Covet Thy Neighbor

are. Seeing those third-world conditions made them realize how much God blesses us, and how good God is.” His lips tightened for a moment, and he met my eyes. “And the whole time they were talking, all I could think of was that kid. I’m blessed beyond words, but what about him?”
    “Wow. That must have been jarring.” And probably would have knocked the faith right out of me if I’d still been a believer.
    “It was. And it changed me. It really did. I do believe God is good, of course, and I’m certainly blessed, but when I see people in those conditions, I don’t think about how good God’s made my life compared to that. What I see is all the work we need to do for each other, you know? I’m still moved to share the Gospel with people, but I think I’m more like . . .” He dropped his gaze, and some color bloomed in his cheeks.
    “What?”
    Darren laughed softly. “I guess a Biblical parable isn’t really what you want to hear.”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. I can see the value in a lot of those stories. Try me.”
    “Well, you know the Good Samaritan story as well as anyone. And especially after what I saw during my missionary work, I find that someone who’s starving, or homeless, or suffering isn’t as inclined to listen as someone who has food and a roof. So I guess . . .” He searched my eyes for a moment. “I guess I feel like God’s calling me to bandage the people on the side of the road, and let Christ handle the rest.”
    “That’s a . . .” I exhaled. “It’s a refreshing switch from what I’m used to, believe me.”
    And there it was: that eye contact that locked, lingered, and seemed to tug me toward him. I had no idea what to say right then. Nothing that didn’t sound awkward, or wouldn’t come out as “You almost sound good enough to date, but fuck you for being a Christian.” Because he wasn’t the kind of Christian who scared me. He was Darren, and he was amazing, and I was staring at him.
    I muffled a cough and tried to find somewhere else to look, at least until I got my bearings about me, but my eyes kept going right back to his.
    “This keeps happening,” he said, almost whispering.
    I swallowed. “What’s that?”
    “Whenever we’re here”—he waved a hand around our narrow confines—“between our apartments, we seem to be inept at just calling it a night.”
    “Well, given how our evenings have turned out a few times, maybe we’re just out of practice. At just walking away.”
    Darren nodded slowly. “Or maybe it means we shouldn’t keep trying to walk away.”
    The whole world shifted under me. “We . . .”
    He pushed himself off the door frame and stepped closer to me, driving my heart rate skyward. “Seth, you and I aren’t all that different. We believe different things, but we’re just two men. And I think in some ways, we want the same things.”
    “We want the same things? Like what?”
    “You tell me.” He leaned toward me, and the warm brush of his fingertips across my five o’clock shadow turned my spine to liquid. His lips touched mine, and I wrapped my arms around him.
    “Should you be doing this?” I asked.
    “I’m not.” His breath warmed the side of my face. “We are.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    Darren drew back and met my eyes. “I do, and quite honestly, I can’t convince myself there’s anything wrong with this.”
    In that moment, neither could I.

Somewhere in the middle of a kiss, I managed to find my house key in my pocket, and murmured, “We should get inside.”
    Darren nodded, pulling back a little and licking his lips. “Sooner the better.”
    Oh, hell. With the hunger in his eyes, I was half-tempted to see how much we could get away with right here between our apartments. But the lube and condoms necessary for what I really wanted were in my bedroom, so with some cursing and trembling, I unlocked my door and let us in.
    Halfway down the short hall, I couldn’t wait, and turned around, and we segued from walking to kissing like it was the next logical step.
    This wasn’t the way we’d kissed before. It was different. Slower. Calmer. No one pushed anyone up against anything. Hands were gentle and every motion was languid, mouths moving together like we wanted to savor every taste. We’d always been in such a rush. This time, there was no less urgency, but the need to hurry had cooled, like we didn’t have to scramble to get to our destination because we were already there.
    Darren’s