Chapter Five
Dakota
It had been exactly seventy-two hours since I’d blown up at Trystan and pretty much told him to fuck off. Seventy-two hours for me to do nothing but sit and replay each and every conversation we’d ever had over and over in my head. Seventy-two hours for me to come up with a list of why I should believe him and why I should not believe him. There were countless reasons as to why I shouldn’t trust him—past experiences, he was too popular to really like me, I had nothing to offer, football players didn’t openly date gay swimmers, past experiences, past experiences, past experiences. It was a fucking long list of why not to trust him. Compared to the reason why I should trust him list and it was a no-brainer—don’t do it. But I wanted to trust him. I wanted to so damned bad.
He hung out with Alexander and from what I’d seen on the pictures, Alexander was definitely into guys, or guys were definitely into him. Then there was the thing in the cafeteria. Trystan had called that guy out and hinted at the fact that they had oral sex sometime in the recent past. Evan would have never admitted to any kind of sexual act with another guy. Hell, he would have stuttered all over himself to deny it. Trystan met me outside my dorm when nobody else was around to see him flirting with me but, in his defense, that was when I left my dorm and there pretty much was not another damned person moving about that time of day. Trystan being there didn’t necessarily mean he was only seeing me when nobody was around. It could mean I kept shitty hours.
Then again, it could mean he was ashamed to be seen with me.
I’d done that shit with Evan and I didn’t want to ever do it again. On the other hand, Trystan had said I should not judge him by my past and I guess that was what I’d been doing. Was that the kind of guy I wanted to be? The person that never trusted again or never loved again. As long as I allowed my past to dictate my future, that was exactly where I was headed. Hell, none of it probably mattered anyway. I was sure I’d ruined it with Trystan by being a complete and utter ass the entire time he was ever around me.
He was not outside the dorm yesterday morning or this morning. I would like to say I only missed the croissant and latte, but I would be lying to myself and since I was the only friend I had left, I didn’t need to fuck that up. I missed his sexy smile and the way his eyes would practically strip me naked when he thought I wasn’t looking. He laughed at every damned thing as if he didn’t have a worry in the world. I’d been a total bitch, but he’d kept coming back. What in the hell did he see in me? He could have anybody.
So now I was back to thinking this had to have some connection to Evan. Trystan would not be interested in me unless there was some ulterior motive. How far would Evan go to wreck my life? Hadn’t he done enough already?
I thought back to all those news stories I’d seen about men or women that found themselves in a bad marriage and instead of going mainstream and just filing for divorce, they’d decided killing the other person would be much easier, much cleaner than having to deal with the aftermath of the relationship falling apart. That was what had happened with my relationship with Evan. It could have, no, should have ended with us parting ways…without all the bloodshed.
Sometimes I thought what he did was much worse than killing me, though. Why couldn’t he just have broken up with me? I would not have said anything to anybody. I’d already kept my damned mouth shut for six years, allowing myself to be hidden away like a dirty secret when all I’d ever wanted was freedom.
It had ended badly.
Fuck, what had Evan done to me? I had no self-esteem. I had no friends. I was in hiding, having to live away from the only person in the world I gave a damn about—my mother. I hadn’t had sex in six fucking months. I liked sex. Well, I used to like sex. I liked sex dirty and rough. I liked being dominated and fucked hard. I liked being tied up and tied down. I’d tried every damned thing Evan could dream up and he had quite the imagination. I’d given him everything I had to offer and he’d used my desire to please him as the very rope to tighten around my neck.
As I trudged across campus, freezing my ass off, slipping and sliding on the icy snow falling around me, I tried to imagine myself being that person again - the straight A student who had dreams of the Olympics one day. I’d been the one to try to beat in our entire conference and I had both loved and welcomed the challenge. I used to smile. I used to have friends. I used to laugh. All those things seemed so foreign to me now. Lost. Forgotten. Now I simply existed…and didn’t do a very good job at it.
