9. Chapter 9

After two weeks, my brain still reeled that Cooper agreed to our bromance. But was it a bromance if blow jobs were involved? He was the first guy I wanted to experiment with, but honestly, Mac put the idea into my head in the first place. If he had never told us his story at the party, I probably would've continued to enjoy watching Cooper in all his sexiness but never done anything about it.

But now, I worried he wanted to back out, and I didn't know how to approach him again. The first time, we had the perfect opportunity, and everything had fallen into place, but I wanted him again and finally suck his sexy dick. But what if I didn't like it after all? I probably would. I was way too eager to try this. But if not, I'd have to stick with the plan of being honest. Not that we were doing anything at all, dammit.

It was late afternoon on Wednesday, and I didn't have to work, so I texted Mac to meet me for some tacos tonight over at this little cantina on 1st Street in East Austin. It required a car to get there, but the tacos and margaritas were worth the drive.

The place had been converted from a home to a restaurant several years ago and expanded to accommodate the growing crowd as the restaurant grew in popularity. Unfortunately, places like this had small parking lots, so you needed to come at a certain time of the day to find a space and not have to wait an hour to eat.

I arrived at the restaurant, grabbed a table outside, and ordered two margaritas on the rocks with salt while I waited for Mac to arrive.

The mid-September days grew cooler, and while it was in the mid-eighties, at least the days no longer hovered over one hundred. Once it started cooling off more, I would open the windows to the apartment to air the place out and make my plants happy.

Ranchera music filtered through the speakers outside as I leaned back in my chair, listening to it. I wondered if Cooper had been here yet. He'd been in Austin since his freshman year, so probably. But, if not, I'd have to take him. He would fall in love with this place.

Mac showed up a few minutes later, and at the same time, our drinks arrived, along with bowls of red salsa, tomatillo salsa, and chips. He dropped into the seat across from me, snagged a chip, and dunked it into the hotter-than-hell red salsa.

He wore his usual black fedora, sitting high on his head as his dark blond bangs fell into his face. His AC/DC T-shirt and ripped jeans were all black, too, which was his usual clothing of choice. He was also a good-looking guy, but not like Cooper. Mac was like the boy-next-door cute. Cooper was on a completely different playing field. Hell, had his own field.

"What's up, man?" he asked with his mouth full. "You look like you're thinking super hard over there."

I smiled and took a sip of my margarita. The tequila was the best, going down smoothly. "Thanks for coming, Mac. I wanted to talk to you about something personal."

I suppose if I were to talk about this to anyone, it would be Mac, even if he'd never put that bro-job idea into my head in the first place. I loved all my bandmates, but he and I talked the most.

He raised a brow. "Oh?"

I dipped a chip into the tomatillo salsa and shoved the dripping chip into my mouth. Sour lime, cilantro, green chilies, garlic, and onion burst in my mouth. "God, that's so good," I said with my mouth full. Once I finished chewing, I wiped my hands on my napkin. "Anyway, you can't say a word. Not even to Ethan and Zayne."

He leaned back in his chair and eyed me as he sipped his drink. "Keeping secrets? That's not like you, Asp."

"I know, but promises are more important. The real test of honesty and trustworthiness is if you can keep them."

"Color me intrigued. But isn't telling me breaking that promise?"

I shook my head. "No, because we both agreed that I could."

Mac raised a thick blond brow. "Well, spill it."

I looked around the patio of the restaurant to make sure no one could hear us and leaned in close to Mac. "So, after you told us your story about your dorm roommate, Coop and I agreed to try it."

His thick, blond brows went straight to his hairline. "You mean, hottie wide receiver for the Longhorns is going to do a bro-job on you? Or is it the other way around?"

I nodded. "Well, we've only talked about it, and we masturbated in front of each other to gay porn to see if we could do it before we branched out. That happened during the morning after the party."

"Wait, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you and Cooper Summers are going to do bro-jobs. He doesn't seem like the type, man. His clothes are expensive, and he seems so… put together. In other words, he doesn't fit the free-spirit vibe that you give off."

"Shh. People will hear. You don't know his type. He's cool. Coop is totally chill."

"Well, then there's you… While I realize you're open-minded as hell, I've seen you with countless girls, but never with a dude. Hell, I've never seen you check out a guy, let alone talk about an interest in one."

"You weren't interested in your roommate like that."

"True. I'm just curious where all this is coming from?"

I shrugged and chowed down on more chips and salsa, but before I could explain it, the server came out and took our order. I was having the chicken enchiladas with salsa verde, and Mac chose the carnitas street tacos.

"Yeah, I realize I've never been with a dude, but I like to look at the nice-looking ones sometimes, and Cooper is beyond nice-looking. I never talked about it because I never thought about it too hard. I look, but I don't think, ‘Gee, I'd like to suck his dick.' But with Coop… I don't know. We get along so well, and he's so attractive, inside and out. So, now I want to expand my sexual repertoire, so to speak. You're the one who put the idea in my head anyway with your roommate story. Otherwise, I may not have thought such a thing was possible or that straight dudes even did that."

Mac nodded thoughtfully. "That's cool you're attracted to him and looking to explore your sexuality, but that's not a bro-job you'll be doing, Asp. That's different and trickier."

"Not for Coop. We don't want to be boyfriends and shit. This is only for fun and to give us a release now and then, since neither of us is dating."

"So, what do you need from me?"

I chugged the rest of my margarita and ordered one more. "Advice? Are you and Jeff still friends? Did you both part on good terms? Was there fighting, feelings, or jealousy?"

