car ride that would only last a day, or I could renew my subscription to Why The Fuck Did I Let Him Go? magazine for God knew how many more years.
Fuck it.
I’d lived with enough regret over not doing something. It was entirely possible I was going to make things painfully awkward between us, and I’d regret doing this, but there was also a chance that we could be something really great together. That chance, however slim, was worth the risk of falling on my face.
So I grabbed my room key and went to talk to Marques.
Chapter 15
Marques
The knock at my door almost made me jump out of my skin. What the hell?
I wasn’t at all surprised to see Armin on the other side of the peephole, but what did he want? Maybe he’d just left something in the car and needed the keys. That was probably it.
I paused to steel myself, then pulled open the door. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Hey.” He shifted his weight and glanced up and down the hallway before meeting my gaze again. “Can we talk?”
Aw, crap. So much for just needing the keys.
Without speaking, I stood aside to let him in. As I closed the door behind him, I quietly asked, “Um, what’s up?”
“I, uh…” He ran a hand through his hair, then turned to face me. “Listen, I, um…” He exhaled hard, and when he started talking, the words came fast. “Okay, I’m just going to say it—I want to do this. To try it. Us, I mean. The idea of gambling with our friendship scares the hell out of me, but the only thing that scares me more is spending the rest of my life wondering what might have been. And I mean, I know we’re both on the rebound, and we can take things slow and all, but to tell you the truth, I’ve been kicking myself ever since we decided not to date the first time around. I know it’s a big risk, but I just can’t stop thinking that maybe what we could have if we got together is worth the risk, you know? If we still feel this way about each other after all this time, then I—”
I kissed him.
His words cut off, leaving my ears ringing, but he only hesitated for a second before he wrapped his arms around me.
There was a ton we needed to talk about, and this wasn’t resolved yet, but goddammit, he was saying everything I’d been thinking in the car. I’d been going out of my mind all day, and I didn’t want to talk anymore. Talking was how we’d wound up with things all weird between us.
Just… Just let me have you. We’ll figure out the details later.
From the way Armin was holding me and kissing me, we were on the same page.
My head was spinning, and I didn’t know or care if it was from lack of air or because I finally had Armin. Either way, I nudged him up against the wall, and he moaned into my kiss as I pinned him there with my hips. He pushed back, his hardening cock rubbing my leg, and he kissed me even harder.
I’d put a stop to this? Said it wasn’t a good idea?
Why, Marques?
Because I was a dumbass and a coward, but thank God Armin found his spine, and now… Oh, yes. I wasn’t going to be a dumbass again. They say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and Armin got a little too gone for me today even while he was just a few feet away, and now he was back. He wanted me like I wanted him.
I broke the kiss and touched my forehead to his. We were both panting and shaking, his skin feverish against mine.
“So, you’re, uh…” Armin paused for a breath. “You’re in?”
“I should’ve been in already.” I ran my thumb along his lower lip. “Have to be some kind of idiot to let go of you.”
He laughed breathlessly and rested a hand behind my neck. “Maybe we needed this. Today. To figure it all out.”
“You spent the whole drive thinking about it too?”
“The whole drive.”
I winced. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
Armin cut me off with a kiss this time. Then he whispered, “No. I think it gave me some time to really think about it and figure out what I wanted.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh. And if it’s not obvious…” He lifted his chin and claimed another kiss.
Oh, it was obvious. And so was the building hunger