Page 90 of Grave Beginnings

He paused at a desk off to the side of the main entry and requested a key, which was handed over a minute later. The woman behind the desk frowned at me, but said nothing. I tried to give her a polite smile, but she looked down instead of meeting my gaze. Angel turned toward me and held up the key, “Private changing room. Let’s go.”

We descended two flights of stairs. A giant window overlooked an Olympic-sized pool with multiple slides leading into it. Several people splashed in the water, and I paused on the stairs as I thought I caught a glimpse of fins. Were there fish shifters?

“Would you rather swim?” Angel asked.

“I don’t have a suit with me, but maybe someday…”

“The slides are fun, but the pool is less busy at night if you want to do laps.”

“The Y doesn’t have windows like that,” I said, following Angel down to the bottom floor. This area was buzzing, with a full café, and people wandering back and forth between what looked like an open gymnasium and a weight room.

Angel led us down a long hall and to another narrow one filled with closed doors, where he unlocked one. The room had a small, double-sized bed built into the wall and a dresser, as well as a tiny toilet next to a stand shower. It was the smallest efficiency I’d ever seen.

“This is a changing room?”

“Works for naps too,” Angel said as he kicked off his shoes. “They keep them pretty clean. Say you come here on a weekend and your brother is running around all day, but you want to nap or read in quiet, these rooms are for that.”

“That’s sort of amazing,” I said, unable to tear my eyes off him as he lifted his shirt over his head.

“You gonna change?” he asked.

“Oh, right,” I said, and set my bag on the tiny dresser to pull out my sweatpants and t-shirt.

“You can leave your shoes here. You won’t need them in the climbing room. Everything in there is carpet.”

“Is it one of those cliff wall setups? I’ve never been good at those.”

“More like a giant McDonald’s playhouse with lots of sisal rope and vertical carpet runs for anything with claws to climb. The room isn’t as big as the pool or the gym, but there’s a ball pit, a couple of slides, lots of ladders, and padded mats to land on.”

“Oh, so I get to be a big kid?”

“Yep,” Angel agreed as he shoved off his pants. My mouth went dry. Damn, he was perfect all over. He took his time folding his clothes and setting them on the bed, unbothered by hisnudity, and I stood frozen, barely breathing until he glanced my way, his gaze heated.

“Hi,” I said stupidly.

The corner of his lips turned up and he slipped into my personal bubble, pinning me against the dresser. “You going to finish changing, or just enjoying the view?”

“Uh…right.” I was supposed to be getting changed. But he was right there. Naked.

Angel slid his fingers under my shirt and tugged it off, setting it on the dresser as he waited for me to respond. And oh, boy, was I responding. My face felt like it was on fire, and there was no way I could wear sweatpants with my currentresponseto his attention. I swallowed hard, frozen in place, wondering what we could do on that tiny bed.

“Maybe I should wait here,” I offered. How long would it take to jerk off to the memory of him? Or for the fucking erection to go down?

“Can I help you with that?” Angel asked.

“With what?” I asked dumbly, heart pounding in my ears.

He dropped to his knees and tugged at my pants, unbuttoning them, until it was clear from the wet spot on my underwear that I was incredibly hard. He nuzzled between the open fabric of my jeans and the soft cotton of my boxer briefs, face hot, breathing deep. I sucked in air; afraid I’d blow if I moved wrong.

“This okay?” Angel asked.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Is that a question?”

“You don’t have to…”

“Jude,” Angel said, his warm breath making my dick twitch with need. “Do you want me to suck your cock?”