“I could have defeated them with mind control. So what we just did—”

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “You almost died when you fought with Keegan!”

Thomas noticed the defiant glare in Eddie’s eyes and hesitated for a moment. Was Eddie concerned about him? Was that why he’d taken such a drastic measure and kissed him? To fool the other vampires into thinking they were lovers? Or did something else lie behind Eddie’s actions? Could it be that Eddie felt a tiny flicker of attraction for him? Because what they’d done had gone further than necessary: a kiss and some groping would have been enough to fool the other vampires. It hadn’t been necessary for Eddie to drop his pants and for Thomas to jerk him off. Certainly not that, particularly because the vampires had already left at that point. There’d been no need to make Eddie climax in his hand. But Thomas had been unable to stop, and Eddie had spurred him on, if not with words then with his moans and the relentless thrusting of his hips. Eddie had wanted this; he’d wanted Thomas to make him come. And Thomas had craved the feeling of Eddie surrendering in his arms.

For that one moment, they’d been lovers. Thomas had never had a more satisfying make-out session with anybody. Even though Eddie had barely touched him, and never once slipped his hand over Thomas’s cock where he would have felt just how hard Thomas had been, his kiss had been passionate and all-consuming. And for a while, Eddie had been completely under his spell and given himself over to the pleasure Thomas could deliver. It had been the sweetest of moments to feel Eddie come in his hand, to feel his balls contract and his warm seed shoot into his palm. At that moment, he’d wanted nothing more than to turn Eddie around, sink his cock into his virgin ass, and ride him to the point of collapse.

Thomas was still aroused, and he knew it would only take a few strokes for him to come just as violently as Eddie had come in his hand. But looking at Eddie right now, he knew this wouldn’t happen, at least not by Eddie’s hand.

He read regret in Eddie’s face. Disappointed, Thomas dropped his lids. For a short moment, he’d hoped that Eddie was finally trying to tell him something, trying to show him that he felt the same way Thomas did. But he’d been wrong. All Eddie had wanted was to fool the four vampires.

Still, his lips formed words he shouldn’t say. “But you let me touch you—”

“Forget what happened,” Eddie replied brusquely. “It meant nothing.”

It meant nothing? No, to Thomas it had meant everything. He sucked in a breath of air.

“Forget? How the fuck do you expect me to forget this? You let me touch you like that. You should have stopped me.” Because Thomas for certain hadn’t had the strength to stop himself.

Eddie pressed his lips into a thin line. “I did it to stop you from doing something stupid! You couldn’t have fought those four with mind control! It would have killed you!”

“Oh you think I’m weak?” Where those words suddenly came from, Thomas didn’t know, but he uttered them nevertheless.

“I didn’t say that!”

“You did.” He grabbed Eddie by the shirt and pulled him close. “I’m older than you, and I’m stronger. So don’t play with me, or you’ll regret it. Next time you come up with a stupid idea such as kissing me, be prepared to go all the way. Provoke me one more time, and I’m going to take what you’re offering. And next time I won’t stop with a hand job. I promise you that.”

Shocked, Eddie pulled back.

Thomas’s chest heaved. Had he really just threatened to fuck Eddie if he ever laid hands on him again?

You should punish him now! a voice from deep within him suggested. He deserves it for getting you all riled up.

Thomas fought against the voice, pushing it back into the dark recesses of his heart, where it belonged. He wouldn’t allow this temporary anger to get the better of him. Once he’d calmed down, he would only regret having given into his evil side.

Eddie shoved both his hands against Thomas’s chest, slamming him into the wall behind him. “You touch me like that again, you’re a dead man!” He breathed heavily. “I don’t swing that way, you get that? I was doing you a fucking favor! I guess from now on I should just let you get yourself out of your own jams and not lift a finger.”

Thomas felt fury surge from his gut and travel to his chest. His jaw tightened. “Last time I checked, you were in the same jam as I. What were you gonna do without me? Run to your big sister and—?”

His next words were shoved back down his throat as Eddie’s fist landed in his mouth.