Page 8 of Level Up (Franklin U 2 #4)

Chapter Eight

Ryan

Beat the Clock night at Shenanigans was lit.

It felt like the entire school was here, crammed into the beachside bar that served as a kind of watering hole for the campus.

I stood by the pool tables with Colton and a couple of guys from the rowing crew: Travis, Lenny, and Marco, who was coming back from the bar, holding two overflowing pitchers of beer. It looked like piss and probably tasted like it too, but whatever. They were still a quarter each. Not that I was ever one to keep an eye on a budget, but the novelty of it was fun, and so was the atmosphere.

“Yoooo,” Marco said, setting the two pitchers down on a high-top table between us. “Gwen totally wants to bang.”

Lenny laughed. “Gwen totally wants to bang your head against the wall, yeah, probably.”

I looked over at the full bar, manned by Gwen and a couple of other students I didn’t recognize. Everyone knew Gwen, though. She was the lead bartender and a sort of legend around the FU campus. She had dyed her hair a dark purple since the last time I’d seen her, which was when she had sported a cool-as-fuck blue-and-black ombre style.

She glanced over at us. Marco blew her a kiss.

She flipped him off and continued pouring vodka shots.

The group of guys started cracking up. “Told you,” Lenny said.

“Whatever, bro.” Marco started scanning the crowd for his next conquest. I did the same, but I wasn’t looking for a conquest. I was looking for… There he was. Walking in and getting a bright yellow wristband placed on his wrist.

Jay.

He had on a FU bomber jacket—deep purple with a gold collar and sleeves—and a pair of faded blue jeans that hugged his long, lean legs as if they were tailor-made. He must have gotten a haircut too, the sides buzzed short and the top trimmed and styled with a matte paste.

Maybe that’s the appointment he was talking about earlier.

His friend Maddy was with him, appearing the complete opposite of Jay with her midnight-black leather jacket and dark black pants. She would have blended in with the shadows if it wasn’t for her neon pink hair.

I waved over the crowd, catching Jay’s attention. He waved back. Smiled.

Goddamn, that was such a cute smile. Sexy too. He had kind of pouty lips that made my blood run a little hotter. I straightened up on the stool and hand-pressed the front of my gray button-up, which, admittedly, was pretty wrinkled.

Maybe I should have ironed this… Did I even own an iron?

“Hey, guys,” Maddy said as the two approached. The bar was loud, but I didn’t have any trouble hearing her through the catchy pop song and cluster of conversations surrounding us.

I introduced my friends, getting an extended look from Colton after I introduced Jay as my good friend, to which Jay quickly added, “Mostly just roommates.” Colton could tell that was a load of shit, and honestly, so could I.

Living around Jay these past couple of weeks had helped me pick up on a few tells of his. One of them being a quirk to his lips whenever he was saying something that could be interpreted in some other way. I didn’t think he lied—I didn’t consider Jay a liar—but I knew that in this instance, he wasn’t being fully truthful. And the slight slant to his lips proved that.

I let it slide. I understood why he was being cautious. He’d just met this crew; he didn’t have to trust them right from the jump.

Unless… was he being truthful? Did he really not think we were at least good friends?

“Want some beer?” Colton offered. “We’ve got plenty.”

“Sure,” Jay said, grabbing a plastic cup from the stack in the center of the table and handing it to Maddy before grabbing one for himself. I poured them both full cups. Maddy thanked me, but Jay, interestingly enough, didn’t.

He did something even better. He lifted his glass and winked at me. Smiled. It was a loaded look.

It all began to happen after our talk. I really felt like I had cracked through whatever assumptions he’d formed about me based off my last name. Even when it was us alone in the dorm. He asked to play a couple of rounds of a video game with me and had gotten me hooked on a show he was watching about reality TV stars living in a mansion and tricking each other .

It didn’t matter that I only knew a fraction of the cast. Hearing Jay laugh or gasp or go off on a rant about why that person shouldn’t have gone home over someone else was honestly some of the most fun I’d had in a while.

I licked my lips. Couldn’t help it. His smile didn’t waver as he looked away, toward the bar, taking a sip of the beer. I watched his throat move as he drank. I could see the gentle push of his pulse against his skin. I wanted to kiss him, mark each inch of that sexy throat, kiss my way down to his?—

“Helllllo?”

“Huh, what?” I looked to Maddy, who had tapped my shoulder.

“I was asking what that game was called? The one we played the other day.”

I told them the name, the conversation opening up to how the best strategy to beat me would be. I didn’t like the gang-up forming, but I was also happy to see Maddy and Jay fitting into my friend group pretty effortlessly. Jay was a little on the quieter side, but I knew it wouldn’t take him long before his inner performer started to shine through. And sure enough, about ten minutes after they walked in, he was already performing a monologue from Les Mis when someone mentioned something about loaves of bread. The guys were cracking up, Jay appearing to eat up the attention.

“Damn, alright, so you’re like a big theater person, then, huh?” Colton asked. He was already on his fourth cup of beer, the flush in his face giving away how drunk he was getting. “I fucking love theater people, man. You guys rock.”

Jay did an exaggerated bow. “Thank you for appreciating the arts,” he said in a bougie accent .

My cheeks hurt from how much I was smiling. I hadn’t really seen this side of Jay. I’d seen flashes of it, but never this kind of full display of charisma.

“Alright, my turn to get another pitcher,” Marco said when he lifted up the already empty one, foam the only thing left.

“Dude, it was your turn last time,” Lenny said.

“And the time before that,” Colton added.

“Yeah, and?”

I hopped off the stool. “Bro, leave Gwen alone. I’ll go grab the beer.” I looked to Jay, nodded toward the bar. “Wanna come with?”

