Avery stood at the foot of the bed, eyeing a shirtless Layne. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“What if he has, like, the tiniest peen we’ve ever seen? On the plus side, at least you know to look elsewhere to get laid.” Avery lifted an eyebrow at me like her advice was the best thing ever.
“Averrrreeee.” The girl just didn’t know when to quit. I stared at Layne, who was still passed out cold. I suspected he’d downed the fifth of vodka and would be out until sometime tomorrow. Fuck. Well, this was it. I was about to find out Layne’s intimate choices: free balling or not.
Avery grabbed one pant leg, and I grabbed the other.
“One. Two. Three.” I tugged with all my might while Avery grunted as we worked to free his leg of the wet fabric.
I released his jeans, which we’d only managed to pull down a couple of inches. “Shit. Like, his pubes are right there, and in no way has he given us permission to look. This is wrong.”
Avery held on to his clothes as she frowned at me. “How are you going to feel if he gets pneumonia and you could have stopped it? It’s all for the highest good.”
“What? Are you speaking hippie mojo now?” I shook my head, my eyes returning to the happy trail and dark hair that hovered above the waistband of Layne’s jeans. Keep it together, girl. And I tried, but all of his glory was about to be exposed. The funny thing was that I had never given a rat’s ass about some guy’s junk before. But not only had I begun to forgive Layne … Fuck, I couldn’t even begin to finish the thought.
Avery’s expression flashed with mischievousness. “I’ll give you a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill if you pull his pants off.”
“Umm, hello. Hell yeah!” I grabbed the hem of his pants and yanked with all my might. With my eyes closed.
“Good God Almighty,” Avery whispered. “If I hear you screaming his name, I’ll know why.”
I cracked one eye open. “Shit.” Although I’d felt him through his jeans, I wasn’t prepared for what I was seeing. He was huge. “No wonder Chloe stayed with him,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What? Who’s Chloe? Girl, you’ve got some explaining to do.” She gathered his wet clothes and winked at me. “I’d go for it.” Then she left the room.
I gawked for a few seconds longer, then hurried to cover him up. Guilt washed over me. I hoped he would understand I was trying to help him when he woke up naked in my bed. At the same time, there was no way in hell I would forget what I’d seen.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, pulling me back to reality. I smiled as I tapped the green answer button. “O.M.G., you’ll never believe whose cock I just saw right now,” I blurted.
Benji’s laugh sent me into a fit of giggles.
“I wish you were here,” I said. A slow ache spread through my chest. If Benji were home with me, none of this would have happened, and I wouldn’t feel like a total perv for stripping Layne.
“Please tell me all about the cock, girl.”
“Are you sure? There’s a lot of baggage with this big dick.”
Benji’s laugh traveled through the phone, and my heart overflowed with so much love, I thought it would burst. I missed him so badly, but hearing him happy, even for a moment, meant everything to me.
“Who is this peen attached to, babe?”
Although his tone was joking, I heard the undercurrent. If I listened carefully, I could hear the truth he was sharing with me. Benji was pretending to be all right, but he wasn’t. And neither was I.
“Come home,” I whispered into the phone, sinking onto the edge of my bed, no longer aware of Layne.
“I’ll be better soon, Ten. Don’t give up on me.”
“I’m so sorry. I should have stopped you from parking in the alley.” My hand flew over my mouth in order to muffle my cry. That wouldn’t help him any.
Benji blew out a big breath. “No, goddammit. You’re my best friend. I don’t need apologies. I need you to help me live again.”
My lips pursed. Benji should be there with me, helping me manage the Layne situation.
“I have someone in my bed,” I admitted, smiling. “But it’s not what you think.”
“Are you shitting me?” Benji gave a playful huff. “I leave the house for a few weeks, and then you bring a guy home?”
“I found him near the library.” I chewed my lip as I replayed the scene in my mind.
“What? Are you picking up homeless guys?”
I stifled my laugh. “It’s Layne.”
Silence filled the line. “Ten, what’s going on? Talk to me.”
I could almost visualize Benji’s expression growing serious. If he were there, he would be in his bed, patting the space next to him. I would curl up under the blankets, prop my head up on my elbow, and spill my guts.
“I was leaving the library, and the storm was bad. It was dark, and I started freaking out a little about the walk home alone.”
“Stop. Tensley, promise me you’ll never walk at night alone. Promise.” His tone was demanding, almost harsh.
“I called an Uber,” I replied softly. I peeked at Layne, then stood. I should get a trash can and some towels in case he got sick. Slipping out of my room, I made my way to the bathroom and grabbed what I needed.
“Thank you. I didn’t mean to jump your shit like that.”
“I know. It’s fine. Anyway, I heard someone. It wasn’t a yell or a scream—it was almost like … It was the most gut-wrenching, brokenhearted cry I’d ever heard. When I realized someone was standing in the middle of the lawn with no cover, I thought something was wrong, so I ran over to help.”
“Alone?” Benji’s tone bordered on bewilderment.
“It was Layne.” I slipped inside my bedroom again and closed the door behind me. After tossing the towels on the floor, I placed the trash can next to Layne. He hadn’t changed positions yet, but his chest moved, so I knew he was breathing. I sank into the chair next to my window as a flash of lightning filled the sky. It was going to be a long night, but I didn’t want to leave Layne alone in case he puked while he was passed out.
“He was so shit-faced, he thought I was Chloe, his ex-girlfriend. Then other times, he knew it was me.” No way would I tell Benji about the kiss. It might have been for Chloe, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t secretly savor every breathtaking moment of Layne’s mouth on mine. “There was a bad tornado a few years ago back home in Arkansas. From what he said tonight, Chloe died … and so did his daughter.” I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing Layne’s gut-wrenching cries echo in my mind.
“Holy shit,” Benji responded quietly.
“I know. I need to Google it to see if he was getting his facts straight, but it’s what he said.” Eyeing Layne while he was sleeping, I put Benji on speaker, and turned the volume down.
“Beat you to it. And yeah, Nicole was his three-month-old daughter, the news article says. Layne was the only one to survive out of the three of them. That fucking sucks. I thought a wheelchair sucked, but I can’t imagine someone you love in your arms one second then gone the next.”
We sat in silence for a minute, processing the confirmation. Although Layne was drunker than hell, the facts were so deeply embedded in his mind, he couldn’t screw them up even if he tried.