Chapter 19
Corey closes the door to my truck before leaning in through the passenger window. “We still good for Friday night?”
I nod, resting back and stretching my arms. “You bringing the missus?”
“Not this time. She’s got plans with her mom, but she told me I couldn’t get sloshed drunk because we have brunch with both her parents Saturday.”
“Agreed. I think I’m getting too old for it anyway.”
He scoffs, slapping his hand against the inside of the car door. “You haven’t even hit your thirties. Don’t give me that bullshit.”
“My knees and head feel like they’re retirement age.”
He rolls his eyes, but chuckles. “Whatever you say, brother. Tell Ayden I said what’s up. He’ll be hanging with us, right?”
My brow quirks up. “Yeah…”
“Taylor and Kali really like him. I do too. He’s chill.”
While they’ve only met him once, I have to agree: he is amazing. Honestly, more than that.
“We’re hanging at the cabin. I don’t know where else he’ll be.”
He hums. “Does he not work?”
I feel like this isn’t a conversation he and I should be having.
“You can ask him—maybe he’ll open up to you…
” I hate that it sounds bitter coming from my mouth.
He’s trying. Just this morning, when he texted me, he was saying that after he graduated college, if it hadn’t been for immediately getting into SF General, he’d have tried to move back to Colorado.
It was the try that got me. Then I stupidly asked why it had to be a ‘try’ and not a ‘have just done.’
He recoiled and didn’t respond. Go figure.
“Alright, well, maybe I will.” He taps the door again before stepping back. “Thanks again for the ride. See you later.”
Only once he’s at his front door and stepping inside do I drive off.
He lives only a ten-minute drive down the main road from the entrance to Sapphire Valley.
I’m a little earlier than normal for a Wednesday night.
I hadn’t told Ayden, but it’s only like thirty minutes, so I figured it wouldn’t make too much of a difference.
There were six calls back-to-back: someone stuck in a raft, Maple High School’s smoke alarm malfunctioned, and so much more. The one that got me was the last—a man fell, and when his wife tried to help… Well, let’s just say I regretted taking Kali with me and not Corey.
I’m ready for a hot shower and a solid ten hours of sleep.
Pulling up to the cabin, I throw the car into park and hurry inside. I don’t even bother grabbing my bag. I can grab it in the morning.
It’s quiet, surprisingly. I hear the soft padding of paws head down from the loft, and assume Ayden is asleep upstairs, even if it’s just after seven. That is, until I reach my room and see the bathroom door cracked, steam billowing out of it.
My heart thunders against my chest. The sound of water hitting the floor in uneven rhythms makes me imagine the body it’s brushing against. Why is he showering down here? He has one upstairs, and has been using it, at least when I’m home.
Clover brushes against my ankles, drawing my attention downward. That’s when I realize I’d been fucking reaching for the door handle to the bathroom.
Withdrawing my hand, I suck in a sharp breath and glance through the slit of the door. I can’t make anything out. The mirror is fogged, offering no glimpse of Ayden.
It’s not something I should be angry about. Seeing him might make me do something irreversible and incredibly stupid.
I slowly step to the side, slipping quietly into my bedroom and closing the door. I release the breath I’d been holding and move to the dresser, pulling out clean boxers and some sweats.
It’s fine, I’ll wait until he’s out, give him a hard time about using my shower, and then take one. If he isn’t tired, we can chat before we go to bed.
In our own beds.
Alone.
Not together.
I need to get the image of him naked, merely on the other side of this wall, out of my head. My brain definitely understands it’s something we can’t be thinking about, but my throbbing cock has other plans for me.
Damn it.
For a moment—a simple second—I thought maybe I’d caught the end of his shower. That I’d be spared an agonizingly long session of him cleaning himself. But nope. I’ve definitely pissed off some god somewhere.
Because as I set my phone on the bedside table, I hear the slightest moan slip through.
Goddamn it.
These walls aren’t thick in the slightest. I can hear him moving around upstairs even when he tries to be quiet. So, to say I’m not surprised to hear him groan, and what I imagine is his hand hitting the wall that separates us, is an understatement.
My cock jumps, and between the noises he’s making, I step toward the wall that, just on the other side, holds the shower.
“Fuck,” he grumbles, and I’m so fucking hard, it hurts.
I quickly undo my jeans and drop them, before pulling my cock out and gripping at the base. My muscles flex as I release a quiet sigh. If I can hear him, he will definitely hear me, and I can’t have that.
He moans, and my god, does he sound incredible. I swear there’s a moment he begins panting. The image of him down on his knees, head up, and mouth open waiting for my cock has me rubbing the pad of my thumb over my tip, spreading my precum around the head.
I close my eyes and listen to him. Although I can’t hear his hand stroking his length, I just know he is. I’ve never seen him naked, at least not below the waist, but I’ve felt it and can imagine clearly in my head that it’s his cock in my hand, not mine.
