Page 7 of Ballads of Lines Blurred

He called.

“He’s here. Why do you want to talk to him?”

Jesus. I tried to turn and reach for the phone, but Casper was stronger than me and wrapped his arm across my chest to hold me in place.

“Slater’s not able to talk at the moment. Do you have a message you’d like to leave?”

This time, I used my strength the best I could and wiggled free. He only had one arm to hold me down. As soon as I sat up, I grabbed the phone from him. The grin he gave me was comically big.

“Milo?” I asked when I pressed the phone to my ear, a little out of breath from fighting against Casper.

“Hey, sorry to bother you.”

“No, you’re fine. I’m just watching TV.”

“So Casper’s a little protective, huh?”

I glanced at the man in question. “Sure, we’ll go with that.”

Milo’s laugh had a musical quality to it. I pictured him laughing. His bright purple mohawk would fall to one side as his eyes crinkled at the corners. I hadn’t been close enough to him to know what color his eyes were. The rest of him was etched in my mind. Toned and slender, with his shirt hugging his chest as he spun music at the club. That lip ring in the center of his bottom lip pulling my attention to it, making me wonder what it would be like to lick it.

“I didn’t picture you as funny,” he said.

“That makes two of us.”

“God, you’re cute.”

My eyes widened, unsure how to respond. No one had called me that before.

“Slater?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you leave me your number?”

“I…” Did I want to tell him it was a spur-of-the-moment decision? A way of me reaching out, trying to connect with him but unsure how to go about it? Sex sounded like what I needed at the time. The longer I let it roll around my head, I didn’t think I wanted just that. It would leave me empty when I wanted to be whole.

“What are you doing on Sunday?” he asked when I couldn’t form a complete sentence.

“Nothing I can think of.”

“Dexen’s birthday is next week and there’s a party for him at Xaiden’s house. It will be friends and family. Some people from the club. Come as my date.”

“Date?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that thing people do instead of jumping into bed right away.”

“But don’t you…”

“Want to sleep with you? Fuck yeah, I do, but I also want to try something new. New for me, at least.”

My stomach churned. And not in a good way. “I don’t want to be a test run.”

“No, shit, that’s not what I meant. I’ve thought about this, about you. If I’m putting my cards on the table, I’m not the dating kind of guy, which you’ve been obviously told. Seeing my brother and friends together and happy, I don’t know. There’s gotta be something to it, right? The more I thought about you, I decided I’d ask you out instead of trying to get into your pants.”

“Is that not an option then?”

“Let me show you I’m good for something else first.”

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