And with that pathetic thought, I slipped on a sidewalk covered with ice and slid down a hill. It probably was not more than about four yards, but it felt like a half a mile. By the time I skidded to a stop, my clothes were soaking wet and I was covered in snow. Many people would have been embarrassed and jumped up quickly in hopes that nobody saw them wipe out. I just sat there, being invisible.
I sat there until the icy coldness crept through my thin layer of clothes and started freezing my skin. I sat there wishing I’d worn the gloves that Trystan had given me but I hadn’t put them on this morning because it didn’t feel right to bask in the warmness of his gift after I’d been such a colossal ass to him. I sat there thinking that if I were with Trystan, he would have probably suggested something totally childish like building a snowman since I was already knee-high in snow.
I wanted Trystan to be there.
I wanted to be the person that would build that snowman until my teeth were chattering from the cold and then Trystan would be there to warm me up. My skin would be icy as his warm tongue would slide across every inch of me, making me sizzle with each swipe. There would be a blazing fire in the fireplace and he would make love to me on a King-sized bed. After I recovered, he would fuck me so hard that the neighbors would hear me screaming his name.
That was who I wanted to be.
Instead, I was the one that staggered to his feet and started trudging toward my dorm room—yes, a dorm room. I was a Senior in college and I lived in a dorm with a guy that thought it is absolutely fine to make me go to the library and close it down like it was a bar just so he could have some ‘alone’ time with his current fling. And the worst fucking part about that was that I was jealous. I let him send me to the library because I figured at least one of us needed to be getting lucky.
“What’d you do, Dakota, swim back to the dorm?” One of the guys that lived in the dorm asked me when I opened the front doors and stepped inside.
I didn’t have a clue what his name was or how he knew mine so I mumbled, “Something like that,” and then snapped my mouth shut to keep my teeth from chattering. He looked shocked that I answered him, but after a few seconds of awkward quietness, he nodded and moved on. A few other students loitering in the front room looked at me strangely before turning their attention back to whatever the hell they had been doing.
I slowly climbed the stairs that led to my fourth floor room, and I swore that my legs already felt like they were frozen stiff. By the time I reached my dorm room, I was fucking exhausted and feeling rather pathetic so the last thing I needed to see was a gray tie wrapped around the doorknob. Yeah, Baxter’s knockoff of Fifty Shades—a signal to me that he had a guest for the evening and didn’t want to be disturbed. Since it was there practically every damned night, I was actually surprised that I was surprised. Hell, I should have seen this coming a fucking mile away. Of course, he would have me locked out on the coldest night of the year and when I was soaking wet. Why the hell not, right? Oh, wait, and the library was closed early due to the snow. Perfect. Fucking perfect.
I banged on the door, determined to at least grab a change of clothing so I didn’t freeze before I could make it to my piece of shit car. Giggles and grunts greeted my ears. I rolled my eyes and banged again. I really needed those fucking gloves right about now.
The door opened just a crack and I could see Baxter’s blue eyes staring back at me. “What the hell, Dakota? Don’t you see the tie on the doorknob?”
“What the hell, Baxter? Don’t you see I’m fucking soaking wet? Let me at least grab some dry clothes. I won’t look, trust me.” I definitely would not look. Baxter—so not my type.
He glanced over his shoulder to whoever was standing beside him, arched his brows, and then told me, “No. Give me about an hour.”
I swore he tried to apologize to me with his eyes but at the moment, I didn’t really give a fuck. I was freezing and needed some dry clothes. Baxter probably weighed in at a buck twenty soaking wet and not one drop of that was muscle. I hated being a bully, but I was getting inside my room to get my clothes, whether he needed another hour or not. I gave the door a hard shove, and it didn’t budge. I’m no lightweight and every ounce of me is lean muscle. I pushed against the door with all I had and it didn’t budge. What the fuck? That was not Baxter.
“Tell your friend to get out of the way, Baxter. I need some clothes.”
“Can’t you just wait in your car, Dakota? Please.”
Again, his eyes apologized. Again, I didn’t give a fuck.
