Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“We don’t have alternatin’ ideas,” I assured him. “As long as I’m with you, I always have a good time.”
“That’s a very romantic thing to say,” he said, brushing his nose across my cheek as he grabbed my ass hard.
“Could you please drive to—”
“You should see your eyes right now,” he murmured. “They are so dark and beautiful, and you’re all flushed, and your lips are—”
“Please,” I implored him. “Make the car go.”
“I will make the car go,” he promised, his smile huge. “Man, you are out of it, and I love that it’s because of me.”
“Everythin’ is always because of you.”
“I have no idea how I missed that.”
I shrugged. “It’s because you saw me as a friend, nothin’ more.”
“That’s not true at all. I think I rationalized all your attention as you having to watch me like you did because I was your partner. Forgive me for being stupid.”
“Well, again, as we’ve said before, we’ve both been dumb where the other person was concerned. The good news is, we’re both fast learners.”
“That we are,” he agreed.
Walking up the flights of stairs to my fifth-floor apartment, we arrived on the fourth to loud music and people everywhere. It was nice. All five apartments with their doors open and people going in and out. When I moved in, the manager had offered me a place on what he called the “fun floor,” but I declined. I wasn’t there enough to socialize with my neighbors, but I could see the appeal.
“This reminds me of dorm parties in college,” Lang said from behind me.
It did, yes.
When we were almost to the next set of stairs, snaking between people, saying pardon me and excuse me over and over, I got stopped by someone taking hold of my bicep. Turning, I found a familiar-looking blond guy I couldn’t place, who appeared to belong on the cover of a surfing magazine.
“Hey,” he said, and weirdly, tightened his grip on me. “I know you. We go to the same gym.”
It was still early, only six thirty now, which was not, to me, the normal time most people were wasted, but from how glassy his eyes were and how big his smile was, I was thinking he was trashed.
“Okay,” I said, peeling his fingers off me.
But when I tried to walk by, he grabbed my arm again, even tighter. “Don’t blow me off,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve been waiting to talk to you since I asked around and a friend of mine said you lived in this building.”
I think he meant for that to seem nice, but all I was getting were stalker vibes. “Look, man, I’m just tryin’ to get to my apartment,” I told him, and when I took his hand off me the second time, I eased him back, gently but firmly, so he’d get the message. “I don’t want any trouble with you.”
“But I want to have trouble with you,” he said, his smile more of a leer, looking me up and down. “I saw you screwing some guy outside the showers a couple months back, and I wanted to join. Don’t play hard to get now. Come to my place with me, it’s right downstairs. I even have some Molly.”
Oh yeah, I felt classy.
Groaning, I moved again to go around him, but he took hold of my shirt. I was getting annoyed. “Man, I am so not the guy you want to mess with right—”
“I will give you a whole fucking second to get your hand off him,” Lang warned from behind me, already close but now right there, at my shoulder, looming, with a tone of voice I’d never heard before. And he wasn’t loud, and he didn’t sound mean, but there was no mistaking the absolute threat in his words. The guy stared at my partner a moment and then let me go, spun around, and disappeared into the apartment behind him.
I rounded on Lang. “You realize I can handle myself, right? You didn’t need to threaten that poor drunk guy.”
He nodded. “I do. I count on it. But no one gets to put their hands on you, and especially not three times because they saw you screwing some guy at the gym.”
“Yeah,” I said, exhaling, then started up the stairs. “Not one of my finer moments.”
“Do you even remember Shower Guy?”
“Not really,” I said, chuckling, reaching my floor. “But unlike for you, names are sometimes optional. Although I will say, I’ve been goin’ through a dry spell.”
“Have you?” he asked, hand on my shoulder as we walked down the hallway. “Why do you think that is?”
“Why do I think that is?” I turned to look at him. “Because between you and the job, when do I have time to do anythin’? That double date you had with Malik last night was the first one you’ve had in over three weeks. Neither of us has been doin’ much datin’ lately—or in my case, fuckin’.”