad. He just figured it ad to do with the bad roof on their hideout, but during the drive from there to the apartment Ryan noticed Zane becoming more and more tense. He gripped the steering wheel do tightly his knuckles turned white, and Ryan thought they would hit run right through the gate for a second when Zane forgot to hit the button to open it. He wasn’t sure what was going on but knew that Zane liked to keep things to himself and the way he saw it, if he couldn’t tell Zane what was going on with himself then he couldn’t expect Zane to be open with him. They got inside and Zane ran right for the bathroom. Ryan removed his jacket and laid it across the arm of the couch like he always did, he sat down and began taking his shoes off when the sound or retching came from the bathroom. He got up and slowly walked over to the bathroom door. He stood for a minute not knowing what to do when he heard the flush of the toilet, then the sink running.

“You ok Zane?” The question sounded loud to his ears despite the rain and thunder. He didn’t know how Zane would react, but he couldn’t just ignore the fact that something was wrong considering their night had started out decent.

“I’m good.” The sound of his own voice made him feel weak and pathetic, breathless and hoarse from vomiting. He splashed water on his face and wiped his mouth before pulling out his toothbrush and washing the disgust from his mouth. The concern in Ryan’s voice was palpable and he felt bad for making the younger man worry, Ryan was one of if not his only true friend and he cared about the younger man so much. Every time Ryan showed up with a new bruise Zane saw red, he wanted to bury whoever had put their hands on Ryan in such a way, but Ryan never told him what happened or who did it. Frustration boiled inside and put his fist through the wall to the left of his mirror. His sister would’ve killed him if he broke that damn mirror.

“Zane?!” Zane had forgotten he was there for a second. He spit the toothpaste into the sink and wiped his mouth again before attempting to reassure his worried friend. He took a quick look at his hand, a small scratch gracing his knuckles, f**k. He opened the door almost slamming into Ryan who must’ve been leaning against the door trying to hear behind the door. Ryan just stared at his sheepishly.

“You, ok?” Ryan’s voice came out small and a little embarrassed, he hadn’t expected Zane to open the door.

“Yeah, I’ll be ok.” Zane looked so much older as he answered Ryan’s question, and Ryan figured it had to do with some part of Zane’s past. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, steeping aside so Zane could leave the bathroom. He investigated the bathroom for just a quick second and noticed the hole in the wall next to the mirror. He sighed and looked in Zane’s direction. The older man had found some shorts and was in the middle of changing shirt already carelessly discarded to the floor. The muscles in Zane’s back rippled with the movement of putting on his shorts and Ryan couldn’t help but stare. His face flushed as he watched the waist band of the shorts slide up Zane’s bare ass and settle on his hips. Ryan learned early on that Zane didn’t care for underwear and often went commando, this had been an intriguing bit of information for sure.

“See something you like?” Zane’s question was more of a poke at Ryan than a serious inquiry, but he answered anyway.

“Yea,” It was Zane’s turn to blush now. “Is that a problem?” Ryan tried to make his voice sound flirty, but he was sure he failed. They flirted like this sometimes and Ryan always felt a little ridiculous. He knew he was attractive and could easily hook up with anyone he wanted but Zane always made him feel a little insecure, not intentionally it was just how cool and relaxed he was about everything. He watched Zane walk from the dresser to the couch and noted the snarky smirk plastered across the man’s face. Ryan felt the disappointment bubble up in his stomach. He knew that Zane was attracted to him on some level, everyone on town knew Zane like to ride the fence when it came to dating. He also knew that Zane wouldn’t make a move to take things further because of Kendra.

Kendra is the beautiful brunette daughter of Judge Carlile and Ryan's mother insisted they date. Neither one was too happy when the Judge agreed. At this point Kendra had made her way through half the football team and had been dating Clark Dougan in secret for most of their relationship. Ryan didn’t have an issue with this, he liked Clark and he liked Kendra, just not like that. They figured out really quickly after they started dating that they were not interested in each other in that way. Unfortunately , the prestigious social status of both their families meant anyone they wanted to date outside of each other needed to be hidden, all the time.

