Page 25 of Infamous Heart

10

“Spill.”

“I can see it in your eyes.”

“I can smell the sex on you.”

We hadn’t been sitting at the table for sixty seconds when Bernard grew silent. Neither Alejandro nor Xander noticed at first, until the burly bear across the table narrowed his eyes and thrust a finger in my direction. The gig was up, and there was no way this breakfast ended without me confessing.

“Xander, thanks for noticing my eyes. And Alejandro,” I took a bite of my bagel, “when don’t you smell sex?”

“Deflecting!” Bernard barked. “If I have to reach across this table…”

“Whoa,” I leaned back, fearful he might make good on his promise. “I might have had a date last night.”

Alejandro leaned in, pretending to sniff the air. “He reeks of sin.”

I wanted to hold a straight face and ignore their prodding. But when I thought back to the previous night, I’m certain my face betrayed me. Sebastian had tossed me over his shoulder and only set me down once we reached the shower. Two big men in a small space had been comical, and listening to his hissing every time he bumped against the cold tile had been endearing. As we toweled off, I dreaded the night ending, and when he slipped on his boxer briefs, I willed my way past the fear.

My face turned hot as I recalled uttering one simple word. Stay. I thought my heart would jump out of my chest as I waited for his response.

My hands turned sweaty as Bernard reached for the knife.

“Fine! His name is Sebastian, and yes, he spent the night.”

Alejandro slapped Bernard’s hand away from the knife, taking it himself. In an almost threatening manner, he waived it about.

“If you don’t give us details, we fight!”

I recounted the night. I tried to skimp on details once I got out of the shower. All three of them peppered me with questions until I relented. I divulged every wet detail of the encounter. More than once, Xander sprung to his feet, apologizing as he adjusted himself. Even Alejandro reached for his phone, texting a booty call, saying he’d need to let off some steam after this.

I paused after I confessed to being scared, asking him to stay. If it were anybody else, I would have skipped the detail, but I wanted that internal nagging sensation out on the table.

“What if I really like this guy?”

A cup of coffee came out of nowhere, thrust onto the table by Chad. I hadn’t seen the coffee shop’s owner as I recounted my escapades.

“Dear God,” he dropped into a crouch, eyes fixated on me. “What did he say?”

“He hadn’t planned on leaving.” The idea that the sexy man had made the decision to spend the night before I asked it made my heart ache. “Apparently he just sleeps in his underwear.”

Xander and Alejandro started on a debate about men sleeping with clothes on. Bernard gave me a smile before confessing he wore briefs to bed. Part of me expected them to gush over the realization, perhaps even give me a pep talk. To an onlooker, it might have seemed they were being shallow, and maybe they were, but they didn’t feel I needed motivation. It was subtle, but I sat up straighter at the thought.

Chad rested on a hand on my knee. “It couldn’t have happened to a sweeter guy. I haven’t seen you with that goofy smile in a long time.” He took my half-finished coffee, leaving behind the fresh cup.

I took a sip as Xander tried to explain to Bernard why keeping his testicles bound while sleeping was a bad idea. When Alejandro commented on wanting easy access to any cock sleeping in his bed, I nearly spit out my coffee.

All eyes turned, threatening to bore holes through my head. Bernard cleared his throat. “Tricky, tricky, Griffin. You almost got away with it.” He leaned back in his chair, arms folding across his chest. “There’s more, isn’t there? Spill it.”

There was no point in hiding the smile, a grin stretching from ear-to-ear. For once, it wasn’t Alejandro discussing a fling from the club, or Xander lamenting how he never had time to date. All attention was on me as I started with, “It was barely light out when Sebastian started kissing the back of my neck…”

* * *

“Where are we?”

“We’re on the outskirts of the Ward. It’s the one part of the city the gays haven’t gotten their hands on. The only life you’ll find out here is when there’s a rave.”

We had taken the subway to the end of the line and continued walking. Sebastian had managed to finish his work by noon, but not before texting me a photo of him in the bathroom with his pants around his ankles, pointing at the white stain I created this morning. He feigned complaining that next time he stayed the night he’d bring a change of underwear, so he didn’t smell of sex while at work.

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