“I’ll go to my car when I have dry clothes. Dude, I’m seriously freezing to death standing here and the heat is on. I cannot go outside and wait in the car when my clothes are already starting to freeze into a board-like fabric. Let me in.” I pushed again. Nothing. The Incredible fucking Hulk had to be on the other side of that door. My thoughts immediately drifted to Trystan. He would be that strong.
Baxter glanced behind him again and then whispered to me, “Be sure and turn the heat on, Dakota. I won’t be much longer, I promise.”
With that, the door shut right in my face and I heard the lock twist. He’d locked me out. He’d fucking locked me out of my own room. I was dripping fucking ice cubes and he locked me out of my room after telling me to be sure and run the heat in my car. Fucking unbelievable.
Even more unbelievable was when I turned and stomped down the hall, down the steps, and out the front door. I didn’t stop stomping until I reached my piece of shit Jeep, yanked the door open, and climbed inside. I fumbled for my keys—and I mean fumbled because I had already started losing the feeling in my fingers. After several attempts, I started the engine and checked the gas tank. Believe it or not, I had half a tank. Wouldn’t it be my luck to be completely on empty?
I sat there, just as cold as I’d been when I sat in the snow a few minutes earlier and realized that a normal person would have had a friend they could have begged some clothes from and a warm couch to crash on until Baxter was finished Baxter-ing. Hell, a normal person would have probably stayed in the lobby of the dorm where it was at least semi-warm.
I was not normal. I stopped being normal exactly one hundred and
eighty-nine days ago.
I glanced around the Jeep and was surprised to see a couple of beach towels in the back. Jerking them up, I draped them over my body and pretended they were thick furry blankets that I had just pulled out of the dryer. I thought about calling my mom and checking in to make sure nobody was giving her any trouble over what had happened on campus but I figured she would be able to detect even the slightest bit of discomfort in my voice. If she heard me now, she would definitely know it was several notches above slight discomfort. Anyway, calling my mommy seemed a bit childish at the moment. What was I going to do? Tell on Baxter? Ask her to call the campus and tell on him? Ask for help?
Hell, no. I hadn’t asked for help over the Evan deal so I definitely wouldn’t ask for help over this minor shit. Evan—major shit. Freezing to death—minor shit.
I tugged my cell out of my front pocket and set the alarm to wake me up in exactly one hour. If he was not done in an hour, I would finish the fucking job myself.
Who had Baxter been with? Somebody strong, much stronger than me. Hell, even Baxter scored the hot, muscled men while I was napping inside my Jeep…in wet clothes. Alone. Always alone.
That was it, I was calling Trystan. He’d programed his number into my cell on the fourth morning he had met me. I was sick of being alone and living in the past—especially when the past was so fucking bad. My fingers fumbled with my cell as I tried to find Trystan’s number. Something didn’t feel right. I reached for the door handle but could not seem to find it. For just a second I panicked, but then I realized I was too sleepy to care.
Trystan
After Dakota left me standing in the middle of campus, I’d skipped the rest of my classes and gone to the gym to work my frustrations out on some weights and a punching bad. On the treadmill, I ran eight miles. I soaked in the Jacuzzi while chatting on the phone with my dad. Harassed Alex until he finally told me to stop calling him unless I’d something useful to say, and then called the animal shelter to see about getting my own dog since Alex was back to not even considering letting me borrow Big Al. Yes, I knew trying to lure a hot guy to you wasn’t the right reason to adopt a pet. No, I didn’t care. Seriously, Dakota was beautiful when he smiled and animals made him smile.
So I was getting an animal. It was actually a rather simple equation—Dakota liked furry things so I would get a furry thing. Sure, the lady on the phone had rattled on and on about all the responsibilities of owning a pet, but I’m pretty sure it couldn’t be that hard—Alex did it. I had an appointment at the shelter this Saturday. Yes, I had an appointment to adopt an unwanted pet. Why in the hell one would have to make an appointment to adopt a pet that other people didn’t want was beyond me, but I would play their game if that was what it took. The few seconds I’d considered forgetting about trying to win-Dakota-over had vanished. I was now back into my win Dakota over campaign and I was going at full speed ahead.
