CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I woke up with a stretch, turning from my side to my back as I blinked the foggy feeling of sleep away. Derrek was stretched across the other side of my bed, one arm tucked behind a pillow, one leg bent at the knee, sheets and blankets barely hiding the more risqué parts of him. I peeked to my side, and it seemed like the steady rise and fall of his chest would continue for some time—he was still completely asleep.
Derrek had stayed for the entirety of open mic night, even helping with the cleanup. For hours—the hours Olly wasn’t on stage reading—he and Oliver tossed questions back and forth to each other like some creepy game of volleyball. By the end of the night, I thought Olly might know as much about Derrek as I did. More than once, I caught the two of them grinning wickedly at each other when I made my way back to our table, convinced they’d been sharing stories about me.
What kind of stories, I didn’t really want to know. I was just glad they seemed to be getting along, however standoffish Olly tried to be. We all went back to my apartment at the end of the night, Derrek eager to stay over and see the place.
Smiling, I rubbed my eyes and pulled myself up off the bed, Derrek rustling beside me. Even asleep, he found a way to carry himself with an impossible sexuality, his body all hard angles and trim muscle.
Yawning as quietly as I could, I slipped on the first t-shirt I pulled from my drawers and padded out into the kitchen for coffee to find Oliver already awake, scribbling hastily into one of his notebooks. He didn’t stop as I busied myself with the coffee-maker. As I spooned a healthy amount of coffee into the filter, he dropped his pen and turned.
“He seems cool,” Olly said, barely above a whisper.
He rubbed his heels together, sitting on a tall stool in a pair of boxers and a gigantic light blue sweater—his winter pajamas of choice. I was still in just a t-shirt and boxer-briefs myself—no matter the season, I always seemed to be too hot at night. I slowed and turned to look at him, still foggy from a night of deep sleep.
“Like, this is still weird for me, but…” Oliver cut himself off, picking up his pen again after a few seconds of hesitant silence. I glanced down at his page to see that he was making short, dark lines in the margins, his knuckles bone white as he dragged his pen meaningfully with calculated strokes.
“I’m happy you’re giving him a chance, Olly,” I said, popping the filter into the coffee-maker and turning it on. I took the stool next to him and leaned on the counter with an elbow, propping my head up with my hand. “It really—”
“Hold on,” he interjected. “Let me finish.”
He dropped his pen and ran a hand through his dark hair, and I noticed it was longer than Olly usually kept it.
“This is still weird for me, but,” he continued, “I was watching you two from the stage last night. I mean, not even from the stage. It was pretty clear from anywhere in the room.”
“What was?” I asked.
“That…look that you give each other. Your eyes get so soft, so calm, and it doesn’t matter how many angles that guy’s stupid hot face has, he can’t hide it when he’s looking at you. Nobody else, Aiden. Just you.”
The slow trickle of water filled the room as the coffee-maker went to work, joining the slow tick of the wall clock and the gentle hum of the fridge in their usual morning racket, not a care in the world for the boy pouring his heart out across from me.
“We never looked at each other like that.”
I shuffled on my stool, turning to rest both arms crossed on the counter in front of me.
“No, I guess we didn’t,” I said. “I…don’t think I can do anything about that.”
“Oh my god,” Olly said, scoffing. “I’m not asking you to, you idiot. I’m telling you it’s fine. Or it will be, I guess. Eventually. Maybe I was just in my feelings a couple nights ago, I don’t know, but I care about you too much to get in the way of your happiness.”
He got up and pulled a mug from the cupboard behind us, helping himself to a generous amount of the coffee I’d just made before pouring a second mug and wobbling it over to me. He always filled it right to the brim, and it was always a bad idea. I blinked stupidly at him as he sat back down, pushing his notebook to the side just in time to avoid a great spatter of coffee.
“I didn’t get it until I saw you look at each other like that,” he went on. “We love each other, sure,” he said, gesturing between the two of us with a free hand. “But you two are in love with each other.”
“I, uh, I mean, we kinda said we might be falling for each other once, and—”
“Aiden, you two are so far beyond falling for each other,” he said.
I opened my mouth, but all I could muster was a fit of hushed laughter that morphed slowly into hushed sobs. Olly bolted from his stool and pulled me into a warm hug, his small frame enveloping me as much as it could as I hid my face in my crossed arms, my body shaking.
