Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Hm. Are you sure? I don’t want you feeling weird. We’re both guys, but you’re also into guys, so I’m not sure how this works.”
“Are you attracted to me?” Cass asks with an edge of amusement to his voice.
“No!” I exclaim in a pitch all too high. “No,” I repeat, but now it’s too low. I clear my throat. “No. I’m straight. I was just looking because I noticed you beefed up.”
“The campus gym’s great, and the price is good,” Cassian says, walking past me with his T-shirt resting on his shoulder. Maybe I really am jealous, because I can’t stop staring. “Come on, I’ll show you around. It’s still early.”
“Just wash off those pickle juices because no man’s gonna want you if you smell like that,” I laugh a bit stiffly, because the more I see of him, the more I’m convinced every gay guy in this town would want a piece of Cass even if he smelled of vinegar. Which he doesn’t. Nope, as I walk behind him, that delicious scent of rosemary and mint still pulls at my nose. It’s a great cologne. I bet girls like it too.
“I’ll just tell them it’s exotic perfume someone brought me from abroad,” Cass says, approaching his bedroom. His gaze lingers on me, as if he wants to figure something out.
“You have to tell me where you got your cologne though, seriously. I can already see girls stopping in the street to smell me if I used it.” I laugh and put down my box, but even though I know I should get changed, I can’t force myself to break the eye contact. I missed him so much.
Cass hides inside his room, and only his head remains out. “Oh, it’s from that local natural cosmetics store. They have lots of different products, and I swear by their stuff. Get changed and we can go.”
And with that, he disappears from sight.
I drop to my narrow, bare bed with a deep sigh. I don’t know why I’m this rattled. I’ve seen Cass on camera, but it hits me every time I look at him just how handsome he’s gotten. Not that he wasn’t before, but we were teens, and in the two years we’ve been apart he’s turned into a man.
When I hear him rattling with something in the kitchen, I force myself up and change. It’s an opportunity to assess myself. I have no reason to feel inadequate. My blue eyes are a chick magnet, I’m athletic, sturdy, with dirty blond hair, and my nipples have a nice dark pink shade, no worse or better than Cass’s.
Why am I checking out my nipples?
With a groan, I pull on a fresh T-shirt that still smells of Mom’s fabric softener. I don’t know her secret, but the laundry she does always smells so good. I’ve noticed Cassian prefers dark, earthy tones like brown, green, gray, and black. It’s pretty fitting with his love of nature actually, but I like a more sporty look with a splash of color here and there. So for going out, I pull on a white T-shirt to go with my blue jeans, and a blue zip-up hoodie with the logo of my favorite national park on the back. It’s pretty cool since it has a bear on it.
There really is no reason to be jealous, especially that girls have different preferences, as I’ve been informed by my female friends many times.
And yet, a part of me is annoyed that Cassian looks like an underwear model now and is likely the king of this fucking apartment building.
A knock on the door.
I jog over to open and raise my eyebrows. “You don’t have to knock. What did you think was happening? It’s not like I have time to jerk off in five minutes.” I laugh, but to be fair, it does take me less to get off sometimes.
Cass shrugs. He's wearing a dark blue T-shirt made of thin merino wool, which helps sweat evaporate instead of just getting damp. I wouldn't have even known that fabric factoid if it wasn't for Cass extensively explaining its properties to me during one of our many video calls.
“Well, I am gay, so I don’t want to make you feel weird.”
“What? You might be gay, but I can see you’re still a dumbass! Like we didn’t go skinny-dipping years ago. You’ve seen it all. If you keep making it weird, I’m gonna make you smell my armpit.” A punishment we used to inflict on each other back in the day.
He raises his hands with a smile. “Maybe another time.”
I shake my head in disbelief. Since when is he this polite? Oh well, a little teasing never hurt anyone, so I grab his arm and pull him before he knows what hit him.
“That’s it! You’re being weird. You’re smelling it!” I laugh and try to grab the back of his head with one hand, while pulling my T-shirt up with the other.