Page 65 of Knock Knock

“So pathetically romantic.”

“Thanks. What happened here?” I nodded at the counter where a toaster sat in pieces.

“Toast is hard.”

“Neegs!” Xavi shouted, honking the horn of my truck. “Hop in! We’re going to sign the lease. Madd said yes!” He even yee-haw’d.

Devon laughed. “I say yes, too. Go, asshole. Be all happy and shit.”

“See ya! And pick up that cigarette butt!” I took my nozzle and booked it down the front steps, doing a much betterDukes of Hazzardslide than I did that night at Bethany’s. Things were lookin’ up!

* * *

I pickedanother thistle thorn from my butt cheek and rinsed it down the sink. Jesus, they were still there even after a few days. Xavi used table salt and scrubbed his whole body like it was a spa treatment, and apparently, it’d worked.

I wiped the foggy mirror and stood stark naked before it. Now that we had signed the lease for Lot 62, I noticed all the things I had failed to see about this shop apartment before. When we first moved in here, it’d been a dream. We made it. Got out of the park. Owned a business and got to live on the ocean with a dock right outside our back door. Not many people got that… but Lot 62 had that. Maybe not right on the ocean, but with a path to it that only took a few minutes to walk.

The mirror was cracked, the sink was rust-stained, the ceiling tiles were basically falling in, and the corners of the bathroom were black and mouldy. A red ring of some form of mould lined the toilet bowl and the tub, and…

I looked at myself again. Maybe I didn’t fit in a place like this anymore. I checked myself out, matched my reflection to my surroundings, and had a weird thought. Like maybe I deserved better than this place. Maybe I was worth more than a storage room with a mildew problem.

That was a first for me. New hair, new attitude, maybe. I liked the way it felt.

I thought I might take pride in a new trailer, wash the red rings away more often and keep the corners clean. Here, I just gave it a quick clean and didn't care enough about it because… because apparently I’d been unhappy here for longer than I thought.

“Nate!” Xavi shouted from the couch. “Would you say we crossed off roleplay or not? I can act better if you wanna try again, but you’ve always been the better actor.”

His alpha vampire/werewolf roleplay was both cheesy and hot together, and I smiled at the memory of it. How did he manage to make sex sexy and cringey? True talent, and totally worth the thorns in my ass.

“Check it off!” I yelled, slipping into a plain pair of white boxers. All my purple briefs were dirty, and you could only wear that shit so many times in a row before it became questionable. Three days tops if I didn’t sweat a lot. Only one day with sweat. Did a lot of laundry those weeks. Fresh shower, fresh hair, fresh boxers. I felt good. “What’s next?”

“Cock warming!” he shouted.

The fuck was cock warming?I didn’t want to be the idiot who asked, so I’d let him lead that particular kink. I brushed my teeth, ran my hand over my hair, and threw some socks on.

Xavi was shirtless and barefoot, like usual. His broken toe wasn’t even red anymore, and he could mostly bend it now. I’d banned him from flippies for another few years. The guy had Bambi legs in the damn things, so it was safer for everyone if he kept duct-taping the slides.

His dark hair was wet from a swim, and his green eyes were downcast, reading the list like the answer to cock warming would jump out at him. I grinned, knowing he didn’t know what it was either. Was there time to call Devon and ask?

“Get over here,” Xavi said.

Shit. No time.

“Are you still ranking rimming in your top spot?” he asked, a pen held over the page.

I sank down next to him, the springs of the couch digging into my back. “Yeah. Definitely. It’s number one for sure, and biting is a close second.” I rubbed the tender spot on my neck fondly.

Xavi smiled at that, eyes shifting to my neck. “Mm. You look hot with my teeth bruised into your neck.” He snapped his teeth at me, scribbling a star next to rimming and biting. “Okay, hand-holding, touching, and cuddling in general are totally my thing. I’m grouping them all into one, and they sit at the top. I also really enjoy the rimming and wanna try it on you next.”

Oh.Full body hot flash.Yes. I cleared my throat. “Anything on there you don’t wanna try?” I nodded at the list.

He scanned it. “This. I don’t overly wanna be restrained. I like touching too much. I’d tie you up, but I need my hands free. Thoughts?”

Fucking loved it when he touched me,so no thanks. “I like the feel of your fingers in mine too much to be tied up. Let’s skip that one.”

He crossed it out and circled cock warming, tapping the pen to it. “Okay, this one.”

I grinned, waiting for him to explain. When he didn’t, I gave him a nudge. “How do we do it?”

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