Chapter 7

“Did you have a flashback? You went away and didn’t respond.”

Dale stared up at him in silence for a long moment. “Sort of. I…I’d rather you didn’t finger fuck me. I just…I can’t.”

“That’s fine. I just thought it might help.”

Shutting his eyes in embarrassment, Dale said, “I’m so messed up.”

Riadh laid down beside Dale and pulled the man into his arms. “Maybe, but look at it this way. It’s progress. In the beginning, your body refused entirely. There was a success when we were inside the snow globe. Today, things worked up to a point, better than the past couple of weeks.”

“I guess.” The image of Colin lingered in the back of Dale’s mind, and he wasn’t sure if he should be pleased to have recalled a happy memory, or upset by the way it continued to influence his life. Dale also realized Riadh was probably physically wound up and left hanging. “I can do you.”

“That’s okay. I’ll survive.”

“I’d like to have one of us manage to get off from this.”