“No. Do I want to know what you’re thinking?”
“You don’t. Just stand back and watch my genius.” He grabs a rock and places the lighter top down on another, larger rock, raising his hand and smashing the corner. With shaky, tentative hands, he turns back to the fire and dumps the lighter fluid onto the kindling, forming an impressive fireball that almost singes his thick eyebrows off.
I cock my head. “Is that gonna work?”
It does—the fire tears through the rest of the kindling and catches on the log, making Nick jump up and woot loudly. He runs over to shake me excitedly by the shoulders and grab another log, easing it into the makeshift firepit, which is now emitting a steady glow.
“We did it!” he yells, sticking his hands out toward the heat.
I do the same, basking in the scant but present warmth, and enjoying how my hands are slowly regaining a tiny bit of feeling.
Enough feeling to detect a fuckingraindrop.
I swivel my head to the side, meeting Nick’s terse expression.
“If we ignore it, it won’t happen,” he says.
“If it’s gonna ra?—”
“Don’t say it!” He covers my mouth with his palm and snickers, and I try to ignore how amazing it feels being manhandled, even if it’s basic, friendly, and supposed to be innocent.
Another drop lands on my head, followed by several more, and I can’t complain at Nick. I simply glower helplessly at him as he tries to shelter the sputtering flames with his body.
It’s a futile move—the skies open up and unleash their contents onto the beach, drenching us and our hard-earned fire. We both scream curses as we make a break for the woods, running through the trees and whatever leaves are left on them at this time of year. The distance between the edge of the trees and my place isn’t far, and with how quickly we’re sprinting, we make it back in record time.
We trudge up the stairs to my apartment, not saying a word.
Nick’s the one to break the silence. “Sheesh, what a bust.”
“It’s fine. This random shit is what college is all about, right?” I offer a smile, hoping the mood lifts.
I’m not entirely successful.
“Here, I’ll lend you some clothes and you can grab a shower,” I continue, stripping my soaked sweater off. “There’s a towel under the?—”
Nick’s staring at me and biting his lip. A littletoohard to be genuine. “Yo. Nice abs, man,” he says, stepping over and palming my stomach. “Wanna save some water with me?”
My lower half is soaked and cold as hell, but my hyperactive dick still hardens at his touch. For someone who spent upward of an hour outside and ran through the rain, he’s way too warm.
I shove Nick’s teasing hands away, trying not to focus on howthick his calluses are, and how much I want to keep feeling those on my skin.
Call me weird, but calluses are sexy.
“Don’t go there,” I scoff. “Iknowthis is bro banter, but…” I suck in a breath, shutting my eyes and deciding that one isolated, embarrassing moment of vulnerability is in order. “If you couldn’t tell, I think you’re really hot, so if we’re gonna go back to being friends, I’m gonna need you to cool it on the sex jokes.”
His face falls. “Right, yeah. Sorry. I just, uh, do this kind of stuff with all of my friends.”
“I get it. But are your other friends into you?”
Nick wrinkles his nose. “They’re great, but I think they’d rather fuck a cactus.”
Snorting, I turn away to fetch the clothes I promised him. “I thought so.”
Neither of us say much between Nick taking a shower and then letting me take my turn, but when I emerge, the rain outside has only gotten stronger.
That, and it’s pushing midnight. Midnight isn’tsuperlate, but Nick and I are both yawning already.
“You happen to have a spare raincoat?” he asks.
