* * *
For all Park’s talk, he proved the biggest distraction of all. Even in a gymnasium the size of an airplane hanger, Park made Gift feel like nobody else existed outside their bubble. He spent much of the lesson with his arms around Gift, his hands folded over his. It was an exercise in concentration.
They were both damp and sweaty now, and the heat of Park’s chest against Gift’s back was just this side of too much. The feel of his half-hard cock pressed against Gift’s ass was hard to ignore. Park maneuvered Gift so the swords tucked flush against his arms, tips pointing toward his elbows.
“See? Like this, you can drive them backwards—” he used Gift’s arm to demonstrate, carefully sidestepping as he had Gift thrust his elbow back. “But you can also continue to use the hilt as a weapon, striking the face like this.”
Gift swallowed the lump in his throat, attempting to focus with Park’s warm breath on his ear and his much larger frame surrounding Gift’s. It was torture. Pure torture. “Yeah. I-I think I got it,hia. I…should be going soon. I have to shower before class.”
Gift moved to step away, but Park held firm. His hands slid to Gift’s hips, his nose nuzzling behind Gift’s ear before brushing a kiss over the hinge of his jaw, just above the spot he’d marked two nights ago. Gift couldn’t stop the embarrassing whimper that fell from his lips as Park pulled his hips back against him roughly.
Just when Gift was sure he was going to have to walk back to his room tenting his sweatpants, Park released him, swatting him on the ass hard enough to make him gasp.
When he turned to look back at Park, eyes wide, he just raked his gaze over Gift from head to toe before saying, “Okay,ouen. I’ll take those. You go shower, then get to class.”
Gift gave a nod, handing over the weapons, his thoughts elsewhere as he grabbed his things and headed for his room. Inside, Payton sat on the edge of his bed in only his pajama pants, leaning back on his palms.
When he saw Gift, he barked out a laugh. “Aspen must have really kicked your ass. You look like you just ran a marathon.”
Gift dumped his stuff unceremoniously on the floor, then flopped back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Not Aspen. Park. Park told Aspen he’d train me himself and Aspen just…agreedto it. He didn’t even give me a head’s up. Traitor.”
“Park trained you?” Payton asked a million questions buried in that one sentence.
When Gift just continued to stare at the ceiling, Payton jumped up, straddling Gift’s thighs and hovering over him, bracketing his head with his hands. “You good? Did he do something to you?”
Gift sighed, raising a hand to trace the large black Xs tattooed on Payton’s ribs and chest, watching as the skin jumped beneath his finger. “No. That’s the problem. He spent the entire hour actively not doing anything to me.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Payton said, amused.
Gift gave a beleaguered little noise. He didn’t want to rehash it all, but he needed someone to talk him off this ledge. “He was, like…tormenting me. He had his arms around me, his mouth next to my ear, his hands on mine. Park is a sadist. He was enjoying every fucking minute of it.”
Payton raised a brow, smirking down at Gift. “Would you prefer that he didn’t enjoy it?”
“I’d prefer for him to just put his dick in me already,” Gift wailed, wanting to kick his feet like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
Payton dropped down to his forearms until his face hovered over Gift’s. “Aw, your first edging? Should I add it to your baby book?”
“Fuck off,” Gift said with a smile.
“Potty mouth,” Payton said, hand on his chest. “When I first met you, you were so sweet and cute and quiet. You would just let us baby the fuck out of you, do everything for you. We fawned over you like a stray kitten.”
Gift threaded his hands underneath Payton’s forearms to starfish on the bed beneath him. “I know. It was so nice,” he said with a sigh.
“Why did you let us do that?” Payton asked, studying him. “I mean, I get why you lied to Park…sort of. But why did you let us baby you so much?”
Gift frowned, staring up at Payton. He’d never lied to them. He’d always been up front about who he was. He might have been more reserved in the beginning, but that was because he was new. He didn’t know any of them.
“I let you baby me because it felt good. I have narcissist parents and I’m chronically touch-starved. It was nice to feel wanted, especially by a bunch of people who didn’t want anyone. Besides, I didn’t know how dangerous any of you might be, so it just seemed smarter to let you see me more as a helpless baby and less as a threat.”
Payton booped Gift’s nose. “That’s downright diabolical. What a manipulative little shit you are. I approve. Maybe you’re a psychopath, after all?” He gasped, making a shocked face. “Would that mean I’d have to becomeyourhandler? Plot twist.”
Gift scoffed. “I’m not a psychopath. I mean, I don’t think I am. Besides, you all love treating me like a pet. It feeds something in those deviant psychopathic brains of yours.”
Payton studied him for a long moment, then deflated. “Yeah, you’re right. I do like it. You’re not going to stop us, right?”
Gift furrowed his brow. “Stop you from what?”
“Stop us from babying you?”
