“Where are my clothes? Better yet, why am I naked?”
Todd continued rubbing at the reddened skin of his throat and licked at his lip again. When he spoke, his voice was still rough. “All blood.”
Shaney narrowed his eyes. “Who undressed me?” A noticeable shudder ran through Shaney at the thought of Maximus and his creepy tongue anywhere near his naked body.
“I did,” Todd said, his voice gaining strength.
“Thank fuck for that.” A bit of the tension leeched out of his muscles.
“Says you,” Todd mumbled. “Shit, Shaney. Did you need to hit me so hard? You’ve never fought back before. Knocked me in the mouth yesterday, too, when I wrestled you to the ground.” He licked at the split lip again. Todd leaned back, his expression wary. “Don’t hit me, but you’ve been kind of prickly lately.”
Seriously? “What do you expect, Todd? My life has gone to shit this last week. More so than usual, which is saying a fucking lot!”
Despite having a valid reason, Shaney wasn’t blind to his temperamental attitude. He plopped down next to Todd. Todd gave him a sideways glance, probably assessing the potential for further violence, but Shaney’s attention was on the tingling in his right hand.
“You look like shit, by the way,” Shaney said, massaging where the prickling feeling had moved up into his arm. Must have hit Todd too hard.
Todd ran his shaky hand through his hair. “Can’t remember the last time I slept or ate.” The reason because I was worried about you hung silently in the air.
“Apparently, I got plenty of sleep. Both times. Thanks, by the way. You fucked up an awesome wet dream—minus the wet part.”
“Sorry, man, but my wet dreams don’t include watching you whack off.” Todd faked a shudder. “So it was a good one, huh? Didn’t happen to feature any hot-ass carpenters, did it?”
Shaney chuckled. “Any dream that gets me hard is a good one. Long dry spell.”
Todd nodded enthusiastically. “I know the feeling. Any longer and balls start to fall off. So spill. Any handymen getting handy?” He waggled his eyebrows.
Shaney ducked his head, heat spreading across his cheeks. “Yeah, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Hunky had a starring role. That reminds me, what did you mean last night about your gaydar being off?”
“Been rethinking my gaydar’s validity after seeing the way Hudson looks at you. Stares at you. He was scared to death at that cabin.”
Shaney shook his head. “That’s because of his grandfather. He was electrocuted. Died when Hudson was younger.”
“No, shit. Wow. Now wonder he thought you were electrocuted.”
“I really wasn’t, was I?” Would have been easier to accept that than what was really happening.
“No, Shaney, you weren’t. But you already knew that. And as for my gaydar, well, it wasn’t just what I saw at the cabin that has me questioning its reliability. Yesterday at Hudson’s house, when he touched you…” Todd stared off with longing, maybe even yearning, coloring his eyes. “There was a war on that man’s face. He was fighting some nasty demons because he wanted you. Wanted you like a starving dog eyeing a steak. Not sure what’s holding him back. He may just be that far in the closet. I mean people’s expectations of someone like Hudson don’t fit in with him wanting to shove his dick in another guy’s ass.”
“You saw him touching me at the barn?” Shaney barely managed to whisper the words.
Todd nodded. “And if I hadn’t seen his expression with my own eyes...That wall he’s built comes down for you. For a moment, he looked at you like you were everything.”
Shaney had felt like the center of Hudson’s universe, but he couldn’t be. He wasn’t anyone’s everything. Pain in the arse, yes. Pain in the neck, definitely. Bane of existence, absolutely. But everything? Everything was a polished, sparkly ball of perfect, while Shaney was a defective, tarnished ball of flawed human being.
Shaney and Todd both sighed at the same time. The tension hung thickly around them like a morning haze. Shaney’s swallow stuck in the tightness of his throat. He was ready to change the subject. “Where are we? We aren’t at that cabin, are we?”
Todd shook his head. “No. At a cabin on the southeast end of Gull Pond. Really isolated. Caleb rented it. Said he needed someplace quiet to work”—Todd waved his hand at Shaney’s chest—“on this.”
Some place no one can hear me scream like a pansy ass. But that wasn’t anything he wanted to think about right now. He had another question on his mind.