And I try not to look but it’s a lost cause. And I hate myself for it.
It’s the gay curse—having a straight best friend who’s also the man of your dreams.
I do my very best to keep it under wraps, and I have for years. No one knows a thing. And I intend on keeping it that way until it passes.
It’s just that, ever since COVID hit, and he and Tara broke up, and he quit the band, we’ve been spending more time together, and the proximity is starting to get to me. I can’t catch a break. He’s everywhere all the time, and I don’t hate it. I don’t, I just… I can’t catch a break.
And now he’s stretching that sinful body right in front of me.
That bit of skin is right. Fucking. There.
I want to lick it.
I want to peel his clothes off, one piece at a time, and lick all over his six feet two body—from his stubbled jaw to his neck, down his broad shoulders, that narrow waist, and his ass.
I want to push my fingers through his dark, shiny hair, and make him—Jesus fuck, I’m unhinged!
“You okay?” Kaden frowns and drops down on the other couch.
Awesome. He caught me drooling over an inch of skin. Cool.
No, really, I’m a creep. Someone should lock me up. Or bleach my eyes, or something. I hate this.
I clear my throat, trying to save face, but then I look into his dark green eyes, framed by black lashes and thick, dark brows. And it’s like he was put on this earth to torture me.Look but don’t touch. It’s a fucking punishment if I ever saw one.
“Seth?”
“Yeah?” I say, with an awfully high-pitched voice, so I clear my throat again. “Yeah, fuck, sorry!” I laugh. “Totally blacked out.”
There. Nice save.
He frowns, slowly chewing on a piece of gum. “Did you hear Diaz’s leaving?”
“Yeah, I heard,” I say, putting the flash binder back on the table. “I’m thinking we should throw him a little going away thing.”
“Sounds good,” he nods.
“Yeah? You think your mom can make something? I know he likes carrot cake.”
“Yeah, I can talk to her.” He bites his bottom lip, squinting his eyes a little before he adds, “You think Kit will bring someone else in?”
I scrunch my nose. “Nah, not now at least. Maybe when all of this is over.”
Kaden nods, tapping his fingers on his knee in beat to “Fell On Black Days” by Soundgarden streaming through the speakers.
“How’d it go with the pickup?”
I pull the keys from my pocket, dangling them in front of him.
He snorts, shaking his head. “What’d you offer him? Your soul?”
“Babe,” I say, waving vaguely at myself. “Already sold it for the looks. Keep up!”
Kaden’s squinting at me, checking me out, and the skin on my neck prickles at the attention. I know he’s notchecking me out, like that but like I said, I can’t catch a break.
“Seems you’ve been ripped off then.” He shrugs with a grin.
Yep, robbed blind for nothing.
