AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Zach approached cautiously and leaned an arm up above the opening, hovering over Lake. “You look like someone kicked your cat.”
“I don’t have a cat,” Lake mumbled.Does maintenance need to do a check of the aircraft?Yes. Fucking triple yes. Check it a-goddamn-gain. He underlined his words four times and then drew an arrow pointing to it.
“You should stop flying this thing if you hate it so much. Seriously, man, there’s nothing wrong with it. I’ve checked it myself,fivetimes now. If someone in engineering sees that, they’re going to stick something uncomfortable up your ass. I know you’re into that now, but I don’t think they’re gonna make it as pleasant for you as your friend did.”
Lake glared up at one of his oldest friends. “Do you have something constructive to tell me? If not, kindly fuck off somewhere else.”
Zach’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “What’s going on with you? Combative isn’t your style.”
“Nothing,” Lake muttered, going back to his report. The pen went through the paper, and he sighed before angrily dropping the clipboard next to himself. He’d need to grab a fresh set from inside.
Zach settled next to him and nudged his shoulder. “Talk to me.”
“He doesn’t want to date,” Lake burst out.
Zach looked confused for a second. Understanding dawned. “Oh. Your guy? Grady?”
“No, Franklin from admin,” Lake said dryly.
“All right, no need to bite my head off. I didn’t know you were interested in Franklin. I could have gotten you his number.” Lake didn’t laugh, and Zach sighed. He rubbed the nape of Lake’s neck, gently massaging. “What do you mean, he doesn’t want to date?”
“So we spent Saturday together, and I stayed the night, and we had so much sex you can’t even imagine. But then on Sunday morning—after another round of sex—he—”
“How’s your ass feeling today?” Zach asked, shocked.
“Sore. That’s not the point, Zachary.” He was feeling tender every time he sat down, or shifted, and it had been a strange kind of hell. It sent pleasure tingling up his spine every time he felt it, both because itwasstrangely pleasant, and also because it reminded him of how he’d gotten that sore to begin with. But then he remembered that Grady wasn’t going to help keep the soreness from going away. That once it faded, that would be it. The idea of finding someone else to sleep with that wasn’t Grady felt all kinds of wrong to him. “The point is that I thought the natural progression was that we should date because I don’t just want him for sex. I like him,likelike him. I ticked yes, you know?”
“Okay, I think I’m following.”
“But he just wants to be friends.”
“That’s his choice, isn’t it?”
“It’sminetoo,” Lake said irritably. “I don’t think it’s fair for him to use the fact that I’ve only ever dated women before him against me.”
“You said his last boyfriend cheated on him, right? And the boyfriendbeforethat, who he was engaged to—which is a big deal, Lake—cheated on him as well, except with a woman?”
“So what? I’m not either of those shitbags, and I thought we knew each other well enough by now that he wouldknowI’m not like that.” It wasn’t that Lake didn’t understandwhyGrady had reservations. But Lake had been nothing but honest about his feelings, and didn’t Grady trust him enough to know that Lake would never cheat or try to hurt him? Lake was pretty sure he was half in love with the guy. Cheating was the last thing on his mind. He just wanted to see where it could go. Was the idea of dating Lake so horrifying that Grady didn’t even want totry?
“Sometimes fears are hard to let go of,” Zach said.
“Yeah, but it’sme.” Grady should alreadyknowthat Lake wouldn’t do that.
“Maybe he just needs time?”
“Maybe I’m just good for a fuck but not for a relationship,” Lake said, trying not to let the bitterness leak into his tone.
“Whoa, hey. That’s not fair. To you or him. He let you stick around like a leech for months before this. If he didn’t like you as a person, I doubt he would have kept letting you sleep in his bed, drink all his liquor, and eat all his food.”
“Because we’re friends. And that’s all he wants to be.”
“Well, you’re my friend, and I don’t let you sleep inmybed, so at least you guys have something unique going on?”
“I have slept in your bed,” Lake mumbled. “You just weren’t in it. It’s hard to fuck with Felix like rabbits with a third. Oh, wait…” Lake gave him a sly smile.
“Do you really want me to start waxing poetic about Avery’s ass and tongue?”
Lake scowled, hating that his bluff had been called. Then he huffed and deflated. He hopped off the bird and picked up the clipboard. Hewasgoing to fill out another form because fuck engineering to the depths of hell.
