THE HARD RAP of knuckles on my door had me looking up from the essay I was working on—and at the time. Jesus, it was about to turn seven already? That meant I’d been at this for a good two hours, and I still only had half of it done.
I groaned and flopped back into my couch, sucking down the last of the freshly squeezed juice that had been delivered from the health bar in the lobby of the Waldorf. Usually I opted for my staple kale and watermelon mix, but with the threat of a workout looming overhead, I’d opted for their Energizer juice instead. The mix of carrot, celery, beet, spinach, and cucumber wasn’t for everyone. But it was the way they trimmed a handful of the wheatgrass to blend into the juice that usually sent my friends into fits of nausea.
Hey, they’d drink it too if a couple of hours in front of a camera could earn them a cool mil or two.
When the knocking sounded up again, I cursed the fact that I had some moral opposition to paying someone to write my essay for me. I could too, easily, running in the circle I did. If I wanted someone to write a paper for me, I could. If I wanted a grade changed for me, done. Hell, if I needed someone to help me bury a body, I could more than likely find someone to do that too—but again, I was pretty sure my brain would oppose.
“Yo, Van, get your ass out here!” West called through my door as I slid my empty juice cup onto the coffee table and got to my feet. “I let you skip gym time Sunday, but if you think I’m letting you punk out today, you’ve got another thing coming.”
I pulled open the door to see West’s mile-wide grin and shook my head. “Let’s not forget who punked out yesterday.”
“I didn’t punk out.” West straightened as I grabbed my bottle of water and key card off the table. “I just chose a different kind of workout, and a better-looking partner.”
“And how is JT?” I asked as we headed into the elevators to make our way down to the Towers’ fitness center—one of the perks of living in one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan.
West chuckled. “Sorer than I am today, that’s for sure.”
He could joke all he wanted, but we both knew that this new relationship meant the world to him. It would’ve been laughable—actually, it was to several of our friends—but to me it was just fun to see him finally fall for someone. Especially when that someone was as sweet and good as JT.
“Uh huh, and what about beyond the physical demands you made of his body? You know, like his well-being?”
West’s eyes softened a fraction. There it was. The affection. The real feelings. The ones he kept for himself. The ones he protected from anyone who might shit on them—a.k.a. the rest of our friends.
“He’s good. I think I might’ve finally convinced him to get up on the stage at the next poetry slam night.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s got a couple of pieces he’s been working on, and I’ve been making him practice. But it’s different performing for just me. In a room full of strangers, he kind of freezes. Gets stage fright, you know?”
Actually, I didn’t know much about stage fright at all. Apparently I had no issues when it came to performing in front of others—just ask Sin.
No, no, Kelly.
It had been days since I’d allowed myself to think about that delicious male specimen, and as my cock began to throb, I had my reason why.
The man made me crazy. Certifiably mad. Whenever I thought about him, my body took over and had a mind of its own. I had no willpower to say no, no common sense to my thought process, and it appeared I made rash decisions in his presence.
Something I became aware of Saturday night while soaking in my tub, when I realized that I’d agreed to do another sex video with the man. What the hell was the matter with me?
Oh, that’s right. I loved Kelly’s monster cock. Even more, I loved it inside me.
“Van?”
“Huh?” I glanced out the elevator door to see West waiting for me.
“You have to get out of the elevator to use the exercise equipment. Although”—he eyed the hard-on punching against my shorts—“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you went and used your equipment in the locker room as long as you don’t make a mess.”
I shot him the finger as I shoved off the wall.
“They wouldn’t want you to fall and break anything important.”
“Fuck off.” I brushed past him and heard his laughter follow me as I made my way across the marble lobby and through the double doors of the fitness center. Truth be told, I felt like taking a detour and going through to the wellness center for a massage. Maybe after.
We made our way into the multistory, fully decked-out gym and scanned the space, and when I spotted our two favorite treadmills available and ready for an hour of torture, I groaned.
“Sure you don’t want to just head into the sauna?”
West clapped me on the back and shoved me in the direction of the empty machines. “After.”
I knew I needed to get back on schedule. After taking a couple of days to rest my weary body, it was time to get back to my routine. But the first time was always the hardest.
And there went my brain again.
First time…
Hard…
Kelly…
“Fuckin’ hell, what’s up with you today?” West climbed onto his preferred treadmill and glanced back at where I stood motionless, caught up in the delirium caused by a certain sex god. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were smokin’ some of that new shit Travis has been going on about.”
That was the last thing I’d ever use to get high. Kelly’s built body, however, was a whole other story. “Well, you do know better. I don’t suck on anything that—”
“Isn’t a big, thick cock?”
I nearly tripped over my feet as I stepped up onto the machine, and West quickly reached out to lend a hand.
“Seriously, what the hell is up with you?”
I swatted his hand away and steadied myself, putting my water bottle in the holder and seriously contemplating whether I had the brain capacity to run on this thing when it started to move.
At the rate I was going, West was right: I just might fall and break my dick—or worse yet, my face.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just a clumsy shit today.”
“Says the man who can walk a runway in nine-inchers.”
Oh my God.
