Chapter 8

It didn't take long for Cole to realise that having Jared around in public fucked with his sense of perspective. The whole time they wandered around town he was hyper aware of where the other boy was, who was looking at him, who was near him. So much so it fact that Cole managed to walk into people, children, dogs and a lamp post while his eyes tracked Jared's movements. Jared smiled constantly and every time that thousand kilo-watt grin was turned on him Cole had to think of cold rain and snow to stop himself from going crazy.

Jared liked to shop, which was not something Cole had seen coming from the pretty bookish student. He didn't spend a lot of money, but by the time it was getting darker in the sky Cole was weighed down with numerous bags containing lots of little things, clothes, t-shirts, books and writing equipment and notebooks. It was only when Jared began to pull him into a little boutique clothes shop in the trendiest part of town and Cole saw some of the prices in the window that he began to baulk.

"No way. Twenty five quid for a t-shirt? You've got to be kidding me."

Jared sighed and rolled his shoulders.

'Come on.' He gestured, and then dashed inside. Cole followed him into the into shop with growing trepidation and was surprised to be met by a handsome slightly chubby man who signed his name when he spoke.

"Cole!" the newcomer took the bags from him and set them aside, "Into the changing rooms with you my boy! You're right Jared, he's definitely a long and tall."

Apart from making sure that he was clean, and dressing up for rodeo, Cole had never really taken much interest in his appearance. His favourite piece of clothing was his cowboy boots. But for the next half hour he let Jared and Otis hand him item after item, and blushed scarlet every time he had to open the curtain of the little booth to let his boyfriend appraise him. Cole very quickly stopped looking at the price tags on the clothes, mentally ticking off beer and horse money. Jared was going to make him poor.

As far as Cole was concerned clothes were there to stop you getting cold, looking good was a side effect. But Jared smiled wider and wider every time he stepped out of the changing room and kissed him quick and hard on the lips when Otis wasn't watching. The experience left Cole dizzy. Jared especially liked a white button down shirt which Cole though was obscenely expensive, and a pale blue shirt which read 'cowboy' in giant swirly letters on the front. Jared had bought both before Cole could stop him, bursting from the dressing room with shirt undone, jacket open over his shoulders.

When Jared looked at him it was the smaller boy's turn to turn bright pink. Cole looked down at himself, tight hairless skin over work-hard muscles and gulped. His fingers shook as the re-did the pearl snaps on his shirt. Cole walked with his arm around Jared's shoulders all the way back to the car.

In the truck, Jared snuggled up to his side and Cole sang along to the radio, silly scraps of things to keep his mind from wandering too far off the road and killing them both. Jared felt good next to him, and Cole half wished they wasn't cotton and wool separating their skin. The photo of Jared, naked and hard and looking like a porn star flashed across his mind. Cole hated the idea of driving Jared back to his house and leaving him. he wasn't sure how he would make it home, he was that distracted. Jared ran a hand up his shirt and Cole responded by having his heart try and leap out of his mouth at about the same moment as his cock went from lazy interest to sitting up and paying attention. The truck lurched very slightly as Cole's foot slipped. Jared made a funny little chuckling noise and pushed his hand under Cole's shirt.

Cole sucked in a deep breath which he then found he couldn't let go of and concentrated on the road ahead, staring out blindly through the windshield because doing anything else was suddenly not an option. Jared's fine boned fingers played across his muscles, making his stomach twitch and jump. When Cole started to indicate into the junction that would take them through town and to Jared's house the boy shook his head and flipped the indicator off.

'Your house.' He signed with his free hand and Cole's heart leapt and then settled down to merely banging away like a piece of rusty machinery.

It was nearly dark by the time they reached the farm and Cole instantly worries for the horses, for neglected jobs and the number of chores he would somehow have to do without Jared becoming bored. They pulled up at the stables to find the horses in, the dinners made and a note from Clayton pinned to the frame of Dune's stable door.

Have fun with your date. We did your chores, we owed you. – C

Laughing, Cole handed the note to Jared and went about soaking the dinners. Once fed, the horses were happy enough that Cole left the truck and walked with Jared down the path to the house. The air had picked up a chill as the sun had set and Cole found the other boy nestled into his side as they stepped through the boot room and into the orange warmth of the kitchen.