Mac shook his head. "No, yes, and no, but those are good questions, man. We parted on good terms. We'd still be friends if he hadn't dropped out of UT and moved to Colorado."

I breathed a little easier. I really liked Cooper and wanted to be good friends with him, not wanting to ruin it when it was all said and done. "Okay, good."

"Just be your usual honest self, and you should be fine. But I'm glad you two are talking about this instead of jumping into it. I mean, Jeff and I kind of did it spontaneously, but we did talk a lot afterward to make sure we were on the same page."

"My next problem is finding the opportunity. It's been two weeks since we agreed to this, but there hasn't been a chance. He doesn't seem to be avoiding me, so…" I shrugged. "Granted, we're both busy, and he's got football practice every day. But I'm not sure how to approach him when we're both home chilling. He's not like a girl. A girl, I know how to ask."

"Exactly. Coop isn't a girl. You don't need to build up the guys. Just knock on his door and ask if he wants to get off. Remember, this is only sex, not dating. You don't need to court the dude or play him a song like you do with the ladies."

I breathed out a laugh. "God, it seems so easy now that you've said it."

Mac spread his hands with a cocky smile. "It's what I'm here for."

Soon, we got our food and talked about other things and the band. After dinner, we gave each other a hug with promises that we were still on to play Saturday night.

It was the next night, and I was lying facedown in bed, studying for a test tomorrow for my Ecology and Evolution class. While I had most of it figured out, I wanted to make sure I was on top of it. I stroked Morpheus' fur, who was curled up, sleeping next to my laptop, where it was warm as I read through my notes.

Cooper had recently gotten home from football practice and chowed down on the white chili I'd made for dinner before he hit the shower. My thoughts drifted to him being naked in the shower, smooth, freckly skin glistening. All his ridges and undulations from his strong muscles were punctuated with the reflecting water, like an oiled god. Maybe he stroked himself with his conditioner, resting an arm on the tiles as he stared at his swollen cock getting stroked by strong fingers. Great, that just made me hard. I shook my head and tried to focus on my studies, but I couldn't. My thoughts kept drifting to Cooper and his stunning body.

God, I still hadn't gotten the balls to ask him. Maybe when he got out of the bathroom, I'd just suck it up. I sure hoped he hadn't forgotten about our little plan or changed his mind. But we promised to talk about that if we did. Ugh, but why would we? We hadn't even started anything yet.

The sudden knock on my open door startled me. I rolled onto my side in the bed, turning to face a shirtless Cooper in all his freckled glory, holding his Spanish notebook. His hair was still damp and extra wavy as it dripped over his taut skin. "You got some time to help me with some of these damn phrases we need to have memorized for tomorrow's quiz?"

My mind spiraled into disappointment because I had a second of hope that Cooper came here to see me for more than for studying, but I'd be happy to help him. "Sure, man. Come on in."

I grabbed Morpheus and put him into his cage before falling back into my bed, sitting cross-legged. I patted the bed next to me for him to sit. Maybe after we studied, I could finally get the balls to approach him about our bro-jobs. I was usually more bold than this. Then again, this wasn't typical for me. I just needed to bite the bullet.

Cooper sat down, and his weight jostled me as he sank into my old bed. "Can you read it out in English and let me see if I can translate it properly?"

"You got it."

He opened his notebook to the page he wanted and handed it to me. I took it and gazed at what he needed to learn.

"Let's start at the top. God, I suck at Spanish. Always have."

"Not with my help. We'll make sure your grades are good this semester."

"Thanks, man."

I read the first line at the top of his notebook. "Can you tell me where the hospital is located?"

"?Puedo… decirme dónde está… ubiceado el hospital?"

"Close. It's ‘?Puede decirme dónde está ubicado el hospital?'And since we have to write it out, where are the accents?"

He stared up at the ceiling, and I took the opportunity to count the freckles on his chest.

"Uh… on the ‘o' for dónde and the ‘a' for está."

"Awesome. See? You're going to knock this out of the park."

After studying for an hour, Cooper closed his notebook and was about to climb out of bed. On instinct, I reached out to him and grabbed his forearm, pulling him back down as my stomach flopped around from nervousness. It wasn't like me to get jittery, but this was an unusual situation. With a deep breath, I swallowed my nerves and leaned in close to him. "Let's do this, Coop."

He stared at my hand, still holding him. Or maybe he couldn't look at me. "Now?"

"It's perfect. You've been studying hard, and you need to be rewarded."

Shit, I nearly pressed my lips to the rapidly pulsing vein in his throat. No kissing. Kissing made it too personal. Not that I didn't want to kiss. I loved kissing, though I didn't think Cooper would go for it. But I did lean closer to him and inhaled, smelling his woodsy scent from his shower.

"I want to make you feel good," I said in his ear.

His breath hitched, and he swallowed as his throat bobbed and his skin prickled with goosebumps under my hand.

Please don't change your mind.

"Okay," he whispered.

Fuck yeah!

I kept my excitement to a minimum so I didn't scare him off. He was tense and clawing at the sheets underneath him, but I'd have him at ease soon enough, or so I hoped.

Slipping out of bed, I shucked my shorts onto the floor as he eyed my every movement with wide, slate-colored eyes. I stood in front of him, completely naked, and pried his legs slightly apart before sliding to my knees. It wasn't easy to hide how hard he was underneath the thin fabric of his joggers. My man definitely wanted to try this, no matter how nervous he was. Hell, I was a little nervous, too, never having sucked cock before in my life. I wanted to make it good for him, but I'd probably be terrible at it.

I looked up into his wide eyes. "Tell me if you want me to stop at any time. No hard feelings, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."