Page 47 of Too Many Beds

“Just checkin’.” He winks, giving the bike some gas. “Hold on tight. Might take you a while to get used to riding something again.”

The other guys laugh, starting their engines. I jerk a little when Ambrose rolls the bike back, and wrap my arms tightly around his waist.

He looks back at me. “That’s not a hand rest.”

My cheeks heat when I realize what he’s talking about. One of my hands must have accidentally landed on his dick when I thought I was going to fall to my death. Sliding it up quickly, my face feels like it’s on fucking fire when the skin of my fingers comes into contact with his six pack. This is going to be one long-ass trip back home.

Chapter Two

Ambrose

We pull over at a restaurant two towns over, checking our surroundings before getting off our bikes and walking inside. Swaying from side to side, Oakley looks like he’s on the verge of passing out. We aren’t kids anymore. There’s so much about us both that has changed—probably me more than him. He’s still as pretty as I remember but with purple hair and more muscles. He felt a little bigger in other areas too. I wasn’t the only one enjoying all the places he kept putting his hands.

I knew we’d have to face each other again eventually, but I didn’t want it to be this way. I also didn’t plan on being one of his dad’s prospects, doing all the shit I swore I’d never do, but life had other plans. My mom never stopped owing creditors, and I couldn’t let my little brother fall down the wrong path like I did due to lack of options. He’s going to college and getting out of that shit town we grew up in if it’s the last thing I help him do.

“Fuck, I’m starving.” Mitch shakes me out of my thoughts, running a hand through his red hair as we follow a waitress to a table in the back of the diner.

“I told you not to skip breakfast,” Vance mutters, lowering himself into one of the chairs.

“Yeah, because I always listen when you talk,” Mitch breathes out, sitting across the way. I end up next to Oakley, scooting my chair so close our knees knock together. Tensing up, he sucks in a breath and I bite back a smile, lifting my menu.

“Ignore these two. They fight like an old married couple,” I say.

“You three always work so closely together?”

Wrapping his thick fingers around his water, Mitch searches each of our eyes. “Only when it’s needed.”

“And is it this time?” Oakley’s hands shake under the table. Why is he so damn scared? I hate seeing him like this around me. There was a time when we were each other’s safe space, and this is just more proof of me ruining that. It all started with mewaking up to him jerking off beside me, and I let our friendship suffer from there. It wasn’t because I was mad or didn’t like what I saw. Hell, it wasn’t even the first time. It was just the first and only time he caught me looking at him.

I didn’t know what I wanted then and was scared to say or do the wrong thing. The next morning, I couldn’t look at him because every time I did I saw his eyes rolling back and his mouth wrapping around a moan. Keeping my gaze elsewhere was the only way to stop myself from getting a stiffy.

“It was an accident,” he’d said to me when he walked me back home. “I was asleep and I guess I was dreaming. It wasn’t because of you or anything.”

That was when my heart fell and I finally realized Iwantedit to be because of me. It was hard to face him after learning how I felt about him and that he didn’t feel the same. I did it anyway, but then I woke up to him masturbating again. The last time, he was sitting on top of me, eyes closed and hips thrusting upward. Only his pants and underwear were off and it was so fucking hard not to touch him.

I let him finish instead of waking him up. After gathering his cum from my stomach, I rushed to the bathroom and instead of washing it off in the sink like a normal person, I licked it off my fingers while fucking my fist. I felt ashamed of myself after that and avoided him until he left for college. I’m not sure which of my actions was worse, and if he’d ever forgive me for either.

“It is because your dad says so,” I finally respond, needing a break from my own head.

“I guess that’s that, then.” Oakley doesn’t meet my eyes.

“You’ll know more when your old man explains it to you,” Mitch says.

Interrupting us, the waitress comes to take our order and we all get food, except Oakley. He used to get like this when he was nervous or scared. He couldn’t eat or sit still. If I took him in myarms, would he feel better like he used to? Or would he push me away because he sees me as nothing but a stranger now?

Neither of us talk again, finishing our food and drinking in silence. Oakley downs two root beers back to back, and when it’s time to leave I stay behind so he can empty his bladder. The fewer stops we make, the better. Once outside and away from others, I call his dad, but before I can hand over the phone to Oakley, he says, “Change of plans.”

My hand pauses on the handle of my bike and I look back at Vance, wondering if he can read my expression. His clenching jaw tells me he does, and I tighten my hold on the phone.

“I’m listening.”

“Good, because you won’t be coming here after all. It’s not safe.”

“Where to then?”

“Somewhere I don’t know about. A hotel, a friend’s house. It doesn’t matter as long as no one here has heard about it. I need y’all to hang low until I tell you the threat has been handled.” His breaths quicken.

“I’m sure we can figure it out between the three of us.”

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