Page 29 of Unicorn Unashamed

“No?” Raymond asked, looking nervous.

Josh shrugged before he knelt to lace up his sneakers. “Going virile takes a lot out of you. No one ever talks about the day or two after, you know?”

“Oh,” Raymond said, still sounding off.

Josh looked up at him, taking in how Raymond was shifting from foot to foot, head ducked, hands clasped behind his back. Doing the I’m not intimidating, I’m not a threat thing again. But why?

“Are you okay?” Josh asked.

“Me? I—yes, of course.”

“Alright,” Josh said slowly. “But you’re acting kind of weird.”

“Sorry,” Raymond said, ducking his head again.

Josh sighed and stood up. Here it comes. “Is this because of Wednesday?”

“I’m sorry,” Raymond blurted. Fast, like he was trying to get it out as quickly as possible.

“Sorry? What for?”

“For… for…”

Josh’s heart sank. Ah, there it was. He tried to smile around the fact that he was suddenly much, much too cold. “It’s okay. You did me a favor, so… no harm, no foul, right?”

“I still shouldn’t have done it,” Raymond said, eyes fixed on the floor. “I should’ve been better.”

“Better?” Josh asked, baffled. “Better at what? It was great. I had a really good time. I thought I’d uh, made that pretty clear.”

“You don’t regret it?” Raymond asked hesitantly.

Taken aback, Josh shook his head. Then Raymond’s words fully sunk in. “Do you?”

When Raymond didn’t say anything more, Josh went even colder. “Raymond… fuck, god, did you want to say no?”

“What?” Raymond asked, head jerking up.

But once the thought hit him, Josh couldn’t stop, feeling sick. “You… you could have told me no.”

“I… what?” Raymond’s eyes were very wide, which didn’t help Josh’s ensuing revulsion and panic.

He stumbled back a step. God, is this why Raymond had left? Not because he hadn’t wanted to stick around after sex but because he’d been ashamed? Of what… of what Josh had convinced him to do?

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, this has never happened before,” Josh babbled. “Not that it makes it better, but I’ve never coerced someone with my scent before—I swear I didn’t know what I was doing, fuck—”

Raymond stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

Josh paused, thrown. “I… I scent induced you. Isn’t that why you’re upset? You… you were talking about control the whole time and I just went ahead and—god, not that it’s your fault , of course it’s not your fault, I should have paid better attention. I should’ve just stayed in my bedroom and let you have the rest of my apartment until you felt calmer—”

“Josh, I—you are literally the hottest person I’ve ever met.”

Josh’s mouth opened and closed twice before he managed, “excuse me?”

Raymond averted his eyes, but he kept talking, almost as though he couldn’t help it. “I’ve wanted to ask you out for ages. You’re fucking beautiful and amazing and we’ve got the same sense of humor, but you never seemed interested, and that’s—it was fine. I didn’t want to push, I never wanted to push. But when you offered I just—I leapt at the chance to be with you for a reason. So please don’t feel bad. Please.”

Josh took that all in. “Raymond?”

Raymond looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. “Yeah?”

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