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“What’s the tattoo on your hip?” I asked.
With the shoebox in the other hand, Will put his thumb under the band of his boxer briefs and pulled them down on the side, along with his basketball shorts, exposing one perfect buttcheek to me. He pulled his shirt up to show the top of the tattoo, as well. Nnhgg. I licked my lips, mouth suddenly dry. He was a beautiful man.
I felt his eyes on mine, but I didn’t bother shaking the lust off. “It’s gorgeous, Will.”
It was a large piece depicting a stag rearing up out of clouds with lush wildflowers growing from his antlers, which wrapped around his shoulder blade gracefully. I was instantly envious.
“Thanks,” he said. “It’s a heraldic stag which is supposed to stand for courage and bravery and nobility, but I cried like a bitch when they got to my ribs.” He dropped his shirt and pulled his shorts up, a smirk on his face. “You got any tattoos?”
“Wouldn’t you like to see?” I joked.
He called my bluff. “Fuck yeah, I would.” Even with a screen between us, the air shifted.
I chuckled nervously, but he didn’t let me out of it, so I lifted my shirt to expose my stomach. When he didn’t stop me, I slowly dragged it all the way up to the bottom of my breasts. I wasn’t wearing a bra—I rarely did since they were barely a handful—so I knew he could see the undersides of them.
My breath got heavier with the way Will looked at me. He wasn’t moving, barely breathing as far as I could tell, but his eyes blazed all over me. I pointed to the tail of the snake peeking out before it disappeared onto the part of my breast I’d kept covered. This is a bad idea.
I was a sucker for bad ideas.
“You sure?” I asked softly. His hand clenched into a fist at his side; his eyes looked dangerous. Be bad, Will. Break your rules.
He sucked in a breath and looked away. Anticipation made my skin tingle.
“No,” he gritted out. His jaw was tight, his expression stormy.
I dropped my shirt, feeling my face flush with embarrassment—that was embarrassing in and of itself. I never got embarrassed.
“Louisa—‘’ he rasped. He looked wrecked, and I felt wrecked, oddly enough.
“I’m so sorry, I totally forgot about Nathalie,” I offered quickly. Confusion flashed momentarily, then guilt washed over his face.
“It’s not like that with her.” He winced and shook his head. “I just don’t want to get in the middle of you and Has—whatever you are to each other. As much as I love tits as a general rule, I don’t fuck around with women my friends care about, and I’d murder me if I was Has.”
His allegiance to our boy was honorable, sexy even. Since I was similarly loyal to Hasan, I liked that Will had his back, even if he was misguided. Has needed to be the one to clear this up for him. Some things weren’t mine to say.
“Has and I are just friends, Will. Feel free to ask him about it.”
He gave me a sharp, disapproving look. “Yeah, sure. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck…”
6
Not Just Any Duck
Boston, MA
Will
“Then it fucks like a duck.”
“Dude. You need to work on your metaphors,” Christian said.
“I know, because then he says ‘Does it matter who I’m fucking?’ and I’m all ‘You could literally be fucking ducks, Has. I don’t give a shit, but Louisa isn’t just any duck.’”
He groaned. “This is embarrassing, bro.”
I’d taken Lou’s advice and just asked Hasan directly about his relationship with her, but it did not go the way either of us thought it would. My metaphor had broken down, and I’d gotten completely lost. I’d just wanted to say it. Louisa is hot as fuck, and I’m pretty sure she wants my nuts. We good?
But sweet teddy bear Has had turned into a real fucking bear. In the end, he’d given it to me straight, I knew where we stood, and that is what I had to tell Ortiz about. It had been a master class in marking your territory.