He was right, even if Derrek and I hadn’t said it outright yet. I let out a long, hot breath before lifting my head to find Derrek leaning against the wall in the hallway wearing nothing but a pair of black boxer-briefs—my boxer-briefs—and a bright grin.
“Don’t mind me,” he said, sauntering over to steal my mug. He took a deep drink before grimacing and turning to scan the counter-top. “I could never come between such a moment.”
“I was just saying the same,” Olly said, his voice wavering as he pointed Derrek toward the sugar.
I wiped the tears from my eyes in time to catch Olly giving Derrek a hasty once-over. He mouthed a silent holy fuck at me, and I shot back a silent I know, right before Derrek took my other side at the counter, throwing an arm around my neck. He planted a scratchy kiss on my cheek and I smiled warmly, my body still trembling gently beside him.
I slumped into his side and reached up to take my mug back, sipping coffee as he turned and leaned his ass against the counter.
“So,” Derrek said, reaching over to take the mug from me again. He took a deep gulp, and my eyes moved from the rise and fall of his shoulders to the gentle flick of his thumb across his lips. I pulled my t-shirt as low as I could over the swell in my underwear and, by the sound of the fidgeting on my other side, Olly was doing the same.
I narrowed my eyes at Derrek, who knew exactly what he was doing.
“I thought we could go out for breakfast today,” he finished.
“Yes please,” I said, sitting up straighter. I reached up to take my coffee back, but Derrek pulled the mug out of my reach, grinning. “Let’s shower and we can—”
“Not you, babe,” he said. “I was talking to Oliver.”
I whipped my head around in time to see Oliver’s grip tighten on his pen. He put it down and pulled his giant sweater over his knees before swiveling awkwardly to face me.
“That’s weird,” he mumbled.
“You don’t have to agree,” Derrek said, moving to lean against the counter across from Oliver and me. “I just thought it would be nice to get to know you better since last night went so well.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander across his bare skin. My underwear didn’t exactly fit him, and I thought I saw the slight twitch of his dick more than once as he tried and failed to adjust himself hands-free.
My smile brightened, and Olly must have noticed it, because he cleared his throat after a long sip of coffee and let his eyes linger on me a few seconds too long. I reached out to rest a hand on Olly’s arm.
“Your call,” I said. “Don’t feel like you have to just to make me feel better.”
“I—I guess so, yeah. But only because it means a lot to Aiden, and—”
“Oliver,” Derrek said firmly.
Olly wrinkled his nose, his signature move to stop himself from rambling.
“I want you to come if you want to come, not because it’s for Aiden. I want us to be friends whether Aiden is involved or not.”
Derrek looked down at my narrowed eyes and I raised an arm to push him gently sideways, smirking. I knew he meant it, though, and my smirk slowly morphed into a quiet smile. Oliver placed his pen down neatly on the counter, lifted his mug with both hands, then swiveled to look at Derrek again, taking a big gulp of coffee before cradling the mug in his lap.
“Okay.”
Derrek downed the rest of my mug and beamed, charging around me and out of the kitchen. I heard the shower barely a minute later, and when the bathroom door closed, Olly uncrossed his legs and slumped over the counter, fingers tangled in his hair.
“Do you think if I order enough food I can just chew my way through the nerves?” he mumbled into the counter-top.
I stood up and poured myself whatever coffee was left while Olly fidgeted behind me until he finally stood up and shuffled to the couch, throwing himself into the small pile of cushions he must have been working from before I woke up.
“Probably yes,” I said. Olly turned to lay on his back and pulled a long green pillow onto his chest, wrapping his arms around it. “But you’ll be fine! You guys were getting along great last night. Speaking of…” I said as the background noise of Derrek’s shower came to a stop, “I remember a lot of sly glances every time I came by…”
Olly snorted with laughter in response, turning his head just enough for me to see the top half of his face over the giant pillow.
“He just wanted to see what you’d do if we kept looking your way while we talked. It wasn’t even about you. This guy is crazy into you, Aiden.”
I scoffed, my eyes narrowing at Olly as Derrek padded back into the living room in a tight black tee and jeans that hugged him perfectly.
“You’re both the worst,” I said, taking a long, slow drink from my mug.
Derrek’s brow furrowed as his eyes darted from me to Olly, who was practically vibrating with laughter.