Zane watches Ryan walk over to the couch clearly deep in thought. He sat down almost zombie like and kicked his shoes off. Zane considered asking a question to snap him out of it but thought better of it. He figured if Ryan wanted to share he would. He booted up his Xbox and started up his game. He knew Damion and Miles would be on shortly and they had some progress to make in this game. Ryan continued to sit quietly as Zane started a conversation with Miles while they waited for Damion to hop on.

“Sup……… No he hasn’t text me yet………yea I’m upgrading my gear now.” Zane’s voice woke Ryan from his thought filled stupor. He only ever heard Zane’s side of the conversations except when he logged on to play with them. This was rare though as his mother was spending less and less time at home. Ryan never did tell her how he broke his ribs, she was more upset with the fact Allen never called her. The fighting made her want to spend more time away. She hated the man but loved his money. Ryan looked at Zane as he laughed and joked with the other voice in his headset, tracing the strong line of the other man’s jaw with his eyes, noticing the smallest dimple that appeared in Zane’s left cheek as he smiled. He must have stared too long or too hard because Zane turned and looked at him quizzically.

“What’s up?” The question rolled off Zane’s tongue like honey, thick and sweet, Ryan wondered if kissing the other man tasted as good as it sounded.

“Just listening.” Was all he could think to say. Zane made a confused look before another player shot his character and he went cussing at the television. Ryan must’ve missed when Damion joined the game play.

“I don’t f*****g know, dudes camped on the south side, large building double doors on the front……We how was I supposed to know?........... Ah see he got your ass too.” Another deep smooth laugh and Ryan decided he needed a shower; he voiced this out loud. Zane acknowledged him with a simple ok and Ryan made his way to the bathroom. He recalled how just a little while earlier Zane had been visibly upset and sick in this very bathroom and he had some how managed to stamp that down and was happily shooting other players on his Xbox. How he could just shut down what ever feelings he was having in that moment fascinated Ryan, it was something he couldn’t do.

Zane’s shower was amazing. Large enough they could both fit if they wanted to, and still have room to move around. The shower walls and floor were lined with large grey tiles, with a large rain shower head directly above in the center. Zane had said the rain soothes him when Ryan asked if that shower head was necessary and left it at that. Ryan slid the glass door open and turned on the hot water letting it heat up. Zane’s mother had insisted on installing a tankless hot water heater, apparently stating that the endless amount of hot water would be good for Zane since he enjoyed showering so much. Or at least that is what Zane had said. Steam began to fill the room and Ryan reached in to turn on the cold water, evening out the temperature so it was comfortable for him. He then shed his clothes and hopped in.

The warm water soothed his achy muscles and seeped into his bones. He leaned on the tile wall then slowly slid down to sit on the floor knees pulled up to his chest. His thoughts fluttered from his own body to Zane’s. All hard muscles and sharp lines, pale skin with dark hair and blue eyes. God his eyes, like the brightest sky somedays, and the deepest oceans on others. He though of how it would feel to have Zane’s mouth on him, teasing his n*****s and leaving marks in places only they would know. He slid his right hand from his knee lower letting his fantasy take over. He found him self already hard and gripped his erections, gently stroking not wanting the moment to be over too soon. He imagined it was Zane’s hand on him, strong and steady, leading the way to what Ryan could only imagine would be heaven. He began to stroke faster with a little more force, letting his legs fall open wishing Zane would be between them. What would it feel like to have the other man inside him, filling him, completing him. He stroked faster using his left hand to tease his n*****s, pictures of Zane bending him over the back of the couch and taking without reserve flooded his minds eye causing his hips to jerk and a moan to escape his lips. The images to vivid he could almost feel Zane moving inside him faster and harder, just on the brink of his own climax. The very thought of Zane coming inside him sent Ryan over the edge, his c*m shooting up hitting his chin and chest, he covered him mouth to keep from shouting in his pleasure.

He lay with his head against the tile wall for a moment, bringing himself back to reality. A small noise caught his attention, and he looked up to see the very subject of his fantasy leaned against the vanity staring at him. Ryan became painfully aware of how clear the glass doors were.