The next day, I’d tried to follow my old routine but my body had been wide awake when it was time for me to start getting ready to meet Dakota to take him his breakfast. Since I hadn’t exactly developed a solid plan to win him over, I didn’t meet him outside his dorm. I exercised again. Hard. I exercised until every inch of my body ached. That had taken about four hours out of my day, which left me with way too damned long to try to entertain myself. I’d gone to bed a little pissed and a lot frustrated.
The next day had been just as shitty. I’d gone to the gym and tried to numb my self-pity feelings, talked with one of the candidates my dad had picked out to be my agent, and then got incredibly frustrated when I realized it was only one o’clock in the afternoon. I’d thought for sure it had to be three a.m.—I was that bored. Hell, I was lonely. I was lonely for Dakota and that was absolutely ridiculous. I went back to the gym.
After the gym, I snuck by the Aquatic Center and watched Guppy swim for a while. Okay, I watched until they finished up for the night and if I was going to leave before he saw me, I needed to haul ass. As I climbed into my car, I couldn’t help but wonder if Dakota was wearing his gloves tonight. It was fucking cold out here and he had to walk across campus to get to his dorm. It had started snowing three hours ago and wasn’t showing any signs of letting up any time soon. He would need a fucking sled to get to his dorm.
Why did he even live in a dorm? How the fuck would I know? He didn’t share information with me. I shared, shared, and shared. In return, he would give me nothing and I still wanted him. I knew what I was feeling would probably fall firmly into the unhealthy category, but I couldn’t muster up the strength to try to convince myself to reevaluate why I was obsessed with him. Was it because he was the only person that had ever told me no? Maybe. Was it because he was gorgeous and I’d jacked off to visions of him in that speedo more times than Albert Einstein could count? Maybe. Did I think he had the most beautiful smile in the world? Yes. Had I ever noticed a guy’s smile before Dakota? No.
Whatever the reason, I was obsessed. Hell, if I didn’t know better, I would say I was falling in love with him. I laughed out loud. That was not possible—he had offered me nothing that would make him lovable.
Whatever the reason, I wanted him. Instead of pulling into the garage of my apartment building, I sped right by and made a loop that would head me back toward campus. He was mine and I didn’t give a damn how hard he made me fight for him. He could give me the cold shoulder. He could pout. He could insult me. He could pull all that shit because I saw something so much more simmering in his eyes when he looked at me. It was there whether he wanted it to be or not, and I was not stopping until I convinced him to give us a chance.
My adrenaline was pumping as I sped across town. No, I was not going to go barbaric on him but I didn’t want him to go to sleep tonight without me letting him know I was not giving up. He could keep trying to push me away, but as long as I could see that burn in his emerald eyes—the one he desperately tried to hide—I was not raising the white flag.
I pulled straight onto the sidewalk outside his dorm room because I didn’t have time to park in the parking lot and walked to his building. I needed him now.
Do not ask me how I knew which room was his—the answer would only seem creepy to someone on the outside looking in. Yes, I’d taken it upon myself to learn everything about him I could gather from the internet, people in his classes, and people in his dorm. I took the stairs three at a time and everybody got out of my way because to be honest—I was huge. People instinctively understand that it was almost impossible to stop that much weight when it was moving fast so they simply dove for cover. To keep my stellar reputation intact, I shouted ‘I’m sorry’ as I nearly mowed them over.
I stopped outside Dakota’s room and took a few deep breaths. I didn’t need to scare him to death. When I finally felt like I’d gotten my thundering heart under control, I knocked politely on the door. Nothing. I knocked again and when nobody opened the door, I leaned my ear against the wood and listened.
Well, hell, I should not have done that. I recognized the sweet sounds of rough sex, soft whimpers and loud grunts, and suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Those sounds weren’t so sweet when they might have been coming from my Guppy and I was not the one making him whimper. Instead of ripping the door off the hinges like I wanted to do, I knocked again…this time not so politely.
“Go away!”
Okay, that was Dakota’s roommate. That was a good sign. I thought.
