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My hands automatically wrap around his thick biceps—just like when we hold each other at night—and he flashes me a crooked grin before stepping back quickly.

Right. Because we’re in public.

At night, alone in his room, we can be who we want to be. But in the cold light of day, two guys cuddling is just…wrong. Especially in this small Utah town. Total bullshit.

“So, I heard the big scholarship race is tomorrow at the Motorsports park,” Matty says, wiggling his brows at Taylor and Christian. “You two going?”

“Of course we are,” Christian snickers, making kissy noises. “Tay’s little boyfriend is gonna be there.”

Taylor shoves his best friend hard. “Shut the fuck up. I’m not gay. Huckslee’s an asshole, and I hate him.”

I scoff as we all head out of the field toward the locker room. “Is that why you’re obsessed with him?”

Matty lets out a chuckle. “Plus, his mom married Huck’s dad, remember?”

“Goddammit, Matthew,” Taylor groans, pulling off his shirt. “Why did you have to remind me? I was having a good day.”

Technically, he shouldn’t even be on campus since he dropped out last month, but none of us are going to say anything about it.

Once we reach our lockers, I grab my clean clothes, waiting until I’m safely inside a shower stall before peeling off my sweat-soaked shirt. Ignoring the small round scars on both arms, I scrub my body quickly, careful not to get my pink Mohawk wet.

As soon as I’m clean, I throw on a T-shirt and some jeans, topping it off with my leather jacket, before stepping out to grab my boots. As I round the corner toward the lockers again, I freeze.

Matty stands near one of the benches, towel slung low on his hips as he scrolls through his phone.

It’s not like I’ve never seen him shirtless because I have—plenty of times.

But lately, things have started to feel…different. My gaze drags down his bare torso, taking in the layers of muscle, taught pink nipples, a line of hair trailing from his belly button to the towel, where it disappears lower...

I snap my eyes back to his face, finding those baby blues aimed at me, and I swallow hard.

“You, uh...lost your clothes.”

What the fuck? What am I even saying?

He tilts his head, throwing me a goofy smile. “Was I supposed to shower with them on?”

“Don’t tell me you do it naked?” There’s a catch in my voice, so I clear my throat, attempting to mask the fact that I was practically eye fucking my best friend. And praying he didn’t notice.

Matty snorts, grinning as he turns to his locker. I quickly look away when he drops the towel, catching a glimpse of his tight, round ass.

“Wanna grab some food later and watch Game of Thrones?“ I ask, and I’m so attuned to his movements that I feel him shake his head.

“Nah, I’ve got a date with Val tonight. You?”

Ugh. Fucking Valerie.

Instead of answering, I spin around, no longer caring if he’s clothed. “You’re back together? Seriously?”

Luckily, he’s covered and throws me a pleading look over his shoulder as he applies deodorant. “Don’t start. It’s not serious. We’re just hanging out.”

“That’s what you said the last time,” I growl irritably, “and then she cut the breaks on your car. If Taylor hadn’t noticed something was up, you could have died, Matty.”

“She was going through some shit then, she didn’t mean it.”

“Valerie’s always going through some shit. She’s fucking toxic, dude.”

He drops his head, broad shoulders slumping, “Xed, please. I just...I need this, ok?”