Page 99 of Only You

I wished I had a video camera to record him, because my camera wasn’t going to do it justice. Still, I took a ton of shots, standing on a bench to get angles from above, and kneeling next to him to get close-ups of his face.

Glancing up, I saw Mo watching me, and I jerked my gaze away.

The minutes ticked by. I didn’t know how Minty was still holding his hand up, unwavering and steady, as the cream fell to his face. My own arm ached just watching him.

Kyle shifted, moving a hand down to this crotch, adjusting himself. He licked his lips, not taking his eyes from Minty. Fuck. That was not good.

Mo stood up, threw his trash away, and walked toward me. I tensed, surprised when he paused and said, “Keep an eye on that one. He’s got a death wish worse than Tad’s.”

I swallowed hard, turning to watch Mo walk away. When he turned the corner of the building, I focused my attention back on Minty.

The performance was taking a long time, the ice cream melting far too slowly. I kept flicking glances at Kyle, but he didn’t notice, seemingly having eyes only for Minty.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, Minty announced, “Cream my face,” in a calm, sultry voice, and dumped the melted contents of the cone into his open mouth. Like before, it splashed everywhere, getting on his dress, in his hair, and all over the concrete, too.

The audience clapped and whistled.

Minty gathered himself and rose, wiping the cream from his eyes with his skirt, revealing his biker shorts beneath. “Thank you, thank you,” he said, pointing toward the tip jar he’d set up, and into which people were dumping bills and coins. “Please feel free to leave as much cash as you can reasonably afford,” he called out. “I’m planning to use it to buy some good X from a local dealer I know and see where things go from there. Thank you.” He nodded to an art student who dropped a quarter in the jar. “Thank you,” he said prettily to a professor who put in a whole dollar. I could barely keep my mouth closed. “Thank you,” he said, looking right at Kyle with a smug smile. “It’s good to seeyouagain.”

Kyle’s nostrils flared.

Minty put his chin up and waited for everyone else who had money to drop it into the jar, holding Kyle’s gaze the entire time. When the last sorority girl had dropped in a few dollars, he grabbed the jar from the ground, and swung his attention toward me. “C’mon, Peter. Help me get cleaned up.”

My eyes darted over to Kyle. My stomach ached at the hate shining from his face. Heart in my throat, I followed Minty into the UC and into the bathroom.

“Count it,” Minty said, thrusting the jar at me and turning on the taps on the sink. “How’d I do?”

“Let’s just hurry and go,” I said. “And what are you going to do with all this money? You can’t just walk around campus all afternoon with a big, jangling jar of change.”

“Mm, there are a few dollar bills in there, too,” Minty said, splashing water on his face, and then getting some hand soap from the dispenser to wash with. “But, dunno. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I’ll take it back to my dorm room, I guess. It’ll make me late to my next class, but so—”

The door swung open. My heart sped up.

Holy fuck.

That asshole walked in and stopped dead, staring at Minty in the mirror, arms crossed over his chest, and evidence of an erection pushing against the front of his jeans. I clutched the tip jar and opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Minty smiled. “Hey, baby. I’ve been hoping you’d be back around. Last time, you went off too fast. Didn’t get enough of that fat cock.”

Last time? Was this just some bullshit Minty was spinning to goad this guy into killing us?

“You,” Kyle growled at me. “Get out. Guard the door.”

“What? No,” I managed, before Minty took hold of my arm, and maneuvered me toward the door which Kyle had now unblocked. “Go on, Heartbreaker. I gotta get this boy’s nut before my next class. Make sure no one comes in.”

“What?”

Minty shoved me out the door, closed it behind him, and,fuck me, he locked it.

“Minty,” I called, banging on the door. “Let me in.”

Just what I planned to do to help him, I didn’t know. I breathed in and out through my mouth, my heart pounding, and spots circling in my eyes. When I was about to leave my post to go find a security guard, I heard the noises. Minty’s high-pitched sounds, and what could only be Kyle’s deep grunts.

“That’s it, take it,” I heard Kyle snarl. I pressed my ear to the door. “Open up like the bitch you are.”

Minty let out a sound of joyous delight, and I flushed. He was…

He couldn’t be, could he…?

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