Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
The boy wanted him all right, and now, after seeing those pictures, Mike knew with absolute certainty that he wanted Arden. He hadn’t been blind to signs of attraction in Arden. His ego was big enough to ignore Arden’s attempts at sort-of shutting down their flirting, but what he saw on the pages proved what he’d known all along, and that made him hornier than ever. Arden was into him.
In one of the pictures, a pink-haired boy humped a pillow in the lower part of the page, his imagination bubble taking up most of the space with a rendition of Mike fucking him over a motorcycle.
But Arden crushing on him posed problems of its own. Mike needed to find the boy and straighten this out. He ran up the stairs, because there was no door on the way, and popped his head into the two exercise rooms, then into the little broom closet, but his gaze eventually gravitated to the two final doors on this story. They were restrooms, and he stepped into the men’s.
The violent sobbing echoing inside broke his heart. He shouldn’t have joked around with Kane about the drawings. He shouldn’t have peeked in without permission.
“Arden?”
The noise came to an abrupt stop, but Arden’s breathing remained loud and frantic. “Go away!” he choked out.
Guilt weighed on Mike’s neck as if it were an anvil. Each wheeze echoing off the white tiles was a stab with Arden’s cutesy butterfly knife, cutting flesh until Mike could no longer think straight.
“I’m sorry,” he croaked, shutting the door with his foot, but he was not going to leave, no matter what Arden said he wanted. It wasn’t about forgiveness or redemption. He was worried for the boy.
Arden had been cutely pseudo-offended when Mike had walked in on him in the shower, but this was different. This time, his feelings had really been hurt.
“You’re not! You just don’t want me having a meltdown because we live together.”
It wasn’t hard to identify where Arden was, because his mint green sneakers were like beacons shining from under the door of the last stall in the row.
Mike exhaled. “Why would you say that? You really think I’m a heartless dick?”
It hurt that Arden took his time to answer, but in the end, he did utter a, “no.”
Mike huffed, more offended than he’d have liked, but he didn’t voice his feelings and offered Arden the sketchbook through the gap. “I didn’t think it was such a big deal to you. Kane promised he won’t tell anyone.”
Even though Arden had earlier left the sketchbook with them, he now grabbed it as if his life depended on it. “I’m not a perv,” he said following another sniff.
“You’ve got talent,” Mike said, getting back up to lean against the door. “Those drawings are quite something.”
In fact, they were uncomfortably hot. Hotter than most real-life porn Mike had watched. Or was it because Arden had drawn them? He didn’t know anymore.
“You’re just saying that because I’m crying.”
Mike groaned, staring at his reflection in a long mirror that desperately needed a wash. “Jesus, no! They’re insanely hot. It’s just…” His mouth dried as he remembered the picture depicting how their short interaction in the shower could have ended in an alternative universe. “You draw me a lot. And I’m not gay.”
“I know that! I’m not stupid. You shouldn’t have seen those. You’re the one who keeps flirting with me. And I know it’s just a game to you, but I have needs and feelings.” He did sound calmer now, thank fuck.
Okay. That was fine. The last thing Mike wanted was to give Arden false expectations. But there was no denying the attraction always trembling in the air between them like scorching air on a summer day. There was curiosity too. And Mike never denied himself.
“I’ll say again that I’m straight, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have gay feelings sometimes, right?” He exhaled, imagining what could have happened if Arden unlatched the door and let Mike in. A hot shiver ran down his back and tickled his balls. He could feed that boy cock right here and now if only the desire for that to happen was truly and mutual. “If you want those things you draw—”
“I don’t!”
Mike sweated under his clothes, way more than he had during his workout. “But if you did… I’d be open to fooling around.” The understatement of the century. “Nobody needs to know, if you don’t want them to. At the end of the day, bodies are bodies. I won’t lie, I am curious. I’ve never met anyone like you. Never felt like I wanted to throw a guy on the bed and dick him, so if you wanted—”
“I don’t want everything I draw! I have… a vivid imagination, okay? And some things, okay, I do want some of them. I’m no choir boy. But I’ve been burnt, and I’d rather not. I shouldn’t like you this much, because it’s never gonna go anywhere.”