Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“I like him too.”
There’s another bell and the door opens. It’s my first appointment of the day.
“I should go,” Hayden tells me.
“Yeah, me too,” Doc adds.
I hand the paperwork to my client and have her sign the needed forms while I walk over to Hayden and say, “Thanks for coming.”
He reaches out and touches my hand. “How is it?”
“It’s fine. I need to learn how to punch.”
He chuckles. “Or hopefully, you don’t have to punch anyone anymore.”
“Yeah, that would be good too.”
“Okay, I’m gonna go.”
“See you at home,” I reply while I back away. He looks at me for a moment, smiles and then heads out of the shop. I wonder if there was a reason for him to stop by, or if he really just wanted to say hi while I was at work. This is new territory for me, but I suddenly wish I didn’t have to be in the shop today. That I could go home and climb into bed with Hayden and hopefully get a go at his ass.
As I prepare my station to begin my tattoo, I think about our upcoming date and how my life feels different than it did a couple of months ago. Damn, it’s almost like I’m growing up. At twenty-eight, maybe it’s time.
27
Hayden
“I like this one,” Derek says.
He picks a blue button-up shirt, one of several options I brought over for us to choose from for my date with Cody tonight.
I’m excited and nervous as fuck.
I remove my shirt and try on another Derek picked out. As I button it up, Gary stands beside me, assessing me in the mirrored closet door beside Derek’s bed. Pretty confident he had this put in so that he could watch some guy fucking the hell out of him. Can’t lie. It would have been nice to have it when Cody fucked the come out of me the other night.
“I like this one,” Gary says as I finish buttoning it.
“You don’t think it’s too dressy for a graffiti arts festival?” I ask.
I got the idea because of the art around Cody’s place. Between that and his passion for drawing and inking, I figured it’d be a winner.
“I mean, you’re wearing it with jeans,” Gary says. “Just don’t tuck it in like you’re fifty, and you’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I like this one,” Derek concurs. “It shows you look good dressed up, but the way your muscles look in it, it also shows you look good dressed down, which is obviously more important.”
“I don’t think Cody’s worried about what I look like dressed down, but thanks anyway.”
Derek smiles. “No problem,” he says with a wink.
“Don’t know why I’m even bothering with this. I used to try and look cute every time Lance and I went out, and he’d never even comment on what I was wearing. I figured he could at least have told me that I looked nice one night…or even just asked about the new clothes I was wearing.”
“At least you don’t have to worry about that dickhead anymore,” Gary says. “And you’re not thinking about him tonight. Got it? You’re thinking about your hot date with Cody. By the way, I think it’s cute that you’re doing it as a surprise. Very romantic. He’ll love it, I’m sure.”
“I hope so,” I say. Since it’s a surprise, and I didn’t run it by Cody, I’m nervous that he’s not going to like it. Maybe get bored, but I like to think he’ll at least see that I tried to do something special…something I thought he’d enjoy.
Gary turns and assesses himself in the mirror. He raises his forearm slightly, flexing his bicep in the sleeve of his polo.
I eye him curiously.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
He blushes. “I was kind of thinking after I talked to Doc at Thanksgiving that I wouldn’t be totally against getting a tattoo.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never really done anything like that before, but I think it’d be kind of cool. I feel like I’ve changed a lot recently, and I wouldn’t have done that in the past, but I could definitely see myself doing it now.”
“Oh really?” Derek asks, his eyebrows raising with interest. “This is not a side of Gare-bear I’m used to seeing.”
Not a side I’ve seen either, but I like it. For most of the time I’ve known Gary, he played it safe. Didn’t take any risks, and the longer he’s been with Travis, the more he’s been willing to experiment outside his comfort zone.
“I’m just trying to figure out what I would get,” Gary says. “And where.”
“You should talk to Cody about it. He’d be happy to brainstorm with you, I’m sure.”
“Ooh,” Derek says. “You should get a unicorn, but with like a giant dick dripping with come.”
“What?” Gary and I ask at the same time.