Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
The phone flipped onto the bed when Sky jumped up.
He snatched it off the duvet and swiped and found the Grindr app in the back of the games folder and opened it.
There was a delay as it uploaded and searched the area and Sky swore when a new profile appeared on the “Who’s Nearby” collage.
The profile picture showed just a hint of a beard, a fit, furry chest, and sculpted abs.
“Oh. My. God.”
There were more pictures. All of Sky’s instincts warned him—ordered him—not to look but his hands were not listening.
His thumb swiped and swiped as Sky’s eyes grew wider and wider and a piece of his soul died when he paused on a shot of a sweaty lower torso and a tantalizing view of a sculpted Adonis belt and a suggestively sticky happy trail.
Sky stared until his eyes burned.
“Nooooooo...” He refused to believe it was Mason and fumbled the phone again when he swiped to the next picture. “Holy Mother of—! What is that?”
It was salaciously cropped to show off a pair of thick, hair-dusted thighs in wet, white boxers.
They were transparent and Sky’s hands betrayed him again by enlarging the image so he could inspect every detail of the very large bulge running down the right thigh.
Sky had touched Mason’s hard-on in the dark and knew it was big but holy hell, he was hung.
“My eyes!” Sky whimpered and dropped the phone on the bed.
My hole!
It clenched and Sky swore at the needy ache in his core.
If it was anyone other than Mason and they were anywhere else…
As far as Sky was concerned, he had no reason to be ashamed if he was caught on a hookup app.
Everyone already knew that he was gay and a loose lady, but it would be the scandal of the century if Mason was caught on Grindr. Especially if they were caught at the same time, in practically the same location.
He heard the notification that he had a new message and felt a pang of dread. What was Mason doing? Was he about to tease Sky for catching him on Grindr? Would Mason laugh at him for looking?
Sky didn’t need to look at his own pictures to know that Mason probably wasn’t impressed.
There were only three and they were just random shots of Sky in front of his bedroom mirror, in a library, and on the train.
He hadn’t hidden his face because he wanted to show them exactly what they were getting: a tall, respectably fit guy in ripped-up jeans, two T-shirts, and a flannel.
He only used Grindr when he was between crappy relationships and didn’t want to deal with the social and sensory nightmare of being in a bar or a club.
It wasn’t that hard to get laid in Brooklyn and the pictures on Sky’s profile were just enough to prove he wasn’t a bot or a catfish.
That usually worked for anyone who was horny and within walking distance.
Now, those bland photos made Sky feel even more inadequate.
Maybe that was why Mason had messaged him.
“I thought high school was hell but this could be worse,” Sky said under his breath as he opened it, then did a double take.
“What the fuck?” Sky whispered. “Hey handsome?”
By now, Sky’s over-analytical brain was screaming that this was a trap and to run away.
Nothing good would come out of them communicating over a hookup app and if Sky had just one ounce of common sense or a smidge of self-preservation he would promptly toss his phone out of the window and pack his bags.
“Don’t do this!” he told himself while typing a response.
“There. At least I played it cool and did the responsible thing.”
He gave the phone a proper nod and was about to close the app but a response popped up. And then another.
“Fun? This is not fun or cute, Mason. This is dangerous and wrong and will be harmful to my mental health.”
Then, there was another response. It was definitely reckless and Sky heard sirens.
“Oh no, no, no! That’s bad and this is definitely harming me.”
But what did Sky’s stupid fingers type?
“Please say something boring or silly,” he begged Mason.
His next message was not boring or silly.
“Hold on.” Sky sat up and looked in the direction of Sarina’s bedroom, rattled and ashamed of how aroused he was.
“He can’t really—!” he snorted as he exited the app and found Mason’s number.
He pressed the call button and Mason answered immediately.
“Time out! Tell me you’re joking,” he ordered but there was a long pause.
“I wasn’t. I’m not. Unless you want me to be.”
“Mase.” A word had never held more warning.
“Look. I swore I wouldn’t do this ever again and I know it’s…wrong, but if it would help you and make this visit less traumatizing… Why not?”
“Why not?” Sky returned. “Do you want me to make a list of all the ways this would be the most fucked-up thing we could possibly do?”
“Come on. You’re a Sutton. Your family has turned fucking up into an art form. How could this possibly compare to Sina and Sam, or your mother, or the time Lance sent my dad a dick pic?”
