Page 57 of Felix

After Alex throws himself bodily at each of the newcomers, he leads them our way. “And this is Christian,” he’s saying. “He’s new.”

“Whoa,” Brad breathes, his eyes landing on my stomach. He smacks Jason’s arm without even glancing over. “Look, Birdie. Look. You could get a necklace for your stomach! I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

Jason looks as if he wants to sink into the floorboards. “It’s really nice jewelry,” he says to me, seeming to smile apologetically. “And sorry about Brad.”

Brad says something else to Jason that I miss. When he reaches for Jason’s shirt, Jason smacks his hand away without missing a beat.

“Hi, I’m Cas,” the last man cuts in. “Nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” I answer, giving Emil’s old coworker a smile.

“Hey, Emil,” Cas adds, coming over to his side of the couch. “How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Emil says. “How’s the physio program going?”

“Oh, it’s great,” Cas replies, but I don’t hear the rest because Brad plops onto the cushion next to me.

“Is that, like, permanently attached?” he asks. “Or can you take it off to shower and stuff?”

“It comes off,” I tell him, lips twitching. “It’s held in place by a navel piercing.”

“Ah. Cool, cool,” Brad says. “I thought about getting a piercing once ’cause this girl I was dating said it’d feel good, but I dunno, man. I think sticking a needle through my dick would be painful as hell.”

Jason sighs, shaking his head.

“If you want to know about dick piercings,” Alex interjects, “ask my Ginger Bear. He has five.”

Brad chokes on absolutely nothing. “Holy shit. Finn!” he shouts, jumping from the couch and heading toward the tattooed redhead. “Can I see your dick?”

“Oh my God,” Jason mutters.

Emil’s hand on my leg pulls my attention. Cas is gone now, and Jason is following after Brad, saying something about oblivious straight best friends. Emil’s eyes look a little hazy. I know he hasn’t had enough alcohol to be drunk, but it’d be easy to assume as much with the way he’s looking at me.

“Specs?” I ask, pulse jumping as his hand slides further up my leg.

“I think we should dance again,” he says.

“Is that a good idea?” I check, considering he specifically asked me not to let him get overtly horny in public, and right now…right now he looks very horny.

Emil nods. “I don’t like to dance with people, Christian. But I like it with you.”

I pull in a breath. How am I possibly supposed to say no to something like that? Specs has me wrapped around his finger, and he doesn’t even know it. He could ask just about anything of me, and I’d say yes, just to see that trust in his eyes. Just to have his attention on me, the same way he so ardently hoards mine.

There’s so much I want when it comes to this man. Things I’ve never wanted with another person before. But most of all—above all else—I want him.

It takes me a moment to understand what that icy feeling coursing through my body is. Fear. It’s fear.

Emil’s fingers tangle with mine. “Christian,” he says softly, my name quiet beneath the noise of the club. “Please dance with me.”

“Yeah, Specs,” I answer, the warmth of his hand chasing out the cold. “Let’s dance.”

Chapter 15

Emil

Christian looks drop-dead gorgeous tonight.

Frankly, he looks gorgeous all the time. But tonight, he’s like a jewel. A ruby, maybe, with all the red. And it’s not just me. Guy after guy has tried approaching Christian to no avail. Each time, he’s brushed off their advances and sometimes, quite literally, their hands. Just a minute ago, when one guy touched his ass, Christian spun around, said something I couldn’t make out clearly but that sounded a lot like hands off unless you want to lose them, and then he turned back around and looped his arms over my shoulders with a smile.

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