Free Clueless (Keeping Secrets) by J. Roman Page A

do it for me.”
    “You really care about him, huh?” I tried not to let the spark of jealousy I felt enter my voice, but I don’t think I managed it.
    He cranked the engine. “He’s my brother. I would move hell for him if I could. He’s just not easy to do things for. My parents would take him in a heartbeat if he’d put aside that pride of his and let someone help him. I don’t want him like you do, man. When we were younger, I tried to like him like that. I think he maybe wanted it to be like that between us at one time, but I can’t be gay any more than he can be straight. We’re friends, closer than blood, but still just friends.”
    Reassured, I nodded. I could understand that. Rick and I hadn’t been nearly as close, but we’d been in that moment of “Could you? Could I?” at one time. Turned out we couldn’t any more than Jason and Kevin could’ve.
    The drive home was blessedly short, and I started anticipating Jason’s mood. From his texts, it wasn’t an easy job to do. Would he be playful or moody? It was always a toss-up with him. Capricious, thy name is Jason Strummer . Kevin parked by the mailbox at the end of my driveway and shook my hand as I gathered my backpack from the floorboard.
    “Take care of him, Tommy,” Kevin said.
    “I will.” There was nothing else to say, and I imagined that Kev was probably late for football practice. I got my bag, opened the door, and then stepped out onto the drive. My footsteps clicked at a quicker-than-normal pace as I went around to the back of the house where my uncles left a spare key hidden in a ceramic turtle beside the back porch steps. I looked at my phone to check the time. It was three forty. Jason should be here by now. I bent to check the turtle and found it empty. He was waiting inside.
    I climbed the steps and opened the door that went into the kitchen. Everything was familiar and in place. “Jason?” I called. Maybe he was in the living room. It was then I noticed my bedroom door was shut. O… kay . My heart started to pound with the implications of that.
    “In here,” his muffled voice came through the door, and I hesitated only a moment before I turned the knob and pushed the door open. The sight that greeted me sent my pulse into overdrive. A very shirtless Jason was lying on his back on my bed, hands behind his head like something out of a movie. He gave me that smart-ass smirk he used when he was playing.
    “Welcome home, Tommy boy. Miss me?” He cracked up. “I always wanted to say that.” He sat up. “Glad you’re here.”
    My mouth was impossibly dry all of a sudden. “I did miss you.” My eyes raked him, snagging on the planes of his abdomen and continuing down to his jean-clad legs.
    An almost predatory glint came into his eyes, and he rolled out of bed and came at me. “Yeah? How much?” He reached for me, and I didn’t resist it when he pulled my head down for a kiss. I groaned without meaning to and wrapped my arms around his muscled body. My mind blanked, completely devoid of any thought as our bodies merged where our mouths met.
    I couldn’t help my wandering hands as the intensity shifted to something more than it had ever been before. Kevin’s warning rang out in my head suddenly as Jason tugged me down to my mattress and we began the grinding dance we’d done many times before. Don’t have sex with him . Did this count? I couldn’t remember why it was a bad idea or why I had ever considered it a bad idea.
    “Tommy?” Jason asked, tugging on my shirt in an effort to get it off. I reared back and pulled it over my head before tossing it to the other side of my room.
    “What?” I wanted him in the worst way. I wanted him more than I had wanted anything in the history of people wanting things. It was damn close to “needing.”
    “You unpacked your mom’s stuff,” he said. It wasn’t what I expected him to say, but I wasn’t in a position to care about the shift. I kissed him and let him work the