“Dear God, I forgot about that. Only Lance could send the mayor a picture of his hog and act like it wasn’t a big deal.”
There was an uncomfortable groan from Mason. “We were on a hike and my mom saw it first. I think he actually meant to send it to her,” he confided, making Sky roll his eyes.
“Probably. Anyone else would have done the decent thing and apologized but not Lance, he just said ‘Whoops!’ and pretended it never happened. That motherfucker tried it with everyone. To this day, I still don’t know how he got away with half the shit he pulled.”
“See? The bar is low and it’s not like we haven’t already.”
“You’re married to my sister! Did you forget who we are?”
“I promise, Sina wouldn’t care. She’d probably be happy about it, actually.”
Sky shuddered and gagged. “That would make it so much worse. No one should encourage this, especially her.”
“Who do you think took most of the pictures for my profile?” Mason asked.
Sky gasped. “That’s so weird. Why are you two like that?”
“It’s not weird, it’s just the way we are. She cares about me and wants me to be happy. And she thinks it’s super hot for some reason. She doesn’t get as excited about having sex with men but she wants every dirty detail when I get back.”
“Ew. No.” Sky shook his head. “Don’t you ever tell her anything about us.”
“From now on?”
“Obviously! Fuck!” Sky had a whole new reason for wanting to go back and murder Mason after their first kiss. “How much did you tell her?”
There was an even longer pause. “Everything... You know I tell Sina everything. How else am I supposed to know what to do? She has a working frontal cortex so I let her make the important decisions and fix the things I screw up by being a clueless tool.”
“That’s your problem, Mase. You don’t put the emotionally damaged person in charge of stuff like this.”
“It’s worked so far,” Mason said with a soft laugh. “She said we’d be really sweet together.”
“Too bad we’ll never know.”
Why did Sky feel bitter about that? He had a good life back in the city and he could find a decent guy to date and build a future with.
There were plenty of healthy, stable, available queer men if Sky was willing to make an honest effort at dating.
He might be able to find a decent man, if he was being truthful about his own self-destructive tendencies.
He would probably be in a meaningful relationship with a wonderful man if he stopped hooking up with “straight men” he met at the gym or on dating apps.
None of them were dating material, but they all reminded Sky of Mason, in one way or another. That was probably something Sky should discuss with his therapist, if he told her those sorts of things.
“We both know we’d be amazing together. Every time something does happen it’s…really good. Maybe the best,” Mason mused.
“Shut up.” That was something Sky would never admit, even to himself.
“You can’t tell me you don’t think about it. I do. A lot.”
Sky really wasn’t enjoying the conversation. He was scared because he couldn’t tell if Mason was being completely serious. But he sounded serious.
“Why are you telling me this? We’re just supposed to be playing around and being cute on a stupid app. It was supposed to be just for fun.”
“I know and it is!” Mason insisted, his tone rising urgently. “But I think about it a lot, and I wish we hadn’t stopped when we had the chance. Then, I wouldn’t have to wonder if the rest would be just as incredible.”
Of course it would be.
That was Sky’s luck and proof that he was damned.
He had always felt better, safer, happier, and more comfortable when he was with Mason.
Everything was natural and easy with them, including sex.
Kissing and touching Mason had always felt right.
Like something they were supposed to be doing.
But afterward, Sky was confused and riddled with guilt.
He had no reason to feel guilty now, but he doubted he’d be any less confused afterwards.
“This is my fault.” Sky pinched the bridge of his nose. His head ached and his body was sending his brain the worst signals. “None of this would be happening if I’d gotten laid before I came back.”
“Put me in, coach! I can do it and I promise, it won’t be weird.”
“Stop it! The fact that I’m even considering this is weird and fucked-up enough without the sports references.”
“Noted. I’m here and down for whatever you’re in the mood for. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you, no weird strings attached.”
“You’ll give it to me?” Sky repeated faintly, his body burning with need.
“Yup,” Mason said confidently. “Give it some thought and call me or ping me on Grindr, if that’s easier.”
“This is crazy, Mase!” But Sky was thinking about it as he hung up and fell back on the bed. “I am not doing this.”
He was not going to accept Mason’s offer and take a shower so he could shave his nether regions and give himself a quick cleanse with the hose. That would be extremely desperate and depraved behavior and Sky was not that much of a slut.
“Who the fuck am I kidding? Officially changing my name to Skylar Slutton,” he said as he tapped on the app.