Wren peered at me with a mischievous smile. “That’s not all I heard.”
“Did something else happen?” Ryker leaned over to ask.
“I heard it happened after we left,” Sam told hisfiancé. “Something about more hugging and a shouting match in front of the fair.” He glanced at us as if waiting for an explanation.
We couldn’t do anything in this fucking small town without making a potentialspectacle of ourselves. The local rumor mill was going as strong as ever. I swore they could compete with the best news stations on how quickly they got their gossip.
“It’s all just a misunderstanding,” Clay replied casually. The others didn’t look convinced as they continued to study us. I didn’t say anything since Clay and I having a little argument wasn’t out of the norm.
I glanced at Jones, who was intently focused on the menu in front of him and looking like he wasn’t interested in this topic of conversation in the slightest. That wasn’t like him at all.
Jones might not like to admit it, but he loved gossiping almost as much as his boyfriend’s mom. I sometimes liked to joke that it was one of the reasons Ryan fell for Jones. Already having a huge gossip for a mom, he was drawn to the familiar.
Which was why it was very strange Jones wasn’t more engaged right now, especially when the gossip involved his friends.
Atlas came over not too long after to take our orders. He looked extra bright today, and there was a noticeable pep in his step as he flitted around the busy brunch crowd. I swore he was moving around so fast that I saw afterimages of him.
Conversation moved on, thankfully. Wren talked a bit about the exciting collaboration he was doing with a famous Canadian vlogger. It was the reason they were in Vancouver.
Sam handed out some more aloe gel his gramps had processed, saying they had more than they could use in a lifetime. His gramps was apparently obsessed with aloe vera plants and had a backyard full of them.
This wasn’t the first time Sam had given us his gramps’ aloe goods, but I wasn’t going to say no to more. I never used it at the clinic, but the stuff was great for sunburns and small cuts.
In fact, I’d smeared some on where I’d bitten Clay’s bottom lip, and it’d already fully healed. Maybe I was imagining it, but his lips seemed softer, too. I glanced over at him. Clay swallowed his food and licked his lips. They looked fuller, too…
I needed to stop looking at his lips. I needed to stop looking at him in general. I focused back on my food.
The AC blew over me, carrying a familiar musky scent. Why did Clay always smell so good? It must be the reason I liked being beside him so much, all so that I could bask in the smell of him.
He smelled better the closer you got to him, too. I wanted to press my nose right up against his skin and inhale his scent directly from the source.
He’d smelled so good last night while I explored his body. Surely cocks weren’t supposed to smell good, but his was fucking intoxicating. His musky scent camethrough even with the sweat from the hot day, making him smellwarmerif that was even possible. It was like I’d bottled up his essence and made it into a heady aphrodisiac that I’d willingly bathe myself in.
My dick twitched, and I shot to my feet. My friends all turned to me at the sudden action, and I quickly excused myself, using the reason of nature calling.
The first thing I did in the bathroom was splash my face with freezing cold water. The fantasies of Clay had gotten worse these days. Even as a horny teen, I’d been able to control my thoughts of him…or I was at least able to control them in front of other people.
Alone in my room? Well, that was another story altogether.
I wasn’t a horny teenager now, and yet it was harder now more than ever tostopthinking about him. Was it because teenage me could only imagine how Clay’s face would twist in beautiful perfection when he came? I knew now just how beautiful he was during an orgasm, which was probably why I kept replaying the scene over in my mind.
The bathroom door opened, and I saw Clay walk in through the mirror at the sink. Looking at my face, he frowned. He rolled some paper towels and strode over to me.
“You’re getting your shirt wet,” he said in a scolding tone as he turned me around and carefully wiped the water droplets from my face.
I watched him as he took care of me. It was momentslike these that made letting him go so hard. The man was too kind for his own good. I mean, who else would kiss another man to comfort them when he wasn’t even attracted to men? Who else would let another man touch them?
Desire warred with my moral side. I knew I was corrupting him and making him do things he otherwise wouldn’t do. I knew I was messing up the dynamic we’d carefully built up over the years. I was being selfish and jeopardizing our parents’ happiness.
I wished I were stronger. I wished I were strong enough to look at Clay’s tender expression as he swiped back my damp hair and be unaffected.
That was something I’d have to learn another day. Right now, I leaned in for a kiss. My heart constricted by the way he leaned in too and closed his eyes, as if expecting it. As if needing it as much as I did…
His lips were soft against mine. The kiss was more soothing than anything else.
We were playing a dangerous game, kissing in the middle of a public space where anyone could walk in at any time, but it seemed gambling by toeing the line was all I was doing these days.
I lost the gamble today.
