My cock pulsed at the suggestion. “I’d… like that.”
“I know you would.”
We shared another languid kiss before he sighed and settled, barely an inch separating us. “You wiped me out. I’m tired now.”
“It’s long past four in the morning. The sun will be up soon. I should probably go back to my room.”
He whined and pulled me closer.
I wasn’t ready to leave yet either.
“When did you come out?” I asked, nuzzling against him.
“Never really beenin.”
“Oh?”
“The first couple of relationships I had in high school were with girls. So it was all very hetero. Although even then, I was attracted to guys as well. I didn’t identify as bi until I was eighteen, though. I met a guy who was passing through town. My friends and I were hanging out at the Orange one night. This guy was older. Mid-twenties, maybe. We caught each other’s eye across the bar. It kept happening, and it was obvious there was an attraction. He moved to a nearby table and flirted. I flirted back. It felt natural. He was hot. There was a connection.”
“Your friends didn’t notice?”
“Vern did, but he was used to me being wild and impulsive, so he probably figured that was all it was. Anyhow, after last call, the guy invited me back to his hotel. I went. We hooked up. After that, I did a lot of… data collecting.”
“Data collecting?”
I felt Ozrik’s smile against my mouth. “I was trying to find a tactful way of explaining my sexual promiscuity.”
“I see.”
“Does it bother you?”
“No. Better that one of us knows what he’s doing. So after that, you… came out?”
“I never hid who I was. Vern confronted me the following day. I shrugged and owned it. If he was weirded out, he didn’t say anything. By that point, I’d been at war with my mother for years. Stella’s name was already on everyone’s lips in that fucking town, so my being out was just one more thing to gossip about. I didn’t care.”
I wanted to inquire about his mother. His feelings toward her were loud yet veiled. I didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding nosy. Instead, I asked, “What did your mother say when she found out you were bi?”
Ozrik laughed.
“What?”
“Well, she didn’t exactly react like most parents.”
“How so?”
“Stella dragged me to the local clinic and had them test me for HIV. She bought about a dozen at-home test kits, the kind you mail in for results, and forced me to take one every month for a year.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish. If that wasn’t bad enough, she also forced me to stand naked in her presence every so often so she could check me forlesions. God forbid I presented with a scab on my knee, or she would convince herself I was dying of gay cancer.”
“I… Are you… Is this a joke?”
“I wish.”
“But… you said you were eighteen when—”
“Yes. I know.”