Why was everything coming out of West’s mouth today bringing to mind Kelly’s—
“Speaking of nine inches… You never did say how things went Friday night with you and that Sin guy.”
Up until now I thought I’d gotten away with it, but West’s suggestive grin told me otherwise—I was screwed. But there was no way in hell I was telling him about what I’d ended up doing with Kelly. He’d run his mouth to JT and, worse yet, East, and then I’d never hear the end of it.
So instead, I opted for the truth. At least the truth as far as Friday night went.
“Nothing happened, that’s why. We danced, it was hot, but he’s going to have more than enough dicks soon. I wasn’t about to have him worry about mine.”
“Really?” West turned back to his treadmill and hit several buttons, and we started a slow jog to warm up.
“Really. And why are you so concerned? I thought you were too happy with your new ‘workout partner’ to worry about what my dick’s doing.”
“Hey now, let’s be clear. I’m not thinking about your dick. Not when Golden Boy’s is mine for the taking. I don’t need you starting shit.”
Good, crisis averted. If there was one thing West enjoyed talking more about than cock, it was JT—and maybe JT’s cock.
“I’m not starting shit.”
“Sure sounds like it,” he grumbled, and upped his pace. “Last thing I need is him worrying about anything, not when we’re finally in a good place.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.” I glanced at him. “I didn’t actually think you knew what a good place was.”
“I didn’t, until I met him,” West said, shocking the shit out of me.
“Wow.” I shook my head and punched the speed button until my jog was a steady run. “I never thought I’d see the day you were so damn smitten over someone.”
“Me either, but here I am, and I’m trying my best not to fuck it up. I swear JT is just waiting for me to break his heart.”
“No way. Anyone can see that boy is just as smitten with you as you are with him.” I chuckled. “Smitten kittens.”
“Yeah, yeah, well, I’d like to keep it that way.”
“You will. Just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t do anything East suggests.”
West snorted. “No shit.” Then he pushed down on the speed button and took off at his full workout pace, thankfully ending our discussion and giving me the reprieve I wanted.
I put my earbuds in and cranked up my music, and as the burn in my legs eased and I hit full stride, I zoned out and stared down at the swimmers in the pool a level below, happy to have dodged the Kelly bullet.
It wasn’t that I was ashamed of what I’d done with him on Saturday. Or that I regretted it. I just wanted to keep it to myself, that was all. It was a memory I wanted to be able to play on repeat one day when my body wouldn’t go haywire at the thought, and if my friends ever found out about it, they’d totally ruin it for me. Or even worse, they’d look the damn video up and add commentary.
That was the last thing I wanted. Especially since I’d come to my senses in the last couple of days and decided that was going to be the one and only time I saw Kelly.
So if telling a little white lie to West was what it took to keep my secret, then I wasn’t going to feel bad about it.
I did my best to push all thoughts of Kelly and what we’d done together out of my mind as I finished off my run, and fifty-five minutes later, as I glared the countdown to death, I picked up my water and took a swig before pounding out the last five minutes.
When our machines came to a stop and we grabbed up our towels, West reached over and tapped me on the arm. I hit stop on my music and pulled the buds from my ears.
“Hey, about before?”
Oh shit. Here we go.
“I wasn’t trying to be a pushy asshole about that Sin guy. I just know it’s been a while for you, and you seemed really into him.”
Probably because I had been. Still was. Jesus. I really needed to move the hell on. Kelly was about to start having sex with hundreds of different guys, and the last thing I needed was to start obsessing over him.
“All I was getting at was that if I were you, I’d track him down and have him worry about your dick first. That guy is gonna be huge—I mean, he already is, if you know what I mean—but he clearly was into you, so why not take advantage?”
I mean, it wasn’t a terrible idea. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” West slung his towel around his neck. “We all know your preference, Van. If anyone wants—and can take—what that guy’s packing…”
I smothered my laugh with a cough and wiped my face with the towel. Partly to get rid of the sweat and partly to hide the fact that just thinking about what Kelly was packing sent my body into overdrive.
The guy made me feel insatiable.
West grinned in a way that told me he knew where my mind had just gone. But little did he know it had already been there, several times over.
“That’s right.” He nodded. “Get on that big thing before all the other bottoms do.”
“Jesus, West.” I looked around the gym, and the bastard started to laugh.
“What? Don’t tell me you aren’t thinking about it.”
“Well, I am now.”
“Exactly.” As we stepped off the treadmills, West slung an arm around my shoulders. “We only live once, and what better way to die than being split in half ‘sinning.’”
“Nice euphemism there.”
“I thought so.” We pushed out of the main gym area and walked to where the steam and sauna rooms were. “So, you gonna go sin?”
Was I?
I’d enjoyed it the first time around, and I liked Kelly as a person, so why shouldn’t I go back? It was just for fun, and if my face was still hidden, there was no reason not to…right?
“You’re thinking about it…”
Yes, yes I was. But again, there was no way in hell I was going to tell West about it.
If I was going to go and sin again, it was going to be between me and Kelly—and, well, the production crew of Xes Entertainment.
But West didn’t need to know that, and I could keep a secret.
