Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Yes. I’m a bottom.” I announced it with pride, mainly because I got to show off a new word I’d learned on Kage’s hookup app
“Kage won’t let the straight boy top?” Steve laughed so hard he fell over in the seat. When he came back up, he said, “That’s priceless. And yet somehow not surprising.”
I felt my face coloring. I was already a little self-conscious about the fact that I’d gone from life-long top to full-time bottom in a matter of months, but I enjoyed it. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to switch it up some, but the truth was, with Kage it hadn’t even occurred to me. Why hadn’t it? I was sitting there pondering the strangeness of that when Steve intruded on my thoughts with some advice.
“I always know when a guy can’t keep his eyes— or hands— off my ass, he’s probably a top. But I would think at this point, if you’re just flirting to make Kage jealous, it doesn’t matter. You’re not sleeping with anyone, right?” The last sentence sounded more like an assertion than a question.
“I just want a guy who will be rough, you know? Like maybe want to do it really hard. Is there any way to tell which guys might be like that?” It was difficult to meet Steve’s eyes, because we both knew I’d just given far too much away about what went on between Kage and me. He’d wanted details, but I doubted that was the kind he meant. Somehow what I’d just revealed felt more emotional than sexual. That’s not the kind of thing I needed to be sharing.
Not only that, but what I was needing, what I was sharing, wasn’t only about me. It was about that long trail of internet boys Kage had fucked his way through. I needed to know what it felt like to be one of them, to find out if that’s what I was, and putting up a profile had been too terrifying. This was safer.
Steve stared at me for a moment, on the verge of saying something but never saying it. Finally he found his voice. “I think you need to talk to Kage about this. Everything is so new to you, and all this stuff with your mom, and I’m too drunk to handle it. This is all jacked up, Jamie. I think you’re kinda messed up in the head right now. Just wait and talk to Kage.”
I jumped up out of my seat and screamed at him, “What part of he fucking left me do you not understand?”
I didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, I walked up to a large group of guys and stood next to them where they were talking amongst themselves and watching the dance floor. A man standing several feet away caught my eye. He was tall, good-looking, and huge. Exactly what I needed. I moved around to where he was standing.
“Sorry,” I said, bumping into his arm as if on accident. “Personal foul. I must have had one too many.”
“No problem.” He laughed, and his eyes slid over me, methodically taking in every inch. He didn’t try to hide the interest, which was a good sign. Already, I had the impression that it wouldn’t take long to get things going. Probably wouldn’t have to talk to him all night and then try to smooth talk him into bed like I had to do with girls. This was going to be a walk in the park.
“You been here before?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m a local.”
“Ahhh… I’m on a summer internship.”
That seemed to pique his interest. Guess he had a little Mark Gladstone in him.
“Where you interning?”
“For a local athlete. I’m a publicist.” I didn’t want to give away too much about my identity
“You sound like you’re from the south.”
“Yeah, I’m from Stone Mountain, above Atlanta.”
“Georgia boy. Nice.”
Nice? That’s good, right?
“Where do you work?” I continued with the near-monosyllabic pattern of our exchange.
“Construction.”
Since the obvious once-over seemed to be the first rule of pickup etiquette around these parts, I licked my lips deliberately and gave him a slow perusal. I was used to playing it cool when I picked up girls, but whatever. I could do this.
“Do you go out much?” I asked, for lack of anything better to say.
The conversation was a challenge. Every sentence felt like a brick wall that one of us had to scale to get to the next. But then, dazzling conversation had never been a prerequisite for sex. The only requirements for that were two willing bodies and a little bit of attraction.
The guy didn’t answer my question about going out. He seemed suddenly bored with the conversation’s direction, or actually the lack of direction, so he got bold and just went for it. He faced me and put his hands on my shoulders, leaning down to get a good look at my face.