Page 35 of Asystole

Miles of skin covering mountains of muscle stare back at me.

That goddamn burgundy happy trail captures my attention and demands my entire focus.

“Thought I wasn’t your type,” Chase sasses, catching my eyes on him again.

“I thought you weren’t either.” My eyes widen as I realize what I just admitted and try to backtrack. “I mean, you’re not,” I correct with a shake of my head.

“Nope, no take-backs,” Chase says with a wicked gleam in his eyes and a matching grin.

I roll my eyes.

“Chase, you’re standing in my living room with water cascading down your giant chest in nothing but a gray towel that’s refusing to act decent. Meanwhile, I’m gay and haven’t gotten laid in over two years. So, yeah, if you’re gonna put it on display, then I’m gonna look, but it doesn’t mean anything,” I snap in frustration.

Chase’s brow furrows as though I’ve offended him. I’m about to apologize when he opens his mouth.

“You heard him, didn’t you?”

I nod once, not bothering to pretend like I don’t know who he’s talking about.

“Shit, Logan, I’m sorry,” Chase says, moving to sit next to me on the couch. The towel is working overtime as it strains against his muscular thighs, and I know at any second, the flimsy knot at his waist is going to fail. “The only reason I answered was that I thought the shower would drown out the sound of Hanlon’s voice. And I definitely didn’t expect⁠—”

“Stone to literally be up his ass?” I scoff.

Chase smiles.

“Well, they were in public, so I don’t think he was literally in there. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure Han’s strictly a top.”

I groan and flop backward, wishing I could black out and wake up with amnesia.

“Okay, so fuck them. Right?” Chase says, pulling me back to an upright position. “They’re happy. Let them do their thing, and in the meantime, we’ll focus on getting you that happily ever after you deserve with someone who looks at you the way Stone looks at Hanlon.”

Keeping my eyes glued to the carpet in front of me, I ask, “How do you fall out of love with someone? I mean, it’s not like I can magically recreate the pull, the chemistry, the fuckin’ biology, that made me gravitate toward Stone in the first place. It’s either there or it isn’t, and we don’t really get to choose when it shows up.”

I feel the couch dip and suddenly, Chase’s big ass is straddling my hips. The towel might as well be on the floor.

“Chase! What the fuck?” I’m laughing too hard for it to sound angry.

“You want biology? Here it is,” he says, wiggling his hips, laughing just as hard as I am before growing serious again. “I don’t believe in the notion that there’s this one person meant for each of us. That’s absurd. We live in a world of eight billion people. You have so many options, dude. You just have to decide that you’re ready to explore them.”

I carefully plant my hands on Chase’s thighs and try to push him off me, but he doesn’t budge.

“Dude,” I choke out through laughter. “You weigh a literal fuck-ton. Get off.”

“I mean, I guess that would make me weigh slightly less.”

I stare at him in confusion, not following until I see his hand move toward his dick.

“Oh, hell no.” I stand abruptly, dumping him onto the floor.

Chase is on his back, his towel precariously covering his dick and not much else, laughing harder than I’ve ever seen someone laugh. It makes me laugh too until we’re both cracking up.

I think emotional overload paired with mental exhaustion has made us both lose our minds.

But when I go to bed half an hour later, it’s the first time in a long time that I fall straight to sleep.

Chapter 14

Chase