Page 26 of Blocked Score

Tuck, predictably, does no such thing. Instead, he props his forearm against the end of the row of lockers and leans in a way that has his cock swinging between his legs.

“You know, I’ve had people give me a lot of instructions about what to do with my dick, but putting it away has never been one of them,” he says to Hudson, wiggling his eyebrows.

“I’m glad I’m moving,” Hudson grumbles, lowering his brow and averting his gaze from his butt-naked best friend.

“Don’t remind me,” Tuck replies, the jubilance now drained from his voice, “you’ll make me tear up again.”

Rhys, Sebastian, and I snicker because we know he’s not joking.

Hudson’s moving out of the house where the five of us have lived together since the beginning of last school year. He and his girlfriend, Summer, want at least one semester of living together before they graduate.

Tuck’s crestfallen.

No one would have bet that the two would become such close friends when they first met, but they have. Not only that, but both of them are also dating two best friends. Tuck likes to say they’re practically brothers-in-law.

They’ll still be seeing each other all the time—Tuck will make sure of that; Hudson couldn’t shake him off even if he wanted to—but Tuck’s still getting all sappy over them not being roommates anymore starting tomorrow when we’re helping Hudson move his stuff into his and Summer’s new place.

Tuck takes a moment to collect his emotions. The enthusiasm is back in his voice when he asks, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Sebastian replies, stepping into his boxers.

“What’s the longest you’ve all been naked for?” Tuck reiterates.

“I don’t know,” Rhys answers on a chuckle. “I never timed it out.”

“I was thinking the other day that it’d be a cool personal record to set,” Tuck says. “See how long you could go. Like, try to go a whole twenty-four hours with zero clothes on. Might be fun.”

“Now I’mreallyglad I’m moving,” Hudson chimes in.

An interested hum rumbles from Rhys. “That doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea. Maybe Maddie and I can rent a secluded cabin or something during the summer and try it out.”

A slimy feeling pitter-patters down my spine. “Ugh, come on, dude. That’s my sister. We talked about you guys keeping certain things to yourselves.”

Rhys cocks a wry smirk at me. Giving each other shit and yanking each other’s chains has always been a big part of our friendship, but now that he’s dating my sister, he holds the ultimate trump card.

I sling off my towel and get dressed. While my arms are raised to pull on a t-shirt, I can sense Sebastian’s gaze ticking to the spot underneath my left armpit. He breathes out a chuckle.

“Still can’t believe you got that thing. It looks so out of place on you.”

Before tugging and letting the hem of the shirt fall to my waist, I trace the inked design with my fingertips.

My one and only tattoo. Got it a year and a half ago, drunk at the end of a night of trying to drink away a stubborn heartbreak a week after getting back from Chicago.

Maybe it was a bad idea to etch a permanent reminder of Scarlett on my skin. Obviously, I didn’t make anything close to the kind of impression on her that she made on me.

Still, the thought of simply forgetting her felt so much more tragic than carrying a memento of the pain I felt when she told me it was best for us to simply never see each other again.

You’d think that eighteen months after a brief summer fling, I wouldn’t feel any residual pangs of hurt over how it ended.

Yeah, you’d think.

At least I’m getting better at pushing it down, filing it away in a drawer in my mind that I’m getting better and better at shutting, at least for periods of time.

Which is what I do right now.

“Come on,” I announce, stepping into my shoes. “Let’s get some ramen. I’m starving.”

For the umpteenthtime in the last sixty seconds, Tuck sniffles loudly. “I told myself I wasn’t going to cry …”

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