Chapter Thirty-One Strip!
I woke the next morning still holding him. I saw the ring on my thumb, and I touched it to make sure it was real. I grinned like an idiot. Then I felt his fingertip tracing my shoulder blade and noticed him looking at me.
“Is your arm asleep?” he said.
“I can’t feel it.”
He lifted himself up so I could pull my arm out from under him. I rolled onto my back, cradling my arm and flexing my hand. Yeah, it felt all pins and needles and was going to hurt like hell when it fully woke up. And it was worth it.
“Time is it?” he said.
I looked past him at the bedside clock. “Seven thirty. I got a whole hour and a half to spend with you before I have to go to work.”
“Mmm,” he said, stretching.
“Don’t fall asleep on me. Let’s get breakfast.” I got out of bed.
He followed me to the kitchen, as in he came right up behind me and put his arms around my waist and walked in my footsteps. Which was nice, because I’d have been cold otherwise, with my shirt off.
“You want bacon?” I said.
“Cereal’s fine.” He let go of me, opened the cupboards, and took out bowls and cereal boxes. “Don’t you usually have a shower before breakfast?”
“Yeah.” I sat at the table. “But I think today, I might need a shower after breakfast.”
I caught his eye, and he smiled.
“C’mere you.” I pulled him onto my lap, wrapped my arms around him, and held him there. “What am I gonna do with you, honey kid?”
I didn’t know if it was on purpose, but he shifted in my lap, which felt good, so I held him tight.
“We should eat,” he said.
“We should fuck first.”
“Yeah?”
“You remember what I said I wanted to do to you last night, but we didn’t get to because you made me shoot in the living room like the Fourth of fucking July?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s do that now.”
“Right now?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m aching for you. I feel like I’m gonna explode, and I want to be inside you when it happens. You’re sitting on my dick, and it’s driving me crazy.”
“Condoms are in the bedroom.”
“Go back to bed?”
“I don’t think you should try doing it standing. Especially after last night.”
“Yeah. I don’t want to pass out while I’m inside you, do I?”
He got up, took my hand, and pulled me to my feet. Then he led me to the bedroom. He seemed pretty eager. He got the condoms and the lube out of his backpack without letting go of my hand.
“You wanna take your boxers off?” he said, without looking up.
I released his hand, pulled my boxers down and stepped out of them. Taking them off didn’t feel like a big deal.
But he thought it was. I could tell from his expression.
“When you’re done looking at me, do you want to take your clothes off too?” I said.
“I’m not done looking,” he said. “Wow.”
“I can take your clothes off for you, if you want.”
He was still staring at me.
“Is that okay, Eddie?”
He nodded.
I’d been wanting to do this for so long. I pulled his T-shirt off over his head, slowly. Then I pulled down his boxers.
I let my eyes wander all over him. “God.... I’ve been picturing your body since the day I met you, but holy shit...” I touched him, trailing my hand up his ribs slowly. I didn’t know if I was going to laugh or cry.
“There you are,” I whispered.
“Can I?” he said, and we moved closer together until our hip bones kissed, and I put my arms around him, and I could feel him everywhere, pressing against me. The last time we’d done this, our clothes had been in the way. This was so much more intimate.
“We keep this up, I’m gonna shoot,” I said.
He let go of me and looked at the condom in his hand. “You want me to put it on you?”
“I’d better. If you touch my dick right now, I’ll definitely shoot.” I opened the wrapper and rolled the condom on with a shaking hand.
He handed me the lube, and I got overeager squeezing the tube, squirting it everywhere. Didn’t have as much experience putting that on as a condom.
“Get on the bed,” I said. “Fast.”
He dove onto the bed and rolled on his side. I’d never seen him move so fast. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so close to shooting. I crawled across the bed, making sure my dick didn’t touch the blankets. I knew the lube would wash off, but I didn’t want to do more laundry.
I arranged myself so I was spooning him.
“Remember,” he said. “Slow.”
Slow was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to hurt him again. I carefully positioned myself, but being naked with him, being able to feel him, knowing he was letting me—it was too much. I didn’t even get all the way in before I shot.
“Fuck!” I said.
“It’s okay.”
But I was kicking myself.
“Tapper, I don’t mind.” He stroked my arm with his thumb.
I didn’t deserve him.
“This never happened when I had sex with women. I could always hold on till they came.”
“I know I’m stating the obvious, but having sex with a guy is different.”
