Page 7 of Accidentally Joining His Cult

Looking at the crowd surrounding Cody, and even glancing around at the faces throughout the room staring at him, it’s evident that most of the people are here to be around him. Not going to lie, that gives me a little ego boost.

You can all pay to spend time with him, but I’m going on a date with him later.

Granted, I paid to be here, too, but that’s beside the point. While everyone else wants him, he wants me.

At least for tonight.

I wonder where Cody’s from. I think he might have mentioned he flew into Chicago just for this. Maybe he's here often, and we could set up a regular hookup situation.

I know that I’m getting ahead of myself, but there’s something about him that draws me in. Makes me want to wrap my arms around him and protect him from anything bad ever happening.

Even though he’s taller than me and a little more built, he’s just adorable, and I want to take care of him.Which is a fucking weird thing for me to think about a practical stranger.

There’s no other way to describe how engaged he is with every single person that he talks to, though. His big eyes and the way he seems to be bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet like he’s so excited that he can’t stand still.Adorable.

The crowd around him disperses as he announces that it’s time to begin our program. I really do try to pay attention to whatever it is that he’s saying, but when our eyes meet and his grin grows wider in response to seeing me, I start thinking about that mouth. Will he still be smiling later, looking up at me from his knees with his plump lips wrapped around my cock?

Fuck, I’m doing it again.

Maybe the screen is a safer focal point. There’s a super cheesy picture of a diverse group of people with their arms thrown over each other’s shoulders, all laughing like they’re just so damn happy all the time. No one isactuallythat happy.

Except for maybe Cody. There's something about him that seems so genuine.

Most people who are all bubbly and have constant smiles make me feel like they’re hiding something or trying to get something out of me by acting how they think I want them to.

Not Cody. For whatever reason, I actually think that his happiness is sincere.

After staring at the picture for a few more moments, I notice that everyone in it is wearing a matching necklace. The delicate chains are all different colors of metal, resting on their collarbone with a pendant dangling from it. The pendants look like mountain peaks—some with more peaks than others, some in different colors. A glance in Cody’s direction confirms that it’s the same one he’s wearing.

It’s probably a company thing, like how our HR is always trying to show off on our social media accounts how much fun it is to work for us. Their thing must be matching “friendship necklaces” to represent how close everyone is. Or maybe they sell them at these classes. A quick glance around the room doesn’t show any merch tables, though, so I guess not.

They really should sell products with how many people Cody got to take the class. I bet he’d be great in sales.

To my extreme disappointment, there’s no acrobatics or chair straddling to start off today’s activities. He has us start by doing this strange handshake, if you can call it that, that’s more like awkward hand holding with our neighbors. We have to keep our fingers spread apart so that we can interlock them with the other person’s, but keep them extended straight so that they form a mountain or something. It’s weird as fuck, but it has everyone laughing so I guess it’s not the worst icebreaker.

I startle a little when Cody’s upbeat voice is replaced by a woman, and I realize that we’ve moved on to watching videos. The person, I think they called themself a “coach”, is talking about identifying your goals and playing to your strengths or some crap like that.

Looking at Cody is much more enjoyable. He probably watches these clips all the time, but he didn’t pull out his phone or leave for a break. He looks utterly fascinated by whatever this lady is saying.

You’d think his team is in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals with how closely he seems to be following the video, nodding along, a contented grin on his gorgeous face.

Adorable.

The videos seem to go on forever before Cody eventually tells us that it’s time to break off into small groups for our working lunch.

They pulled this bullshit the other day at the office too. No one wants to work through lunch, I don’t care what magic food you’ve catered,let me have a real break, dammit.

That also means there’s no opportunity for me to talk to Cody before this thing is over. Given how much I’ve already built up this connection in my head, I’ll be devastated if he has to cancel.

We’re supposed to be talking about our goals with the ten or so people around us in a circle. I’m half listening, mostly watching Cody walk around and join the groups that seem to be struggling. Each interaction he has looks so genuine, like he really wants to hear whatever they have to say.

In between groups, he catches me staring at him, chuckling when he sees that my attention is on him and not my group. He takes a few steps toward me before another group calls out for him, and he has to stop to help them.

He offers me an apologetic smile before giving them his full attention, and I can’t even be disappointed that I’m not the one talking to him when he’s just so damn nice.

When it’s my turn to share with the group, I struggle to come up with an area in my life that isn’t already perfect, so I blurt out that I’m single and let people assume what they want to about that.

I really have no issue with not being tied down to anyone. A few of my siblings are in serious relationships, and sure, it seems nice sometimes. I even used to think that was what I wanted, but I’m not convinced it’s the path for me.

---