Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Yeah… I’m sorry about that.” He peeked at her through his fingers. “Did we… uh… wake you up?”
“Yes. I thought your bed was going to come through the wall. At least it didn’t go on too long.”
Jez snorted. “Nice, Dani. First you embarrass him, and then you insult his prowess.”
“I didn’t mean it like that!” she protested. “For all I know, there was a long build-up. I just meant the part where the bed was actually banging against the wall didn’t go on for hours.”
“Not helping!” Dev didn’t think it was possible for him to blush any harder. “I’m sorry we woke you up, anyway,” he managed.
“So where’s Ewan? Have you got him chained up in your sex dungeon?” she asked teasingly.
Dev knew he should try and make light of it, joke back in a way that wouldn’t make things awkward, but he didn’t have it in him. “No.” He swallowed hard, looking down at the carpet. He knew the tone of his voice would give him away. “He left.”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
“Is everything okay?”
Jez’s voice was kind, and the gentle tone shot like an arrow to Dev’s heart. The hurt at Ewan leaving him like he’d done welled up into hot, angry tears that threatened to spill and embarrass him further. He blinked them away and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
When he dared to lift his head, all their eyes were on him. But the teasing humour had gone, replaced by concern.
“What happened, mate?” Mac asked.
“He stayed over, after we….” Dev waved a hand that he hoped indicated “fucked each other’s brains out” or something along those lines. “But when I woke up this morning, he’d already gone.”
“Ugh,” Dani said sympathetically. “That sucks.”
“He left a note,” Dev said, “but yeah. It does suck.”
“Did you tell him how you feel?” Jez’s blue gaze pinned Dev and made it hard to look away. “That you wanted to be more than just fuck buddies or whatever you are?”
“Not yet. I was going to talk to him soon. Maybe I should have done that last night, but it didn’t seem like the right time.”
Jez frowned. “Maybe he thought he’d overstepped by sleeping over. If you’re still only friends with benefits, perhaps he thought it would be awkward in the morning.”
“Maybe.” That didn’t make Dev feel any better about it. He was so sure something had changed between them last night, even though they hadn’t talked about it yet.
“When are you seeing him again?” Dani had closed her book, all her attention focused on Dev.
He felt the weight of their concern. It was nice they cared, but it was a little overwhelming. “I don’t know. We didn’t make any plans.”
“You need to talk to him.”
“I know.” Dev sighed. When had things got so complicated? For a no-strings arrangement, they seemed to have woven a very tangled web. “I will. I’ll try and see him later.”
Dev left it till the afternoon before getting in touch again. He thought about turning up on Ewan’s doorstep, only he was worried he wouldn’t be welcome. So he decided to text Ewan and arrange to meet later in the week. When they got together for cooking or tutoring, Dev would talk to him. That would give Dev a little breathing space and time to work out what he wanted to say.
His heart beat fast as he typed.
Want to get together for cooking this week?
He waited a minute or so, but there was no reply. So Dev set his phone down on his desk and went back to the project he had to finish for Thursday. His usual focus deserted him. He doodled idly in the margin, his mind wandering from equations and settling on Ewan again.
When his phone finally pinged, Dev’s heart leapt but then sank heavily as he saw what Ewan had replied.
Can’t this week, sorry. Too much revision.
Dev knew Ewan had exams coming up. Everyone did. But he still had to eat, didn’t he? Unless he was planning on living on breakfast cereal. But Dev couldn’t force him to agree.
Okay. I’ll see you Friday as usual then?
After he’d pressed Send, Dev realised there was only one thing left on his list. Bottoming. They’d done everything else. If Dev couldn’t find the balls to tell Ewan how he felt, then this Friday would be the last time he got to do anything sexual with him. He really had nothing to lose now.
That knowledge filled him with courage. He was ready to do it. Ready to be honest.
But Ewan didn’t reply.
He didn’t reply all day, and by Sunday evening, Dev was practically sitting on his hands to stop himself from texting again. He didn’t want to be pushy. But why hadn’t Ewan got back to him?
He didn’t hear anything on Monday either, so on Monday night, Dev texted again.
Hope revision is going well. Will you be okay for Friday? We can run through some stuff for your stats exam.