I pulled out, stripped the condom off, wrapped it in Kleenex quickly, and threw it away. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. “I’m sorry.”
He got off the bed and took hold of my shoulders. He tried to look me in the eyes, but I was staring at the ground. “Quit beating yourself up. Do you see me complaining?”
“You’re too nice.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Let’s have a shower,” he said. Then he smiled slyly. “Together.”
Suddenly, everything was okay. Better than okay. Because now, we could.
“I would love that, actually.”
So we showered together. It was better than sex.
We soaped each other up, and I felt him everywhere, exploring every inch of him.
It was amazing to feel his body and see it too.
And we stood there, holding onto each other while the hot water rinsed everything away.
The ghosts that used to haunt me were gone, and, in a weird way, I didn’t feel so alone anymore.
Afterward, we toweled each other off, grinning like idiots the whole time. Then we got dressed, went back to the kitchen, and ate breakfast.
“My work’s having a Christmas potluck next Thursday,” I said. “You want to come?”
“You out at work?”
“I will be next Thursday.”
“Guess I’ll have to come, then,” he said. “Wait—Thursday next week?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I’m getting my headshots Thursday—and you’re getting your dance photos.”
“What time?”
“Four thirty.”
“No problem. Thursday’s a half day at work, ’cause of the potluck. Come to the potluck, then we’ll head back here and get ready.”
As we were eating, he got a text notification on his phone and checked it. “It’s from Cub. There’s an open casting call for a new TV show, set at the university.” He scrolled through the message. “They’re looking for eighteen- to twenty-year-olds.”
“You can pass for that easily.”
He shrugged. “It’s worth a shot, but these open calls are really competitive.”
“When’s the call for?”
“All this week,” he said. “Might as well go in today.”
I sighed. “I’d rather spend the day with you.”
“Maybe tonight we can finish what we started?” he said, winking at me. Was he trying to seduce me?
“I’d like that.” Understatement.
He reached over, pulled down the half zip of my polar fleece, and peered inside.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting a sneak preview.”
Seemed like he was trying to seduce me. I swatted his hand away.
“Prude,” he said.
I laughed. “Is that show casting for a university student?”
“I think so.”
“You should wear your university gear.”
“My what?”
“The stuff you wore to university. Do you still have it?”
“I never went to university,” he said.
“Where did you study acting, then?”
“I learned on the job.”
“You didn’t go to university?” I kept bumping up against aspects of him I knew nothing about, even after living with him for months. “How come? You’re smart enough.”
“My parents threw me out. I wouldn’t even have graduated high school if Tommy’s uncle hadn’t made us go every day. Couldn’t afford it anyway.”
I felt like an asshole. I’d assumed he was like me or Bex or Ben. We’d gone to university because our parents expected us to, Ben and I on scholarships and Bex on his parents’ dime. And we all grew up in stable homes. I guess I took that for granted.
“I’m sorry, Eddie.”
“Didn’t stop me getting work.” He sounded defensive, like he meant Don’t pity me.
“I can give you my U of T gear to wear. I’ve got a hoodie and a lanyard with the university logo on it. You can put your keys on it—look like a real student. And you can borrow my U of T backpack.”
I took him to the bedroom and completely undressed him. I could have asked him to do it, but now I had the privilege, no way was I not taking advantage.
I found my university stuff in the bottom drawer of my bureau, including a pair of boxer shorts with the logo on them.
“Craig, no one’s gonna ask me to take my pants off at this open call. No one’s gonna know I’m wearing university underwear.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’ll know. And I’ll know.” I grinned like a twit. “You look hot in my boxers.”
“I look even hotter out of them.”
He was definitely trying to seduce me.
“Well, I have to leave for work, and you’ve got this audition, so...”
I was going to be late for work, but I didn’t care. I took my time dressing him in my old university clothes, smoothing the fabric over his body, kissing him a couple of times along the way.
When I was done, I stepped back and looked at him. “Wow. If I saw you on campus my first day, you would have pinged my bidar like woah.”
“There you go.”
We were both going downtown, so we headed out together. We didn’t talk much, but we kept stealing looks at each other on the subway.
Before we went our separate ways, I clapped him on the back. “Good luck. Or do I say, ‘Break a leg’?”
“ ‘Break a leg’ is for stage actors.”
“Break a heart then, honey kid. Break everyone’s heart.”