“Stay,” I say, my voice coming out much too loud.
Lawson pauses. “Stay?”
I swallow roughly, skirting around the kitchen countertop. “I… I’ll do it.”
Oh, fuck.
“You’ll—”
“I’ll fuck you,” I confirm. “Call it off. Don’t go. Just… Stay.”
I never said I was a rational man when it comes to Lawson Darling. I’ve been his in some form or another my entire life.
Friendsseems like an inadequate word for a person you’d travel into literal Hell for.
I just pray the flames don’t consume me whole.
Chapter 11
Lawson
Oakley is staring at me like he’s not sure what he just agreed to.
“But you said…”
“I know what I said,” he replies, walking a step closer, his hands out like he’s trying to calm me. Or maybe he’s trying to calm himself. “I changed my mind.”
“Why?”
“Does it matter?”
Oakley’s eyes travel over my face as I assess him in turn, his breath coming a little short. He looks…upset. Not angry. But ruffled.
“I don’t want you to do something you’re gonna regret, Oak.”
He swipes his hair back, the shake of his head unsettling the strands immediately. “I won’t regret it. Can you just…call it off? With the other guy. Please.”
I pull out my phone, willing to do that at the very least. I don’t know why Oakley is so bothered by the prospect all of a sudden, but Itype out a quick apology to cancel and send the message off.
“Done,” I tell him, slipping my phone away. “Now can you tell me what has you so rattled?”
He looks like he’d rather do anything else, but he inhales shakily and nods. “I never said I didn’twantto have sex with you, Law.”
I still, those words not what I was expecting. “You do want to?”
He groans. “It’s not like I ever thought much about it before, all right? You’re my friend. Sex with you wasn’t on my mind. But…fuck. The idea isn’t unappealing, and the thing is IknowI’d treat you right. Those other guys… I just… You’re safer with me.”
I don’t argue that. It’s why I wanted it to be Oakley in the first place.
“So if you’re dead set on trying this,” he goes on, steeling himself, “then I’ll do it.”
“You’re not worried about it making things messy between us? You were before.”
He tosses his hands in the air. “It might. But we’ve made it this far, haven’t we? There’s nothing that would stop me from being your friend. I’m sure of it.”
“So…if I walked into your bedroom right now and dropped my pants?”
His groan this time is loud, his hands on his knees before he stands upright again. “Fuck, I never expected to hear that outta your mouth. Then I’d get you ready, Law. And, yes, I’d stick my dick in you.”