“Just a few more minutes, I promise. Get back in your car before you freeze to death!”
What the fuck? Get back in your car? Was Dakota out in his beat-up Jeep in this weather? Since I was a borderline stalker, I damn well knew what his Jeep looked like and I knew it was a rust bucket that had holes in places where there should not be holes. Fuck! If he was out there, he had to be freezing his pretty ass off. Torn between ripping Baxter’s head off or finding my Guppy and making sure he was nice and warm, I finally decided on rescuing Dakota. Baxter’s head would still be there tomorrow.
I raced back down the stairs and tried my best not to injure any innocent bystanders in the process. Regardless of your intentions, people frowned on collateral damage. When I burst through the dorm’s front doors, I slowed down only to keep from sliding down the stairs and wiping my ass out on the ice that coated the concrete. I intended to play it cool, swagger over to Dakota’s Jeep, and ask if he needed my big hot body to warm him up but when I looked across the parking lot, I saw his Jeep was running. Even in the darkness of the evening, I saw his pale face through the windshield. He was asleep.
He could not be asleep in a running vehicle with a fucking snow pile blocking his fucking exhaust pipe. Now I was running again with my eyes locked on his face. I knew, just knew in my heart, that something was not right with him. Fuck, I’d walked right past him earlier and he could have needed help. I hit an ice patch seconds before I got to the side of his vehicle and slid straight into the hard metal, smacking it with enough force to make it shake.
He didn’t move.
Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.
His name tumbled from my mouth as I grabbed the handle and ripped the door open. “Dakota! Wake up!” I screamed as I physically yanked him from the vehicle, and then laid him on the sidewalk. I had him partially cradled in my lap to try to protect him from the cold ground as best I could. One hand was caressing his face while I was digging for my cell with the other. What the fuck had he been thinking? No, what the fuck was his idiotic roommate thinking by sending him out in this freezing weather?
The 911 operator answered and I quickly told her I needed an ambulance and spat out the address. After she dispatched that, she told me to make sure he was in the open air and was able to get plenty of fresh oxygen. I moved away only long enough to shut off his engine and then I had him back in my lap again. From what she was explaining, there wasn’t anything I could do if he had carbon monoxide poisoning—just make sure he had fresh air until the ambulance got to us with oxygen. She tried to assure me that he would be fine but from the way my heart was thundering in my chest, I was clearly not believing her. I finally tossed the phone aside so I could cradle him better and watched for any signs of life.
“Come on, Guppy,” I whispered. “I’m not finished with you yet. We’re not done yet. You need to wake your stubborn little ass up for me because I want you to see that I’m not that easy to shove away. I don’t know who’s hurt you, but I’m going to do everything in my power to prove how different from them that I’m. Come on, babe. Come on,” I kept urging.
I heard sirens blaring and I could not believe how quickly they had responded but then I saw it is just the campus police. I was disappointed until I saw the security guard jump out of his car with a small oxygen tank and mask. “Oh, thank the fuck! Hurry!” I yelled at him.
He knelt down beside me and gently eased Dakota out of my lap. When I started to argue, he said, “He’ll probably be more comfortable lying flat, okay, Trystan? Grab something soft to put under his head.” He worked calmly and efficiently while I grabbed a beach towel and tucked it under Dakota’s head. I could not help but worry about how cold he had to be lying there on the ice-covered sidewalk.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked. “Tell me he’s going to be okay.”
The man smiled. “He’ll be fine. His color is good and his breathing is strong.” He slipped the oxygen mask over Dakota’s mouth and nose and slowly started the oxygen flowing. “I don’t think he was in there very long.” He looked at me. “You did good, kid. It doesn’t take long for carbon monoxide poisoning—usually only five to fifteen minutes. If you hadn’t come along when you did, he would have been in serious trouble. People don’t realize the dangers associated with being inside running vehicles without proper ventilation.” He frowned and looked back at Dakota’s Jeep. “Older models are the most dangerous. Holes allow the exhaust to flow back into the car.” He glanced under the car and nodded. “It looks like his exhaust pipe may be blocked by snow. Go around and check for me if you don’t mind.”
