“Are you going to stay in here all day smelling my bed?”
Ethan laughed, the sound muffled by the mattress. “No.” He lifted his head. “You made me breakfast?”
When he rolled over, Niko leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. “No. I made me breakfast, but you can have some. Do you have class this morning?”
Out of habit, Ethan leaned over and patted the bedside table looking for his phone. “What time is it?”
“Time for you to get your ass out of bed o’clock. I’ll drop you off at school if you have class. I have a client at ten so move it.”
When Niko turned around, Ethan propped the side of his head in his palm. The shorts he’d thrown on the floor last night now hung low on Niko’s hips. The two strips of muscle hugging the sides of his straight spine slid down into a tapered V at the rim of the elastic. Ethan slid his hand under the blanket. It didn’t take long, a couple of strokes, and cum oozed onto his thumb and finger. He’d never come so fast in his life.
With Niko’s denial it could be impossible to suggest they be more than friends. The tattooed sex god had made the fact perfectly clear. He wasn’t gay. That’s what Ethan’s steady fuck in high school told him every time they met after swim practice. After a while, the pain of having the person he’d cared for want to hide was either going to drown him or make him leave. First, he drowned in bottles of Captain Morgan and Xanax then thought making his lover jealous by fucking one of the guys on the football team and the president of the art club would be enough shock to open their relationship to the world.
It didn’t.
When his father and mother invited him out to dinner, playing happy family wasn’t on the menu. The deal had been struck, and he had no say in the matter. They would cover college tuition and nothing else. Ethan had already been accepted to two schools and knew the cost to attend so when his parents lit the fuse on the bomb, he coughed and sputtered on the piece of chicken he’d put in his mouth.
Thinking he’d figure out a way to pay for everything else, he packed a few things, taken his graduation money, and settled in on the couch of a friend who’d gotten an apartment on campus. Everything seemed okay until the friend decided to move the girlfriend in and threw Ethan out on his ass.
Ethan shook his head. This was a new day, a chance to start a life on his own terms. Independence meant his parents didn’t have the power of rejection, Charles didn’t have the access to smack him around, and Niko wasn’t going to have the right to make him feel ashamed for being gay.
He tossed the blanket and stood. After peering into the hall and hearing Niko’s telling Casper to sit, he ran to the bathroom. Tossing his underwear in the sink, he smirked when he touched the wet elastic band. Those wouldn’t be any good to wear today. Just because he wasn’t going to let Niko make him feel guilty for liking men didn’t mean he couldn’t imagine those big hands stroking every inch of his body. God, he wanted to grab Niko’s firm ass again. If he’d only understand how amazing it could be to fuck another guy.
Ethan wiped the image out of his mind and grabbed the toothpaste off the vanity. He finger-brushed his teeth while waiting for the shower to heat up. Every square on his day planner was marked with obligations. Morning classes led to study sessions and group project meetings. Taking a full load and working part-time had sounded like a good idea until he realized the classes he scheduled were harder than hell.
He twisted the knobs on the shower and stepped out. Grabbing the towel from the peg on the back of the door, he scratched it over his wet hair. Relief hit him when he realized he had a ride to school. No negotiations, no walking to the train, and no excuses for being late. Thanks to his new friend.
The towel tucked snug against his waist, he walked out into the living room. Smoky, savory aromas spun through his nose, making his stomach growl.
He rubbed his abdomen, trying to calm the emptiness. “Fix—” Niko coughed, lifting his back off the couch. The red shade in his cheeks brightened when he coughed again. “A plate,” he said after catching his breath. “I take it you left a change of clothes in the car?” He didn’t wait for Ethan to respond. “That towel is...I assume you lost your underwear, too?”
Ethan grinned, turning to grab the plate of eggs on the counter. “Yep, left them by the sink with your shorts. They’re wet again.”
Niko coughed again. This time he tilted his lips in a goofy smile. The guy was fighting so damn hard. All of the “gay for pay” ones did.
When he sat down on the couch, he propped his feet next to Niko’s on the coffee table. The towel slid up his thighs, but he didn’t care. If his new friend was so straight, then no harm done. “I have classes all day. I really appreciate the ride. I won’t expect it more than once. After I get set up in the apartment, I’m going to get a second job and start saving for a used car.”