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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EASTON

I’d just pulled the blankets up to cover Gary’s lower half when the door handle jiggled. Gary squeaked and yanked the blankets over both our heads, and I had to fight not to laugh. Was I ever that embarrassed about being caught?

I heard, rather than saw, the door to the room open, and Gary’s roommate came in. “Gar? I got like three texts saying it sounded like you were being tortured. You alright?”

Gary elbowed me when I snorted. What? That was funny.

“I-I’m fine,” he called out.

If his roommate was smart, one look around would explain–

“I don’t think he’s alone,” a feminine voice whispered.

See? I didn’t exactly look where I was tossing our clothes. They were all over the floor.

“Oh shit. Seriously?” the roommate squawked.

Done hiding, I pulled the blankets off myself.

Well, enough that I could sit up, anyway.

I didn’t need to be flashing my junk to the room.

I leaned against the wall, giving the roommate a bored look.

It went against the plan to hide what we were doing anyway.

We were supposed to be a fake couple. How would people know that if we hid?

I was also curious about how Gary’s roommate would react.

I’d met too many homophobic jocks in my lifetime, and I wasn’t about to leave Gary alone with him if that turned out to be the case.

The roommate didn’t seem to care, though.

He just looked surprised. “Huh. Probably should’ve guessed that after the other night.

Sup, man?” He glanced at where Gary was still hiding under the blankets.

“Hey, Gar, maybe next time put a sock on the door or something? That way, I don’t get a bunch of concerned citizens worried you’re dying. ” He laughed at that, shaking his head.

Gary peeked out, his face bright red. “Sorry, Carter…”

Carter waved away Gary’s distress, smirking at him. “No big deal. I’m gonna give you guys some privacy.”

His date hadn’t moved since I sat up, but there wasn’t disgust on her face from seeing us together.

She was too busy staring at me. I knew that look.

The blatant interest was hard to miss. I ignored it, giving my attention back to Carter, who was nudging her and backing out of the room. He paused before he stepped fully out.

“Oh. Forgot to mention. My birthday is next week. You’re coming, right, Gar? You can bring your boyfriend. We’re going to play laser tag.”

When I looked at Gary, I had to bite the inside of my cheek to hide my smirk. He looked so damn elated to be invited out. He smothered the excitement, shooting me a questioning look. I shrugged.

“Sure. We’ll be there. Just text him a time and place,” I answered.

Carter nodded. “Cool. See you guys later. Don’t forget to wear a raincoat!

There are more in my desk if you need one.

” He waggled his eyebrows and cackled to himself when I flipped him off.

Okay, fine, the idiot wasn’t so bad. His girl protested, her eyes still locked on me, but he either didn’t notice or care, because he shut the door behind him, leaving me and Gary alone.

When I glanced down at him, Gary looked irritated. I frowned. Like five seconds ago, he was happy. What did I miss?

“What?”

He pressed his lips tightly together and avoided eye contact. “What?”

I sighed heavily and dropped my head forward. I didn’t like playing these guessing games. If he had an issue, he had to tell me. I wasn’t a damn mind reader. Gripping his chin, I forced him to look at me, narrowing my eyes.

“Spit it out.”

He tried to push my hand away, but I wasn’t having it. I waited, and eventually either embarrassment or anger got to him because he finally snapped, “She was staring at you while you were literally in bed with me. I didn’t like it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re not seriously jealous, are you?”

Gary’s scowl was kind of adorable. It looked like he was trying so hard to be mad, but on a face like his, it just came out as a pout. He was pouting. I fought back a laugh, my shoulders shaking with the effort. Even him thumping my shoulder was like being swiped at by a kitten.

“Put more effort into it,” I cajoled. I enjoyed riling him up, and the more angry he got, the more fun it was for me. Him tugging my hair made me bark out a laugh, and I finally grabbed his wrists, pinning them above his head.

“I need to teach you how to fight. That was sad.”

His mouth fell open. “Shut up! I wasn’t actually trying to hurt you!”

“Uh huh.” I gave him a droll look. He couldn’t hurt me if he tried.

But it probably wasn’t a bad idea to teach him some self defense.

I couldn’t switch majors to be in the rest of his classes.

That period had already passed. Besides, I had my own shit to do.

He needed to be able to protect himself in case this rumor his sister started ran rampant.

Or at least be quick enough to run away.

“Starting tomorrow, you’re training with me.”

His spluttering was funny, but it didn't change my mind.

“You aren’t serious. I can’t do what you do!”

He didn’t even know half of what I did. I explained a little, and he saw how easily I broke that asshole’s nose in the library, but that was nothing compared to a Saturday night.

“You’re right. You can’t. But you need to be able to stand up for yourself. Or at least get away long enough for me to find you. How much do you exercise?”