I did mind. I was clutching Dakota’s deathly white hand and I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to break the contact even for a second. He looked down at our hands and nodded. “It’s okay. I’ll check it out in a minute.” He told me.
“Okay. Yeah. Okay.” I answered. “Why won’t he wake up?”
The words had barely left my mouth when I saw Dakota’s incredibly long eyelashes start fluttering uncontrollably.
“See, there he is,” the paramedic. “What’s his name?”
“Dakota.” There had never been a more beautiful sight than when he finally won the battle and I saw his bright green eyes open. Okay, they were cloudy and confused but they were still the pretty green that I was mad for.
“Dakota,” the man said in a loud, clear voice. “I need you to open your eyes and focus on your friend, okay.”
I heard more sirens in the background and when I glanced up to see how close they were, I noticed a large group of students had gathered around us. Dakota’s roommate was one of them, looking terrified and ashamed. The fucker needed to. He had almost gotten Dakota killed just so he could get fucking laid. I growled at him and his eyes grew even wider. Idiot.
When Dakota started struggling to get up, I forgot all about Baxter and my need to kill him. The security guard was telling me not to let him get up as he struggled to keep the oxygen mask on Dakota’s face so I held him down as gently as possible, whispering soft words to him and making certain he could see my face the entire time. His eyes weren’t exactly focused yet, but they were trying their best to get there. He looked confused and more than a little irritated.
“He’s fucking freezing to death,” I growled. I wanted to drape my body over his, but I figured that might not be ideal when his breathing was about the most important thing going on at the moment.
“The ambulance will have a heated blanket for him. They carry them this time of the year. Just give them a few seconds and we’ll have your boyfriend taken care of.”
That woke him up completely. His eyes widened and he looked straight at me. His mouth was moving but nobody could tell what he was saying since the oxygen mask was covering most of his face. He pushed against me as he tried to get up, but I didn’t budge. I shook my head and told him, “You don’t need to move right now, Guppy. Give the oxygen a few more minutes to work some magic on you.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead. “You scared the shit out of me, babe. Absolutely scared five years off my life. I’m going to punish your sweet ass for that as soon as you’re better.”
“Easy now,” my new best friend in the world, Mr. Man-With-the-Oxygen, said. “Keep it clean for the old folks.”
About that time, the EMTs got there and shoved him out of the way. They tried shoving me but since I was more like a brick wall, I didn’t move an inch. It would take more than these two lightweights to get me away from Dakota. “Touch me again and you’ll wish you didn’t,” I told the man in a calm voice. “You’ll need to work around me because I’m not leaving his side. Understood?”
The EMT acted like he was going to argue but then looked closely at me, recognition causing his eyes to grow wide. “Are you Tank Matherly? Dude, I’m such a huge fan. Who do you think you’ll sign with?”
Was he kidding me? His patient was lying on the cold sidewalk with carbon monoxide poisoning and he was wondering who I was going to sign with? “I’m going to sign your fucking death certificate if you don’t get focused on my boyfriend. It was carbon monoxide poisoning. He went to sleep in his car. Do your job.”
His face turned beet red, but at least he started working on Dakota. I heard his partner laughing at him. Good. He was clearly an ass. I also heard campus security telling a policeman what had happened. They were checking out the tailpipe and I heard them saying someone had piled the snow up so high that it had blocked pipe and exhaust was backed up inside the vehicle. Dakota stopped struggling to get up and now he just lay there, watching me with a strange expression on his face. They had covered his body with some kind of aluminum heating blanket that appeared to be warming him up. Everything seemed like it was going to be fine—a close call, but fine.
Everything didn’t feel fine to me.
Why would there be a pile of snow right there? It was not as if a snowplow had gone through and dumped a load right in that spot. It was not even a place where snow would be if someone had attempted to shovel the sidewalks clean. Why had he gone to his car instead of sitting in the lounge room of his dorm?
