Page 19 of Chasing Riddick

I woke up feeling predictably groggy from the pill I’d taken the night before, but other than that, I was feeling great.

I basked in the dopey, sleepy euphoria for several long moments, wondering why I was feeling so good when I brushed my hand across my chest and froze.

“What the fuck?” I glanced down and gasped.

I was covered in cum.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

I had a wet dream! I hadn’t had one of those since puberty…

Shit… was that against the rules?

No. It couldn’t be. I had no control over that… though I wasn’t convinced Riddick wo uld see it that way.

Feeling anxious and unsure, I hopped in the shower and scrubbed the dried cum off my body before rushing to make myself a protein-heavy breakfast.

I was just tucking in when Riddick arrived.

I’d unlocked the door for him, and he strolled in looking as hot as he always did.

His white T-shirt clung to him like a second skin, and it was worn out and faded enough that I could see the shadows of his nipples through the cotton.

Averting my gaze, I took a big gulp of orange juice to distract myself from the wall of a man who had just walked into my space.

“Morning,” I greeted him, trying to act natural.

He helped himself to the seat across from me and stared.

I eyed him warily, taking a bite of my eggs and waiting for him to say something. Of course, he didn’t.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

“You drink?”

“No.”

“Smoke?”

“No.”

“Fuck?”

“Of course not, Riddick, Christ. Are we going to do this every damn day?”

His blue eyes twinkled with a playful sort of amusement, and I found myself beginning to grin despite myself.

“You do anything else I should know about?” he asked, completely ignoring my question.

Why was he smirking like that?

I narrowed my eyes at him, remembering how I woke up covered in cum.

I bit my lip nervously, and his gaze flicked down to my mouth before returning to meet my gaze .

Should I tell him?

I was sick of these head games he was playing with me. He was taunting me with that little smirk on his stupid, handsome face and his gorgeous, sparkling eyes.

He knew what he was doing.

I wasn’t going to let him continue to gaslight me into thinking I was crazy. He was definitely vibing with me, too.

“I had a wet dream,” I told him, studying his expression carefully so I could pick apart his reaction and examine it later.

“Did you now?” he asked, and my heart thumped.

“Yeah. I woke up covered in cum,” I said, doing my very best to keep a straight face.

He licked his lips, and his eyes darkened.

“Do you feel better?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“What do you mean?”

He leaned forward, staring at me so intently I could feel his gaze burning holes into my retinas.

“Do you feel better now that you’ve come?”

He looked me up and down before leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yeah. I do, actually. But I didn’t do it on purpose.” I frowned, hoping he wasn’t implying that this meant I failed his little test.

“What was the dream about?” he asked, and my eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I don’t remember.”

The twinkle in his eyes suddenly seemed sinister.

“You don’t remember?”

“Nope,” I said, popping the ‘p.’

“Well. I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed.” He sighed, getting up.

Shock exploded through me, and I shot to my feet in outrage .

“What do you mean?! I can’t help a wet dream!” I cried out, chasing him out of the shack, refusing to let myself get distracted by how ripped his back was as he peeled off his T-shirt.

“I really thought you had more self-control than that. Guess I was wrong,” he lamented as he made his way to the lean-to and started sliding plates onto the bar stationed on the bench press.

“Self-control?! I was asleep! How was I supposed to control that?”

He just shrugged.

“This is bullshit, Riddick! I didn’t fail your little test. I didn’t jerk off! And frankly, I think it’s fucking weird that you even made that rule! What does jerking off have to do with surfing!?”

This was it.

This was the Mr. Miyagi moment where he was going to tell me that by not beating off, I was teaching myself how to beat the waves off or some epic, deep shit like that…

He paused and examined me the way he always did. No one had ever stared at me with the intensity that Riddick did. It was like he was peeling the skin off my bones with his gaze.

“Who said it had anything to do with surfing?” he asked, his tone completely flat and unreadable.

“Wh-what?”

“You heard me, Finn. I won’t repeat myself.”

“If it doesn’t have anything to do with surfing, why did you tell me I can’t masturbate!?”

“I never told you that you couldn’t masturbate, Finn. You’re the one that said that.”

“Yeah, but… you just told me you were disappointed in me for coming in my sleep! I’m sick of whatever these fucking head games are, Riddick. Are you into me or not? Because yesterday it sure as shit seemed like you were into me, and now you’re gaslighting me into thinking that never happened.”

There. I did it. I just straight up asked him .

His usual stone-cold expression shuttered, and a look of remorse passed across his features.

“You’re right. I’ve been a dick.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded, pinning him with a glare. He wasn’t getting off that easy. I wanted him to admit that he was attracted to me and that it wasn’t just all in my head.

“So you are into me.” I said it like it was fact, not a question.

He sighed and ran his hand down his face in frustration.

“It doesn’t matter, Finn.”

