Page 34 of Felix

I think he huffs a laugh, but it’s quiet underneath the noise of the showers. “Most people aren’t like you, Christian. And I don’t mean because you’re this ridiculously gorgeous guy who wears skirts and is, like, this perfectly sexy combo of masculine and feminine. I just…”

This time, it’s me huffing a laugh as Emil pauses.

“I just mean you pay attention,” he says. “Most people don’t. Not really.”

There’s a pinch in my gut at the implication that the people in Emil’s life haven’t paid attention to him. It’s a sad, sobering thought, and I wish I could walk into his stall and wrap him up in my arms. But I don’t know if that would be welcome. I don’t know if he’d want that from me.

“Well, I think you’re captivating, Emil,” I say, making sure he can hear me over the running water. “And I’m really glad I saw you jerking off all those months ago. I’m glad it led to this.”

After a moment, he asks, “What do you mean?”

“I mean coming here and already knowing you? It’s nice. More than nice. I’m glad I get to work with…my friend? Are we? Friends?”

“Yeah, Christian,” he says, sounding as if he’s smiling. “We’re friends. Weird ones, maybe, but hell… I sleep with all my friends, so that’s par for the course.”

I bark a laugh. “Friends who play together stay together?”

“Jesus,” he groans. “You sound just like Alex.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I say, my lips quirking.

“You might not want to,” he practically mumbles. “That guy is something else. And he makes you get pets you never even knew you wanted.”

“He…what?” I ask in surprise. “Are you telling me you have a pet? Specs! I’ve never seen it.”

Emil groans again, his water shutting off. “Itsacrab.”

“What?”

“It’s a crab,” he moans. “I have a crab.”

He sounds so utterly perturbed by that fact that I laugh. Loudly.

“Let’s not talk about it,” he says, his voice coming from further away. “We can just…never speak of this again.”

“All right,” I reply. “We don’t have to talk about your crabs.”

“One. One crab,” he calls. “Jesus. My life.”

I laugh, and Emil continues to mumble, but he doesn’t sound all that put-out. Quickly, I finish rinsing myself and shut off the water, the bubbling in my stomach urging me to catch up with the man outside my stall. Maybe it’s not the gut feeling Emil was talking about, but it’s a good feeling nonetheless.

I think I should follow it.

Chapter 9

Emil

“Um, hello?” I say, blinking at Christian, who’s standing at my door.

My door. Here. At my apartment.

“Hi!” he says brightly. “Can I come in?”

I step aside, and Christian sweeps into the room, looking around quickly before holding out a small paper bag.

“Here. I stopped by a pet store, and they said if you had a crab, it was probably a hermit crab. And that…he? she?…would like dried shrimp.”

Shocked, I peek inside the bag. “You got dried shrimp for my crab?”

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