Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
The look on his face is tired but his hair looks like a glowing halo in the sun.
“All night,” he tells me.
I exhale, pushing back the covers. “If anyone else said that, I’d be so supremely creeped out. But it’s you, so…”
His eyes rake over me. “It’s me.”
“Why aren’t you in bed? Wait, were you serious when you said all night? Did you sleep at all?” I ask, wiping the sleep from my eyes.
He shakes his head, standing to cross the room. “I’ll be right back.”
I get up and see that it’s only eight in the morning.
Outside, it looks like the ideal summer day. A little bit of dew still burning off of the grass and trees, birds hopping around in the garden, and an orange butterfly floating through the air.
So why does something feel off with Torin?
He returns a few minutes later with one of my short espresso cups in his hand.
“Here. I tried to make it like you do,” he says, putting the cup onto my bedside table.
“You made me an espresso,” I say, marveling at the sight of it. “It even has the proper crema on the top. Damn.”
“Hope it’s to your standards, coffee king.”
I hum as I take a sip. “It’s great. A hot guy bringing me coffee in the morning is something I could get used to.”
I look away the moment the words leave my mouth.
It’s getting harder and harder to remember that getting used to anything with Torin isn’t a good idea, and certainly not something I should say.
But he doesn’t seem to catch it.
He comes over and sits on the mattress next to me, and I can see the hint of dark circles under his eyes.
“You should get ready after you finish it. We have plans today.”
“Damn. Should I be excited?”
He shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe. You get to spend time with me, so I assume you’re already rock hard at the prospect of it.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I say with a smile. “Fine. I’m down for a mysterious outing, even though I know there has to be some actual reason you’re doing it.”
Torin exhales, pushing his hair back from his face.
“Maybe I just want to be with you off campus for a day.”
My heart skips. “I see.”
I try to tell myself that Torin saying he wants to “be with me” doesn’t mean the same thing that my overeager mind assumes.
I toss back a sip of espresso, standing up and stretching. I’m ready to head out within twenty minutes, and he stays by my side as we head downstairs.
“Let’s leave from the back,” he says, cutting me a glance.
“Torin, I’ve left from the front door many times this week. It’s not like some guy is going to be standing out there waiting for me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Fine. The back is good.”
We walk out onto the back patio. Weston and Sev are out there swimming already, and I wave as Torin and I walk out through the gate at the side of the yard.
“Hope your shoes are comfortable, because we’ve got a long walk,” Torin says as we head down the edge of Red Row, heading toward campus.
“And you’re still not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Nope. You’ll find out.”
As we walk, I can’t tell if Torin is acting differently today because he hasn’t slept or because of something else.
I feel his hand against mine when we’re reaching the edge of campus.
He slides his fingers through mine, holding my hand, even though he’s barely said a word to me during our walk.
I glance around, worried that he saw some sort of threat at first. But there’s nothing.
He’s just holding my hand.
Because he fucking feels like it.
I struggle to act normal, reminding myself that to him, it’s likely just another physical touch that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
“Do you ever pretend you’re a tourist in your own city?” I ask him.
“Hmm?”
I nod toward the cobbled sidewalks that lead down into the town surrounding Crimson College.
People are out, going for runs and walking dogs and pushing babies in strollers.
“I don’t usually come down here, just because everything I need is on campus. So when I do, I kind of feel like I’m a tourist, even though I could come here anytime I wanted.”
“So you go into museums and ask people for directions?”
I snort. “No. I just notice things. Like that oak tree, with all the carvings in it,” I say, pointing over to one of the trees that line the street.
“Or like that sex toy shop with the dragon-dick dildos in the window,” Torin says. My eyes snap to the side and he pinches my hip, giving me a wicked grin. “Damn, that made you look.”
I smile. “Fuck off.”
“I think I feel like a tourist everywhere I go,” Torin finally says, looking up at the light filtering through the trees. “I’ve traveled so much, and I plan on doing it forever. When I started working at the hardware store, I was only fifteen. Every single penny I made I saved up for a volunteering trip. And then I did it again, and then again.”