Coming of Age -- Ending Two of Four is up!

Chapter 4, here we go! All right, so, youknwo the drill, read, love, review. And hey, guess what? All of you who might read this and NOT love? Review anyway, because all feedback is good feedback, even when its just a flame.

BTW, Bexy31, thanks so much for liking my story enough to leave your review! I hope you enjoy this next chapter, and knwo that the 5th is quickly on its way as well!
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The painfully annoying chirp of his cell phone woke him, and he fumbled at the night stand until he found it. Jin shifted beside him, growling sleepily at the noise, and Connor rubbed his back without thinking about it as he answered the phone. “Hello?”

“You didn’t call.” The girl on the other end of the line snapped. “You said you would, and you didn’t.”

“Lila?” Connor rubbed is eyes, trying to get his mind out of the fog sleep had pulled over it.

“Oh, you remember your girlfriend’s name, good job!”

Her voice was like broken glass under boots heels. Why did he feel hung over? He sighed. “Lila, I’m sorry.” He said, and heard her snort. Under his hand, Jin shifted and rolled over to look up at him. His huge, blue green eyes were cloudy and still half closed, but when Connor touched his cheek with the tips of his fingers, he smiled and snuggled closer. Connor looked away and tired to focus on talking to his girlfriend. “I had a family thing, and it ran late. Really, I’m sorry.”

She huffed and complained for a while, but eventually forgave him. Connor’s mind wandered as she rambled on for a while about something that had happened at Seth’s house the night before. But when she said she was coming over, he instantly snapped his attention back. “You’re doing what now?”

“I’m on my way over.” She repeated. “I just turned on the main-“

The phone slipped out of Connor’s hand. Jin reached for it, but Connor snatched it before he could get it. “Now’s not a good time, Lila.” He practically shouted into the phone. Jin sensed that he was feeling stressed out, and naturally did the first thing that came to mind; he slid his hand across Connor’s thigh to his cock. Connor jumped, startled, and made a loud, unmanly shrieking sound.

“Connor?” Lila’s voice drifted out through the phone, but between the cloud of panic and the wonderfully cool feeling of Jin’s hand, he couldn’t concentrate. He pushed at Jin’s arm, trying to get him to stop, but the boy just smiled up at him serenely and kept doing whatever he pleased. Connor took a deep, steadying breath. “Lila, don’t come over. I’m busy. Please...” Jin squeezed gently, and Connor couldn’t help but moan. Luckily, he got his hand to his mouth in time to stifle most of the sound.

Lial was ranting loudly on the other end, and Connor had the overwhelming urge to simply hang up on her. Instead, he bit down on his bottom lip, scraped together all the self control he had, and told her through clenched teeth, "Lila, I'm sorry. I have to say goodbye to my family, they're leaving, and I have to go right now. I'll call you later, okay? I promise."

Jin made a low, purring growl and leaned up to snatch the phone away. Connor was so taken aback that let him, and watche dJin heave the phoen out into the main living area of his rooms. Then Jion's head disappeared under the sheets and Connor forgot who was on the phone in the first place.

It was over so quickly that Connor was almost embarrassed. A bit later, he sat on the edge of the bed, watching Jin try to figure out his clothing. It was funny, in a way. The boy had absolutely no trouble undoing buttons, but doing them up, well, that was an entirely different story. Connor gestured for him to come over, and Jin did so willing, his shirt unbuttoned and his pants halfway off his ass. Connor laughed at him, unable to help himself, which made Jin smile. He did the buttons up, showing Jin how they worked. Jin tried on his own and managed a couple, but he didn’t match the right holes with the right buttons and Connor had to redo them. Jin seemed pleased with himself nonetheless. Connor got dressed himself, and then took Jin downstairs to get some breakfast. All he’d done for quite a while was orgasm and sleep, and now he was absolutely ravenous.

They sat in the breakfast nook and ate whatever Addy put in front of them. Connor watched in amazement as Jin drank not one but four milkshakes during the course of their breakfast. Afterwards, Connor decided to show Jin around the grounds. He needed time to think, and if he was occupying Jin with outside stimulation instead of the kind the boy seemed to like best, he might be able to come up with a solution to his myriad of problems.

