Chapter 18

It was more than just body over body, though. It was more than scintillation and ejaculation. They talked. They laughed. They related to each other. That couldn’t possibly be a bad thing. Could it? Everyone needs emotional support. Everybody craves the knowledge that somebody cares. Besides, the return of physical desire had to be a good sign. It was easier to keep stepping over stones if one had someone’s hand to grip when one’s foot slipped. Right?

Or was he negotiating with himself? Offering up reasoning as if thinking these things would make them true? Because Owen could almost hear Craig’s voice in his head reminding him that he wasn’t just stumbling over stones in his path—he was jumping over hurdles. And no one managed that sport while encumbered by another teammate. Holding someone’s hand while leaping would be, at the least, a tether that would need to be avoided time and time again, and at worst, the hindrance that would force the runner to fall.