18. Ari
EIGHTEEN
ARI
“Man, what a dream.” I yawned and stretched and rolled around in bed, my body more sated than it had been in a long time.
I hadn’t had a dirty dream in a few hundred years, but even then it had never felt this good, this real, this intoxicating.
It was as if I’d experienced it all in real life. As if I’d slept on the same bed as Wyatt. As if I’d been inside Wyatt.
I laughed and rubbed the sleep off my eyes. The sun was a little too bright this morning, but considering my dream, it was probably an effect of the deep REM sleep I’d had.
My entire body strained when I stretched, and images flashed before my eyes. Naughty, scandalous images. Images that made my cock harder than it had any right to be.
“Down boy,” I told it and turned to reach for my phone only to smack my hand on the bedside table. “What the—”
I opened my eyes a little wider and looked at the unit. It was taller than it had been yesterday, and the drawers looked a little different. Hell, the lampshade was a totally different color.
“Am I…” I sat up in bed and looked around the room.
I was in Warren’s room.
“Shit!”
Then it hadn’t been a dream. I only needed to look down at my naked body and my very erect dick to confirm.
“Heavens!”
It was real. That had actually happened. I had kissed Wyatt. Hell, I’d done more things to Wyatt than I ever could have dreamed of.
I turned beside me and patted the empty bed, but I could tell it had been recently occupied by the silver fox. His hair was evidence enough, and so was the hint of his body spray that still lingered on the sheets and pillows.
It certainly didn’t help my throbbing cock. I leaned against the bedframe and let out a long sigh. I wrapped my hand around my cock for a brief moment, and the desire shot straight to my head, making my eyes roll all the way back.
Last night had been nothing short of a revelation. Not only had he been drawn to me, not only had he kissed me, he wanted so much more of me. So much I didn’t know I could have given him, despite how much I craved him. But I was lying on top of the proof that it was possible.
Because nothing that felt this fantastic could be bad. Nothing that felt this exhilarating could be wrong. That much I knew.
I gave myself a stroke before I decided to wise up and turned my attention to my phone. It was only eight. I guess that was something. At least I wasn’t late for work.
My glance fell on Evan’s message next. Those familiar words that were stored on this phone by the thousands.
I remembered his beautiful face, his perfect blond hair, the quirk of his lips that made his dimples so much more prominent.
Without a second thought, I tapped on the message, unlocked my phone, and started typing.
Ari
For the first time since I can remember, I don’t feel weighed down by your loss, my love.
For the first time in however long, I smiled. I smiled without feeling this burden threatening to choke me from the inside.
Evan
<3
I closed my eyes and held the phone close to my chest for a moment.
You’d be proud of me. Hell, knowing you, you’d probably have joined us.
I’d finally done it. I’d finally started the process of letting go of him. Of letting go of this perfect construct in my head I’d been holding onto.
Evan was dead. He’d died a long time ago. He would never have wanted me to be like this. To disavow anything and everything that was good in life in his honor.
You’d want me to be happy, right?
He would. He did. But I also had to want to be happy for me.
I typed another message to him before I got up.
Ari
I’ll always love you, but it’s time I moved on.
There was no reply. The automated message only went so far. Back when I set it up, AI wasn’t so widespread. It couldn’t respond to me with context. It had just been two messages I typed and scheduled to go out daily on repeat for time immemorial. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I put on my clothes and opened Warren’s bedroom door. Two seconds later and as I was trying to sneak into my own room without waking Warren up, he walked in through the front door.
“Hey! Why aren’t you in bed?” I asked, snapping right round to face my friend and trying to act as if I hadn’t been caught red-handed.
“Morning. I slept at a friend’s. We were out too long and I couldn’t drive, so I crashed on his couch.”
I raised an eyebrow, and with a little more confidence, I walked to the kitchen.
“Friend, huh? You’ve been sleeping around at friends’ houses a lot lately, you know,” I said.
Warren took his coat off and hung it up before he sat at the table, already waiting for the breakfast I’d barely started making.
“Why do you care?”
I cracked an egg and cast a glance at him that said “do not mess with me boy” and waited for him to apologize.
He didn’t.
“Why so much secrecy? You know if you found a girlfriend you can tell me, right?” I said.
I turned the stove on and poured some milk inside, then went hunting for the oats while the milk warmed up.
“There’s no secrecy. And I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Okay. Then one-night stands. Or is that term too old-fashioned now? What do the young ones call them now? Hookups? Booty calls?”
“Ari, shut up,” he said.
“What? I’m just trying to be hip.”
“All right, first of all, you’re not sixty. You’re forty.”
“Just two years short, but agreed.”
He glared at me, and I brushed him off in lieu of making his breakfast, but he didn’t say anything.
“Second of all…” I encouraged him.
“Huh?”
“You started with first of all, I’m not sixty. I assumed you had a second of all.”
“Oh, uhm, no,” he muttered, looking at something on his phone, and I huffed.
“Jesus, Warren, what is it? What’s got you so distracted? It’s not a girlfriend or a booty call. What the hell is it?”
He looked up from his phone. “None of your business. I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
I raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “You’ve got me worried now. Are you sick? Are you doing drugs? What is it?”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes at me.
“Fine. Then only your brother and I can eat this breakfast. If you won’t tell me what you’re hiding.”
He gasped. “Not fair. I can have a secret if I want to. And…where is Wyatt?”
I glanced at the bathroom door and shrugged. “Taking a shower, I assumed.” Although I couldn’t hear it running.
“Maybe he’s still sleeping,” he said.
I bit my lips because I could neither confirm nor deny that.
It was lucky that Warren didn’t get home until now, because otherwise, he’d have definitely sniffed up what had happened in this house. And I didn’t know if Wyatt wanted that to be public knowledge quite yet.
But if Wyatt wasn’t in the shower, where the hell was he? Had he left without saying goodbye? Without a kiss? A touch?
“He’s probably out running errands,” Warren said, snapping me out of my own mind.
“I guess,” I mumbled.
“That means there’s definitely enough oatmeal for me!”
“Maybe I’ll eat it all myself. You don’t know!” I said as I started cutting the bananas into small slices.
“What? And get a gut? Nah. You don’t need it. You’re sexy Dr. Ari. That won’t do.”
I groaned but ignored my friend otherwise.
Had something happened last night? I thought it had been perfect. Or was Warren right and he’d just gone out to run errands?
I didn’t know how I could focus on work the rest of the day if I didn’t know. Maybe I should send him a message. Give him a call. Something to make sure he hadn’t regretted last night, or that nothing bad—or even worse—had happened.