Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
He pulled in a long breath, sitting up a little in bed and propping up his pillow behind him.
He looked down for a moment, staring at the bedsheets.
“It was so bad. The, uh… the horses were agitated about something, and they all started running out onto the highway, and I was so worried they were going to get hit—and then I saw Kira there, too, and she ran too far, and I started bawling in the dream. I felt like I had no control, Ori. Fuck.”
Kira was Finn’s beloved childhood cat that had died a little while before he came to stay with our family. He’d always missed her, and had carried around a little picture of her in his wallet forever.
I leaned in and put my arms around him in a hug.
I hadn’t thought twice about it, but after he was in my arms, I realized it was the closest we’d been since… well, since our little fight at the bar.
This felt different, to say the least.
His body was warm. His hair still smelled shampoo-fresh, and he leaned in, returning the hug.
“Thanks, Ori.”
I could tell his heart was still pounding. He seemed so vulnerable in that moment, in a way he never was during regular waking hours. He was shirtless, and I got an eyeful of his hard-earned muscles.
He felt good to hold, if I was being honest.
My cock hardened as Finn stroked his open palm along my back.
Fuck.
It was happening again. I’d been trying to keep my distance from him lately, to avoid any more unwanted hard-ons in his presence.
This time it wasn’t as easy to hide.
I was in thin sweatpants, and if he moved any closer in the hug or turned on a light, he was going to see or feel the very obvious outline of my cock.
My heart raced like a rabbit. Why did he have to feel so good, physically? This was Finn.
We’d always been physical with each other, but I’d never liked it. Not like this.
He let me go soon after, and I was left there weirdly turned on and wondering what the hell was going on with me.
“Do you think you’ll be able to get back to sleep?” I asked softly.
“Maybe in a bit,” he said. “But I need a breather.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep again right away either, and Finn seemed like he needed a reset as much as I did.
An idea dawned on me.
“Hey. You got a working fire pit out back?” I asked him.
“Of course I do.”
I almost laughed at how he said it—like anyone would be insane not to have a fire pit outside.
Finn had always been a fan of sitting around a fire.
I stood up, heading toward the door. “Night camp. Let’s go.”
Night camp used to be reserved for the nights that Finn and I were really bored, when he would sleep over at my house during elementary or middle school. All it really meant was that we would grab a big blanket, sleeping bags if it was cold enough, and lie down out back, looking up at the stars.
Usually there was a fire pit. Sometimes there were s’mores.
A few times, when we were older teenagers, we’d stolen a beer or a wine bottle and gotten along great as we passed it back and forth out in the backyard.
As Finn opened up the door to his backyard, my eyes lingered on the shape of his silhouette. He was still shirtless, and his skin caught goosebumps in the night air.
Had he always had dimples at the base of his back?
Off-limits, I tried to tell my cock, willing it to chill the fuck out.
Straight.
And not even your type anyway.
And it’s Finn, for God’s sake.
We stepped outside. The night was humid, and not even too cold to relax on top of the blanket. His backyard was about a hundred times better for Night Camp than my parents’ yard used to be. It was modestly sized but it had a nice, easy downslope that looked toward the red maples, poplar trees and wisteria bushes he’d planted over the years.
Finn grabbed a giant camping blanket and put it next to his fire pit as I got the fire started.
“Can’t believe you even remember how to start a fire after all these years,” he said.
“Come on,” I told him. “Just because I lived in the city doesn’t mean I can’t light a fire.”
“I’m impressed,” Finn said. “Maybe I’ll get you riding horses next.”
I let my eyes focus on the little glowing lights he had placed under some of the bushes in the yard.
Yeah.
Those were a good thing to look at. A nice, welcome distraction from the curve of my best friend’s ass under his shorts.
“I swear I’ve seen more photos of this backyard over the past few years than anything else from you,” I told him. “Now I’m finally actually in it.”