Page 30 of Melting the Ice

“Yeah,” Brody agreed.

There was no question about it. He’d been so eager, only a moment before, but now he was looking down, at Dean’s bare legs and his come-soaked boxer briefs like he hadn’t thought any of this through—and he was doing it now.

“That was . . .” Dean trailed off. He’d never been great with his words, and this situation had eclipsed any capacity he’d ever had for them.

He’d never expected any of this.

Certainly, he’d neveraskedfor it.

He’d just wanted a decent roommate who helped with the bills and was willing to exchange some friendly small talk every once in awhile when their paths actually crossed.

Well, his and Brody’s paths had just tangled up together.

Brody stood. He was looking anywhere but at Dean’s face. In fact, it seemed more like his gaze kept catching on Dean’s softening dick.

Like he couldn’t quite believe he’d touched it.

Or that he’d wanted to.

Dean didn’t know whether to pull his pants up, but finally, he decided, what the hell, and did it. Awkwardly. He was going to need to take a shower. Frankly, Brody was going to need to as well.

But before he could suggest it, Brody started talking—or more like, he started panic-rambling. “Well, that was a thing. That happened. Just now. I don’t know—I didn’t expect that to happen. We just . . .I just . . .” He snapped his mouth shut. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Right, uh, yeah.” Dean didn’t know what to say either. He was sitting there with his jeans up, but unzipped, hanging open, kind of like his stupid mouth. He should say,it’s okay,I didn’t expect that either—but really, I promise it’s okay.

But he didn’t. Probably because he didn’t know if he even believed it would be okay. He didn’t know if he even liked guys—sure, he’d likedthat, but maybe it was just . . .the relaxation? Or the booze? Or the fact that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d come with someone else touching his cock?

Yeah, you weren’t just relaxed. Or drunk. Or horny.

Of course, just because it was the truth, resonating inside him, didn’t mean it was any easier to say out loud.

So he didn’t.

“It was just . . .a thing. Don’t worry about it.”And don’t worry about it, if you wanna do it again.

But Brody didn’t look like he wanted to do it again. He looked like he wanted to panic and then throw up.

“Really?”

“It’s . . .yeah. Don’t worry about it,” Dean repeated. It didn’t sound any more convincing than it had the last time he’d said it.Stupid.

“Don’t . . .worry . . .about . . .it?” Brody’s voice was creeping upward. “We just . . .Ijust . . .”

“Yeah.” They couldn’t hand wave it away, not with come cooling in their underwear, and an undeniably red patch on Brody’s neck, no doubt a result of Dean’s scruff.

“It was just a science experiment, right? You were just testing a hypothesis.”Don’t say what the hypothesis was, don’t say it out loud, ’cause if you do, he’s gonna go to pieces, and you don’t want to be responsible for that. You don’t have the bandwidth for it, either. You know you don’t.

“Right, okay.” Brody was pacing now, up and down the tiny living room. “Yes. Just an experiment.”

Don’t say it was a damn good one either.

“That’s all you gotta worry about.”

“Alright.” Brody flashed him a grateful smile. “I guess I’ll go take a shower.”

“You should. I . . .uh . . .I’ll get in after you.” Dean paused. Wondering if he should say something else.Worryingthat he should say something else. Maybe something like,hey, it’s all good, you’re not really queer, ’cause nobody got naked and nobody touched a bare naked dick.But that was ridiculous, even in Dean’s head. “Uh, don’t steal all the hot water?”

It was the only thing he could think of to say, but clearly it hadn’t been the right thing, because Brody’s face shuttered closed after that.

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