Page 42 of Declan

“I was an experiment?” he whispered.

My phone buzzed in my hand. I tore my gaze from Kyler’s to read the text.

Gideon:Just grabbed the pizza. Bringing it to your room.

Me:Ok. Thx.

When I looked back up, Kyler had walked to the bathroom. He closed the door and seconds later, I heard the shower running.

I debated on barging in there, shoving him against the wall, and devouring that sweet mouth of his as we stood beneath the water. To say I was sorry with actions instead of words. To tell him that he wasn’t an experiment, but the best sex of my life.

“Don’t fuck with Kyler,”Royal had told me that night at the club.“The last thing he needs is his heart broken again because of some closeted guy who can’t get his shit together.”

Maybe it was best if Kyler stayed upset with me. The disappointment he probably felt right then was nothing compared to the pain he’d feel if we got more involved and I pushed him away because I was too much of a chicken shit to be my true self.

A knock sounded at the door, and I went to open it.

Gideon handed me a giant pizza. He was still in the clothes he’d been in earlier and didn’t have a hair out of place.

“Having a nice time?” he asked in a knowing tone, studying me with blue eyes.

Yeah, he definitely heard us earlier.

“Not at the moment,” I admitted, getting a whiff of cheese pizza as I took the warm box from him. “Pretty sure I just ruined it.”

“How so?”

Fuck it. Might as well tell him. He knew anyway.

“I lied to him because I’m a fucking coward,” I said.

“It’s not my place to have an opinion on your personal life, Price,” he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. “But coming from someone who cares about you, I can say you’re being a dumbass.”

My jaw went slack. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Gideon turned and walked back to his room.

Confused, I shut the door and put the pizza on the table. Not really hungry anymore.

The shower turned off and Kyler walked out of the bathroom moments later, moving a towel through his damp hair. And completely naked. Droplets of water glistened on his tanned skin, and I wanted to lick and kiss every one of the damn freckles on his chest.

Without a word to me, he picked up his discarded boxers from the floor and slipped them on before grabbing his jeans. After finding his shirt and covering his delectable chest, he sat on the edge of the bed to put on his shoes.

“Are you not talking to me now?” I asked, watching him.

He shrugged. Said nothing.

When he tried to walk past me, I gripped his bicep and stopped him.

“Kyler. Stop this shit.”

“Why?” he asked, staring up at me with defiant, gray eyes. “I’m nothing but an experiment to you, remember? Well, congrats, Declan. You got what you wanted. You successfully fucked a guy. Now you can go back to pretending to be straight.”

“Pretending?”

“Do you really think I’m that stupid?” Kyler asked. “You’re so deep in the closet it’s a miracle you haven’t found Aslan yet.”

When he went to leave that time, I let him.

As he left the room and slammed the door, I felt the pain from the flames at last.