“Right, Bishop?” Hudson says, drawing my attention back to the conversation that I’ve completely missed while I was daydreaming about the hot as fuck bartender and all his interesting piercings.
“Um, yeah,” I agree, forcing a smile and reaching for my drink.
Pax arches an eyebrow at me and smirks. “You have no idea what you just agreed to.”
“What? Of course, I do,” I bluff.
“Shh, don’t spoil my fun, man,” Hudson says, and all our friends laugh.
“I definitely missed something,” I admit before I dig myself too deep.
“Mmm, I can see what was so distracting,” Alex says, craning his neck to ogle Riot. Hudson follows Alex’s gaze and scowls, inching closer to me in an odd display of possession that I’ve never seen from him.
Whatever has gotten into Hudson, I’m sure it won’t be long before a group of hot college boys walk by and draw his attention. But is it even fair for me to be jealous over Hudson’s attention when I hooked up with Riot last week? Not to mention the fact that I’m greedy enough to love both of my best friends.
After a few more drinks and half-heard conversations, it’s past time to call it a night before I do something stupid.
“I think I’d better take off,” I say, tossing cash down on the table to tip our waitress and standing up.
“Boo,” Seph complains.
“I think it’s about time we head home too,” Pax agrees, giving his boyfriend a hungry look that earns a deep red blush.
“You’re all getting old and boring,” Seph complains.
“I’ll stay out longer,” Alex offers, and she claps happily.
“Good, we can scope out some hot nerds together.”
“Night, guys.” I wave at my friends and force myself not to look at the bar as I make my way toward the exit.
The night is quiet as we step outside. It’s peaceful, like no one in the world exists right now. I stop and take a deep breath of the cool air, letting it settle the alcohol sloshing around in my stomach.
“Bish, hold up,” Hudson says, wrapping his thick fingers around my bicep to pull me to a stop. My heart beats harder at his touch, everything in me insisting I melt into him and give him anything he wants. After all, it’s what I want too.
I swallow hard and turn to face him. “What’s up?” I ask as casually as I can manage.
He steps closer, crowding into my space until all I can feel is the warmth of his body, and all I can smell is his spicy whiskey body soap and a hint of the alcohol on his breath. He cups my face, and the move is so familiar at this point I don’t think I could keep myself from leaning into it if I tried.
“Come home with me?” he asks, his voice a low murmur that vibrates through me and strokes my cock awake without any effort.
“I…” My brain is foggy from the booze, but more than that, my body is quickly getting drunk on Hudson’s closeness. If I say yes, I know we’ll have a fun night together. He knows exactly how to touch me, exactly how to make me come so hard I’ll see stars for hours. I sway into him, my cock fully hard just thinking about how Hudson’s bare skin feels against mine. “Have to go home...alone.”
Hudson’s shoulders sag. He strokes his thumb across my cheek without saying a word, and I wonder if he’s hoping to change my mind. His hot breath ghosts over my lips a fraction of a second before his mouth is on mine. I brace for a hungry onslaught, steeling myself to refuse him again no matter how good the kiss is. But, to my surprise, his lips move slowly against mine, which is strangely harder to resist than if he shoved his tongue down my throat and started grinding his erection against me. I put my hands on his chest, curling my fingers around the fabric of his shirt and parting my lips to deepen the kiss.
It’s entirely too easy to get lost in the sweet rhythm of his mouth, the familiar flavor of his tongue, the comforting feeling of his body against mine.
He breaks the kiss without warning, and I drag in a breath in an attempt to get my thoughts back in the right order.
“At least let me walk you home so I know you’re safe. I won’t come inside or push for anything else.”
“Um, sure,” I agree, giving a weak nod and stepping out of his arms.
We walk in silence, my lips still tingling from the kiss and my body buzzing. My place is only a few blocks from the bar, which is one of the reasons I’ve always liked going to Twisted Cherry. But with everything hanging between us, and my brain failing to come up with anything to say, it feels like the longest walk in history.
“Listen, I’m sorry I was waiting for you when you got home last weekend. It was too much, right?”
I had been surprised to find him there, but in a way it was nice to know he cared enough to wait for me to get home.
“It wasn’t too much,” I assure him.
“Oh, all right.” He sounds so unsure of himself; it’s completely out of character for my normally cocky and self-assured best friend.
“Why then…” He trails off, letting the half-asked question hang in the air. I don’t know if I have an answer for him right now, so instead of trying to wrangle my tipsy brain to find the right words to explain, I slip my hand into his and rest my head against his shoulder as we walk.
When we reach my building, we pause on the sidewalk, and I consider throwing out that stupid idea I had about not having sex with Hudson and inviting him up. Except, Leo is up there right now, and I have no doubt it would turn into a fight between the two of them.
“Thanks for walking me home.” I brush a kiss against Hudson’s cheek, and he squeezes my hand.
“Anytime. Night, Bish.”
Chapter 5
Riot
Bishop left the bar with his friend last night, at least it looked like he did. They kissed on the sidewalk for a few minutes before walking down the street together. I shouldn’t have been watching, but I can’t help that they were making out right in front of the giant window. What I don’t know is what that means for our coffee date, if anything.
After I closed up the bar, I was too wired to sleep, so I sat down at my computer with my tattered notebook in hand and wrote until the sun came up. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always done my best thinking during the quiet, not quite morning hours when the rest of the world is asleep. That time of day feels like some kind of pocket dimension, separate from everything else, when only the most interesting things can happen. It just so happens that sometimes those interesting things are a lot of words being written.
I must’ve dragged myself to bed and passed out sometime just after dawn though because now the sun is bright, and my eyes feel like sandpaper. I sit up in bed and run my hands over my face and through my hair. Reaching for my phone on the nightstand, I check the time to make sure I didn’t accidentally leave Bishop hanging. I breathe a sigh of relief when the clock shows it’s only eleven-thirty. No time for a shower, but at least I didn’t oversleep.
I push my blankets back and swing my legs over the side of the bed. My half-hard cock bounces between my legs as I get up and make my way across the room to my dresser. While I throw on some clothes, I mentally practice what I want to say to Bishop. My stomach fills with familiar butterflies. This is always a nerve-wracking talk to have with people I’m interested in, and I am definitely interested in Bishop. The conversation is going to be a little different this time, but that doesn’t make me any less nervous about it.