My mind runs wild, imagining his lips around my dick while his hand strokes his lube-covered cock.
I release myself to spit into my palm and go straight to stroking my full length.
I feel my piercing brush against my fingers as I take my time, twisting my wrist and squeezing around the head as though it’s his throat choking on it.
“That’s it,” Ayden grits through his teeth. “Fuck.”
Imagining his eyes rolling back as he’s ready to combust has me beating myself harder.
“I’m… I’m going to come.”
As under my breath as possible, I croon, “Come for me, Ayden.”
A strangled moan accompanies the vibration of the wall as he smacks it. “Fuck, Keo, please—”
I didn’t anticipate to shoot my own load so quickly, but as my abdomen ties into knots, I’m not given even a second to do anything but direct my cock upward. I make quite the mess, my cum shooting up across my shirt.
I breathe through my release as quietly as possible, even if that’s hard for me. I’m not a quiet man, but I can’t give it away that Ayden just helped me get off by simply the sound of his own climax.
Fucking Christ. He’s not the one fucked. I am.
Ayden
Goddamn, I needed that.
This is the first time I’ve masturbated since moving in. I’m surprised I’ve held out this long, especially with Keo so close by. The smell of him alone is enough to drive me crazy, and seeing him return from his morning runs, sweaty and shirtless…
Fuck. Me.
However, it was risky to use his shower to do it, but the water upstairs just isn’t getting warmer, and now that it’s colder outside, I don’t want to risk getting sick again.
I called someone to take a look, but the earliest opening isn’t until next month.
Should’ve guessed that, considering it’s a small town.
I finish up my shower, grateful I didn’t hear Keoni come home. I hadn’t expected to be so vocal, but being in his space, smelling his body wash… it heightened the sensation. Especially as my imagination ran with it that it was his hand around my cock and not my own.
I’ll quite literally never admit that out loud to anyone. I’d rather die.
Turning off the water and grabbing a towel, I step out.
The bathroom is relatively up-to-date, with a jetted tub combined with a waterfall shower.
It’s interestingly shaped—I’ve never seen one this rectangular before.
It’s big enough to fit two people. Not that, of course, I’m imagining being in here with anyone.
Definitely not wondering if it would fit Keo and me.
Passing the toilet on my way to the counter, I grab my toothbrush and brush my teeth. I towel-dry my hair until it’s no longer dripping, moisturize my face, and wrap the cloth around my waist.
Pulling the door open a bit, I peek out. All the lights are still off. The fan in here isn’t great, so I’d left the door cracked since I like to scald my skin with my showers.
Stepping out, I glance at Keoni’s room—it’s closed, just like before I got in.
I’m literally at the point of passing it when it opens…
Oh, fuck me. It opens.
My fight-or-flight response vanishes entirely, and I freeze as Keoni steps into the narrow hallway. He’s shirtless, his hair down but pushed behind his shoulders, and he looks like a mix of tired and satisfied.
“Evening, Ayden,” he says in a low, sultry tone. “When did you start showering down here?”
When he leans against the doorframe, I nearly pass out, my cock hardening when it absolutely shouldn’t be after the load I just released.
“Um. Today… Sorry, the water upstairs has been running cold for weeks.”
His eyebrow pops up. “Cold? You never said anything.”
I laugh nervously. “I didn’t want you to worry, but I’ve called and made an appointment to get it fixed.”
A hum escapes his lips, which draws me to look at them. It’s now I see something white on his chin.
“You can always use this bathroom, sunshine.”
My stomach ties into knots at that nickname again. However, hearing him call me it versus reading it in a text solidifies I like it.
“You… have something here.” I need a distraction from saying something stupid about the pet name. I point at the spot where—possibly lotion—is and he drops his head to follow.
He lifts his gaze and gives me an impish grin. “Oops. It’s a good thing it’s my turn to shower.” He moves his thumb to his mouth, drags his tongue across the pad before running it along his chin, right where I’d been pointing.
My heart is definitely in my cock by the way it’s pulsing right now.
“Thanks,” he says, pushing up to stand. His thumb finds his mouth again and licks it clean. “Messy eater, I guess…”
Okay, not lotion then. “You had dinner already?”
He winks, then turns toward the bathroom. “No, just a snack.”
“Save me some next time?” I blurt, awkward as hell. What spell am I under? Some kind of hocus-pocus shit, no doubt.
The laugh that rolls out of him is so deep it makes my balls vibrate. He glances back over his shoulder; a grin so sexy I’d not be surprised if I melted into a puddle. “You may become addicted, probably not a good idea.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to ask what it was before he closes the door, and seconds later, the water’s running.
Alright well, now I’m horny, yet again, hungry, and confused.