I was lying through my teeth. I didn’t watch Josh or Craig at lunch, much less think they were attractive. As much as I fucking hated it, Dominic absorbed so much of my attention and awareness that I rarely even noticed who else was there.
But this was bothering him. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, his grip on my neck almost painful. His nostrils flared. Oh yes, this was pissing him right off. Any second now he was going to storm out and I would’ve won.
“Fine.”
Victory rang through me as he let me go and stepped back. He was leaving. I’d won. I’d fuckingwon.
But then his hands went to the bottom of his T-shirt.
And I watched, frozen, as he ripped it over his head.
As he dropped it to the floor.
Holy shit.Dominic was fucking ripped. I mean, I knew this. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen him topless before.
But seeing it now was different. It had my blood rushing to places it had no permission to go. My mouth dried out as my brain short circuited, wondering what to fantasise about first. His tight pecs, which were all but begging for me to squeeze them. The fuzz of dark hair there that I wanted to bury my nose in. The dusky nipples I had a sudden urge to lick. Or maybe his abs, sharply defined, with a deep vee leading to?—
You know where it leads. Don’t think about that. It’ll just make this worse.
That thought led to another realisation. One I’d had a while ago, but buried deep down. There was no way of keeping it contained now as it came screaming to the front of my consciousness.
I’m bisexual.
I couldn’t deal with that right now. Being attracted to men was fine. Grand, even.
Being attracted toDominicwas not.
I wiped my clammy palms on my jeans, desperately trying to get us off this downward spiral I’d set us on. “W-what are you doing?”
He smirked arrogantly as his hands finished what they’d started earlier with his jeans. “Exactly what you asked, Shadow. Why would I make you go to someone else when you’ve got what you need right here?”
He was playing chicken again, just as I had been. A flicker of irritation passed through me, and I grabbed it with both hands. I’d take that over the yawning precipice of uncertainty I’d just been hanging over. “Get on with it, then. I don’t have all night.”
Dominic leaned close, until his lips hovered just a few inches over mine. “That’s a shame, because I’d definitely need all night.”
Before I could decide if he’d actually said that or if my horny brain had made it up, he pulled back abruptly and strode for my bed.
He paused at the corner, shoving his jeans and boxers off in one smooth motion. Well, it wasn’t quite as smooth as I thought he’d intended, his underwear catching on his engorged cock.
My breath caught at the proof that it wasn’t just me getting off on whatever this fucked-up situation was.
We were both in this, for better or worse.
Dominic lay back on my bed, the pillows I slept on propping him up, the duvet I covered myself with now topped by his naked body.
“Well?” He raised a dark brow. “What are you waiting for, Shadow?”
I didn’t miss the challenge, but I also didn’t miss the flicker of uncertainty. The pulse of nerves he was trying to disguise with confidence. The confusion as to what the fuck we were doing.
Yes, we were both in this. And I didn’t think either of us knew where we were heading or why.
Somehow, I wasn’t ready to get off this train. And neither was Dominic.
I picked up my pencil and started to draw.
The lines had never flowed so easily.
13
