“Where?”
“I’m not answering that,” he says with a dark chuckle that curls warmth through my gut. “I’m not just gonna tell you, Suga. You have to work for it.”
I lick my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. “Hey, Sookie?”
“Yeah?”
“When it’s just you and me, call me Kei.”
“Oh yeah? Well,Kei,” he says, my cock jumping at the way he says my first name. “That’ll be all the questions for the night.”
“What? Why?”
“I already told you. You can ask so long as they’re interesting and I’m suddenly bored. Good night, Kei.”
The call ends. What the fuck? What the fuck was that? Just when things were getting good, he dips? Gods, he’s such a dick!
So why the fuck am I both intrigued and turned on? I stare at the screen for a long moment before covering my face with my hands and screaming.
Chapter Five
Shiloh
I shove my handsinto my pockets as I walk across campus towards the art department. A familiar head of white and black hair catches my eyes and before I know what’s happening, I’m being pulled into a tight hug.
“Aspen,” I say with a groan. “What the hell? I am not the type of huggy person you are!”
“Sorry,” he says sheepishly, pulling away and rubbing at the back of his neck. “I just got so excited seeing you! Why are you here?”
We continue walking, falling into step with each other. “I’m on my way to the art department. I’m modeling for their figure drawing class.”
“Really? That’s so cool!”
I hum softly. “It’s alright. I get a little cash out of it and it breaks up the monotony of my day.”
“You’re so cool, Shiloh.”
I can’t help but smile, looking over at Aspen. “Thanks. It’s nice that you think so, I guess.”
“It was really fun watching your date the other night with Suga. I can’t believe you actually know him, like in real life. That’s so crazy.”
“Don’t get too excited. It’s not like we’ve ever met or anything like that.”
“You could though! You guys seem really close. Hey, are you like actually dating in real life?”
“No,” I say right away, narrowing my eyes. I can feel my chest clench at the innocent question. I want to lash out. I want to be a dick to Aspen, but I hold myself back. Just because that’s how I keep people from getting close doesn’t mean Aspen deserves my wrath. “We’re just friends. I moderate his chat. That’s it.”
“Huh,” Aspen says, nodding along. “I never would have guessed that. You guys just give off old married couple vibes.”
“What the hell does that even mean?”
Aspen shrugs. “You know exactly how to push each other’s buttons but even when you’re mad at each other, you still come back time and again. Plus, the way you guys talked to each other during that stream. You seemed comfortable yet able to put up boundaries like when you said you didn’t wanna talk about past dating on stream. Suga totally respected that immediately. I’mprobably just reading into things that aren’t there but you guys just kinda fit together, you know what I mean?”
I tsk, breathing out through my nose, doing my best to keep myself calm. It’s not Aspen’s fault I’m all fucked up inside. It’s not his fault that I won’t let myself be open with another person after Stevey. It’s not his fault that he’s accidentally stumbled onto the thing I’m doing my damndest to not think about.
“Maybe we’re just really good at acting,” I say with a shrug. Then I turn the tables. “So, I’ve been seeing you hanging out with Glasses, Libero, and Squeaky a lot lately. What’s going on with that, Aspen?”
I watch as Aspen’s face turns red. He makes a sputtering noise and quickly looks away yet there’s no less bounce in his step.