Chase and Cory were both sat at the big wooden table pouring over homework, Caden was playing with his phone and Clayton stood in front of the Aga with the cast iron waffle maker, a growing pile of waffles on the warming plate next to him.

"Hey bro, where's mum?" Cole laid the multitude of Jared's shopping bags on the dining table where Caden and Chase became instantly interested in them.

"She and Dad went out for a dinner date," Clayton flipped the waffle iron over and reached for a stack of plates from the cupboard, "And we all thought we'd watch a film and give you guys some, ahem, space."

"The boys are letting me pick!" Cory piped up, setting down her pencil, "We're going to watch My Little Pony!"

"No Cory!" Chase groaned as Caden joined in, "We said anything except that!"

Jared left the shopping and wrapped an arm around Cole's waist. He frowned at the waffle iron and pointed.

'What is that?'

'W-A-F-F-L-E-S' Cole spelt with his fingers, "The old fashioned kind."

'Can we have some too?'

'Yes, ' Cole grinned and began to gather the ingredients to make a fresh batch of waffle batter. Caden finished playing with his phone and began to rustle the bags on the table.

"Jeez Jared," he said, and Cole pointed so that Jared would turn his attention to him, "Shop much?" Caden held out the 'cowboy' emblazoned t-shirt, looking sort of sceptical and sort of jealous. Jared tapped out a replay on the tablet computer that seemed always in his hand and whatever he had 'said' made Caden laugh. Cole shook his head and went back to his batter.

Eventually Clayton finished with the waffles and removed a giant platter of potato wedges from the oven. That along with barbeque sauce, chocolate syrup, cream, strawberries and a big bottle of cola made up the teenagers version of dinner. Left alone, Cole re-greased the waffle iron and began to pour a ladle of batter to create waffles for his boyfriend. He waved Jared over with a hand.

'What were you talking about?' his signs were still slow, he had to think about them a lot, but he was proud of how much he had picked up in class.

Jared grinned and showed him the tablet.

He wanted to know if you were going to do and fashion show.

Jared was obviously pleased with Cole's reaction because he made the funny snuffling noise that Cole associated with sniggering. Cole flipped the iron and tapped onto the screen.

Oh you think I'm funny do you? Can you cook waffles?

Jared shook his head and made a peace gesture.

'I can't cook at all.' Jared repeated the signs slowly, a couple of times and Cole found himself watching the shape of his boyfriends lips as he 'spoke.' Jared's lips distracted him from cooking, and Cole found himself gripping the bar of the Aga with white knuckles. Oddly the word 'kiss' hadn't come up in his BSL session so he wasn't sure how to ask. Cole was not used to feeling shy, so he took Jared's chin in his hand and was delighted to find the shorter boy on tiptoes and pressed against his chest almost instantly. Waffles forgotten Cole lost himself in the contrast of Jared smooth full lips and the rough stubble against his skin. Jared's chest thrummed against his own, as though is heart was a bird battling to get out, and quickly Cole was wide eyed and panting. He had the presence of mind to take the waffles from the Aga before they burnt.

Cole pulled Jared up against him and spun him around, bringing his arms around Jared's own. He guided Jared's hands to open the heavy cast iron pan, turn out the new waffle and butter it again before pouring in another batch of batter. Jared giggled and squirmed against his chest and Cole fought the growing desire that came with the erection in his too-tight jeans and tried to concentrate on cooking.

They took the waffles with golden syrup to the table and Jared sat in Cole's lap, which killed his appetite for food pretty quickly, and fed each other bits of sweet bakery. Jared giggled, and it was a sound, unusual but not unpleasant, that Cole was beginning to look forwards to. Right up until he remembered the stuff in his glove box.

Internet porn can only teach so much, and Cole sat with his boyfriend squirming in his lap, licking his fingers which apparently unbeknownst to Cole had become a short circuit to his cock, and had no idea what he was supposed to do next. Sure, he had plenty of ideas, and Jared had lost that mark on his neck that someone else had put there. Cole was keen to claim him as his and his alone. Cole felt very keenly aware that he was with someone who's sexual experience was beyond his own, and that all he had done was kiss Jared a handful of times. Now there were condoms and lube in his glove box. And they're no use to you there either, his inner voice scolded him, not if pretty boy here wants to go to bed with you.

