Author's Note: This is it, guys! I hope you enjoy the ending. Please check out my other story if you enjoyed this one. :)
Chapter 5: Lights Will Guide You Home
Scott's lips were so familiar. They were soft and strong, and Scott took control immediately. Mitch always loved that.
Correction: Loves. Mitch always loves that.
His head was spinning. He wasn't entirely sure how they got here. It had been years since Scott's lips had touched his own. Yet they fit together perfectly, with hands exploring each other slowly, but with an eagerness that Mitch had been missing.
Mitch actively ignored any small bruises littering Scott's neck and hips. He ignored the bile rising in his throat when he saw that each bruise was finger-shaped, as though Scott had been painfully grabbed. Now wasn't the time to ask.
Scott pulled back suddenly. Mitch felt as though he would go into withdrawal. He reached for Scott again, but he leaned back. Shit. He had crossed that line, hadn't he?
"I've loved you since we were 15." Scott said, simply. "I just need you to know that I don't think I can handle this if you are going to run away in a month, again."
Mitch laughed. "15 is a bit dramatic, wouldn't you say?"
Scott's gaze said otherwise. "Is it? Remember in the back of my car, in the high school parking lot?"
"We were teenage boys with no other options," Mitch laughed, nervously. Scott looked back at him, sadly.
"You were the only option I needed."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You know me. I hate looking needy. I hate looking... weak."
"Why is expressing your feelings equated to looking weak?" Mitch asked as he pulled the taller man closer, snaking his arms around his middle. He placed a gentle kiss on Scott's neck, right on his pulse point, for good measure.
Scott's silence urged him to continue. "It's ok to feel."
"I've always had trouble with that."
"I know. You always want to look like everything is fine."
Scott nodded. "No point in making other people pity you, you know?"
"Worry and pity are two completely different things. You scared me to death this week. What if... what if one of those guys had hurt you?" Mitch thought of Scott never returning home, and shivered.
Scott was slammed into a wall, seconds after shutting the apartment door behind him. The man bit down on Scott's lip as he attacked his lips in an aggressive kiss. This was different. This man was taller and heavier than he was. A wall of muscle. This intrigued him. He moaned into the stranger's mouth. The man's hands gripped his shirt, eager to take it off. His spine throbbed as he was thrown against the wall, again.
"You like that?" Jeremy asked with a growl. Met with Scott's silence, he grabbed his throat.
"What about this?" His words were cold, almost robotic. Yes, he liked that. He liked feeling constricted. He liked feeling a bit of pain. His heart was pounding. He wasn't sure where the line of his comfort zone was, but he knew they were toeing it.
The fingers tightened around his neck. He gasped for breath and tried to lean forward. The man grabbed him by the hips harshly and bucked against him, nearly knocking the wind out of him as his back met the cold wall behind him again.
"You're fucking beautiful."
That was enough for Scott. This man could do whatever he wanted. At least Scott was beautiful.
Scott realized he had zoned out. He absent-mindedly placed his hand on the fading bruises on his neck. They were nearly gone now. "That's the problem. I don't think I cared."
"Do you care now?"
"If you care, I care."
Mitch groaned. Scott's self-worth... where did it go?
"You used to like yourself."
"I used to tolerate myself."
"You're far more than tolerable, Scott. At least, usually. This week you were insufferable, but that could have all been changed if you just let. Me. IN." He poked Scott's chest with each of the last three words for emphasis.
"I'm sorry."
Whoa. Mitch had expected this argument to continue into the night.
"Will you accept the fact that I'm in love with you now, and that I'm not going to go anywhere?"
Scott looked into his eyes, as if searching them for a lie.
"I will hope and pray with my whole heart. And I will cherish every second with you. Is that okay?" Scott asked, hopefully. Mitch kissed the tip of his nose.
"I can work with that."
