Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys

Chapter Twenty-Six -- Bottoms Up!

Jonathan hesitated for a moment before knocking. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? Oh, yes, he needed to remind himself, he would actually spend some time in the company of The Amazing Four, and it wasn't the cringe-worthy nickname that bothered him. He adjusted his cuffs and straightened his collar, feeling his skin a bit too hot. It wasn't like they didn't know him, but, in a way, this was official, and things were getting serious.

He shook his head in mirth. Basically, as Ray had put it candidly before he walked out the door, he was being introduced to the 'family', the one on campus, so to speak. Damn, all his nervousness was well-founded then, right?

He raised his hand to knock, but before he managed to do that, Maddox opened the door and offered him a dazzling smile. "How long were you going to keep me here, waiting for you to knock?" he asked. He then took Jonathan's hand and dragged him inside.

Three extra pairs of eyes were on him that very instant, and Jonathan felt the redness creeping from under the collar of his shirt, up his neck and to his cheeks.

"You know these jokers," Maddox interrupted the tense moment. "Say 'hi' to Jonathan, assholes."

"Hi, Jonathan," a chorus followed, and Jonathan had to stifle a laugh by biting his lips. As weird as that had to sound to anyone's ears, it felt as if the others were just as nervous as he was of being evaluated by their best friend's boyfriend.

"Hi," he replied and waved, a bit stiffly.

Rusty jumped off the sofa, taking everyone by surprise, and walked over to him. Jonathan didn't know what to expect when Rusty suddenly pulled him into a long hug. Maddox had to push him away. "Hey, hey, that's enough," he warned, only half-joking.

Rusty smirked and winked at Jonathan while giving him a naughty once-over. "Yo, Hamilton. You dangled some fine goods in front of everyone yesterday. Too bad you have a jailer as a boyfriend," he said, pointing at Maddox.

Jonathan was sure his eyes were growing so wide now that they threatened to jump out of their sockets. By instinct, he held Maddox tightly, afraid that his boyfriend might just start something. The hard muscle under his fingers was tense, but Dex defused the situation right away by groaning and starting to talk. "Welcome, Jonathan. Too bad you happened to drop by while the circus is in town."

Rusty immediately identified his next target and dashed to ram his head directly into Dex's hard chest. Dex didn't seem in the least surprised by the attack. However, he promptly caught Rusty in a headlock and kept him there, seemingly amused by the other's struggles to break free. To prove that he wasn't even breaking a sweat, he continued to offer Jonathan an open, easy smile.

Kane shook his head and walked over to him, his hand extended as a peace offering. "Yeah, it's pretty much a clown house around here," he confirmed with a sigh. "Good to have you here, Jonathan."

He shook the offered hand. "It's not a problem. It's very lively," he noted while throwing a short look at Dex and Rusty who were still engaged in a little war of their own, "but I don't mind it. And I'd rather you all feel as much at ease as if I weren't around."

Kane smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. "Maddox kept asking us to behave, not that his speech reached certain ears," he said and his eye roll was clearly pointed at the other half of The Amazing Four. "But you know, I'm glad we finally got to meet you properly and have the chance to get to know you better."

So, Ray was right. It was like meeting the family. "The pleasure's all mine," he replied with a slight tip of the head.

"Just listen to these dorks," Rusty said snickering, after having finally and mysteriously gotten out of Dex's hold. "What's next? Sipping tea with the pinky raised?"

Kane turned to his roommate with a murderous look in his eyes. Jonathan began to laugh. Maddox must have told his friends some crazy things about him. "I told you, guys. Just do whatever you'd do if I weren't here. And now, if you'll excuse me, I think I have some cooking to do."

"Well, thank heaven for that," Dex commented. "Kane, let's get some studying done. Thanks for not needing us in the kitchen, Jonathan. I don't know if Maddox told you, but for us, the fridge means the place where we keep the beer and not much else."

With that, Dex grabbed Kane by the shoulder and they walked out of the room together. Jonathan didn't miss, however, the brief exchange taking place between the two. He was being measured, all right.

He decided to stick to the plan and head to the kitchen. Seeing how effusive Ray always was about his cooking, he hoped he had the means to win over these guys. Maddox followed him closely, but, to his surprise, he wasn't the only one.

"Whatcha doing, Rusty?" Maddox asked, drawling the words with a little bit of a warning tinging the tips of his consonants.

