Page 44 of Should Our Stars Collide

The floor shakes with the force of a small-scale earthquakewhen Kieran lands ass-first on it, his fall cushioned by the blanket he dragged down with him. He clutches it to his chest, both from the shock and to cover up his very muchnaked body.

Why the fuck is he naked?

Why the fuck is Ash naked?

Why the fuck are they naked together?!

Hand searching blindly over the freshly vacated spot next to him, Ash’s brows furrow. Grunting, he rolls onto his back, his dick standing tall and proud, pointing at the ceiling like the freaking Eiffel Tower.

With a scandalized sound, Kieran throws the blanket at Ash in a feeble attempt to spare his eyeballs. It does shit, the baseball bat between Ash’s legs tenting up the blanket in the most obscene way. He snatches the blanket back to cover his lap.

“Babe? Where did you go?” Ash’s sleepy voice is rough, like whiskey poured over gravel. He rubs at his eyes, pushing up on his elbows and looking around blearily. His lips stretch into a wide smile when his gaze falls on Kieran. “What are you doing down there?”

“What am I— What areyoudoinghere?!” Also,babe?! Has the fucker finally lost his last marble?

Left eyebrow slowly rising, Ash snickers. “Would you like me somewhere else?”

“Y-yeah! Out of here!” Clutching the blanket in a death grip, Kieran tries to calm down his racing heart. Did what he thinks happened really happen? “I can’t believe you. This issonotwhat I meant when I said you could do whatever you wanted. Who the fuck takes advantage of a drunk person!”

He’s so stupid. What was he thinking? How could he have let his guard down for even a second? What the absolute hell possessed him to act all comfortable around Ash? He let himself be swayed by a few pretty words, acting exactly the way he always makes fun of other people for doing. Pathetic.

“Uh-huh.” The fucker barely blinks, all blasé and shit as he sits up and stretches. Kieran’s panicking brain vaguely registers a tattoo on Ash’s forearm, some sort of watch? “Babe, we’ve talked about this; ifyou want to roleplay, you have to give me a little heads-up. Or at least wait until I’m fully awake, so we can discuss it.”

“You’re sick.” Swallowing over the lump in his throat, Kieran tries to stand up, giving up when his legs refuse to cooperate. “Get out. Get out of here right now or I’m calling the coppers.” He should call them anyway, he knows that. But who the fuck would even care? They’d probably just laugh in his face.

Ash sighs. “Really, babe, we need some time to talk it o?—”

“Stop calling me babe!”

“Honey? Cupcake? Sweetheart?”

“N-no! Just get out!” Finally managing to get his feet under him, Kieran stills as he becomes aware of his surroundings, his panic reigniting with vigor. Where the fuck is he? This isn’t his apartment.Oh my god, have I been kidnapped?! Did the asshole actually put something in the water?

Ears ringing, he sways, bumping his hip against the nightstand.

Ash is on his feet in an instant. “Kieran? Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Stay away,” Kieran orders but it comes out breathless.

“Hey, hey, easy. Take a deep breath. And stay still for me.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Even as he says it, he finds himself obeying, pulling in a big gulp of air. He’s only doing this because it’s the smart thing to do, not because Ash told him to.

Too focused on trying not to hyperventilate, he doesn’t throw Ash off when he cups Kieran’s face between his palms. Ash’s eyes on him are more intense than usual, but his touch feels almost…reverent. Ash touching him after everything he’s done should make him sick to his stomach, so why the fuck does he find himself relaxing?

“Good. That’s good,” Ash praises, his thumbs stroking Kieran’s cheekbones and…fuck, Kieran can feel his knees giving out.

Sliding his hands to Kieran’s shoulders, Ash turns them around, making Kieran sit down on the bed. The position puts his crotch directly in Kieran’s line of sight.At least he lost the boner,Kieran thinks fleetingly as Ash drops into a crouch in front of him, hands on Kieran’s blanket-covered knees.

Catching Ash’s gaze to ask him what the fuck he thinks he’s doing, Kieran does a double-take.

“What’s happening to your eyes?” There have been moments when he questioned the quality of his vision, or his memory. When he was convinced Ash’s eyes were steel-blue but appeared green the next moment. That’s fine. It was a trick of the light. There was a logical explanation.

He can’t come up with a logical explanation for how Ash’s eyes can bechanging color right now.He can quite literally see how green is diffusing through the blue irises, gradually taking over.

Actually, there is an explanation. He’s fucking tripping.

Ash is watching him likehe’sthe one who woke up buck-naked next to a virtual stranger, with no memory of what happened, in a place he doesn’t recognize. The sheer audacity.