Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
He breathes heavily, something that’s almost a snore but not quite. I could get used to that sound.
*
I wake with Zane’s arm and leg still slung over me, securing me in this position on the bed. His body’s so warm, like a little heater keeping us cozy under the sheets. I adjust slightly, and it makes him grip me even tighter.
“No,” he says. “It’s not time to get up yet.”
I laugh. “I thought you might have gotten up and left after I fell asleep.”
“Someone had to protect you from the scary movie monsters.”
“You didn’t even watch it.”
“Eh, I’ve seen it already.”
“What? Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t realize until we were like thirty minutes into it. That’s why I dozed off.” He kisses the back of my neck gently.
“Well, it freaked me out. I actually didn’t wake you because I felt like the least you could do was stay.”
“You could have just asked. I enjoyed our first sleepover.”
“First? You know my parents will be back.”
“And then you can come sleep over at my place. I mean, after all, it does make my job easier. Nobody’s gonna touch my Leif if he’s in my arms.”
“Your Leif?”
He offers a gentle tug. “I said it. What are you gonna do about it?”
“Does that make you my Zane?”
I feel him smile against my neck, and my cheeks warm. “Depends. Do you want to be my Leif?”
“Yes.” I’m surprised by how fast I blurt that out.
“When Ilsa asked if we were friends, I didn’t like it when you said yes. Made my chest constrict. And that’s when I was like, I don’t want to just be friends with this guy.”
“So you want to be boyfriends?”
“Nice deduction there.” As I chuckle, he says, “You think us being boyfriends is funny?”
I spin toward him, and his hold relaxes so I can face him. His bangs are pressed down against his forehead, his eyes only open slightly.
Zane says, “It’d be easier for me to keep you safe if we were boyfriends.”
“Is that why you want to be boyfriends?”
He shakes his head. “Added perk. Looks like I’m gonna need to give you a spare key now.”
The warmth in my cheeks practically burns. Why does something so simple make me feel so damn good?
“I like that,” I say, “even if this is the weirdest-ass circumstances for guys to become boyfriends.”
He reaches up to my face, strokes his knuckles across my cheek. “Well, we are weird, aren’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m gonna enjoy getting used to that,” he says. “Oh, I was just talking to my boyfriend. Sorry, I’m busy; I have plans with my boyfriend. Can’t do Friday; that’s date night with my boyfriend.”
“My boyfriend’s so fucking weird.”
“Your boyfriend’s so fucking horny.” He takes my hand and places it on his crotch.
“Guess your boyfriend’s gonna have to do something about that.”
And as he grins, I know this is gonna be a fun morning.
20
ZANE
Since Leif’s parents are gone for the week, I wind up staying over more often. It’s easy enough since I can bring my laptop and work at his desk. He’s got a strict no-guns-in-my-parents’-house rule, which is fair enough, but even without my gun, I’m more relaxed over here than I ever was watching surveillance footage from my place.
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much goddamn food in my life, which is an amazing feeling. And we’re filling up in other ways too. Lots of BJs, jerking off, and anal that I can get whenever my dick’s hard.
Leif sates all my appetites.
Then after the final fucks at night, we’ll stream something. I’m willing to put up with a few romantic comedies for him, and he’s more open to psychological thrillers than straight-up horror, since apparently, I traumatized him with It Follows, which he’s still got on his mind even after a few days.
Unfortunately, playing house comes to an end when his parents come back the following week, but Leif doesn’t let that stop the sleepovers. Now he’s sneaking over to my place for the night.
But during the day, when he’s at his parents’, all my worries and anxieties are as intense as ever. My life is back to watching footage and cramming in work whenever I can manage. It’s the beginning of the second week of December when I get a text from Leif: So Mom and Dad wanted me to invite you to come over for dinner sometime this week.
They hadn’t mentioned it since they got back, so I was thinking they’d been busy trying to get back to their routine.
LEIF: Does my boyfriend have plans for Wednesday night?
A familiar swirl of warmth in my chest.
I can’t help myself—it feels so damn good every time either of us says it.
I’ve always thought that was such a stupid word: boyfriend. Doesn’t sound so stupid when Leif calls me it, though. I’ve never had one, and neither has he. For different reasons, obviously. Him because of the whole thinking he was straight, which is amusing, given the number of times I’ve come inside him since we started messing around. Me because I’d never met anyone I even considered doing something like that with.