“I told him about the staring thing,” Olly finally managed, and Derrek deflated, leaning against the counter again as he crossed his arms and shook his head.
“Now what will I hang over him to make the man squirm?” he said.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll think of something,” I said, darting my eyes up and down the length of him as I stood up and began wandering back toward the bedroom. Olly practically choked on his own laughter, hugging the pillow tighter to his chest. I glanced up at the clock and decided I’d shower at the gym—I had a couple hours to kill before I had to be at Bay Window Books.
I dressed quickly and began packing my gym bag as Derrek came back into the bedroom, Olly passing in the hall behind him before I heard the shower again and the click of the bathroom door.
“Am I being too forward?” he asked as he shut the door behind him and fell backwards on the bed. I fished through the closet for a t-shirt and tossed one behind me as I rummaged thoughtfully.
“Maybe a little bit, but I’m fine. Olly can be kind of a nervous guy, though, so maybe don’t push him too hard into being friends. He likes you, and he’s working on stuff, but he’ll get there when he gets there.”
Derrek had already grabbed the shirt I’d tossed, gripping it tightly in both hands as he turned it to read the tag, stood up, and peeled his own shirt off, tossing it toward me. He put mine on instead, and it didn’t fit him perfectly, but I wasn’t about to complain that I could see more of his muscle definition through a tight tee.
“Can I have this?” he asked, moving to look at himself in the closet’s mirrored doors.
“Uh, sure?” I said, scooping his off the bed.
We wore the same size, but Derrek’s body was clearly more muscular than mine despite his lean frame. I took my shirt off and pulled his over my head. It barely fit differently from mine, but was just loose enough to be comfortable in a way that my own shirt wasn’t. I slid the other side of the closet shut and caught Derrek’s reflection staring at me.
“Just in case I get forced back into serious race mode and can’t see you,” he said as he came up behind me, resting his prickly chin on my shoulder. His arms coiled around my waist and he kissed my neck, a ripple of heat shooting through my body from where his lips touched my skin.
I turned my downcast eyes back up into the mirror to find him looking at me again, and as we stood there, I heard Olly’s words again. That…look that you give each other. I lifted one of Derrek’s hands from my waist and kissed it, reluctantly pulling myself away to find another shirt for my gym bag.
“If that happens, I’ll just have to share some words with Diana,” I said flatly.
“Yeah, that’ll go great,” he joked. “Don’t worry about her, I’ll handle it.”
I zipped my gym bag and pulled on a pair of black jeans, fisting a pair of socks to pull on at the door when the background noise of a running shower faded and Olly knocked to let Derrek know he’d be ready in fifteen minutes.
Derrek’s excitement about breakfast with Olly was contagious—he didn’t know, or maybe he did and hid it well, how much it meant to me that he wanted to get to know my best friend, even if the circumstances were weird.
“If he orders like thirty pancakes, just roll with it,” I said. Derrek cocked an eyebrow and I pulled him toward me, our noses touching briefly before I kissed him. He seemed to melt around my body, my gym bag hitting the floor as we enveloped each other again.
“Hey, Derrek?” I said as I bent to pick up my bag and head toward the door.
“Hm?”
“I…” I said, trailing off into nothing.
Oliver’s words were still echoing in my head, my face growing hot.
You two are so far beyond falling for each other.
“I forgot what I was going to say,” I finished, my chest deflating. “I’ll see you after work?”
“Come to my place around ten tonight. I have to smooth things over with Diana and should probably put in some time on the track, just in case.” He followed me to the front door, where his lips lingered on mine for several extra seconds, one hand on my waist, one crawling under my shirt, up my back, hot against my skin.
Oliver cleared his throat from across the living room, dressed and ready as he pulled his jacket on, and Derrek grinned a wicked grin as he pulled away from me.
“I’ll see you tonight, Aiden,” he said as I stepped into my boots and fished for the keys in my coat pocket.
The three of us left the apartment together and went our separate ways in the lobby. I was so close, but the words jammed themselves between my teeth, and I balled my pocketed hands into fists.
Olly was right—I was in love with Derrek.
I loved his stupid bravado. I loved the soft heart behind his rock-hard body. I loved the rumbling heat in his voice. I loved the part of him that was just for me and I loved that there was still more of each other to explore.
Who cares if we already knew it? He needed to hear it.
I planted my feet, turned around, and bolted toward the subway station.