"I want to watch you two cook," Rusty replied promptly.

"Don't you have anything else to do? You know, chasing skirts, stuff like that?"

Jonathan was a bit surprised at the undercurrents in Maddox's words. He either wanted very much for them to be alone, or he was getting a bit jealous of his buddy, hence mentioning Rusty's current favorite activity, which was to maintain his king of hookups status on campus.

"Nope. I'm all yours tonight," Rusty replied promptly.

"Lucky us," Maddox commented under his breath.

Jonathan took him by the shoulder and leaned in to brush his lips over Maddox's ear. "Don't be petty," he whispered. "Let him stay."

Maybe Rusty was just as curious as Xpress about Maddox's bisexual awakening. Jonathan wanted to believe that, at this point, they had nothing to hide, especially in front of such close friends. Just in case Rusty found it hard to believe that Maddox was truly attracted to him, there was nothing wrong with letting him have a front row seat, while the two of them behaved like boyfriends.

Which they were, obviously, Jonathan thought, as Maddox's hand lingered on his waist for a bit longer than needed.

***

Rusty wanted to get on his nerves tonight, Maddox thought, as he gave his bestie the evil eye. Jonathan was, as usual, nice and polite, explaining what he was doing as he went about his cooking. From time to time, Rusty would ask questions, and Jonathan offered explanations without once being fazed by the other's campy comments.

Maddox wasn't paying attention in the least to the cooking process. He was much more interested in what the hell Rusty was playing at. They had known each other for a long time, so he liked to think that he was pretty much an expert when it came to Rusty and his body language, more than any other. No one knew Rusty like he did. Kane said so, and Kane had the annoying habit of being almost always right.

And right now, Rusty's face was an open book, as he was staring at Jonathan in awe. Even if he joked around and asked foolish things such as why couldn't humans just eat raw meat since their ancestors surely did, his eyes didn't lie.

Maddox pouted and crossed his arms. His best buddy was looking at his boyfriend like he was some kind of alien; not the kind with green skin and large eyes, but one...

Oh, fuck. Maddox looked at Rusty even more closely. Oh, yes, that glint in the guy's eyes was hard to miss, just like the way he cocked his head to offer some stupid and charming comment to make Jonathan laugh.

To Rusty, Jonathan was a freaking sexy alien! He slammed his hands on the table and stood up abruptly.

The other two stopped their silly to and fro and stared at him. Rusty smirked and challenged him. Jonathan gave him a small silent warning with his eyes.

Maddox shrugged and walked around the table. "I'm supposed to help you," he said brightly. "And so far, you've given me nothing to do."

Jonathan blinked and a small smile curled his beautiful lips. Maddox found himself leaning forward so that he could get just a little bit closer and bask in that precious smile. "There's nothing left to help me with. It's all in the oven now, so we just need to wait."

Damn. He had been so absorbed with Rusty's sudden fascination with HIS boyfriend that he had missed out on the entire thing. Pissed enough to look away, he finally let his eyes land on the one responsible for everything. "Whatcha looking at?" he asked Rusty. He grabbed a small piece of vegetable from the table and threw it at his buddy.

Rusty giggled and moved out of the way in time. Jonathan grabbed Maddox and breathed into his ear. "Don't play with food, Maddox. It's not nice."

For some reason, the way the whispered reprimand caressed his ears caused a small frisson to course through his body. Maybe it was the thing he was planning for later, but it already felt as if Jonathan was the one in charge.

Rusty looked him up and down and smirked again as his eyes landed low enough to leave no room for interpretation. Maddox frowned and turned toward Jonathan. "This clown is pissing me off," he said petulantly.

Jonathan let his arms rest on Maddox's shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Why?" The smile that came with that single word let him know that Jonathan suspected him of being jealous and also found the idea quite funny.

Still, Maddox pondered as he narrowed his eyes and took in Jonathan's smiling face, there was a hint of something else in there. The guy liked that, oh, he liked that very much if he were reading the not-so-hidden lust in Jonathan's eyes correctly, and the way he wet his lips like he couldn't wait for them to be alone.

"Can you show me?" Rusty interrupted their private moment.

They both looked at him at the same time. "Show you what?" he asked aggressively.

Rusty shrugged and leaned back in his chair, bringing his linked hands behind his head and giving them a hooded look. "You know," he drawled, "what's the deal. People just can't shut up about you two."

