Fuck! It was taking every ounce of willpower Arsen had not to go crawl into bed with Ever and apologize. Or kiss him again. Or both. Or maybe more. Arsen definitely wanted more. He wanted Ever naked beneath him, staring up at him with that same shocky, innocent look. Did that make Arsen a bad person? Did wanting to bury himself inside Ever make him a bad person?
When their lips met, Ever had made just the faintest—barely audible—whimper and it had made Arsen so hard so fast he’d grown dizzy. He was still very much hard. And there was clearly very little blood flow left for his brain.
Arsen was sure nobody had heard the sound but him, which was good because Arsen didn’t want anybody getting that part of Ever but him. Just him.
No.
What?
This wasn’t right. It wasn’t normal or rational. A week ago, Arsen hadn’t even known Ever existed, and now, he wasn’t sure he could exist without Ever. That was fucked up. It was all kinds of toxic. But Arsen wanted it, anyway. He wanted Ever, anyway. Wanted Ever to want him back in the same fucked-up, toxic, cant-live-without-you way Arsen felt about him.
Or maybe he was just horny? Maybe he just needed to go jerk off in the shower and get himself together before he did something to Ever he couldn’t take back. Not that he would ever force himself on him, but Ever was delicate, fragile… He was so new to all of this. Even forcing that kiss on him could upset the delicate trust Arsen had just barely created.
His phone dinged, and he stood, snagging it from the charger on the desk, stomach churning as he turned it over to see a text from the group chat.
Arlo
What was that?
Dimitri
Who was that?
Noah
Who was who? I’m lost. I’m out of town. What’d I miss?
Felix
Arsen just kissed his pocket-sized, closet-candy in front of the whole world.
Noah
The rescue?
Cree
He’s not a puppy
Zane
Too bad, Noah would just adopt him and he could live in luxury like his other dogs.
Seven
Is Ever okay?
Levi
You all really have such a hard-on for this kid. Like just because he looks like a bush baby doesn’t mean you have to dote on him like one.
Arsen
What is bush baby?
Arsen blinked as a picture of a bug-eyed but adorable fuzzy creature popped up on his screen. It kind of looked like it was smiling. Ever was probably not smiling. He was probably crying or scared or confused. And Arsen was in there watching his stupid friends mock him from the comfort of their own homes.
Nico