They wandered through the hedge maze, which seemed to please Jin greatly, and Connor showed him the orchard as well. Jin seemed surprised that food was growing on a tree, but when Connor showed him a pear, he smiled so brilliantly it made Connor’s chest hurt. Jin ate the entire thing, despite their huge breakfast, including the core, which grossed Connor out.

Finally, Connor decided that his best bet was to install Jin in the pool. He could float on one of the rafts while Jin amused himself and get some serious brainwork in.

At the sight of it, Jin wasted absolutely no time. He was stripped down to his boxers before they even reached the patio. Connor took his clothes, set them aside, and undressed himself. Jin was too excited about the pool to help him, and Connor felt a stab of pain in his chest. He scowled. Why would that make him feel bad?

Jin turned to face him, grinning, and gestured that he wanted to get in. Connor nodded, and they both jumped at the same time. Connor surfaced, spitting out a mouthful of water, but Jin was nowhere to be seen. Connor looked around, worried, until Jin surfaced without so much as a tiny splash, about ten feet away. His hair was blinding when it was wet, and Connor watched him for a moment as he swam in lazy circles.

After a while, he climbed up onto one of the rafts and laid back, his eyes closed against the sun. From time to time he would hear the tiniest of splashes, but they were few and far between. The sun dried the water on his skin as he tried to figure out how to deal with everything that was happening to him.

He supposed he could break up with Lila. He cared for her, in a way, but he had accepted her proposed date that first time because it was expected of him. He'd never been all that attracted to her, and their relationship, for him at least, had been one of convience. She was well bred, well mannered, and her father had always been on first names terms with his own. It was logical for both of them. Yes, it bothered him that she was probably sleeping around, but in light of recent events, he couldn’t really hold that against her. And that was another good point. He was cheating on her. Wasn’t it the right thing to do, to break it off?

As far as Jin himself went, Connor had no idea what to do about the way things had progressed. Jin made him feel comfortable and necessary, which was strange to him. He was uncomfortable about the idea of being sexually active with another guy, at least in his head, but his body certainly didn’t have a problem with it. And by the time they got hot and heavy, his mind would stop caring too. He supposed that might be part of realizing he was gay. It was strange to think, and it made him uncomfortable, but he didn’t feel the shame or guilt he might have expected otherwise. Jin felt right to him. He didn’t think anything else should matter.

But that brought on yet another stumbling block. Sure, according to Quinn and William, his mother had been his father’s ward. Did that mean they were having sex while they were cuffed? He was pretty sure of that. You couldn’t sleep, eat, and bathe within fifteen feet of the same person for very long before the sexual tension got out of control. Hell, he didn’t even last a day. Still, he needed to talk to his father.

He decided he’d had enough of the outside for one day. Sitting up, he shaded his eyes against the sun and looked for Jin. He couldn’t see him anywhere, but that didn’t make any sense. He couldn’t just wander away, not with the cuffs. Connor swung his legs over the edge of the raft and into the water.

It was so cold his skin felt like it was instantly frost bitten. He screamed in pain and jerked his legs back up, and at that moment Jin slipped up out of the water, the surface barely disturbed by his presence. Connor stared him, confused and a little scared. There were ice crystal in his hair, and his eyelashes seemed to he frozen. As Jin swam closer, Connor saw that his lips were deep, bruised blue, and the veins in his arms and at his temples were startlingly dark against the snowy hue of his skin. Jin grabbed the edge of the raft and half pulled himself up, smiling at Connor. His fingers weren’t even remotely pruned, even though he’d been in the water for at least an hour.

Connor fought down his panic. “Jin.” He sounded hoarse and near tears, so he cleared his throat and tried again. “Jin, can you bring the raft closer to the edge. The water is too cold for me.”

Jin nodded happily and disappeared under the surface. As the raft started to move slowly, Connor put his face in his hands and took a deep, steadying breath.

What the hell was going on?
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Quinn watched his brother carefully as he undressed beside the thing. His brother smiled at it, and then they both jumped in the water. Quinn scowled. How could his brother be so blind? How could he not see that creature for what it really was?