“Sure,” Jay said. He followed me through the crowd, sticking close behind me. About a hundred different smells hit me as we waded through. Sweat, perfume, cologne, a lot of beer. The floor was sticky, and the air was full of salt from the ocean, and fuck did life feel really damn good right now.

“You ok back there?” I asked over my shoulder.

“I’ve stepped in about a dozen suspicious and sticky puddle, but so far so good.”

“Just don’t stand in one place for too long so you don’t get stuck.”

“Ha. Ha,” he said.

The night was going way better than I could have even imagined it. Everyone was getting along. Maybe since the group was so big, Jay didn’t feel as worried about being seen around me. We kept stealing glances at each other, and every time our eyes locked, a little flame would spark at the base of my spine.

“Tonight’s been really fun,” Jay said over the music. He was behind me, but he had leaned in so he could be heard, putting his chin on my shoulder and his breath against my ear. The bar was so full that he pressed against my back, and I doubted anyone could even tell or would think twice about how close he was to me.

Not me. It was all I could think about. How warm his body felt, how nice it felt, how I wanted to turn around and kiss him, fuck whoever saw.

“It has been.” The tiny fires he had been lighting inside me suddenly coalesced into one huge bonfire, tearing through me.

That’s when I felt it. A twitch against my ass. Jay was getting hard.

Fuuuuck. I looked to my left and noticed there was—for once in Shenanigan’s history—no line for the bathrooms.

I looked over my shoulder. “I gotta pee. You?”

Jay nodded. I pushed through the crowd and into the bathroom. There were a few of them, this one having three stalls and a couple of urinals. All the stalls were empty.

I went into one and left it all to Jay. If he wanted it, he knew where to get it.

For a second, I thought he really was here to pee. But then he stepped into the stall with me and closed the door. It reached down to the floor, so no one could see our feet.

Instantly, we were on each other. Weeks and weeks of built-up tension exploded, snapped like a taut wire under way too much pressure. I grabbed his face in my hands and inhaled him, my kiss fueled by the flames that fanned inside my core. Jay gave it right back, pushing into me, his arms wrapping around my waist as his tongue danced with mine.

This was heaven. Fucking heaven.

And yet, I knew a way it could be even better.

I let go of his face and reached down between his legs instead. He was rock hard. So was I. Neither of us was shy about it anymore. All of that tiptoeing shit we were doing after the bathroom incident was over. I grabbed a fistful of his hard cock and squeezed, swallowing the moan he gave me in response. I could feel the rest of his body go lax. He tilted his head back, looked me in the eyes.

“This is bad.”

“And?” I asked before pressing a kiss against his throat on the exact spot I’d been checking out earlier.

I tasted the unique mix of him. Salty like the ocean, sweet like a handful of ripe strawberries. I continued to kiss and suck his neck while I worked to unzip his jeans.

I lowered down to my knees, bringing his jeans down with me. He wore a tight pair of bright red Calvin Kleins. The fabric strained to hold him down. I leaned in, holding his thighs as I pushed my face against him. He throbbed against my cheek as I licked the inner part of his leg.

“God, Ry, you’re so hot. It’s almost unreal.”

I kissed his hard cock through the thin red fabric. “Says the sexiest man alive,” I said, looking up at him as I lowered his briefs slowly, watching his cock spring free.

I leaned back, needing a moment to admire it.

“And damn, you have a pretty cock. Look at it.” I grabbed him in my hand, the intense warmth making my own dick pulse and strain against my pants. I knew he was packing from him running out of the bathroom naked, but seeing it this close was different. The guy was blessed.

And so was I since I got to play with it.

I leaned in and licked the leaking pink tip. Jay shuddered, falling back against the stall wall. It shook slightly, but it sounded like we were still alone. I wasn’t sure for how much longer, but if we stayed quiet, then…

Jay grabbed the base of his cock and balls in one hand. I opened my mouth and swallowed him down until my lips could kiss his knuckles. He let out a loud “fuuuhhh,” which was only covered by a beat drop in the techno song playing through the bathroom speakers.

I swirled my tongue around him and couldn’t stop myself from stuffing a hand in my own pants. I had to jerk off to this. It was too fucking good.

Unfortunately, in another life, I must have walked under a ladder while thirteen black cats ran directly across from me and caused me to trip and fall, dropping the box of one hundred mirrors that had been propped up next to the ladder.

Because right as I was about to pull my dick out and have the time of my fucking life, a loud group of guys rolled into the bathroom, their hoots and hollers echoing around the black walls. One of them had a distinctive, high-pitched laugh that sounded a lot like a hyena.

“Shit. That sounds like Timothy,” Jay said, suddenly looking scared. Way more scared than he should have been, considering I had his dick still halfway down my throat. “He’s in my microbio class. He’s such a huge gossip. If he even suspects anything…”

“Got it,” I said, except it came out like, “Mhmp ait.”

I took his dick out of my mouth and wiped my lips. “Got it,” I repeated. “Let’s wait till we get back to the dorms. More comfortable there anyway.”

I got back up to my feet and gave him a few extra strokes, enjoying how his eyes rolled back in bliss. Then I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand to my thick bulge, kissing him with a quick bite to the bottom lip.

“Besides, you’re going to have to take care of this for me.” I cocked a brow. “It’s something that people who are ‘just roommates’ tend to do. Trust .”

“Oh, Ry, please, I didn’t mean?—”

But it was too late. I was already out of the stall, giving him time to exit after me so that no one got suspicious.

I could already picture the flush in his cheeks, the fluster in his voice as I walked out.

God, I loved fucking with him.

I had a feeling that I was going to love fucking him too.