Erik eyed me, not just like I was being stupid but asking himself why he put up with me. He would’ve put up with me no matter what I did and no matter how much of a pain in the ass I acted like, but he couldn’t figure out why. I had no idea why I put up with a fraction of Erik’s crap…but I would keep doing it.
What a mystery.
I don’t like to get into things I can’t get out of. If we struck up an actual official relationship, I would get myself deeper into something I’d never planned for. Getting out would be hard. And the longer I stayed in that relationship, the more I would stray from my ironclad plan of having a knockout wife and three sons.
You don’t do that just to get laid, no matter how hot the sex is.
But I would’ve done it. That was the truth. And I’d already gotten into things pretty deep, don’t you think?
Erik stood up, presenting his naked body to me as he continued the conversation. He meant to drive me nuts, show me what I couldn’t have until I gave in. I wanted to look away. Of course, I couldn’t do that with his big cock in view. I’m only human.
You’d swear he sensed my willpower chipping away, cracking, and soon it would all come tumbling down.
“I know you think I’m being a pain, Kayden. I really don’t mean to. And I know I’ve slipped myself now and then, but I have principles and I stick to them.”
“Life would be a lot easier without principles, don’t you think?”
He half-smiled. “You say that. But I believe in us, Kayden. Don’t ask me why, but I think we could have something really awesome.”
I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Erik couldn’t be right. No way in hell. He would stick to his principles, but I had a life plan to adhere to. On the other hand, there must’ve been some reason why I caved in to this kid again and again.
27
ERIK
Just so you know, I’ve never moved the goalposts. I just wanted to hold Kayden to some kind of standard. Think about it now. If I didn’t, he could use me for my body, and we would never move to the next step. Deep down, I knew there was more between us. I felt it. Sure, it sounded scary, but one of us had to be brave enough to acknowledge it and take the leap. Let’s face it, guys like Kayden need a little push.
When Kayden visited my place on Bush Street, that became more apparent than ever.
“Holy shit, dude,” he said. “There’s barely any room to breathe in this place.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. Besides, I’m the only one that lives here. It’s perfect.”
“Even still, anyone could get claustrophobic in a hurry.”
I lived in the top-floor apartment of a duplex in what was probably once an attic repurposed into two units. Kayden was right. It could get claustrophobic. It also got hotter than hell when I moved in at the end of summer. Aside from that, it was the perfect situation for a college student.
“It must be a really tough place to have sex,” Kayden said.
“You must have sex on the brain, dude.”
“Got a problem with that? Anyway, the walls in this place must be paper thin. You probably hear the neighbors going at it all the time.”
I snorted at him. It was just like Kayden to think of something that stupid, but I wouldn’t tell him that. Why? Well, if I’m being honest, I could hear the neighbors going at itsometimes. One time, I even heard a woman say, “Jesus Christ, is thatit?” after about thirty seconds of grunting and groaning.
My teammate was probably alluding to how people would hearushaving sex. Maybe he was uncomfortable with that. On the other hand, we wouldn’t be performing any more mattress gymnastics until we at least tried becoming a couple. Yeah, I might’ve slipped during a moment of extreme weakness before, but I now knew how to spot a problem before it started.
And hey, neither of us had turned sex into a marathon, but we could easily outlast the downstairs neighbor.
I sat in the chair across from the T.V., and Kayden flopped down onto the bed. He didn’t automatically start removing his clothes, which was a good thing. It meant, amazingly, that he had some sense of boundaries. Not much, but I would take what I could get.
“I know I don’t have a lot here,” I said, “but I’ve got Netflix.”
“Ahhhh, I see what you’re doing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Netflix. I understand the codeword, bro.”