Cole wondered how he was going to talk his way out of this one, only to then realise that 'talking' was the biggest of his problems. He reached for the tablet.

What do you want to do now?

Jared looked at him, locked his gaze, sky blue eyes trapped in a darker oceanic gaze and licked syrup slowly and deliberately off his fingers.

'Jared?' Cole's hand shook as he drew the question mark in the air.

'Babe?' Jared smiled, suddenly all sweet and innocent, his eyes full of banked fire.

Cole could barely speak, let alone form a coherent sentence with signs, so he just moved his hands in a double claw shapes for 'confused' and made a little pinch over his heart to sign 'nervous.'

Jared stood and took his hand, pulling him to his feet, and Cole followed blindly. He thought that maybe he should mention his truck, the stuff in the glove box, but then thought better of it. Upstairs Cole thought he should have felt better in his own bedroom, nice and safe and familiar. He didn't. the only thing that kept him there was the irrational, inexplicable, inexhaustible desire for Jared that set his skin on fire. The boy turned, pinned him against the door and kissed him hard. Jared's mouth was like a furnace, an assault on all the senses, and Cole groaned at the feel of Jared's tongue in his mouth.

Jared broke the kiss and left Cole panting, pupils blown in the dim interior of the room. Cole stumbled as the boy pulled him towards the bed, and he stood there at the edge, his whole body pressed against Jared and he couldn't work out what to do with his hands. When Jared began to release the pearl snaps in his shirt Cole found his fingers in the spiky brown mess of hair, scratching gently. Jared vibrated and made noises against his skin, smiling as he divested Cole of his shirt, running compact hands over his smooth, hard ridged muscles. Cole found he couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't move for all the rampant desire coursing through his system.

So he didn't argue when Jared pushed him onto the bed, when Jared stripped out of his own jumper and shirt all at once or thumbed open the button of his jeans. Cole lay leaning on his elbows, wanting the brown haired boy in a very obvious denim constricted fashion.

'Beautiful, ' Jared signed, 'Cole? Are you OK?'

Cole put his hand at his chin and let his fingers come up over his face.

'Why are you embarrassed? You're hot.'

Cole didn't know what to say, so he simply reached out and put a finger against the spot on Jared's neck, the join of throat and shoulder where he had worn a bruise left by another. Jared shook his head, but Cole didn't understand the question he'd asked anyway. Jared surprised him, dipped down to the bed and kissed him hard, and too short, before breaking off to explore him with tongue and hot hands. Jared kissed his chin and throat, nipped at his ear while his sturdy hands roamed over Cole's chest, found his honey coloured nipples and flicked experimentally. Cole groaned and lay back into the sheets, his hands coming around Jared of their own accord.

Then Jared bit into his flesh, the muscle where his neck ended, just above his collar bone, and Cole's mind exploded with pleasure and pain as Jared bit and nibbled and sucked. When Jared lent back his eyes were dark and possessive.

'Mine.'

Cole nodded in response.

To Jared, Cole tasted like golden syrup and sunlight, and smelt of ozone and hay. The vibrations that Jared knew were noises which shook his frame when Jared touched him were amazing, and it killed Jared to go so slowly. Half the time Cole looked just as lust drunk as Jared knew he really was, but sometimes he still looked scared, frightened and unsure of himself. He was such a big presence, so confident and sure in the rest of his life, arguing good naturedly with his brothers, making waffles and letting Jared sit in his lap, that it was easy to forget that his sexual experience was next to nothing. Jared fought his rampant desire to slow down, take deep breaths, and not push too hard.

But Cole was a willing participant and when Jared leant back to admire his handiwork on the older boy's neck Cole ran a bold calloused hand over his chest and Jared sucked in a breath at the foreign touch. His own body was not as defined as Cole's muscular form, but Cole's bright blue eyes looked at him like he was a god. It felt amazing. Jared's hands were quick and sure on the belt and fly of Cole's jeans and the movements made his abdomen twitch in a way that made Jared bend his head to taste his skin. The tongue on Cole's navel made him jump and sigh and Jared began to lick downwards as his hands worked Cole' jeans open and down. The older boy was basically hairless, with barely any sign of stubble either, and Jared almost missed the tease of a treasure trail on his tongue. As his lips meet the silky waistband of Cole's boxers h glanced up at his boyfriend.