Free Human After All by Connie Bailey

Jaymes would be executed for murder if he were caught. And even if he were acquitted, what life would he have? No one would hire him now, and all his friends were dead. Images of Valens’s and Parry’s dead bodies flashed into his brain in vivid detail. A profound wave of despair swept through the T-bred, and he shivered with more than the cold.
    “Come here,” Drue said, sliding closer to Jaymes. “Lean against me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because we’ll be warmer that way.”
    Jaymes grimaced, but the Exotic was right. Putting an arm around Drue’s back, Jaymes pulled him even closer. “I think we’d actually be warmer without the wet clothes. I’m only wearing an overcoat as it is,” he said and then added, “Thank you for that, by the way.”
    “Couldn’t have you running around in the stark. Thanks for saving me from drowning.”
    “At least the wind isn’t blowing.” Jaymes changed the subject. “Maybe we could find dry leaves or something to cover ourselves with.”
    Drue dug in his jacket pocket and pulled out a silver lozenge the size of his thumbnail. He rubbed his fingertip over one end, and it glowed bright orange. “I’ve got a better idea,” he said. “Let’s find some wood and make a fire. If we hang our clothes over the roots, maybe no one will see the light.”
    “Don’t we want someone to find us?”
    “Not necessarily. Hand me that branch.”
     
     
    “J AYMES ?” Drue put a hand on the T-bred’s shaking shoulder.
    “Let me sleep.”
    “You weren’t asleep. You’re freezing your tookies off just like me. That fire might dry our clothes, but it can only keep one side of us warm at a time. So why don’t you give it up and come lie down next to me.”
    “As long as you don’t take it as an invitation to intimacy. I wouldn’t come near you if I wasn’t afraid I’d freeze to death.”
    “Don’t flatter yourself, Prince.” Drue shook his head. “Invitation to intimacy? What kind of person talks like that? Oh, wait. I forgot. Pretentious hoitys talk like that.”
    Jaymes settled himself on his side and didn’t flinch when the Exotic put an arm around him. Drue molded his lithe length to Jaymes’s back and put a cheek against the other Companion’s shoulder. After a few moments, Jaymes spoke.
    “Isn’t your back cold?”
    “We can trade places after a while, if you want to be fair.”
    “I don’t want to owe you anything.”
    “Fine, now be quiet and go to sleep.”
    Drue waited until the sound of the T-bred’s breathing evened out before he relaxed. Pressing closer, Drue slotted his hard shaft into the sweet cleft between Jaymes’s firm ass cheeks. He didn’t mean to do anything more than arrange things into his preferred sleeping position, or at least that’s what he told himself as he cautiously slid a hand over Jaymes’s hip and down to his crotch. He was thinking how nice the T-bred’s hair smelled when Jaymes spoke.
    “I’m still awake,” Jaymes said, just as Drue found his cock.
    “How awkward,” the Exotic said, fingers moving subtly on the silky skin.
    “It doesn’t have to be.” Jaymes pressed his buttocks into Drue’s crotch and dropped his head back against Drue’s shoulder. “We’re only doing this to stay warm, right? It doesn’t mean I like you or anything.”
    “Of course it doesn’t, but I’m a little surprised you’re giving in so fast.”
    “What you’re doing feels good, and if I’m going to die here, hungry, naked, and cold, I’d like to feel good at least one more time.”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    As Drue continued to stroke Jaymes’s shaft, he snaked his free hand under the other Companion and pulled him closer. Flattening his palm over Jaymes’s taut belly, he spread his fingers, pressing gently. Jaymes moaned, rolling his head on Drue’s shoulder as pulsing fingertips massaged the skin over his pubic bone.
    “Do you like this?” Drue’s lips moved against the whorls of Jaymes’s ear. “Is it