“Well?” Scott answers as if we haven’t spent the past two hours apart.
“Were you serious when you said you’d help me out with this? You know, before we started swapping loads again yesterday?”
I’m trying to make light of it so that he doesn’t feel pressured.
“I was totally serious. What do you need?”
“Just a few months of your time. A couple ten-hour days, really.”
“Wow. It’s that bad?”
“Not as bad as it could be, but we definitely have our work cut out for us. My buddy Otis walked me through the parts that we need to replace. He’ll be back tomorrow, and when he’s finished evicting our unwanted guests, we’ll be able to get in there and work. I can’t do it on my own, but I’m not going to ask you to come in and do it without any compensation. I can pay you as much as I’d pay anyone else to help. At least I’d feel comfortable knowing I can rely on you.”
“Oh, fuck no. I don’t want your money. It’s on me. I know what Kate’s been through, and I want to help her out.”
“It’s not your job to fix my family’s issues.”
“That’s my point. It’s not my job. I’m doing it because I want to.”
I’m impressed, but not surprised. It seems like the kind of thing Scott would do.
It’s not often you meet a guy like him. And I can’t help but reflect on that first night I met him—so tense and rigid, so angry. It didn’t seem like he would have helped me with a flat back then, let alone fixing my sister’s mess of a house.
But generous as he is to offer, I don’t want him to feel like I’m taking advantage. “There has to be something I can do for you, at least.”
“I have an idea for that, but if we use it as payment for services rendered, I’m pretty sure that makes me a prostitute.”
I laugh. “Well, if at any point it becomes too much for you, I want you to say so. I can hire someone, but it would be incredible if you could help me get started because I’m gonna be making up a lot of it as I go.”
“Yeah, dude. I’ll totally help out. It really isn’t an issue. I mean, as long as you know what you’re signing up for. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a good teacher.”
“I bet you are.”
I smirk. Good sex, good guy.
I haven’t known him that long, but I like to think of him as a friend.
A friend with some great benefits.
25
Mikey moans as he offers his final thrust.
I could tell he came by the expression he made a few seconds ago, and as his body trembles in that familiar rhythm, I revel in the sensations that linger from my own climax.
I lie beneath him in his hotel room, cum covering my abdomen. It’s like a lot of the sex we’ve had over the past few days since he’s been back. We haven’t done it at the apartment, and Jordan has been so busy between his TA work for summer semester and his thesis. Mikey and I have had time to mess around before I head home to act like everything is totally normal and I’m not fucking his brother on the side. But even though Jordan doesn’t know what’s up, I’m sure he’s noticed how chipper I am these days, something he’s noted a few times when we’ve seen each other around the apartment.
Mikey collapses on top of me, breathing intensely, the sweat on the ends of his bangs sliding onto my shoulder. “How can you still be this tight after how much I’ve fucked you?” he asks with a smile, turning his face toward me, our noses touching as I take in the scent of Listerine on his breath.
“Shut up,” I reply, kissing his nose.
I enjoy the playfulness of what we share and how easy it is to chill with him and fuck since he’s so at ease about it.
He kisses me back, and it’s slower, more sensual than I’m used to. My flesh prickling, and as he pulls way, he glances me over before saying, “Oh, shit. Look who I gave goosebumps.”
“Leave me alone.”
