Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

HUGO

This is now the fourth night Torin’s spent at my place. I’m glad he’s here. A strange feeling came over me last night when I saw him dancing with Noah. The way my chest burned and how I was clenching my teeth so tightly my jaw hurt. It got so bad I found myself on the dance floor just to be close to him.

It was ridiculous because I dance with Noah all the time. I’ve never felt that way before. I’m not sure what it means. But as I sat with Torin at the table after, I could feel the way he shivered and basically curled in on himself. This wasn’t a place for him.

Why did he even come? Did I make him feel guilty when I told him I wished he were there? The thought that could be the reason ate at me until I decided it was time to go. Torin didn’t put up any arguments and followed me out.

I hugged him tightly last night. Probably too tight. Could he even breathe? He put himself in that situation and I’m sure it’s because of me, somehow. I didn’t know how to ask him, though. Winny’s warnings to think before I speak had me tongue tied, and I never got the words out. Fear that I’d hurt his feelings or make a gross presumption kept me silent.

We spent the day together today. Not doing anything special. I did some laundry and Torin wore some of my clothes so I could add his to my wash. Especially since he agreed to stay again tonight when I asked him .

I’ve never had slumber parties. Even as a kid, I’ve never had friends where this was comfortable. Who I could cuddle without it being construed as weird or inappropriate. Even as much as I love my friends on my team, I can’t imagine any of them cuddling with me like Torin does.

He’s already in bed when I come out of the bathroom. For a minute, I look at him and try to imagine one of my other friends laying there. Waiting for me. Would Noah have? I can’t imagine he would. I know Atty and Egon wouldn’t. They’re both married. I can definitely understand why that would be inappropriate.

But what about Winny? He’s always given me hugs. Not long hugs like Torin, but he’s always been attentive to what I need. He doesn’t just look out for me when I’m liable to say something that’s going to cause a mess, but even when it’s just the two of us. I’m learning to stop and think, even when it’s difficult to do so.

The question still remains—would he cuddle with me? Would he have spent the night and cuddled with me if I asked? As much as I love Winny, I don’t think he would. That’s just not our friendship.

Taking a breath, I flick off the light to the bathroom and crawl into bed. Torin doesn’t even care that I’m naked. I’d have worn shorts if he was uncomfortable. I probably would have even bought some underwear if it would have made him feel better.

No, Winny wouldn’t cuddle with me like this. And you know… I wouldn’t want him to. This is just a me and Torin thing.

“Hi,” he whispers when I haven’t moved from hovering over him.

I’m probably staring at him like a creep. Smiling, I say, “Sorry,” and lay down on top of him. I love how perfectly he fits my body. He’s only a couple inches shorter than me, I think. Not much. But I swear, he’s like half my size. Which means when I wrap around him, I can consume him entirely. I absolutely love it. I love how he fits against me.

His leg comes up and wraps around the top of my thigh. I can feel his heel near my ass. His dick is hard, but I think it’s always hard. I get it. Mostly, I am too. Hell, I’m slightly hard right now, for no reason at all.

Torin’s arms wrap around my shoulders, and I sink into him. He’s so warm. So soft. I let my fingers roam over his ribs, down to his hip.

“Am I too heavy?” I ask.

His arms tighten. “No. Stay like this. Please.”

I nod sleepily. Honestly, I love staying just like this. Pinning his body beneath mine. Feeling every inch of him, so I know when he’s relaxed or when his heart is racing and he’s uncomfortable. I can feel his body heat too.

As I’m falling asleep, I muse about how much I like Torin. Like… I might… like him. More than a friend?

My eyes flutter open as the thought percolates. Have I ever enjoyed being with someone as much as I do Torin? Have I ever wanted to be with someone all the time like this? Is it normal to feel this way about your friends?

It occurs to me that maybe cuddling like this isn’t normal between friends, and that’s why I can’t picture Winny cuddling like this. Because friends don’t do this.

What does that mean? Are Torin and I more than friends? Do I want to be more than friends? I’ve never, never been interested in someone at all for anything other than a quick, brief fuck. This is so completely new.

Chills break out over my body, and I grip Torin a little tighter. He sighs, his arms flexing around my neck, his fingers absently moving through the back of my hair.

It’s so soothing, so peaceful and perfect, it isn’t long before I fall asleep with these thoughts stewing about. I don’t hate it. Even if it feels a little confusing. Like I shouldn’t feel this way about a friend.

I wake up to my alarm blaring. It’s far too loud. Why do I always leave it so loud? I roll over and blindly reach for my phone. It falls to the floor and I groan, whine, and practically cry. Quiet laughter behind me reminds me I’m not alone.

A grin covers my face as I stretch myself over the side of the bed to retrieve my phone and turn off the offending loud sounds. Setting it back on my nightstand, I roll over until I’m once again draped halfway on top of Torin .

“Why is your alarm going off right now?” he asks, snuggling into me.

I can feel the way he tries to keep his hips away. As if I can’t feel his hard cock poking my hip. “I have conditioning in a couple hours.”

“Conditioning?”

With a heavy sigh, I nod. “Yep. On days we don’t have practice, we usually still have conditioning. Working on different muscle groups.”

“I didn’t realize that.”

“Mmm,” I hum. “We don’t have to be there at a specific time, but I like to go mid to late morning. I can sleep in and wake up slowly and still have the day to myself after.”

“How long do you stay there?”

“Hour or two. Depends on what I’m doing or if I struggle. If I struggle, it means I’ve been neglecting that muscle group, and I should work a little harder at it.”

Torin nods.

“You can come if you want. Sometimes the guys bring their siblings or kids or friends to the gym.”

He huffs. “To show off how weak I am? No, thank you.”

