Dopamine | Adrenaline Book Two

10.2- I'm Alive If You Are

It wasn't until the bathroom door shut behind them that Charles stopped in his tracks, turning around to face Max and wasting almost no time in kissing him. 

Max, on the other hand, was caught off guard, taking a second to fully compute what was happening. Yet, his moment of hesitation didn't last long. Within a few seconds, Max was reciprocating the kiss he had longed for during the torturous days prior, cupping the brunette's face as he pressed his body against his.

The notion that Charles was in a delicate and fragile state went completely over Max's head at that moment. Moved by all the feelings he had piled up through the past days, the blond kissed him with a sense of desperation, wrapping his arm around his waist and manhandling Charles's weaker body.

"I missed you," he breathed out the words against his lips, "please don't do this to me again," he pleaded, his hands skimming into the back opening of his hospital gown to touch his skin. "It was like hell," he whispered to him, tracing his silhouette as he leaned into his neck, pressing soft kisses along his skin.

"I promise," Charles swore to him.

Despite the incident having been out of his control, he was determined to never put Max through a state of worry with that level of intensity on his behalf. "I'll never be far from you ever again," he reassured, breathing heavily and clinging to Max as if he was the true lifeline, proving more crucial than all the wires they'd attached to him.

Charles closed his eyes, feeling Max's warmth seep into his skin, causing his own body to fully melt into his— never wanting an inch of space between them. "I'm here now," he murmured, his voice wavering both from the overwhelming emotion of having Max so close and from the shot of pleasure that his mouth on his neck induced.

"You're the first person I wanted to see," he admitted, "Max, when I opened my eyes my first thought was you. I didn't know where I was or what had happened and I couldn't even speak yet but I wanted you." With the confession, Charles waited to meet Max's blue eyes again and kissed him with a desperation that had been withheld every day they were apart. "I've fallen so madly, deeply in love with you," he whispered against his mouth, wishing that they could hide from the world there forever.

"Charles," he whispered in between their kisses whenever they parted their swollen lips to breathe, "let me see your bruises." He unwrapped his arms from him to reach for the two knots on the back of his hospital gown, untying them.

When Charles's hospital gown fell to the floor, revealing the dark red-purple tones that colored the right side of his skin near his ribs, it was a stark reminder of the past weekend. Immediately, the memories of the crash came flooding into Max's brain. Maybe those same bruises weren't even a result of the crash itself but instead the force with which he had removed Charles from the car, a desperate attempt to keep him alive at that moment.

"They don't hurt," Charles insisted.

Max slowly reached his fingers to Charles's ribs, softly grazing his touch over the bruise to feel the slightly different texture of the impacted skin. "If I could have switched places with you and taken all of these bruises, I would have," he whispered, placing his palm gently over Charles's ribs. "I don't want you to ever feel any pain." He added, letting his hands glide to Charles's back and pulling him closer, allowing their lips to meet again.

"You're too pretty for bruises that aren't mine," he professed in between kisses.

An involuntary moan filled the small space between their two mouths, Max's words making Charles dizzy and the gentle touches having him under a spell. "Can you give me yours, please?" The idea of being marked by his lover was enticing and even if no one knew the culprit of the fresh bruises, he would have the secret enjoyment of knowing they'd been brought on by Max. "No one would know they're from you," Charles whispered into their kiss, breathing a little heavier as the arousal creeping up on him gave him a passing sense of lightheadedness.