Free Marked by Grief by Caitlin Ricci

knew the look Jason was giving him, and the tone of voice he was using. He had managed to frustrate him. And that made Kit happy for some reason he couldn't explain.
    He finished the last of the burger and tossed his wrapper into the nearby trashcan.
    "Milkshake too." Jason handed the drink to him. Kit bit back a sigh and forced himself to drink it. It was too sweet but at least it had melted for the most part. He drank it as fast as possible until he reached the end with a loud slurp that made Jason grin. He threw the empty container away in the trash. Then he looked at Jason expectantly. He'd done what he wanted. So now what?
    Jason handed him his cel, open and ready to cal his mother. "Tel her you're spending the night. If you decide not to, that's fine. And I wil take you home.
    But she should at least have some idea of what your plans are."
    Kit bit the inside of his cheek and looked away.
    He didn't want to talk to his mom. He hadn't realy since the accident. Since he'd caled her right after dialing 911. She'd been upset and he could rationalize that now. But he stil remembered her words to him that night as he lay there on the side of the road, holding Bear's lifeless body in his arms, and wanting nothing more than to have his mom with him, teling him it was al some fucked up nightmare. He'd needed to hear that Bear wasn't dead. And she'd yeled at him.
    "Kit," Jason pressed. Kit hung his head. He was a coward who couldn't even tel his mom he was spending the night somewhere.
    "She won't care," he muttered as he puled his knees up to his chest.
    Jason sighed and shook his head. "She loves you, Kit."
    "She hates me," Kit countered angrily. He wiped his eyes as tears started faling again. Great. He was crying again. No wonder Jason thought he was a goddamn child with the way he bawled.
    "Your mom doesn't hate you, Kit. Both of your parents love you. You're al they have now." Jason sounded so sure of himself and Kit wanted to believe him. Realy he did. Life would be so much simpler if he could just believe everything Jason thought was true.
    But he couldn't.
    "She blames me," Kit said brokenly. He hugged his head, not wanting to hear the words he'd spoken.
    But they were out there anyway. And he couldn't hide from the truth in them. "Bear died protecting me."
    Jason's mouth was a warm caress against his own. Kit gave into that comfort easily, letting him get lost in the salty taste of Jason's kiss as he let the larger man lay him down on the bed. It was so easy to want what he was offering, to give in to the peace.
    Until Jason had to ruin it by puling away. Kit looked up into those onyx eyes, seeing the pain there and hating how his choices that night had hurt him. "I should have grabbed him," Kit whimpered. Jason carefuly wiped away his tears with the pad of a rough thumb. "It's my fault." He tried to curl into a bal, to cry as he held himself like he'd done so many nights since then.
    But Jason's weight against him prevented it. He tried again but Jason shifted his body, holding him down even more effectively. He'd been a wrestler in high school and apparently hadn't forgotten anything. Kit muttered out a curse as he bucked his hips against him in one last futile attempt to get him off but Jason only shook his head. "You'd need another forty pounds of muscle and some actual technique to get me off of you right now, Kit. So stop trying, you're just wasting your energy. Now that I have you here and you can't get away, we're going to talk about this bulshit."
    Kit scowled at him. He didn't want to talk about it.
    "Bear pushed your sorry, ungrateful ass out of the way because he loved you. Even if he didn't love you, he stil would have done it. Because that's the kind of hero macho bulshit Bear did every damn day. And you weren't driving that truck. You weren't drinking.
    You didn't make those choices that led up to your brother, my best friend, getting hit by a fucking drunk driver on some stupid stretch of road. I don't