Dark thoughts swirled around in my head. Could he have done this on purpose? While I didn’t know much about Dakota, I knew there was a sadness always there, lurking in the shadows and threatening to consume him. I looked into his eyes again, searching for something to confirm my horrible suspicions, but I didn’t see anything. He was just looking at me with a hint of embarrassment and bewilderment tormenting his pretty eyes.
Well, hell, how would a person look if their suicide attempt had just been thwarted?
“How are you feeling, Dakota?” The second EMT asked as he squatted down beside us. “Do you think you feel ready for me to take the oxygen mask off?”
Dakota rolled his eyes and nodded.
“Okay, good.” The man gently started removing the mask. “Tell me your name and birthdate, please.”
“Dakota Jacobson—May the fifth, nineteen ninety-three.”
Whoa! That was not his name. His last name Jacobs and yet the EMT was holding the driver’s license they’d taken from Dakota’s pocket earlier and nodded in agreement.
“Good. You want to tell me what happened tonight?” He asked Dakota.
Again my eyes searched his for a hint of something that would scream suicide and again I wondered what the fuck I thought that might be. If suicidal thoughts were so easy to pick up on, family members wouldn’t suffer daily from the loss of loved ones. The symptoms weren’t easy to recognize because those suffering from depression somehow developed ingenious ways to keep their secret until it was too late.
“I think you need to tell me what happened,” he muttered. “My roommate needed the room and I came out to my Jeep to pass the time until he was finished.” He frowned. “I remember starting the engine and then pretty much nothing after that. What the hell happened?”
“Why did you come outside to the Jeep instead of staying inside where it was warm?” the EMT asked, stealing the question straight from my lips. “Don’t you all have rec rooms or something where everybody can congregate?”
“Yes, we do.” He paused and I waited. “I guess I’m not very social.” He finally said.
Well, that much was fucking true. He was not social. Maybe what happened was innocent after all?
“What happened?” Dakota asked again.
“It appears that your exhaust pipe was blocked by snow. When you started the engine, the fumes backed up into the vehicle and you were breathing carbon monoxide.” He turned and looked at me before adding, “If your boyfriend hadn’t come along when he did, you could have been in serious trouble, son. Carbon monoxide poisoning happens much more frequently than most people realize. Safety first, okay?”
“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Dakota countered quickly, a frightened look marring his features. I literally felt his entire body tense up.
“Yet,” I broke in. “I’m not his boyfriend yet but I’m pretty sure tonight I had to score some major points, right, Guppy?” It was right then that I realized what was going on with him—he thought I was ashamed of my sexuality. I didn’t think he tried very hard to hide that he wasn’t into girls, but he was afraid for me. He was afraid I wouldn’t want people to know. Well, hell, he was wrong about that one—I didn’t hide from anybody. If people didn’t like me, they could kiss my ass and move on down the line. If I didn’t agree with their lifestyles, I would do the same.
He blushed and continued to stare at me with those wide, innocent eyes of his. Oh yeah, I could handle this. If all I needed to do was convince him that I’m out and proud, it would be smooth sailing straight to my king-sized bed. How could he not have known? The entire campus and pretty much anybody associated with the SEC college football conference was aware of my bisexual status.
“Well, I don’t know about green eyes here, but you definitely scored some points with me when you put Elmore in his place earlier.” His eyes were twinkling with delight as he talked. He looked down at Dakota and said, “You should have heard your not-yet-boyfriend telling my partner off because he wasn’t giving you his full and undivided attention. The only thing better would have been if I could have been filming it so I could carry it back to the station and share it with the other guys.” He chuckled but then added, “He’s really a good guy but sometimes gets carried away with Alabama Temple football. To hear him tell it, your coach should probably be asking him for advice on how to win games.”
“I was pretty scared earlier. I should probably apologize,” I said, knowing I had no intention of apologizing. The dude needed to learn to focus on his patients instead of worrying about football.
“Nah, you shouldn’t. He had it coming.” Turning his attention back to Dakota, he said, “Now, let’s get you to the hospital, okay? You feel like moving around a bit?”