I grin. “We all start somewhere. The only way to get stronger is to begin.”

His face presses into the side of mine. We lay in silence for a minute. Torin adjusts himself again and the press of his cockhead against my thigh moves away. Maybe I should roll to my side so he knows I’m hard, too. I almost always wake up hard. Since I hit puberty, it’s just been a thing. I’ve read that some people grow out of it but to date, at twenty-eight, I have not. It’s not a big deal.

“What’re you going to do today?” I ask.

Torin shrugs. “Probably should head home. At the very least, I need clean clothes.”

I frown. I mean, I get it. My clothes do not fit Torin, and I don’t have any underwear to offer. “You can always stay here when you want to. An hour is a long way to drive after a night game. And… even if you just want to hang out without the reason of a late game.”

He smiles against my cheek. “Thanks. I don’t want to take up all your time, though. You have other friends and stuff. ”

“Yes, but it’s fine. I like when you’re here. You can keep some clothes here too. You know, if you want.”

“Thanks,” he whispers. Okay before I make this awkward, I push up and off him. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Torin nods, his cheeks flush. I can tell by the way he grabs for the blankets, he wants to cover himself. I don’t want him to be self-conscious, which is probably why the next words out of my mouth are, “You can take a shower with me.”

His eyes lock with mine and I have to quickly think about what I just said. This might be the opposite of trying to stop him from being self-conscious. “I just mean… I have a big shower with three shower heads and I’m naked in front of guys all the time. Being hard is normal.”

Okay, now that didn’t help! Oof.

“Remember when I said I sometimes say things that can be misconstrued as to how I intend them to be?” I ask quickly. “I’m sorry.”

He laughs. His skin looks like I took a red marker to him and blotched him all over the place.

“I just didn’t want you to feel self-conscious because you’re hard. I am too. It’s fine.” As if he can’t tell, I sit back on my haunches so he can see my erection wave at him like a third leg.

Torin’s eyes lock on it and for some reason, it makes my dick twitch.

“Okay, well… now that I’ve made it super awkward and that’s entirely the opposite of what I was trying to do… I’m going to take a shower. At the risk of making it worse, you can join me if you want to. You’ve been in my shower. You know it’s big. And I always shower with all the heads on.”

Torin nods as I back off my bed. Hell, even I’m feeling a little flushed right now. Heading into the bathroom, I leave the door cracked so he knows the invitation was real. Even if I said things very wrong.

I turn on the water and brush my teeth while it’s heating. I don’t hear Torin moving, and pretend I’m not bummed that he’s decided not to join me as I step under the water.

Not going to lie. I take a lot of showers. This morning’s shower is probably unnecessary since I’m heading to the arena’s gym shortly to get sweaty there. But the morning shower isn’t necessarily to get clean. It’s to wake me up.

And to get rid of my morning wood. I grip my dick with a sigh and lean back against the wall. Probably good that Torin didn’t join me. I really do need to rub one out.

The sound of my glass shower door has my eyes opening and I’m shocked to see Torin standing there. His eyes are locked on mine, his pale skin a pretty shade of red as he steps into the shower.

His gaze flickers to where I’m holding my dick and while I don’t believe he could get any redder, I’m also sure he does. “I… uh… can take a shower after.”

I shake my head and shift to one side of my shower. “No! You can stay. It’s totally cool to be hard.” My words make me wince, even as Torin laughs. I sigh heavily. “I mean?—”

“I know,” he whispers. His words are almost lost in the spray of the water.

“I’m going to remind you again I say things that only make everyone involved cringe. I’m surprised I haven’t done so more often in your presence.”

Torin grins. “It’s fine, Hugo. Really.”

I nod, watching him as he moves under the water and closes his eyes. It’s inappropriate to look at him like this, right? I shouldn’t let my eyes trail down his smooth skin to where his cock is hard against his stomach. It’s a nice size. I glance at mine. His is definitely more manageable than mine.

“So… it’s okay if you want to… take care of that,” I say, nodding toward his woody. I haven’t let go of mine, which I should, but it’s throbbing right now.

He watches me and I can tell he’s struggling to keep his eyes on mine. At the risk of making it even more awkward, I continue, “You can look at my dick if you want to too. I don’t mind.” Honestly, I’m used to people looking at my crotch. It happens. I get it. I’m one of those rare unicorns that once in a while, people catch glimpses of in the wild. Only, my horn is between my legs, though usually just as visible for the world to see as if it were on my head.

Believe it or not, underwear makes it worse. I don’t have the kind of cock that hides very well. It used to be embarrassing, but I’ve learned to embrace it. Not like I can change it .

I’m transfixed when his hand moves slowly to his cock. I swear, I can feel his grip on mine and it makes a thrill run through my body. My heart races unevenly as I stare at his hand as it moves over his length. He’s smaller than me. To be fair, most people are. In fact, I haven’t met someone who even comes close. I’m gargantuanly disproportioned.

But he has a nice dick. It’s full, just over the length of his hand. A very defined head and a prominent vein. I’ve never considered whether a dick is nice or not. When I glance down at mine, I decide I like his better. I bet it’s not seen as a threat whenever someone sees it.

My eyes rise to his just as he meets mine. I don’t know what it is about this moment of eye-contact, but I can feel it inside me. Stroking me. Licking flames. A moan gets lodged in my throat as my hand moves more insistently over my dick.

“Torin,” I whisper, a question on the tip of my tongue that gets lost when he moans quietly. And then it’s all over. I’m lost in the haze of lust as I jerk one out while watching my friend do the same. Our orgasms hit at almost the same time and, like me, Torin sags against the wall after.

Okay, even I can admit this is probably not something most friends do together. So I can’t explain why I’m already anxious to do it again.