Ascension by Bailey Bradford

loved him, and his behaviour now confused Ro. “I guess I’m being childish, wanting him to mourn. That’s horrible, but I feel like he doesn’t care at all.”
    Conner jostled him slightly and scolded, “You know better. There’s only so much a person can take before they break, and I think your dad is at that point. I watched Roger and Alma raise you and your brother and sister. I know how much they both love their kids. This, with your dad, is his mind trying to keep him from shattering.”
    “I shouldn’t—” Ro began.
    “No, don’t go there. I told you it’s not going to do you a bit of good.” Conner made a gesture with one hand and Sev’s hair rippled. Sev slanted a look their way and Conner sent him a message, letting Sev know they were going to leave. “He’ll tell your dad, when the time is right.”
    “I hope so,” Ro said, letting Conner whisk him out of the house. “I hate that Dad’s hurting so bad, I hate that he’s keeping me out. Do you think he’s doing it on purpose?”
    “I don’t know. I never approached Roger or your mom since they seemed a little uncomfortable or maybe superstitious about me.” Conner had them in the air, soaring through the darkness. Ro might actually have enjoyed it had he not been so confused by everything that had happened and guilt-laden over hurting his dad.
    “Where are we going?” he asked after a minute of silence.
    Conner rolled them until they were on their sides, slipping through the night sky. His eyes shone with bright flecks of white, reflecting the moonlight. Ro forgot his first question for another one.
    “How is that possible? How can I see the moon reflecting in your eyes? Why am I wearing clothes?” He glanced down his body then back at Conner. “And they aren’t even the clothes I was wearing when I wrecked!” Could spirits have panic attacks? Ro’s heart was slamming against his ribs—“Do I have a heart? Conner, what the hell are we?”
    Conner lowered them to the ground, not that Ro felt it. In fact, it seemed as if they were still in the air. Before Ro could freak out over anything else, Conner put one of his big hands on Ro’s nape again and the other on his hip. Ro’s mouth was parted on a question he was forming when Conner lowered his mouth to Ro’s for a kiss that zinged fiery need straight to Ro’s cock.
    Ro’s panic and confusion was eradicated by the plundering of his mouth. Conner kissed him with a need Ro had never experienced before. He was breathless, panting and shaking, when Conner raised his head enough to murmur against his lips.
    “We have form and substance, to other spirits naturally and to humans in small measure when we concentrate hard enough. You can see the moon in my eyes like I can see the want in yours because we exist, and we are .” Conner kissed him again, ending it with a sucking nip to Ro’s bottom lip. “Whether we feel our hearts beat from some sort of memory, or whether it’s really in there with us, does it matter? Or is it more important that we just feel?”
    Ro shook his head slightly, dazed by the strength of the arousal he was experiencing. “Can we—?” He looked over the man he’d built his teenage fantasies around. Conner was every bit as big and handsome in this form as he’d been in life. His shoulders were almost twice the width of Ro’s, and he had deep dimples that dented his cheeks when he smiled. Ro hadn’t seen that in the picture, which had been of a more professional standard. Conner had been in his fireman’s uniform, and his smile had been more of a smirk.
    “Can we what?” Conner asked, dragging his teeth along the side of Ro’s neck.
    Ro shivered and rubbed his aching erection against one of Conner’s thighs. He told himself shyness was stupid here in their afterlife. He’d bypassed so many opportunities when he’d been alive and wasn’t going to do the same thing now. “Can we fuck?”
    Conner snapped his head back, and those blue eyes of his