wasn’t that big of a deal, was it? Maybe the attraction I felt for him was new, but it was still Priest. One of my oldest friends. A guy who could see me fall flat on my ass buck naked and laugh at me for it. It was easy being with him—comfortable, even in moments like this.
And in that comfort, my desire didn’t scare me quite as much anymore. It was just Priest. Even if things went south, there wasn’t anything that could shatter our decades-long friendship.
I didn’t have to have all the answers, but I was starting to think that maybe we could figure things out together.
14
Priest
After a few minutes of knocking around in the bathroom, Mal stepped into my room with a sheepish, embarrassed grin on his face. Despite the chaos just a few minutes prior, he looked good, relaxed in an old pair of sweatpants and threadbare t-shirt that clung to the curve of his pecs and hugged the swell of his biceps. As he stepped across the threshold, he grimaced and rubbed at his hip.
“Damn, you really fell hard, didn’t you?” I stood up from where I’d been sitting on the edge of the bed and set my hand at his waist to steady him.
“Come on now, do you think I’m gonna fall again?” Mal asked, laughing as he swatted my hand away. “I’m not that old.”
I laughed, but as Mal headed toward the stairs, I caught his wrist. “Come on, I’m not making you sleep on the couch after that fall.”
“It’s fine—”
“It’s a comfortable couch,” I interrupted, “but it’s not that comfortable. You’re in here tonight.”
“That’s not—”
“I insist,” I said with a smile. “This bad boy is a California king, there’s plenty of space.”
Sure, there were beds available in the clubhouse—but Mal didn’t need to be walking that distance if his hip was bothering him where he’d fallen, and those mattresses were like jail cell beds compared to the luxury of my big new bed. He wouldn’t get any good rest anywhere else.
And, selfishly, I wanted him close to me after the stress of the day.
Mal shook his head, grinning, but didn’t push back again. He eased into the bed, still on top of the covers, and leaned against the headboard. I finished getting ready for bed, taking my turn in the bathroom, brushing my teeth with the door open. I felt Mal’s eyes on me the whole time, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Sure, I’d been stunned speechless when I’d burst into the bathroom. And maybe it’d been unreasonable to panic like I had, but the violation of having Xavier break into the motel was still so fresh in my mind. I’d immediately jumped to insane conclusions, thinking that Xavier had somehow gotten a camera into the bathroom, or something like that. Of course it made no sense—why would it be in my house?—but I was starting to realize that when it came to Mal, my logic was malfunctioning.
I’d been frozen by surprise when I saw Mal—and also by the whiplash of terror turning into arousal. Mal had looked so fucking hot as he came, muscles tensing and his hand wrapped around his hard, thick cock.
Knowing he was doing that in my shower made it even hotter.
And then he’d fallen on his ass. The image made me grin around my toothbrush. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt, and, admittedly, it was fucking hilarious. Laughing it about it together felt so natural, immediately alleviating any awkwardness or embarrassment between us. It didn’t feel right to send him downstairs to the couch after that. That’d be a falsehood—pretending that whatever was between us wasn’t between us. And I was getting too old to play games like that.
I knew better than to make that decision for Mal, though. Even if he looked comfortable, lounging on the bed, I didn’t want to make assumptions.
I set my toothbrush aside and stepped out of the bathroom. “Hey,” I said as I stripped my shirt over my head, leaving me in just my sweatpants to sleep, “do you want me to take the couch?”
Mal’s eyes tracked over my bare chest. “Uh. No, of course not. It’s your bed.” He cleared his throat. “And like you said, it’s big enough.”
It’d been my idea, but suddenly the idea of sharing a bed with Mal made anxiety curl in my gut. We couldn’t sleep side by side in my bed, pretending we were still just friends, pretending things were normal. The tension between us was too far gone.