Page 47 of Melting the Ice

The gym showers were fancy and had nice separators, unlike the locker room at the football field, so at least he was saved the undeniably arousing sight of hot water running down Brody’s naked body. The body he hadn’t even seen when they’d hooked up before.

But you wanna see it.That voice was insidious and didn’t want to be denied, but still, Dean made an effort and squashed it like a bug, forcing it down and muting it. By the time he met up with Brody, he was clean and in control again.

Ready to just hang out.

Nothing like the “hanging out” they’d done on Friday night.

Sammy’s was a sub and smoothie shop kitty corner from the athletic complex and the gym. Dean didn’t go there as often as a lot of the guys from his team, because he could make smoothies and sandwiches so much more cheaply at home, and money was always a consideration.

Clearly, it wasn’t for Brody, but it was hard for Dean to hold that against him these days. His resentment had melted away, like it had never existed at all.

How could he be resentful when the guy was so downright nice and friendlyandcharming, with no stuffy ego whatsoever?

Dean forgot more than he remembered that Brody’s parents were rich and he’d probably never worried about where his next meal was coming from a single day in his whole life.

Even when he so adeptly maneuvered them so after they ordered, Brody just slipped the cashier a card, paying for both their smoothies and the sandwich they’d agreed to split.

Dean got mad at Wes whenever he tried to do the exact same goddamn thing, so he wasn’t sure why his temper wasn’t spikingnow. Still, he didn’t want it to continue. If he and Brody really were going to be friends, then Dean needed to pull his own weight.

“You didn’t need to do that,” he said as they took their seats in the corner booth.

“I know,” Brody said. “But I wanted to. Call it a friendly gesture.”

It was on a tip of Dean’s tongue to ask if making out on their couch was also a friendly gesture, but Brody was being so pointed about not bringing it up that he decided he’d be dumb as rocks if he didn’t follow suit. After all, he was the one who was sure it wouldn’t be happening again.

“So you’ve decided that for me, then?” Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have a feeling you don’t have many people youcallfriends, even if they’d feel differently. And I’m not patient enough to wait around for you to make up your mind.” Brody shot him a teasing grin as he pulled out a massive textbook from his backpack.

“That’s unfair,” Dean grumbled.

“But true.” Brody’s very white, very even teeth flashed again.

“But true,” Dean finally had to agree.

“I’ll say this, you’re a far better roommate than Ramsey would’ve been.”

Dean chuckled. “No shit.”

“He said I wasn’t . . .um . . .practical. Good at school, bad at life.” Brody made a face.

It was close, but Dean nearly nodded, agreeing with Ramsey. But then he remembered that he was trying to befriendsand even though it was probably a bad idea, Ian’s admonitions were still ringing in his ears, and he didn’t have so many friendships he could just burn the ones he did have.

Dean had been educated the hard way, with a tough life that he was still trying to escape, clawing his way up with just hisfingernails. Brody had never had to do that. But that also wasn’t his fault. “You’re one of the smartest guys I know,” Dean finally said as diplomatically as he could.

Brody sighed. “That’s a nice way of saying that yeah, Ramsey was right. I wasn’t coddled, but I suppose I am lucky in that I didn’t have to worry about a lot of the shit you did. That Ramsey did.”

“Ramsey?”

Brody straight up laughed. “You really don’t know him, do you? He was a foster kid.”

“I think I’ve met him twice, so no, not really,” Dean admitted with a wince.

“Seriously?” Brody’s eyes widened. “You’re serious. Oh my God, he met youtwiceand decided you were a better roommate for me than he was.”

“From what you’ve told me about him, it doesn’t sound like he was wrong, though,” Dean pointed out.

There was a part of him that wanted to ask,and what if we hadn’t moved in together? Would you have conducted your experiment with some other lucky guy? Would you have kissed him the way you kissed me, like you couldn’t get enough?

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