Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
ADDIE
Eli and I were due to spend our Sunday afternoon doing some shopping for the flat now that the new Vivi’s menu had been approved.
That plan was made before Hallway Gate last night.
When it caught up with me, what I had said in the throes of passion, I had waited to see if there was any kind of reaction in the flat. With no idea where Eli was in it, I had no way of knowing if he had heard anything.
It was silent.
Which had sent such strong floods of relief through me, it made me feel weaker than the orgasm had.
So imagine my horror when I opened the door to find Eli practically right outside it.
Wearing a soft blush across his chest, hardened nipples, and a rapidly moving rib cage.
And to top it all off, a visible erection.
So distracted by the image of Eli’s hard cock almost poking out the top of his underwear, I brushed my teeth twice. The way he pressed into my touch, and his muscles twitched. The stutter of his chest as his breath caught in his throat when my thumb swept across the barbell.
The barbell that meant he had his dick pierced.
There was no stopping my imagination from running wild with that.
I’d already come harder than I had in a while just at the mere thought of his body underneath me, and now I knew that nestling just beneath the head was that.
As a result of Hallway Gate, I had no idea what the fuck was going on with me and my flatmate.
It was normal to tease piercings in intimate places with friends, right?
I was hoping that my Sunday morning plans would help get my mind off piercings and flushed chests and hooded eyelids. Messy hair and tight black underwear and piercings.
Lucy wouldn’t go to yoga with me if I didn’t give her something in return.
And what she wanted from me was to go rock climbing with her.
Lucy didn’t need anyone to go rock climbing with. Much like Rachel had running and Clara had swimming, Lucy had rock climbing. She just knew that I wasn’t a fan of it, so it was the closest tit for tat thing she could find.
And it wasn’t because I wasn’t good at it.
I just didn’t like it.
But there was a new place she wanted to try out, and so here I was.
Surrounded by an array of complicated walls to climb, I slipped into a harness and secured the Velcro of a pair of gloves around my wrists. And honestly, I was thankful for the distraction.
“Is there a beginner wall amongst all these things?” I asked Lucy. She was rolling her neck and stretching out her shoulders as she appraised the very complicated-looking wall in front of us. The incline looked aggressive, and the holds looked too small to be able to get a decent grip on them.
“Do you need a total beginner or just not as complicated as this one?” She started doing tuck jumps.
“I need one that doesn’t have such a steep overhang. Are you just going straight into this one?”
“No, I’ve gotta warm up first. I just wanted to see if I could figure this one out before I tackle it. We should try that one there, in the corner. Not quite beginner, but not that advanced either.” She gestured to the wall in question, speaking without breaking the rhythm of her tuck jumps.
“Should I be doing all that?” I asked when she finally stopped jumping a minute later.
“Are you cold?”
“I did some mobility work before I came out. So not tuck-jump-blood-pumping warm but not cold cold, either.”
She circled her neck one more time. “Then you’re fine,” she said as she walked past me towards the wall.
I followed for five steps and then came to a halt.
Standing at the bottom of the very wall we were heading towards was Eli.
Because, of course, he was here. At a time when I was hoping to forget all about him. Lucy sensed that I was no longer behind her and turned her head to check on me. Clearly, I did not look well because she walked back over to me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. Eli is here.”
Lucy looked over her shoulder and then back at me. “Are you two okay?”
As far as I knew, yes.
But also, Hallway Gate had happened, and we hadn’t talked about it, so maybe we weren’t.
“Yeah. We are. Just a surprise, is all.” I shook my shoulders and rolled my neck. “Let’s get climbing.”
“Oh my gosh!”
A body entered my path, and I came to a halt before I could collide straight into Kayla.
“Hey!” I tried to inject energy into my voice.
“Eli didn’t mention you were going to be here today! Have you been here before?”
“Eli didn’t know. And no, haven’t been here before. Lucy dragged me along as payback for making her do a hot yoga class.”
Eli choked on a cough as he slowly made his way over to us.
I swallowed thickly as I watched his approach.
He was wearing the same black shorts he had on when we went to yoga and a matching short-sleeve T-shirt.
All pretty innocuous. Except for the harness, which was framing a part of him I had no business noticing all of a sudden. But I was. It was right there.
“You climb?” Kayla asked. I wasn’t sure which one of us she was asking, but Lucy answered.
“I do. This place is quite new and I haven’t had a chance to get to it yet. You a regular?”
And just like that, Eli and I, spending time with our respective friends doing a somewhat wholesome activity, turned into Kayla and Lucy becoming bosom buddies with a shared love for rock climbing.
Eli cleared his throat.
“Do you climb?” he asked.
“On a regular basis? No. It isn’t the kind of thing that interests me. You should have seen the way Luce was eyeing up that wall over there with the overhang. It truly fuels her. What about you?”
He shrugged. “Kayla thought it would be a fun thing to try. I think she’s trying to find a new hobby so she doesn’t let herself get caught up in her work. She left most of her friends back in Detroit, so she doesn’t have many here. We’ve also tried paddleboarding and axe throwing.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing with your Sundays recently?”
“Yeah. Hated paddleboarding. There was something quite satisfying about axe throwing, though. We should try it sometime.”
It wasn’t a date. He hadn’t asked me out on a date. I didn’t go on dates. I was famously anti-dating. Anti-romantic notions. Love wasn’t for me, and that was perfect.
The butterflies taking flight in my stomach were misplaced. I still had his dick on the brain, and it was clouding my judgement. Making my mind think that this crush was something more than just physical attraction.
I needed to deal with the fact that I found him physically attractive, and then any and all butterflies would die when he did something as simple as tell me that he wanted to go axe throwing with me. Friends went axe throwing. He hadn’t asked me out.
“You think it’s a good idea to give me an axe?”
“If you had asked me at the start of the year, I would have said no because you would have found a way to accidentally-on-purpose cut me with one. But now? Sure. Why not. It’s a good tension release.”
Yeah. So is sex.
I shook my head to clear that thought. Even though it seemed like the best possible way for me to get over this stupid crush I had on Eli, sleeping with my flatmate was the stupidest thing I could possibly do.
“I’m usually quite good at hitting targets. That could be fun. But for now, let’s try climbing a wall.”
“I don’t even know where to begin with that,” he said, looking up at what was supposedly the Goldilocks of walls. Kayla and Lucy were already beginning their ascent. Close enough to keep talking, but also so clearly focused on their own path upwards.
“This shouldn’t be too difficult. The holds are big enough that you should be able to get a good grip with your hands and a solid base with your feet.”
Eli stared at me. “You’re good at this, aren’t you?”
I smirked. “I said it wasn’t my thing. Of course, I’m good at it.”