“I know it’s a Sunday, but we got a call from new paving company in Charlestown, West Virginia. They’ve got a broken track on an asphalt paver they want us to repair before tomorrow. You want to work today? If you don’t, Shelby said they’d be happy to come along.”
After a deep breath, I responded. “Working with Shelby is a great idea. You okay with that?”
“Why the fuck not? Shelby’s strong; they can lift the shit you can’t—or won’t.”
I couldn’t keep from laughing. “Are you saying I’m weak and lazy, motherfucker?”
“Maybe, but I can tell you’ve got other shit on your mind. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care, but you’re head isn’t in our business, and you’re likely going to get hurt or cause one of the others of us to get hurt.”
“How is my head not in our business? I’d never get anyone hurt.”
Steve shook his head. “Not on purpose, you wouldn’t. Holden, man, I’m not saying it hasn’t been on the business at all, butlately, you have something else on your mind. I’m not criticizing, but…”
But…Yeah, something else had been on my mind.
“Butwhat, Steve?”
“I’m saying we’ve got it. Shelby and I can handle it. You need to go talk to this Langhorn guy about how much you’re interested in him.”
It wasn’t funny, but I laughed. “Dude, you have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m worried the guy is having a mental health crisis. He actually told me to talk Mom and Dad into contacting the transplant people and giving permission for the recipients to have our contact information in case they want to reach out to ask any questions about Holly. It makes no sense to me. Does it make sense to you?”
Steve was quiet for a minute. “Well, it makes sense to me that the folks who got Holly’s organs might have questions about genetics in your family. Longevity, cancer, diabetes, addictive behaviors. All the stuff that could be hereditary would be a concern to me, as well as mental health issues.”
“They got all that information before they got the transplants. We had to fill out an extensive checklist of diseases that ran in the family. They know everything they need to know.” Now I sounded angry, and I guess I was a little because I didn’t like that he understood things so quickly while I was struggling.
“Yeah, well, maybe your parents would feel better if they had a chance to find out more about the recipients.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. We talked for a few seconds more, then Steve ended the call. I went to the living room, stretching out on the couch for a nap.
When I couldn’t fall back asleep, I decided to take a shower and maybe take Ossie to the dog park for a while. It was better than stewing on Avery like I’d been.
Turning on the shower, I quickly proceeded to shave. Ossie showed up at the door when he heard the water, turning his lead left and right in question, which made me laugh. “Sorry, Ossie. I’ll take you to the groomers this week. Go get in your bed. I’ll be out in a few.”
He pranced his ass away with his nose held high as if he could care less, and after he was in the other room, I closed the door to keep Ossie out because he would lick the water off my feet, which I hated.
I climbed into the shower, which was hot enough to boil a chicken, and proceeded to clean up, my mind still on Avery Langhorn.
How, in such a short time, had the guy crawled under my skin? I wasn’t celibate by any stretch of the imagination, and like any other warm-blooded gay man, I’d taken my turn on hook-up apps when the need was too much to ignore. None of those guys got to me, and hell, half the time, I was sure they used a fake name. I couldn’t remember any of them.
I hadn’t kissed Avery, much less done anything else, but the guy was stuck in my head. I needed to get over him somehow, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Avery had a beautiful swimmer’s body. Broad shoulders and a tiny waist. Unlike me, he didn’t have a five o’clock shadow all the time.
His strawberry-blond hair was short on the sides with a longer top, which sent my mind to places it shouldn’t go. As a result, all the blood in my body traveled south in a hurry, and suddenly, I had another issue.
I tried to ignore my hard-on by washing my hair, but that didn’t work. I squeezed bodywash into my palm, prepared to wash myself but as I slid my hand down, it involuntarily wrapped around my hard dick. My eyes closed.
There, behind my eyelids was Avery, with that adorable smile and no shirt. His pecs were firm, and his abs were like a washboard. His skin had a faint golden tone, and his cheeks were pink, as I’d imagined they’d be if he was in the shower with me.
I slowly stroked my cock, pretending my own hand was Avery’s. It had been a while since I’d taken myself in hand, and as my mind’s eye scanned below Avery’s abs, I saw strawberry-blond curls framing a beautiful hard dick. His thighs had a whisper of hair on them, and his legs were gorgeous.
My mind jumped to those strong legs wrapped around my waist as I fucked Avery against the shower wall. The imagination was truly a wonderful thing.
Faster than I wanted to admit, the top of my head nearly blew off as I blew all over the shower wall. I imagined Avery’s eyes staring into mine as he said, “Call me.” Then, just like that, he was gone.
I opened the shower curtain and grabbed a towel off the shelf over the toilet. I glanced in the mirror to see it was foggy from the hot steam, but there were words written on it that took my breath.
Call Avery.
