Page 67 of Unforgivable

“Umm, this is for my Applied Human Anatomy course. It's not particularly hard, there's just so much included on the final. There's no room left in my brain to store all this shit. I'm pretty damn sure I'mreplacing cherished childhood memories with the functions of body systems and anatomical terminology,” I griped, rubbing my temples in an effort to ease the headache that was forming.

“Oof, I had an anatomy class for my major last year. Those tests were about as fun as a root canal, so you have my sympathies” Rhys lamented with me.

“The nerd didn't enjoy something school-related? Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?” I smirked at him.

“Well, we all have our dark days, even someone as perfect as me,” Rhys mocked, sticking his tongue out at me, but all he managed to do was stir things up down south.It's official. I'm going to die from a severe case of blue balls. This build-up of cum is gonna give me an embolism. Is that a thing? I wonder if they cover that in my anatomy textbook…

Rhys pulled out his laptop and a notebook before rooting around in his backpack with an irritated look. “Ugh, I forgot my dang textbook at home. Be right back. I'm gonna try to find a copy here.”

I gave him a wordless nod, unable to help myself from watching his toned, round ass as he walked to the computer system to look up his book. My dick plumped a little more as I fantasized about biting into it and licking it better while he writhed under me. I had found people of all genders attractive, and didn't discriminate if someone returned my desire. Yet for all my lascivious activities, I hadn't had penetrative sex with a man. It wasn't that I was opposed to it, it had just never been the ultimate goal when I was with anyone who identified as male. A few blowjobs and frotting were as far as I had ever gone, but beyond that it had just never quite felt right.

In my bones, I knew it would be right with Rhys. Not that it would ever happen. That was a hard pill to swallow.

Caught in my bittersweet dirty thoughts, I heard Rhys' lyrical laugh drift across the nearly empty space. Since it was almost 10pm, there were only two or three other students remaining besides us. My brow furrowed as I looked around for Rhys, finally leaning over and spotting him down one aisle.

And he wasn't alone.

He was being chatted up by a tall, brunette dude in a burnt orange hoodie and black sweats, and he was lucky that Rhys didn't seem to have any trouble avoiding looking athisdick in those pants. If Rhys' eyes had drifted down just then, I was liable to be in handcuffs with a hefty bail in under five minutes. The guy was objectively attractive, ifyou went for that classic square-jawed, perfect smile thing. My stomach churned in fear that that was exactly the type that Rhys went for, but I actually didn't have a frame of reference for his type. I had never seen him with another guy and I didn't know what that Connor douche looked like.

With the way Rhys was smiling nervously at this dick with that seductive pink stain on his face, it was obvious that he was attracted to him at the very least. Jealousy spiked my veins like a hot shot, burning me up inside. It made me vibrate with rage when that asshat had the nerve to lean in close and whisper something in Rhys' ear, his eyes widening at whatever he heard. I could practically feel the tremble that used to go through Rhys whenever I had been that close, that almost imperceptible increase in his breathing that tipped me off to his growing need.

I felt like puking thinking that he could be experiencing that with someone else. Would he shudder at the touch of this guy's hands? Would he moan in that sexy way he did when he was close to the edge? Would he beg him for more and get off on the dirty words that fell from someone else's lips?

Goddamn it, why the hell am I not over there stopping this shit? Oh right. We're just “friends”. I hate that word. I want to eradicate that word from the English language and replace it with “mine”. Rhys isn't my friend, he's mine.

Except he wasn't. A fact that was made more evident when I watched that flirty dickwad write something down on a piece of paper and stick it in Rhys' hand, wrapping his fingers around it. Each second his hands were on Rhys was like a red hot poker to my sides. I knew I shouldn't be spying on him like this, not only for his privacy, but for my own sanity. Reluctantly, I leaned back in my seat so they were just out of sight.

Only a minute later, Rhys hurried back to our table and sat down, but he wasn't making eye contact with me. It was probably for the best. I wasn't confident in my ability to hide my feelings from him at that moment, so I focused on my studying instead. Well, I gave it a good faith effort at least. Finally, the silence got to me and I couldn't hold back.

“Run into a friend of yours?” I asked, trying for nonchalance and failing miserably. Rhys' head perked up at me like a startled meerkat.

“What?” he asked confusedly. “Oh, you mean Adam over there?”

Adam. What a stupid fucking name.

“Yeah, I guess. What did he want?” I couldn't have been smooth at that moment if a Zamboni had run me over.

Rhys gave me a puzzled, uncomfortable look at my line of questioning. “We have a class together and we were just talking about the final for it. He asked if I wanted to study with him since the test is in a couple days.”

Suspicion needled at me because I knew the moves thatAdamwas putting on him. “Does he get that touchy with all his study partners or is this a massage exam you're both studying for?”

“He wasn't touching me!” Rhys countered, purple eyes big and anxious. “…much. He…he told me that he'd been noticing me for a while and that after studying, we could maybe go out for dinner…”

“And?” I pressed, needing to hear how that turned out even as my blood boiled.

“Annnnd he gave me his number and said to text him,” Rhys mumbled almost under his breath like he was hoping I wouldn't hear him. Unfortunately, I heard every fucking word. My gut reaction was to grab Rhys, pull him to the nearest bathroom, and stake my claim on him. Wrap my hands around that perfect cock of his and bring him to orgasm again and again until he forgot every man's name but mine. I wanted to bite and mark him all over so no one would dare question who he belonged to.

But that wasn't fair to him. Rhys deserved better than me, that had been proven more times than I cared to admit. He'd shut down any possibility of us being more, and I didn't expect him to be single the rest of his life. But fuck, if it didn't rip a hole in my chest to think about. In the end, I made the only decision that was right for him.

“You should go for it,” I told him tightly. I didn't stop looking at my class notes even though I wasn't taking in any of the information. I just couldn't meet his gaze, not when I was willingly pushing him towards another guy.

“Y-you really think I should?” Rhys asked in a tiny voice. My heart was screaming bloody murder, telling me that this was a mistake I'd regret. Yet I wrestled it down and reminded myself that Rhys was more important than my hopeless crush. I was still working every day just to be worthy of his friendship. I definitely wasn't worthy of his heart.

“I do. I mean, you might as well give him a chance and see where it goes, right?” I told him, pasting on an encouraging smile. He searched my face for a few seconds, possibly to see if I truly meant it. I did and Ididn't. I didn't want him with anyone else in the world, but I did want him to be happy.

“Maybe. We'll see,” Rhys murmured noncommittally. “So are you excited for Christmas break?”

The change in topic threw me for a second, but I was relieved we'd moved on. “Eh, it'll be nice to have a break from classes before team practices start up in January.”

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