“Nothing,” I said quickly. “It’s just that I have to hobble around town with a boner now until it goes away.”
He snorted, but shook his head and averted his attention back to the water beneath us. “You have a serious problem identifying which thoughts should stay inside your head instead of coming out of your mouth.”
“I guess I just don’t have any shame,” I admitted. When I sidled up next to him, making sure he was looking before I made a big show of adjusting the outline of my cock in the front of my pants, he didn’t even pretend not to look.
“Don’t bring that thing over here,” he ordered, but the corner of his mouth was perked up into that cute grin I adored. “I’m not going to fix it for you.”
“But you caused it,” I argued, blinking my lashes at him, before leaning my forearms down onto the railing with him, lining up my shoulder with his shoulder, so we were as close as possible. “Shouldn’t you take responsibility?”
His brows furrowed a little bit as he stared at me, then tilted his head. I worried I’d gone a little too far with my joking suggestion, but then he finally spoke.
“Your freckles show up a lot more in the sun,” he noted.
“Oh, yeah.” My hand flew up to my face, my fingers automatically dragging over the bridge of my nose, where I’d always had a dense splash of freckles. “They were a lot worse when I was a kid.”
“Worse?” He echoed, like he didn’t necessarily agree with the assessment, and I smirked.
“Why, you like them?” I goaded him, chuckling when he cocked an eyebrow. “Admit it, Cupcake. You find me attractive.”
“You think I find you attractive because I have functioning eyes and noticed a visible feature of your face?”
“I think you find me attractive because you keep hanging out with me.”
“I hang out with a lot of people I’m not attracted to.”
“You looked down at my dick when I said I had a boner.”
He raised his eyes up to the sky before shrugging his shoulders. “I guess I don’t have an argument for that one.”
Unreasonably pleased with his response, even though he’d cleverly wriggled his way out of actually admitting it, I decided to take what I could get and quit while I was ahead. It seemed like that was going to be a recurring strategy with him.
He seemed to like giving me just enough positive attention to keep me feral and drooling for him, while simultaneously keeping me at arm’s length. I didn’t think he was doing it on purpose, so I couldn’t be offended. I had a feeling it was his automatic defense mechanism to keep from getting hurt. I didn’t have any plans to hurt him, but he didn’t know that about me yet. I could be patient.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” I wondered, after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
“Ah, nothing, really.” He answered. He still hadn’t moved away from when I’d wedged up next to him, and all the places we were pressed together felt really warm. “Someone called out at work, so I’m going in to help open before class. Other than that, I don’t have anything going on.”
“Why do you have to help open?” I asked, irritated on his behalf. He worked enough as it is, let alone waking upthatearly to cover for someone else, before we even had to be up for class.
“I don’thaveto,” he corrected, giving me an odd look. “I volunteered. I need the money.”
“For what?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Aren’t you on a scholarship?”
“Yeah, so?”
“I never even see you buy anything. What do you need that’s so important?”
He scoffed, nudging away from me. “That’s not your business. I just need it.”
“I can help,” I offered automatically, before my brain even let me consider who I was talking to. Aspen, the king ofI don’t need help, I’ve never needed help, and if you even suggest that I might at some point ever need help, then I’m going to chew you a new asshole, only regarded me with a wry look.
“First of all, no. Secondly, you couldn’t help me even if I would let you. In case you forgot, you’re not lounging in the lap of luxury anymore. You work the same broke boy job I do.”
My dad was still paying my tuition, my car insurance, and an automatic payment for my portion of rent for the house I shared with Maddox and Cyprian came out of his bank account every month. I knew I wasn’t exactlyroughing it, especially compared to other people. But for anything else I needed to continue living and functioning, like food and textbooks, I was on my own. But Aspen was right. I couldn’t help him with whatever financial problem he was having. I really, really hated that feeling.
Before I had the chance to try and undo the part where I’d pissed him off, he pushed off the railing and paced a few feet away before turning around to face me.
“Look, I get that your instinct when it comes to me is to… I don’t know, be protective or whatever. But you don’t need to. Seriously.”