“It does! It does matter!” I protested, feeling panicked that he was somehow managing to sweep this all under the rug.

“I’m not attracted to dudes, okay? Or… I never was before.

These last two days have been really confusing for me, and if there’s a chance it’s not one-sided, I need to know, or I’m going to go crazy here, Riddick. ”

“Finn…”

I stepped closer to him, my eyes stinging with tears for some reason.

“Tell me you’re not attracted to me, and I’ll leave it alone. I’ll never bring it up again,” I challenged, and he swallowed.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and it was just begging me to run my tongue over it.

“Alright. Fine. I’m attracted to you. But I meant what I said. It doesn’t matter. Nothing can come of it. I shouldn’t have been playing with your head like that, and it stops now, okay? We need to focus on your training. No distractions, remember?”

Honestly, I stopped listening after he told me he was attracted to me.

“I knew it!” I bellowed, punching the air.

He chuckled in that subdued way of his.

“So you think I’m cute?” I beamed at him, and he shook his head, the corner of his mouth twitching dangerously close to a smile. “It’s the dimples, isn’t it? My mom always told me no one could resist the dimples.”

“Don’t push it, shark bait. Did you hear anything I just said? ”

“Nope. All I heard was Finn is the hottest surfer in the world, and Riddick has a big gay crush on him.”

“I didn’t say any of that.”

“You might as well have.” I gave him my signature grin, popping my dimples as much as I could.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Would you focus?”

“You wanted me so bad you made me save up my love juice for you!”

“Jesus Christ. Never call it that again . ”

“Well, what else should I call it?”

“Finn…”

“You want me to call my love juice Finn? I mean, we can; I just think it might get a little confusing.”

“Finn!” His tone was suddenly dark, and my smile slipped at the serious look in his eyes. “I need you to listen to what I’m saying. Nothing can ever happen between us, okay?”

“Why not?”

“Way too many reasons to list.”

“Give me five.”

He glared at me but then held up his hand and started counting on his fingers.

“One: I’m your coach; it’s inappropriate for a coach to have relations with his trainee. Two: The ‘no fucking’ rule still stands. Three: Sexual relationships are a distraction, and you need to focus on training if you’re going to survive Leviathans. Four: You’re too young for me?—”

“What? Too young? I’m twenty-one. I know you call me a kid and whatever, but I’m an adult.”

He gave me a stern look and pursed his lips.

“I’m seventeen years older than you, Finn. That’s too much.”

I pouted. “I don’t think so. You don’t look that old. Plus, age is just a number.”

“The answer is no.”

“What about number five? ”

“What?”

“I told you to give me five reasons; that was only four.”

“You’re not ready to hear the fifth reason.”

“That feels like a copout.”

I could tell he was running out of patience with me, but I didn’t care.

It didn’t make any sense to me why we couldn’t explore this.

We could be into each other and still train for Leviathans.

And who cared if he was older? I was a full-fledged adult.

I could make my own decisions. I didn’t need him to make them for me.

He was being overly cagey for no reason.

“The answer is no, Finn,” he finally snapped. His tone was harsh enough that I knew he wasn’t leaving me any room to argue. “You either accept that our relationship stays strictly professional, or I’m done helping you. What’s it going to be?”

For the first time since I came here, I considered giving up Leviathans.

If he wasn’t my coach, would he be more willing to explore this thing between us?

Though, the second the thought entered my head, I knew I couldn’t do it.

I remembered the day Blake had taken Turtle and me to see the beach.

The way the water had called to some deep-seated part of my soul.

I couldn’t give up Leviathans, no matter how badly I wanted Riddick to give me a chance.

My entire body felt like it was deflating with the reality of the situation.

I glanced up at him, feeling totally crushed, and my heart broke even further at the soft look on his face.

He was looking at me like he knew he’d just hurt me and he actually cared.

“Come on, shark bait. Don’t look at me like that. You can do so much better than me. I’m just some washed-up old-timer. I’m sure you’re going to have tons of young, cute chicks just begging for a chance to date you after you tame Leviathans… or dudes, if that’s what you want.”

That brightened me up .

Not the part about people begging for a chance to date. If I was being honest, that was already kind of the case. I’d never had a hard time pulling. I was cute as fuck, and I knew it.

What made my stomach rush with butterflies was how he’d said when I tamed Leviathans.

“You really think I can do it?” I asked, suddenly feeling happy and hopeful again.

He stared at me for a long moment, then gave me one slow nod.

“If you give me your all, then yes. I think you can do it,” he said, though his expression was back to that cold, unreadable mask he always wore.

I nodded, clenching my fists in determination.

“Alright. Deal. I won’t let you down, Riddick!” I promised, grinning at him so big that I knew my dimples were on full display.

“I know you won’t, kid,” he grunted, then got back to work loading up the bench press.