“My stores are open on Saturdays, too, but that’s what I pay people for.” Marc grinned. “So… you coming here afterwards or you want me to pick you up so we can grab dinner somewhere?”
“Isn’t today when they have the all-you-can-eat spicy wings at the Irish?”
“Hm… Yeah, but I’m not sure my ass could take the fire of that after last night.”
Chris stopped, midway to lighting a cigarette. “Wait, d-did I hurt you?”
“What?” The bassist raised a brow after taking a sip of his coffee. “No, no. You were fine. It’s just been a while and I’m no porn star, that’s all.”
Chris let out a snort. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That my hole isn’t the size of the Grand Canyon and it’s a little sore right now.”
While anal done right shouldn’t cause any kind of pain, sometimes it didn’t matter how much foreplay and lube was used, especially if neither of the parties were precisely delicate.
The first round, when he’d been lying on his stomach, had been fine, but Chris had gotten carried away when he had him on all fours later, and so had Marc when he was riding him. It was no one’s fault, and it didn’t really hurt. There was just this slightly burning yet pleasurable sensation brimming his ass.
Chris chuckled nervously while taking a drag of his cig to light it. “Okay.”
“I’m fine, but I’d rather eat something less spicy,” the bassist said. “At least for tonight.”
“Oh, we could go to that weird fusion restaurant with the poke bowls.”
“Yeah, that sounds…” Marc trailed off as he noticed the wrinkled sheet on the couch. “Better. Have you slept here?”
“Eh… Yeah.” Chris blew a cloud of smoke.
“Why?”
“Because… it’s what I always do when I invade your house?” The guitarist tilted his head. Then, as if it hit him, his eyes widened. “Oh, you mean after we—I-I…” He gaped like a fish. “I don’t know how to say this.”
“Say what?” Marc frowned.
“I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and it just felt weird going back to bed and cuddling with you.” Chris scrunched his nose. “I fell asleep out of exhaustion, and don’t get me wrong, it was okay, but… You know. I don’t sleep with people.”
“You mean hookups,” Marc noted.
“I, hmm…” Chris took another drag of his cig. “Yes, and no.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” Marc glanced up at the ceiling and huffed, feeling his insides searing with different flames from the previous night.
“Look, I’m fine with this friends-with-benefits thing we’re doing, okay?” Chris’s brows creased together anxiously. “I’m really in for it. I proved it to you last night, I think. But I need to set some boundaries, for both of us.”
“You think I’m gonna fall in love with you?” Marc said with the best poker face he could manage, as if he wasn’t doomed already.
“Uh… no? But if we start sleeping together after having sex, next thing you know we’re getting all handsy in public. And like I told you yesterday, I’m not ready for that.”
“Okay…” Marc took a sip of his coffee to swallow the words he didn’t want to say out loud.
He didn’t know why he was so bothered by this. Even if their relationship was a lot closer than the one they used to have with their booty calls, it wasn’t a news flash that Chris didn’t sleep with the people he banged. Whatever the reason, he just didn’t, and the last thing Marc wanted was to be pushy and make him uncomfortable for such a minimal detail.
They had shared a room and even a bed from time to time when the band had been on a tight budget. But maybe this was just a part of their friendship they’d have to rearrange. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
“Just to be clear about where we stand and all since we haven’t really talked about it… are we free to fuck around?” Marc asked, more to know what to expect from his friend than out of personal interest.
He was glad to have so many sisters that had helped him grow in the emotional department, but he couldn’t deal with the kind of drama that seeing more than one person at the same time sometimes involved. Consensual, sporadic, and shared sex with a third party while in a relationship was a different thing. However, the guitarist could get wild; had been fooling around with four different chicks simultaneously the previous year.
Chris stiffened for a moment, clenching his jaw as his pierced nostrils flared. “I… Yeah, I guess so.” He took a long drag of the cig, letting the smoke out slowly through his nose.
