Page 18 of Want Me
But just when I’d pushed my empty shot glass over the counter and set a determined, liquor-fueled course in his direction, he’d narrowed his eyes at me and shaken his head. Subtly but unmistakably, leaving me wondering what the fuck that had meant. I’d glanced back over my shoulder to the crew I’d come with, and when I looked back again, Eric had turned his back squarely to me. A clear signal.
We hadn’t stopped drinking. The crew returned to the frat house for late night, and I didn’t stumble back to the house until almost five in the morning, Mark and I cracking up when I fell off the porch into the bushes while I was taking a leak before going inside. Once we’d gone in, I’d waited until he was down the hall, then went upstairs and stood outside Eric’s closed door, staring at it like an idiot until I grew a pair and turned the knob gently only to find his bed empty. Jealousy coiled around me like fitful snakes. He’d probably slept elsewhere a hundred times before and I’d hardly even noticed, so I was frustrated with both him and myself as I wandered back to my bedroom. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I’d passed out.
I finally gotout of bed and dragged ass down the hall to the shower, unable to resist sneaking another quick peek in Eric’s bedroom. Still no sign of him.
I found Ansel in the kitchen after I’d dressed, sitting at the tiny table engaged in a fierce stare down with a plate of eggs and what appeared to be oatmeal. He glanced up as I came in.
“Did I see you last night?” I asked, squinting at him. I had a vague memory, but it was rare for Ansel to come out with us.
“Maybe?” He sounded as uncertain as I was as he pushed his plate across the table in my direction. “Want this? I keep trying, but I can’t. Already puked twice at morning practice. Never again.”
I snatched up the plate and chowed, eyeing him because it was unusual to see him so hung over. In fact, I couldn’t recall ever seeing him drunk. He went out, yeah, but his track career was his top priority, so sometimes he’d have a beer, but typically stuck to water. “I think I’ve got some of those electrolyte replacement powders in my room if you want.”
He dismissed the offer with a weak wave of his hand. “Thanks. Already did that. Might try again later.”
I bit my lip and shrugged. Fuck it. Wasn’t my problem. As soon as I’d scarfed the eggs, he pushed the bowl of oatmeal in my direction and I annihilated it, as well.
“The VA thing’s tonight. You gonna make it?”
He nodded and gave a full-body shake. “Yeah, I’ll rally. Got my duds already, anyway.”
“All right. I’m out.”
He lifted a few fingers from the handle of his coffee mug in an approximation of a wave as I scooted out of the kitchen and toward the front door. I figured I’d hoof it to the frat house and make a pledge drive me to the botanical garden where I was supposed to help set up the tables and decorations.
At the same time I reached out to open the front door, someone pushed it on it from the outside. I caught the edge, narrowly avoiding a direct hit to the forehead, and found myself face-to-face with Eric. The fucker was fresh-faced and dapper as a daisy, and he looked me up and down as if sizing me up before he clucked his tongue at me. “Long night, frat boy?”
So we were back to that.
“Could ask you the same,” I grumbled. I needed to step back out of his way and let him pass, but I couldn’t. My feet stuck where they were as if cemented to the floor even as Eric took a step closer and bumped his chest against mine.
“So ask.”
“What?” Having him all up in my space like that flustered me, the coffee bean and laundry scent of him, and underneath that, traces of his cologne. He was so fucking warm, and this close I could see his stubble as if enlarged by a macro lens; a tiny dry patch of skin at the corner of his sensual mouth tempted me to dart out my tongue and lick it.
“If it was a long night,” he prompted me, one brow arching.
His palm landed on my chest and shoved me a half step backward. I shook my head. I wasn’t sure to what: asking him or the shove.
“Ansel’s here,” I said, instead. As if on cue, Ansel appeared through the kitchen doorway and Eric shifted aside smoothly. Not that it would have mattered; Ansel was moving fast, barely managing to lift a hand in Eric’s direction as he passed by. Seconds later the bathroom door slammed shut. We both winced as we heard him hurling into the toilet. Poor dude was a lightweight.
Eric chuckled and kicked the door closed, then turned back into me. And shit, he moved fast, too. Felt like the whole damn world was about two steps ahead of me today. My shoulders knocked into the wall beside the door, my head thwapping against a framed poster of Rocky. “Fuck, stop doing that shit,” I gasped.
“You make it way too easy to take you by surprise.” Eric grinned, pressing his forearms harder against my chest. “And I like it too much.”
“I’m late,” I argued, and sucked in a breath as he jammed his hand behind the waistband of my jeans and gathered up my package in his grip as if he had every right to do so. I’d gone half-mast at the sight of him, but the skim of his hand over my shaft had my pole ready to support an entire UN Summit’s worth of country flags.
“Ask me,” he demanded.
“No.” I groaned as he stroked me. “Don’t care.”
“I can still smell the alcohol coming off you. Think if I kissed you, I could get drunk?” He gave the head of my dick a merciless squeeze, and when I shuddered out a breathy moan, he clapped a hand over my mouth. All too familiar. Fuck, I was on fire just like that, and I knew he saw it in my eyes. His gaze bored into mine, a silent challenge in it. What the hell did it matter to him if I asked? I resolved I wouldn’t do it, solely because he so evidently wanted me to.
I tried to tear myself away but only managed to pump myself harder into his hand. He put his face close to mine. “Give it to me,” he said quietly, every word sizzling through me like a high-voltage charge. “Three…”
Oh fuck, I was going to. I was totally going to blow my load in a span of seconds just because Eric told me to in that velvety rumble that was pure sex. It was as if he’d called to me at a decibel that bypassed my brain and shot straight to my cock. I might as well have been his dog. I couldn’t decide if that was the hottest thing ever or the most mortifying.
“Two…” He licked the side of my neck and I whimpered, my hips bucking into his hand out of control.