Tugging his wrists did nothing to dislodge my hold, and I watched, fascinated, as a flush worked its way up his neck.

“I don’t,” he murmured.

My brows furrowed. “Like at all?”

He lifted a shoulder awkwardly. “I don’t have time. I’ve got classes.”

“You go straight to the library after class and only stop long enough to eat. You can pause somewhere in there to exercise.”

The kid was obsessed with studying. He was smart enough not to have to be so intense about it, but for some reason, he wouldn’t let up. The only reason he wasn’t studying right now was because I had him naked and trapped beneath me.

Hey… Now there was a hell of an idea.

“If you work out with me, I’ll fuck you after,” I suggested.

Gary froze, sucking in a sharp breath, and when he whipped his gaze to meet mine, I saw the heat there.

Bingo. Someone who’d been repressed sexually all his life wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity for regular sex.

And we both would get something out of it.

I’d finally get to deal with my obsession with this kid, and Gary would get sex and self-defense lessons. Win-Win.

I rolled my hips against his, smirking when Gary’s pupils blew out. “You’ll work out with me, right?”

He nodded quickly, lifting his hips to meet mine. I didn’t have any condoms on me, and I was too lazy to get down to go searching for more, but there were lots of ways to get off. Showing them all to him just made this more fun.

The door rattled, and the roommate came back in, his hand covering his eyes. “Sorry, sorry. I forgot my wallet this morning. I was going to grab it before, but I forgot because, well, you know–”

“It’s fine,” Gary squeaked. He tugged helplessly against my grip on his wrists. Since he was still shy about being caught, I pulled the blankets up to cover our heads. His relieved smile made me smirk. He was seriously easy to please.

After the door closed behind the roommate, Gary melted with relief. “I’m so glad you covered us up before he showed up.”

“Mm.” That was lucky. If the roommate saw Gary naked, I’d have to kill him. Even after fucking him, the possessiveness was still alive and well. I’d have to figure out what was up with that at some point.

Releasing Gary’s wrists, I tugged him into sitting up. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” he asked as he moved toward the ladder.

Was it wrong that I liked how he came with anyway, even when he didn’t know my plans?

“Shower. I wanna see if I can get you off again.”

He nearly fell off the ladder and choked on a squeak at the same time. I pursed my lips against another laugh. Why did he have to make it so fun?

Gary had eventually cajoled me into letting him study, and I hung out on his roommate’s couch while he went over his notes for his upcoming test. I couldn’t be bothered to leave, so I ordered food for dinner instead.

After he felt more confident about his test and we’d both eaten, I stole a condom out of his roommate’s desk and dragged him back to bed for another round.

Gary would figure out sooner or later that his new fake boyfriend had a crazy high sex drive.

At least for now, since everything was so new and exciting, he eagerly kept up with me.

He fell asleep after the last round, which was fair.

Never had sex in his life, three rounds and a hand job in the shower in a single day was probably a bit much.

He was curled against my side, his head on my chest, sharing headphones with me again.

I wasn’t really big on cuddling, but after three rounds and a hand job, I was too lazy to move.

I was scrolling through my phone, my free hand tucked behind my head, when the group chat popped up with a few messages.

Chuckles: Yo, Phantom. You alive?

Angel: Because if he was dead, he’d totally be able to answer that. *eye roll emoji*

Coach: Has anyone bothered to call him?

Angel: Ew. Who calls anyone anymore?

I snorted, watching the chaos as they argued over whether or not to call and see if I was still alive.

I usually went from classes to The Hideout unless I had family shit to deal with, so their asking wasn’t weird.

Instead of responding with a message, I sent a picture of me and Gary, though I was nice enough to make sure the blanket covered most of him.

It was obvious what we had been doing, though.

Angel: Is that the guy you’ve been stalking?

Coach: You’ve been stalking someone?!

Angel: I just said that. Pay attention. Well, P?

Phantom: Not stalking. Watching. I needed to figure him out. And yes.

Chuckles: Dude. That’s totally stalking. And he went for it?

Angel: What do you think, dumb dumb?

Watching them bitch at each other was entertaining. I still didn’t think it was stalking. It wasn’t like I was taking weird pictures of him or doing anything creepy. I just followed him and figured out his schedule and who he hung out with. What was wrong with that?

Coach: You coming back tonight?

Phantom: Nah.

Angel: Oo intrigue. Has lust turned into something more?

Chuckles: After one night? Does he have a magic dick?

Phantom: No. And no. I’ll talk to you about it later.

I’d need to tell them about the fake boyfriend thing.

If they didn’t hear it from me, they’d assume I was being coerced or something.

I probably wouldn’t need to pretend for long, kicking a few guys’ asses would get the message across pretty quick, but I didn’t hide shit from my friends.

Besides, Gary should meet them. Having only me and his roommate as friends was just sad.