He watched them as his brother relaxed on the raft and the thing swam around, almost never coming up for air. Rather, it would come up to stare at Connor, its lips pulled back from its teeth in a smile that made Quinn sick. Even from here, he could see the change in the water. It got cloudy, almost murky, and then cleared to a perfect crystal blue again, but it was more intense. That thing had done something to it, and that was proven when Connor put his legs in and screamed. Quinn’s heart lurched at the sound. He almost came out of his hiding place, but then the thing was back up on the surface. It listened to Connor talk for a moment, then went back under and hauled the raft to the edge of the pool. It got out of the water, its long, thin body shining unnaturally, and helped Connor off the raft and onto the patio.

Quinn watched his brother embrace the creature, then put his mouth against it’s. His stomach rolled, but he couldn’t look away. After a while they separated, gathered their clothes, and headed back into the house. Quinn waited a while longer before returning as well.

He decided he should try to talk to his brother, make him understand that whatever it was that was keeping his bed warm… or not, he supposed, in this case… was not human. Maybe Connor could be persuaded, and they could figure it out together.

He took out his cell phone. A text would be the best way; he didn’t think that thing could read English. It could understand it, but he thought that was all. He couldn’t talk to his brother face to face, for obvious reasons.

He clenched his teeth together and fought down a wave of panic and nausea. Last night he’d had the most terrifying nightmare. He’d been standing in his brother’s rooms, and there was blood everywhere. The thing had eaten Connor, and it was coming for him. Its huge, terrible eyes were like lamps as it bore down on him, its teeth sinking into his throat.

He shook his head hard, as if to dislodge the memory. He punched in his brother’s speed dial number and started a text.

“I need 2 talk 2 u” he typed in, and then considered launching right into it. He decided against it and hit the send button.

A few minutes he received a reply. “Busy. Later.” Was all it said. The panic began to creep back. He frantically typed back, “don’t trust it. Plz be careful.”

The only reply he got back was silence.

His head swam. His brother was up there, at its mercy, letting it do God’s knows what to him, and he couldn’t do anything at all. If he put himself in harm’s way, they’d both end up dead, and what would be the point? He knew the thing wasn’t done… playing with his brother, and that bought him some more time to come up with a plan. He felt horrible about leaving his brother under that creature’s power, but what choice did he really have?

He turned and ran for his rooms, hoping to God his brother could survive a little longer.
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Connor hung the phone up carefully and watched Jin out of the corner of his eye. The boy had managed to figure out how to work Connor’s stereo system, and the cacophony of noise was so deafening at first Connor worried his ears were bleeding. He found a pair of headphones showed Jin how to wear them, and then let the guy have at it while he made an important call. Lila seemed pleased but cautious, which didn’t really surprise Connor that much. She would here soon. He stood and went over to Jin, who happily sprawled out on the floor, the headphones down on his ears, the music so loud Connor could picked out what song it was. Tom Waits. He grinned and touched Jin’s face.

Those huge, beautiful eyes opened and Jin returned the grin. He sat up, nearly choking himself with the headphone cord, and pressed his mouth against Connor’s. Connor returned the kiss easily, his hands coming up to bury themselves in Jin’s long silver hair. They stayed that way for a while, locked together, but when Jin started grabbing at his clothing Connor put a stop to it.

“Hey, no, listen.” He leaned back and away from Jin, who pouted and sat back on his heels. “I’m having company, okay? Lila is coming over.” The look on Jin’s face was so sour Connor laughed. “Don’t worry. You won’t have to see here. Come on, I want to show you something.” He stood and held his hand out for Jin, he took it happily and let Connor pull him to his feet.

They went downstairs, and Connor showed him the main parlor. “We’re going to wait in here for her, okay? Look.” He pulled out his mp3 player and showed Jin the headphones. Then he pointed to the decorative lacquer screen his mouth loved so much. “You are going to stay behind there, and be quiet, okay?” Jin stared at him, frowning despite his obvious enjoyment of music he could carry. Connor sighed. “Jin. Go behind the screen and stay here until I tell you to come out.” Jin did as he was told immediately.

Connor sat down on the couch beside the screen and put his arms over the back. He felt Jin’s cool, hesitant fingers brush his palm and closed his hand over them, giving him a reassuring squeeze.

Then he waited for Lila.