Page 70 of Off Limits

“That was the first time I felt anything like that with another person, so I decided to go with it and see if I’d like more.”

“Did you?” He’d seemed into it at the time, but that could be my memories playing tricks on me or him going along with it even if he didn’t like it. “Enjoy it?”

He smirked, his eyes filling with heat. “Yeah, I did.”

I cleared my throat, relief washing over me. “I did too.”

“You said I was the first guy you fucked,” he said, the heat fading from his eyes until they looked almost seeking. “Did you mess around with a lot of guys before me?”

“No,” I said truthfully. “You were the first one.”

His jaw dropped the same way mine had, but he recovered quickly. “Really?”

I nodded. “I figured I was bi, but I wasn’t sure until that night.”

“I know you hooked up with girls before that. But no guys? How is that possible?” he rushed on. “It makes sense that I hadn’t because I’m me, but you’re you.” He shook his head. “I just mean you were Mr. Popular with a million friends. Everyone liked you. You could have had your pick of guys if you wanted.”

I huffed out a laugh. “I might have been popular and had a lot of friends, but it wasn’t like I could tell any of them I thoughtI was bi. And there was no way in hell I could let the guys on the team find out I might like dick. They would have crucified me.”

His expression went sympathetic.

“I spent years terrified someone would figure it out and the guys I’d grown up with, played football with for years, would turn on me. A scholarship was my only chance at getting through college debt free. I couldn’t risk that, no matter how confused I was.”

“And I’m guessing you had to hide it at college too?”

“Yup.”

“Are you going to come out now that you’re home?”

I nodded. “I’m not planning a big announcement or anything, but yeah. I’ll tell a few of my friends and let them spread it around. I’ll tell our parents when they piss me off and I want to shut them up.”

Asa chuckled. “That’s what I did.”

“Really?”

I’d been away at school when he came out and hadn’t heard much about what happened.

“My mom was laying into me about how no girl would ever want me if I didn’t take the shrapnel out of my face and stop dressing like a funeral director, her words.” He shot me a sardonic smile. “Did I mention this was at Thanksgiving?”

I gaped at him. “Jesus, you have balls of steel. Was it in front of the whole family?”

“Most of them.” His smile fell. “I told her I wasn’t interested in dating and wasn’t going to change myself because of some hypothetical future partner I didn’t even want. She wouldn’t stop and just kept needling me about my clothes, my attitude, my tats. Everything. I would have let it go if she knew when to quit, but she started talking shit about my apprenticeship. That’s when I snapped and told her I didn’t give a fuck what girls likeor look for in a boyfriend because I would also be looking for a boyfriend if I suddenly decided I wanted to date someone.”

I barked out a laugh. “Bet that shut her up.”

“It did, and she hasn’t pestered me about not dating since.” He grinned. “I call that a win.”

“Definitely a win. Maybe I’ll wait until Christmas so I can do something just as memorable,” I mused.

He laughed. “Always have to one-up me, huh?”

“You know it.” I paused. “Were they okay with it?”

“Me being gay?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, but not because they were cool with having a gay son.”

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