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PROLOGUE
SIX YEARS AGO
Asher
The sun burns hot on my skin as Marcus and I wait for his younger brother to climb the path from the water back up to the jump-off spot. We’ve been coming out here since we were kids, before life knocked me down and stomped on me just for good measure. Before sexuality mattered, when my family was still whole, and Marcus’s parents pretended to give a shit about him and Elliot.
Out here there’s nothing but water, adrenaline, and friendship.
Liar. You have more secrets than you know what to do with.
I can’t stop myself from watching him. Eli. The seventeen-year-old little brother of my best friend. Even though I’ve known him longer than not, over the last year something changed. I kissed him on New Year’s, and since then, when I’m home from college, we find minutes to sneak away when Marcus is distracted.
Usually I have better control, I can pretend I’m not watching him, but not today. He’s dripping wet with no shirt, and his board shorts are riding low on his hips. His mop of curly blond hair that’s normally rioting around his face is plastered to his head. My cock throbs as he grabs a towel and dries his face. Those soaked shorts are clinging his ass so perfectly it should be illegal. Fucking himisillegal. Not to mention Marcus would murder me.
Taking care of Eli has been Marcus’s job since before I met him. Their parents are always off gallivanting around the world, filming and shit. They’ve left the raising of their kids to nannies and Marcus. We’re three years older than Eli, but we’ve taken our job to protect him very seriously. The hardest part of going away to college was not being able to protect Eli anymore.
Marcus stands and prepares to run and jump from the cliff face as Eli and I watch. He counts down from three and launches himself over the edge. Eli and I both step forward and watch Marcus hit the water, then grab for each other. We have about two minutes before Marcus makes it back to the top and can see us.
I wrap an arm around Eli’s waist and pull his chest flush against mine. Finally, skin to skin. Goose bumps erupt across my flesh at the contact. Eli wraps his arm around my neck and crushes our lips together in a hungry, heated kiss. We know we don’t have long, so we don’t waste a second with small talk or hesitation. Guilt threatens to ruin this moment. I have shit to tell him that I’ve been putting off for months, but I don’t want to see the hurt on his face when I do.
I bite his plump lower lip and suck it into my mouth. My damn heart beats for this boy. It’s a blessing and a fucking curse to need what you can’t have. He’s one of the few people that know I’m bi. Most think I’m straight, Marcus included.
Eli groans, and I quickly shush him before crashing my lips to his again. I crave him. I’m desperate for him. Only him.
I slide a hand down the length of Eli’s back and cup his bubble butt in my palm, kneading the muscled flesh. He grinds against me, his dick just as hard as mine.
“Fuck,” he mutters against my lips. “How much longer do we have?”
Footsteps and sliding pebbles on the path answer for me, and we jump apart. Eli sits on a boulder with his towel balled up in his lap and picks up his phone. I tuck my dick into the waistband of my swimming trunks and pray to the god of hard-ons that mine goes away quickly.
Marcus’s smiling face appears a few seconds later.
“That was awesome. You’re up, Asher.” He nods at me, but I’m not feeling it.
“I’m going to head out.” Eli stands up and slips his feet into his sandals.
“Where are you going?” I demand, more forceful than I should.
“Some of my friends are having a bonfire at Colin’s.” He lifts an eyebrow and shrugs with one shoulder.
Marcus smirks at his brother while I seethe. Fucking Colin. He’s had a crush on Eli for months.
“You finally going to give Colin a shot?” Marcus asks, wagging his eyebrows. I clench my hands into fists and try to control my breathing as jealousy races through me.
Abso-fucking-lutely not.
“I don’t know.” Eli glances quickly at me, then away again.
He turns and picks up his stuff. I start to panic, needing more time with him. I leave to go back to school next week, so I need every minute with him I can get. My heart is racing at the idea of Eli leaving when I have such a finite amount of time left.
“You don’t want to jump?” Marcus asks me, oblivious to the internal fight I’m having.
I clear my throat. “No, I’ll walk Eli out.”
Marcus runs and jumps again. Eli and I wait to make sure he surfaces, then head up the path to the little parking spot along the side of the road. Out here, we’re just people. There’s no celebrity status, no cameras, no expectations. Eli can be himself and not hide his truth from a world that would judge him for it.
It’s a quick walk to the road, and Eli unlocks his black G-Wagon. He drops his stuff onto the passenger seat and turns to me. My heart sputters in my chest. Stepping in close, I lean my forehead to his and close my eyes. That one spot is the only point of contact between our bodies.