“Not going to the hospital,” Dakota rebuffed quickly. “I’m good. Shit, I think I’m starting to overheat. What the hell is this blanket?” He tried to push it off him, but I pushed it right back into place and gave him a look that dared him to buck up against me on this one. I was still scared shitless about what did happen and what almost happened.
“Yes, you’re going to the hospital, Guppy. They need to check you out and make sure everything’s good. You have a swim meet tomorrow afternoon, you need to make sure you’re ready for competition.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “No hospital, Trystan. I’m fine.”
I couldn’t help myself—I fucking loved it when he said my name. I glanced at the EMT to get his read on the situation.
“You really should go to the hospital. I can’t make you go, but I strongly advise that you do.” He said to both of us.
Dakota shook his head at him before he’d finished the last word.
“Do you have a roommate? Somebody that will be able to make sure you don’t start feeling any after-effects? You will probably have a headache and might feel some confusion and dizziness. I would feel much better knowing somebody would be checking up on you every few hours.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a roommate—Baxter. I’ll tell him what to do and I’m sure he’ll do what he can to make sure nothing happens,” Dakota answered and tried to push the heated blanket off him again.
I pushed it right back up. “Oh, hell no, Guppy. You’re not relying on Baxter for any damned thing. It is his fault you’re in this situation as it is. You can either go to the hospital or stay the night with me. Which will it be?”
I could tell he was starting to get irritated with me but, bless his heart, I didn’t give a fuck. I was standing my ground on this one. If I had my way, and I usually did, he would not spend another night in that dorm room with Baxter. Hell, I was still on the fence about whether I was going to let that bastard live or not. Dakota was coming home with me and he was going to stay there if I had to tie him to the bed every damned night. He was mine.
“Don’t be an idiot, Trystan. I’m not going to your place. Baxter will help me out and this is not his fault—it is mine. I should have checked the snow before I got in and started the engine. I’m the only one to blame. Now, if you don’t take your damned hand off this blanket, I’m going to shove it up your ass! I’m getting hot!”
I chuckled and I was sure he knew I was thinking that I wouldn’t be the one getting something shoved up their ass. Before we were finished, it would be my cock up his ass and he would love every thrust. I knew it and he knew it.
“The way I see things is that you have a very important decision to make. You can either go to the hospital or go home with me. If you try any other option besides one of those two, I’m going to call your coach and tell him what just happened and if I do that, I’m pretty sure your cute bubble ass will be benched tomorrow evening.” I was feeling damned smug. I had him. He was mine tonight.
“What’s it going to be, son?” The EMT asked and then added, “I recommend the hospital. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”
Dakota sent me one of his Guppy pouts but I didn’t budge. I would not trust Baxter with my trash, much less with the man making my heart do funny things. It was supposed to be my cock doing funny things in his presence but it was my damned heart twitching uncontrollably. I was certain this foreign feeling should scare the shit out of me.
But I was feeling pretty smug.
“Do you have an extra bed at your place? Where do you even live? Off campus?” Dakota fired questions at me as he shoved the blanket down and gave me a look that dared me to touch his blanket one more time. The evil child in me wanted to yank it back up just to show him I could, but I didn’t. He might win that battle, but I was going to win the war.
“I have extra beds, but we won’t need them. I live about ten minutes from here. Yes, off campus. Any more questions or are you ready to go?” I glanced down at his lean body and added, “You best be for deciding because in just a few more seconds, you’re going to be dying for that hot blanket again and that would just be embarrassing after how childish you’ve acted over it.”
He opened his mouth in outrage and I was sure he would have gotten me told quite well, but I didn’t give him the chance. Before a word could form, I grabbed him by the back of the neck, yanked him against me, and kissed him with every ounce of lust and love I’d been feeling for the past three months. I’d meant to prove a point, to show him I wasn’t afraid to let anybody and everybody know how I felt, but the tables turned on me quickly. The second I got a taste of his sweetness, I was lost. Most surprising was that he hesitated slightly when my lips first crashed against his, but then he gave as good as he was getting.
I hadn’t been prepared for that. I liked it. I liked it more than I probably should.