Biting my bottom lip, I slowly lifted the blanket, a desperate part of me hoping beyond hope that he was completely nude beneath the covers, and I'd get a little peek at his beautiful body, while another part of me hoped he wasn't, because I might just die if he was naked. I sighed, both bummed and relieved to see that my gorgeous best friend had underwear on, but none of that stopped me from greedily gobbling up the shape of his ass in those tight boxer briefs.
I dropped the blanket, putting my hands on my face and groaning. This not-so-little obsession I had for my best friend was out of control sometimes. For the most part, I was just happy to have him in my life, so not making a move on him, knowing it would ruin everything was maybe not easy, but it was worth it.
Unfortunately, one of the things I'd learned about myself over the last twelve years, was that I was a little bit of a covert creep. I spent a little bit too much of my time thinking about my best friend in a way that best friends should not think about each other. And the creepy part? That little blanket lift was by no means the first time I'd tried to peek at Archer when he wasn't fully clothed.
I'm disgusting.
"Would you stop… whatever you're doing?" Archer said, sounding grouchy. "You're being really loud, and it's the middle of the night."
I glanced over at the table, reading the digital clock display. It was close to four in the morning, and though it wasn't the first time Archer had climbed in bed with me or vice versa, I didn't actually remember him doing it this time, probably because cold medicine had never really done me well, and I was pretty sure my dumb ass had ended up taking a double dose.
Oh shit!
"Arch, you probably shouldn't be in here. I feel fine now, but I had a pretty bad fever earlier."
Archer groaned, but slowly levered up to his elbows, blinking down at me. "I'm pretty sure me sleeping next to you is the least of our worries," he said, smirking. "With everything that happened earlier, I'd say there's a pretty good chance I'm gonna end up with whatever you had."
Wait, what? "What happened earlier?" Shit. Had I done something in my sleep after all? "When did you get home? Did you come home early because I was sick?"
Archer frowned, tilting his head to the side as he studied my face. "What do you mean, when did I get home? You don't remember?"
"Uh, no. The last thing I remember is taking a bunch of cold medicine and lying down. Did I call you?"
He licked his lips, his eyes starting to look a bit crazed, and his breathing was quick and choppy. He shook his head. "No. No, you didn't call me. You were awake when I got home. You don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"
I did my best to remember, but the only thing that popped in my head was the completely inappropriate dream, but that was nothing new since I had them all the…
Shit. Had I had that dream while he was lying next to me? Had I done anything to make him uncomfortable while dreaming about all the stuff I wanted to do to him?
"Did I… Did I do anything inappropriate?"
I inwardly cringed, hoping I hadn't done something that could hurt our friendship.
It was one thing to dream about all the stuff I wanted to do to my best friend, to fantasize about it, to spend my moments alone in the shower imagining him in there with me, down on his knees or pressed up against the wall. Unfortunately, the risk of trying any of that in real life or coming on to him at all and possibly losing him, wasn't something I was willing to do. I needed Archer in my life more than I needed sex.
"Huh? Oh, no. Nothing… Nothing like that."
He slid out of bed, presenting me with his back and looking awkward, which made me even more concerned about my behavior the night before.
I started to toss the blankets off, but realized how incredibly naked, and painfully hard I was. Right then was not the time to chase after my best friend and make him tell me what it was that I'd done while I was out of it.
Fortunately, he didn't make it that far before he gasped, bending down to pluck my wastebasket off the floor. "Oh my God, Avery." He looked over his shoulder at me in horror. "How much medicine did you take?"
I sat up slowly, making sure the blanket pooled in my lap, hopefully hiding my erection. I reached up scratching the back of my head, cringing. The answer was a lot. I knew it was a lot, but I'd felt like shit. "Well, I took some about six after I heard the last kid leave, but about forty minutes later it still didn't seem like it was doing anything, so at seven, I took more, thinking with as big as I am, even an alpha dose probably wasn't gonna be enough. I probably took a little too much."
He blinked at me with his mouth open for several long moments, before shaking his head. "Yeah, probably a bit too much." He sighed, bending to set the basket back down, and I watched his ass, barely holding in a groan as the thin material stretched over his sexy ass. "You're so fucking lucky you're not dead right now," he groaned.
He dropped his head into his hands, mumbling something against his palms and guilt flashed through me. I might not have a whole lot of people in my life that would be hurt if something happened to me, but Archer would be devastated. And of all the people in the world I wanted to make sure was happy at all times Archer was at the top of the list.
"I'm sorry, Arch. I should've called you, but I knew you were tutoring, and I didn't want to bother you."
He stopped at the door, turning to give me a sad smile over his shoulder. "I know, Ave. But next time, just remember that you are way too important to me to possibly lose you, so call me before you take a second dose of anything, okay?"
"Where are you going?" I asked, wishing he'd come get back in bed with me, even if it meant trying to keep my erection hidden and possibly dying in the middle of the night of sexual frustration.
"I'm gonna take a shower. I got sweaty."
Yeah, I couldn't say I blamed him. I did feel pretty sweaty, the combined heat of us snuggled under the covers, and my heightened blood pressure from having him so fucking close had definitely made things a little heated.
When he disappeared around the corner, I scrubbed my hands over my face again, noticing that delicious smell I'd first woken up to, and again, it made me think of Archer… and sex. Whatever it was, it seemed to be all over my hands and apparently my face, since I could clearly smell it emanating from my lips.
Had I been sleepwalking? Did I get up and make something to eat in the middle of the night? It definitely wouldn't be the first time. I used to sleepwalk all the time when I was younger, but it had been a while, and though the scent emanating from my hands and face was definitely delicious, it didn't really smell like food.
More likely, I'd used Archer's shower again. Probably when I was all messed up on cold medicine. I'd have to sneak in there later and check out all his products, because if I could find whatever it was that smelled that fantastic, I was going to bathe in it all the time.
***
I couldn't take it anymore. Something was wrong with my friend, and I was terrified it had something to do with me. More specifically, something I'd done the other night.
Archer had been… very strange since I'd woken up to find him in bed with me in the middle of the night. It was becoming more and more worrisome, since the easy, cuddly way we used to be, suddenly seem to make him very jumpy. I'd never even considered that he might be afraid of me before, but the skittish way he seemed to act anytime I came close, was really starting to bother me.