Che made a fake gagging noise at Aspen’s remark, while Arie snorted.
“You didnotjust say that.”
“Well, I think he’s mostly talking to you, Twinkie,” I said, using the nickname for Arie that Maddox had started. “Because there’s three of you.”
Glancing into the kitchen, as if to make sure Cyprian was still out of earshot, Arie gave me a meaningful andveryannoyed look.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Caelyx. There’s only two of us.”
Aspen squeezed my jaw again, his time hard enough to make me wince. I’d forgotten that he’d forbidden me from commenting on whatever was going on between the three of them. And none of them were being particularly forthcoming,so… Whether or not Cyprian was still a virgin was a mystery. But to be honest, the suspense was killing me. Losing your virginity to a pair of hot femboys was kind of epic. If that’d been me, I’d have definitely been bragging. At least a little.
“Ah, yeah,” I said. “Sorry, I meant two. I, um… Can’t count.”
Che’s face was red as he stared up at the ceiling, before pulling the hood of his cropped shirt over his head to hide his face. Whoops.
They’d also grabbed a couple of pizzas from a local place, so we all pigged out and yapped about everything and nothing.
“Alright, who remembered I don’t like mushrooms?” I wondered. Even the pizza with everything else on it was void of the disgusting chunks of edible fungus.
“We all did,” Maddox informed me witheringly, before taking a bite of the one he’d gotten with cauliflower crust. Aspen was eating from that one too. Though nowhere near as much of a fitness junkie as our resident jock, he’d definitely gotten more and more into the whole gym aesthetic thing. But I couldn’t complain, because the abs he’d developed more and more over the last year were so hot. I loved licking along all the carved lines.
“And I made sure we got one with pineapple,” Cyprian said, taking a sip from a soda. He was seated on the end of one of the couches, with Arie cross-legged next to him, and Che on the floor next to his legs. “Because I know you like it.”
“Aw, you’re totally the mom friend,” I remarked, bringing a smile to his handsome face. I was pretty sure he took some pride in being that to all of us.
After dinner, Che pulled out a tarot deck and offered to do readings for all of us, something I’d known he could do but had never been around for, so I eagerly accepted. I wasn’t sure how much I believed that a deck of cards could predict my future, but when the World showed up in my three card spread and Che toldme it was basically saying that I had everything I wanted for the moment, and it was time to start thinking in terms of bigger and more long term goals, I was forced to agree.
I was so comfortable and so settled, I almost couldn’t even remember my first year at BBU, which I’d spent feeling incredibly lonely and isolated, despite all the casual sex.
I’d been sure then that my entire four years of college would be miserable, with no money and no real friends. But the reality had become so different it made me want to curl into a ball and weep with gratitude, tearfully thanking every single one of them for how they’d accepted me and actually made me feel like a human being again.
Especially Aspen. No one meant more to me than Aspen. I didn’t know what my life would have been like without him, and I had zero interest in ever finding out.
MUCH LATER THATnight, after everyone had retreated to their respective bedrooms to sleep or fuck (and I wasn’t going to check if anyone had done anything sneaky and crept into a bedroom that wasn’t designated for them), Aspen and I tiptoed out onto the deck, with towels slung over our shoulders. He was wearing these sexy little swim shorts, in black of course, that cut off high on his thighs. With his long lashes and sculpted lips and colorful tattoos glowing in the moonlight reflecting off the snow, he looked like an otherworldly being, like too beautiful for this world. And he was all mine.
He hissed out his displeasure as our bare feet touched the chilly wood of the deck, and we scrambled over to sink into the steaming water.
“Mm,” he groaned out, the water rising up to his chest as he slowly lowered himself. “You were right. This is really nice.”
“I told you.”
Scooting over to wedge my thighs under him, I lifted him up a bit so he could settle onto my lap, his bare back plastered to my bare chest. To my surprise, he relaxed against me, his head falling back to rest on my shoulder. He basically never sat in my lap, but maybe in his mind it was different because of the water. I wasn’t going to look into the horse’s mouth… Or whatever that expression was. I wasn’t going to complain.
Slipping my hands around his waist, I held him tight against me, kissing his wet shoulder.
“I needed this,” I murmured against his skin, nuzzling it with my lips. “The slopes really beat my ass yesterday.” My muscles were sore all over, and the hot water felt heavenly as it loosened up the tension.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if you’d ever come to the gym with us.”
“Hey,” I chided him lightly, giving him a little poke in his side. “The gym is boring. I’m keeping fit in my own way.” I’d gotten back into playing tennis after my exile from my house had been lifted and I could grab more of my stuff. The courts at BBU were actually pretty nice. “What, you think I’m out of shape or something?”
“I definitely did not say that,” he denied, sounding like he was stifling a laugh at my wounded tone. “You know I love your body.”
“Good, because if you said that then I might have to spend all night proving you wrong.”
“Hmm.” He made a contemplative noise, shifting on my lap like he was trying to remind me that his perfect ass was planted right on my cock. “That would really teach me a lesson, wouldn’t it?”
“You’re asking for it.”
