“What? Is that weird? If I’m gonna come in someone’s mouth, it’d be rude not to kiss ’em just ’cause it’s ‘gross’ or whatever,” I said and then thought about it. “And other things.”
“Other things?”
“I, uh, don’t wanna go into detail about stuff I’ve done with other people.”
Walker stared at me for a moment. “Cade, you don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings. I know you’ve been with women before, sheesh.”
“Well, it’s rude to talk about other people like that too,” I pointed out. “But ya know, if I get off before they do, it’s my job to finish the mission. Even if it means gettin’ my mouth down there, a bit of mess ain’t hurt no one.”
“Huh,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “A gentleman through and through. You would have run circles in the gay world.”
“Thanks? But why did ya look so…weird about it?”
“I’m just remembering the guys trying to get you to tell them how you kept getting these girls to keep coming back,” he said with a sudden laugh. “And you’d never tell them. I told them, though.”
I paused as I got up to grab a towel from a shelf. “What? How could you know?”
“Because women aren’t shy about talking to gay men about their sex lives,” he said, smiling when I brought him the towel to wipe off with. “And if a woman comes back to a guy who’s just supposed to be a fling, she’s either delusional about looping him into a relationship, or he didsomethingwhen they fucked to bring her back. I figured they couldn’t all be hoping for you to put a ring on it, so I assumed it had to do with you being good. Turns out you’re goodanda dutiful sex partner; it’s a miracle we didn’t have them knocking down our doors.”
“Don’t start bein’ weird,” I told him as I sat on the bed and looked at him. “You alright?”
He finished wiping his stomach and looked at the comforter with a sigh. “Yeah, other than my blanket being fucked up, I’m fine.”
I smiled. “You can use mine.”
“And what are you going to use?”
“Mine.”
He stared at me for a moment before ducking his head. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” I said, laying my hand on his calf and squeezing gently. “Now, uh…can we get somethin’ to eat? I’m starvin’.”
He snorted. “After my shower.”
“Hmm, our shower?”
“Yeah, okay. Our shower.”
WALKER
I eyedmy phone on the shelf, considered opening it and scrolling, and…thought better of it. I had been here almost a month, and I had avoided going anywhere near the net. The most I’d done was download a few games and books, but I hadn’t opened any social media or read any news. It had technically been a provision of the ‘suit’ who had given me the ‘fair’ deal of coming here to avoid trouble coming down on me or my family, but it wasn’t enforceable when they hadn’t taken anything from me.
Except…it was nice not to have an ear to the ground or my finger on the pulse of current events. Arete wasn’t the place I thought I needed, but that didn’t mean there weren’t perks to being here. Secluded in the mountains, far from the nearest town, and without a constant barrage of news, reels, and talk shows, it was as if we were in a bunker after the end of the world. Truth was, if it wasn’t for the fact that someone would know if the apocalypse happened, the world could have blown up outside these mountains and I wouldn’t know.
It was something I had sort of expected when I’d first been introduced to how things were handled around here, and I had resented it. I suppose what I really resented was being forced todo the bidding of someone else, especially when I didn’t want to do. I had to admit that in its peaceful, calm way, this place had worn me down.
It felt like I was on vacation…but not. Honestly, it felt wrong to sit around and treat this place like some fancy resort rather than a place to help people. I had gone to a few of the group counseling sessions they held to make it look like I was trying, just in case my ‘handler’ could peek in on my progress. Sitting in on one of those was enough to show me I had been bratty about coming here. Despite how some of them looked outside those sessions, a lot of the men here were struggling with demons I could barely fathom.
With an annoyed flick, I pushed the phone away and straightened when the door to Cade’s room opened and the man walked in. Well, it was more like he limped in, somehow favoring the leg that shouldn’t have had feeling.
“Damn,” I said, sitting up and getting off the bed. “You alright?”
“I’m fine,” he grunted as he made his way toward the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.
“It doesn’t look like you’re fine,” I said. “What happened?”
“It’s fine,” he said, then looked at me, grimacing. “I’ve been doin’…physical therapy.”
