Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Now though, it felt alien. Like slipping back into their seventeen-year-old self when visiting their parents and watching that same self cease to exist the second their door closed behind you.
Edgar scowled. “I said, I don’t feel weird about you. I feel weird about me.”
Jamie’s gut unclenched. “Wait, what?”
In one step, Edgar loomed over them. “Where did you go?”
“When?”
Edgar ran a finger over the corner of their mouth. “You smiled all weirdly, and then it was like you were gone.”
It was hot, dude, except… You’re great, only… You made me come really hard, but…
“I’m here,” Jamie said. “Now what did you mean about feeling weird about you?”
“I… When you… I really liked when you… And I guess I didn’t know that I…but I…I really did…”
Oh. Relief rushed through Jamie, along with a new understanding. Edgar wasn’t giving them a kiss-off. He was processing how much he liked being topped.
Jamie let the desire show in their eyes, and Edgar’s face went slack.
“You really liked it when I…what?” Jamie teased. They crowded Edgar back until his shoulders hit the wall.
Edgar sucked in a breath. He had a freckle on his left eyelid and another at the corner of his mouth, and Jamie promised themself that they would find every other freckle he had.
“Truth or dare?” Jamie murmured against his lips.
“How do you go from zero to so fucking hot in one second?”
Gratified, Jamie just smiled.
“Truth,” Edgar whispered.
Jamie had been expecting him to say dare, but this was sweeter. It was his truth that Jamie wanted most.
“You really liked it when I what?” Jamie repeated.
Edgar looked at Jamie so deeply it felt like he was crying. When he spoke, it was in a voice so low and thick, it was mostly breath and want.
“Pulled my hair.” He shuddered. “Bossed me around. When you took charge. When you took…care of me.”
There was no sound in the world for Jamie except the whispered confession. Edgar—strong, scared, lonely Edgar—wanted someone to take care of him. And Jamie? Fuck, Jamie wanted to be the one to do it.
They swallowed thickly but managed to get out, “Why does that make you feel weird?”
Edgar shrugged, but Jamie could practically read his thoughts in the air. Because I’m not supposed to. Because it makes me feel weak. Because, because, because.
“Maybe weird is the wrong word,” Edgar said. “Maybe I’m just…surprised.”
“Surprise isn’t too bad,” Jamie ventured.
Edgar’s smile was sweet and warm. “Yeah. Not so bad.” Then he reached for Jamie and tangled their fingers together. “Kiss me?” he asked.
Jamie obliged, and when they pulled apart, breathing heavily, the alarm on Edgar’s phone chimed.
“Checkout time,” he said in a voice that registered his disappointment.
Jamie swallowed their own, kissed him chastely on the cheek, and backed away. They stole glances at each other as they gathered their things and packed up the food.
Once outside, the heat instantly turned their damp clothes warm and muggy, a particularly undesirable microclimate that made Edgar pull his shirt off as soon as they got to the truck.
Feeling intoxicated with glee, Jamie did the same, loading the chandelier into the back and tucking their shirt around it for protection.
“Just have to drop off the key.” Jamie held it up.
“I can do it,” Edgar offered.
Jamie looked down at their bare torso and took a deep breath. “No, it’s okay. I can do it.”
They spun on their toe before anxiety could change their mind.
The office was so dark that the woman behind the desk probably couldn’t even see Jamie’s scars. But that didn’t stop them from feeling triumphant as they pushed the key across the counter.
I did it! I did it! I did it! pounded through Jamie’s head to the beat of their damp boots on the pavement, and they slid behind the wheel of the truck with a grin.
“You’re a fucking badass,” Edgar said. Then they held up the bakery cake and a plastic spoon.
“My life’s perfect right now,” Jamie said.
For a moment, they regretted the comment, not wanting to come on too strong. But with the sun falling on the bare skin of their chest, the promise of cake for breakfast, and a sweet, fascinating, gorgeous person in the passenger seat with the road ahead of them, nothing had ever been more true.
13
Edgar
3:14 p.m.
Edgar: Dude, please don’t ignore Allie’s texts. She gets really worried and then she asks me to text you. So this is me, texting you. Are you doing okay? Could you please text A back?
4:02 p.m.
Edgar: But if you’re not doing okay, you can tell us that too.
6:37 p.m.
Edgar: Poe? ARE you ok?
8:49 p.m.
Edgar: If something’s wrong I can help. Well, I can try.
8:54 p.m.
Edgar: You used to text me back, dude. What did I do, I don’t get it? If you tell me why you’re pissed I could at least apologize.
11:06 p.m.
Edgar: Remember the time we got Stu Mandeville to give us beers during Mardi Gras and we were so amped but then it turned out beer is disgusting?