She scowled at him. “What application? I picked you. You say yes and you’ll have the apprenticeship. If you don’t want it, I’m not offering it to anyone else.”
Shiloh was nodding before she even finished speaking. “I—Yeah, uh, yes! Yes, please, and thank you. I need to tell my boyfriend. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
She handed him a business card. “Call her tomorrow before noon. She’s expecting you.”
She turned on her heel and then walked away. He practically floated to the bus stop across the street, dropping his bag at his feet, smiling at nothing. He needed to tell someone. Levi was probably too busy playing now to hear his phone.
He called Ever instead. “Hello?”
“Is Levi playingPaladinwith Arsen?” Shiloh asked by way of greeting.
Ever giggled. “It is Wednesday.”
Shiloh crossed the street to the bus stop. “Are they at least making some money?”
“Probably. Pretty boys always do,” Ever said with a dreamy sigh that meant he was gazing at his boyfriend with heart eyes. “Are we streaming tomorrow?”
“Yeah, after dinner.” He was happy he was the only one at the bus stop. All his classmates had headed next door to the smoothie place. “Guess what?”
“You and Levi did something freaky and Levi hurt himself again?” Ever asked.
“What?” Shiloh said with a scandalized gasp. “You’re hanging out with the feelings faction too much. You have sex on the brain.”
“So, tonightisn’tthe night you and your boyfriend scratch another thing off your kinky sexual bucket list?” Ever countered sweetly.
Shiloh waved a hand. “Irrelevant. I have a lot of time to make up for. Besides, you and Arsen fuck like angora bunnies.”
Ever giggled again. “Why not just say rabbits?”
Shiloh grinned. “‘Cause rabbits are boring and plain. You and Arsen are so cute and colorful and pretty and fluffy. You probably have cute, fluffy, romantic sex on sheets made of clouds and make silly googly eyes and scream ‘I love you’ as you orgasm. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s adorable.”
Shiloh loved winding Ever up. He always came back with the hottest of hot tea to prove he wasn’t, in fact, an angora bunny.
“It’s true. Last night, Arsen sweetly bent me over the hood of a cop car, handcuffed my hands behind my back, and then romantically told me if I didn’t want to go to jail, I better hope my ass felt as good as it looked before fucking me ‘til my legs gave out.” Shiloh’s skin was on fire, his cock stirring. Ever wasn’t done. “The handcuffs were fuzzy, though. If that matters,” he finished in that sweet little voice.
Shiloh crossed his legs. “Stop, you’re turning me on.”
Ever giggled.
“Jesus. A real police car?” Shiloh asked, genuinely shocked.
“Yeah. The cops bring them in and Jericho fixes them for free. Arsen was feeling…inspired by a porn movie we watched the other night.”
“Oh, my God. I, at least, hope it was parkedinthe garage and not behind it, you little freaks,” Shiloh said, then remembered why he called. “No more distracting me with sex stuff. I wanted to tell you something.”
“Okay.”
“I got offered an apprenticeship at a fancy salon and I get to earn credits while I work.”
Ever squealed, clapping. He was probably jumping up and down with the way his voice wobbled as he said, “Oh, my God. That’s amazing. What did Levi say?”
“I haven’t told him yet. I don’t like to bother him while he’s streaming,” Shiloh said with a sigh. “I’ll be home in, like, ten minutes anyway. I’ll tell him then. Besides, you’re my best friend. Bros before hoes or whatever the gay equivalent of that is. Homies before homos.”
Ever snorted, then asked in a more serious tone, “It’s not gonna interfere with therapy, is it?”
Shiloh stopped short. He hadn’t thought of that. He was down to seeing Dr. Jones only twice a month. Even though he hated it at first, he actually looked forward to it now and was kind of bummed when Dr. Jones had declared him ready to cut down from four sessions a month to two. “I’ll see if the salon can work around it.”
“I’m so excited for you. It’s going to be amazing. You’re so good with hair. I love mine.”
