Page 64 of Love in Mission City: The Shorts

“Have you done this before?”I tried to ask lightly, but the weight of it filled the room.

He shut his eyes.His cheeks reddened.

I needed clarification.“You said you wanted me to fuck you—”

“—and I do—”

“But have you ever done that before?”

Silence.

Finally, his eyes opened.“Have I done stuff to myself?Yes.Have I been with another man?No.”

“Are you out?”I hadn’t heard anything either way, but this was truly none of my business.Except I needed to know.His head was somewhere, and I wasn’t convinced it was here.

“I was going to.I swear.When I finished undergrad and got into med school, I planned to tell my parents and sister.But then, you know, stuff happened.”

“Shannon’s accident.”

He nodded.“And I didn’t get into medical school, and suddenly it didn’t feel like the right time.So I studied to be a physiotherapist and have lived my life.”

“Alone.”

He nodded.

“Celibate.”Not to put too fine a point to it.

He nodded.

“Not even a woman?Have you dated?”

This time, he shook his head.

“And no one noticed?”I was perversely curious.His family had always been tight.I’d envied that.Especially after my own summarily booted me out.

“Zach and West noticed my lack of dating at the university, but we haven’t seen each other since the crash.I think Casey’s noticed, but she’s never said anything.”

Casey, Shannon’s twin, was his other younger sister.

“So basically, you’re a virgin.”He’d been so aggressive downstairs, I never thought to question it.

If possible, his cheeks went even redder.

“Yeah.Basically.”

Oh, this was going to be so much fun.

Chapter Four

Marcus

Oh.My.God.

Why?Why had I been so honest?I could’ve pulled it off.He’d never have known.

You think so?

No, he would’ve known.This was Cadence.He knew everything.

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