"Feeling a little pushed out of the headlines?" Maddox alluded at how Xpress appeared only to care about his ass lately, much to his annoyance. "Go watch some porno if you're so curious about two dudes going at it."

Rusty snorted. "I've seen plenty of that."

Oh, really? What?! Maddox exchanged a short alarmed look with Jonathan. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise with Rusty being Rusty and all, and his desire to explore everything sex-related with the passion of a true researcher.

Rusty leaned forward and placed his linked hands on the table. He cocked his head in that way he knew was charming and could convince anyone to do whatever he wanted. "Kiss," he said matter-of-factly. "Then I'll know it's not bullshit."

Maddox gave Rusty a shocked look. By now, his bestie had to know it wasn't bullshit, so what was with the challenge? Jonathan cupped his cheek gently and turned his head. "No harm in that, right?" he said, and Maddox was lost that very moment, because he was staring at those enticing lips getting close to him.

He let out a small surprised whimper when Jonathan caught his mouth with his. Firm hands rested on his hips and then pulled him closer, and Jonathan began kissing him for real, giving him plenty of sweet tongue.

It did feel nice to be attacked like that. He embraced Jonathan back, fighting with all his might not to let his hands go lower and grab that fantastic behind and lose it completely.

Their bodies fit together, the sole exception lying south of the belt for both of them, those parts of them a bit too excited, even given that they had an audience.

An audience?! Maddox pulled away abruptly and turned his head.

Rusty was no longer there.

***

"So," Kane began, "why so mysterious?"

For a while, they had all been busy devouring the food on their plates, which had made Jonathan happy. Right, he needed to offer some explanations to the 'family', and it looked like Kane was the delegated mouthpiece.

"What do you mean?" he stalled for time while playing with his napkin.

Kane shrugged. "You know. No one knows why you transferred here."

"Personal issues," Jonathan replied and regretted the tension in his voice right away.

"Hmm," Kane said.

"Hey, Jonathan's not here for you to grill him like the freaking FBI," Maddox warned his friend.

"Sorry, my bad," Kane said but he still looked at Jonathan like he was telling him that he would be keeping his eyes on him. "We just want to know who our boy is dating."

"Your boy?" Jonathan asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Dex laughed. "Kane is curious. So am I. But seeing how you bribed us with food tonight, we're not going to lay it on too thick this time. We just want to know who you are."

"He's an awesome kisser," Rusty interjected.

Jonathan felt his cheeks getting hot. He was still getting used to having this out in the open, no holds barred, kind of conversation.

"Just like in movies," Rusty added. "I saw it," he added with emphasis.

Jonathan had to give it to Maddox's bestie for not being as half as bad as people kept saying he was. Sometime, during their kiss, he had chosen to walk out and done so quietly. Still, it seemed like he had seen enough to have formed an opinion about what kind of kisser he, Jonathan, was.

He still didn't know what to make of Rusty, not completely. For a while, when Rusty hadn't come down from his room to join them at the table, Jonathan had worried that being witness to a very gay kiss between his friend and a stranger must have put the guy off. People could pretend to be all right with it until it happened in front of their eyes. Yet, Rusty looked nothing like he was feeling that way now, despite his tardy appearance to the table.

"Well, then we don't need to know anything else," Dex said and looked at Jonathan with questioning eyes.

It was a bit unusual to see friends so interested in someone's personal life. But again, how would he know what that was like? Before Sunny Hill, he didn't even believe such people were real, except in TV series. And now, Maddox had his friends, and he, himself, had Ray, who wanted him to be happy and was invested in his life for no other reason than that.

For everyone, it had to be odd that his life was such a closed book. People in their early twenties weren't supposed to have pasts difficult to bear. Even Jonathan believed that he was absurd in thinking he was the exception, but, on the other hand, he couldn't help how he felt about the things that had happened to him and Drew that time.

One day, he'd be ready to let others know about it. But now wasn't that time, and he knew it. Maddox's friends would have to wait a little longer.

And who knew what would happen in the near future? For now, they were completely infatuated with one another, but that didn't change the fact that, as Xpress put it, Maddox had been a ladies' favorite for so long. At any given moment, the novelty could wear off and, just like that, Maddox could jump back over the fence, right into the loving arms of his numerous female fans.

There were no guarantees.

"You, guys, stop right now, or I'm getting pissed at you," Maddox warned. "Jonathan filled your bottomless bellies with food, and you only think about drilling him for info."

"You only think of drilling him," Rusty accused, making the entire table break into laughter and defusing the situation.

Jonathan took a sip out of his glass, in an effort to will his heartbeat to slow down. That reminded him of the particular situation he was in, and the favor he needed to ask of Maddox.

"Thanks for the food, Jonathan," Kane said and raised his glass, too. "Now, bottoms up!"

***

"Sorry about these assholes," Maddox told him as soon as they were behind the bedroom door, with no one as an audience this time around. "I hook up with half the campus, they don't give a damn. Now that I've gotten a boyfriend--" He swallowed his own words. What the hell was he doing, reminding Jonathan how he had used to be the king of hookups at Sunny Hill?

"It's all right," Jonathan assured him. "I suppose that I would be just as curious and maybe a bit worried. Not so long ago, I thought Hanna was a Playboy bunny bent on destroying my Ray."

"Your Ray?" Maddox teased.

"Ah, damn. It looks like everyone is a bit possessive around here. It must be something in the water," Jonathan joked.

Whenever one of them went a bit too far, whether it was hooking up or something else, the others acted together to help him get back on track, now that he thought about it. Rusty might be the exception. No one could put that guy back on track, mostly because there was no actual track with Rusty. Even Kane had to admit defeat on occasion, until the next time, of course, since he seemed to forget who he was dealing with.

Yeah, Rusty was a never-ending source of surprises. When he hadn't come to join them at dinner, Maddox had sincerely thought that his and Jonathan's gay kiss must have broken the kinkster somehow. But no, Rusty had eventually descended from his lair, and by the loose movement of his limbs and the satisfied smile on his lips, Maddox would bet the guy had rubbed one out.

"I was more worried about Rusty. I thought he hurried to the bathroom to throw up or something after watching us kiss."

Maddox snorted. "Yeah, right. He was in a hurry, all right, but not for the reason you think."

Jonathan threw him a confused look. Maddox had more pressing matters to attend to than talking to his boyfriend about what could be happening with Rusty lately.

And those pressing matters brought him to the part where he was supposed to show bravery like never before in his life. Therefore, he nonchalantly took off his shirt and pushed down his pants.

Jonathan stared at him, his lips parted. "Straight down to business then?" he asked in a small voice.

Maddox smirked. All right, so, basically, he knew how to be a seducer, right? Even if it was going to be a bit of a change regarding who nailed who tonight, he could play it like usual, without a problem. However, after the way Jonathan had taken the reins when kissing earlier in the kitchen, he had a fantasy of the guy dominating him a little and making him yield with his strong, sexy body.

Maybe another time. Seeing how clueless Jonathan seemed to be more often than not, that meant Maddox needed to teach him how to play the top role, and it was a noble task. He got rid of the jeans and pushed them away, remaining naked save for the jockstrap he had bought for this particular occasion.

A small gasp from Jonathan assured him that his actions, so far, were aimed true and hit home. He made a slow turn, to offer the guy a good look from all angles.

"What's this?" Jonathan's strangled voice was a reward in itself.

Maddox grinned, winked at him, and then climbed on the bed, lying on his belly, lifting his ass just a smidge to ensure that there was no mistaking what that meant. "Do I have to paint an arrow on my back to make it clearer?" he asked.

"Oh, Maddox, wow, I mean, is this--" Jonathan trailed off and made the bedsprings dip as he climbed on, too.

The amber eyes were lit with a new light, and Maddox's bravery wavered. What if it wasn't quite enough? What if it hurt? What if he was a lousy bottom?

He grunted when Jonathan planted both hands on his ass and pushed the cheeks apart as if to get a better look. "Um, should I have shaved my asshole for the occasion or something?" he asked quickly.

Jonathan shook his head slowly like he was in a trance. His eyes and all his attention were clearly trained on the single part of Maddox's body that interested him right now. It would have been good to make the rest of him disappear, especially his brain that was getting the heebie-jeebies right now, whispering at him to run.

"No, you're simply gorgeous," Jonathan whispered. "Perfect," he added, and the next thing Maddox knew a hot tongue was delving right into his ass. His mind was a fried circuit board the following second. The sensual attack turned his knees into jelly, and pleasure shot from there in all directions.