Page 22 of Bar Down

“Why the fuck are you so big?” Ash blurts out. I choke on a laugh and he looks at me wearily, some amusement in his blue eyes. “Seriously, that’s not gonna fitanywhere.”

“You’re such an idiot,” I chide and he smirks. I take it a step further and say, “You can take it,rakas.”

“Death by giant cock. Make sure you put that on my headstone after this.” I don’t have time to laugh or call him an idiot again because the next second his lips are on me, one of his hands covering the rest, moving up and down in time with his mouth.

“Perkele!”

“Talk Finnish to me, baby,” Ash says, licking up my shaft and biting the inside of my thigh.

“Fuck, no more talking,” I say, and guide my cock back in his mouth before taking a firm grip of his head and showing him exactly how I like it. It doesn’t take long before my body starts shuddering in pleasure. Ash’s mouth pulls away and he replaces it with his hand, twisting with just the right amount of pressure as he climbs back up my body. I come all over my stomach and his hand as he kisses me fervently and bites my lower lip.

I grip the back of his head with one hand and squeeze his ass with the other as we lay there, our kisses soon turning languid and soft.

Fuck.

I wanted this so much. I thought that getting it out of our systems would help, that it would be like scratching an itch, there and gone. But this was so muchmore.How are we supposed to go back to being just friends after this?

TEN

Present Day

Eli

After laughingat me for a solid five minutes, Ash finally takes pity and gives me some of his clothes. “It’s not my fault my luggage got lost,” I mutter.

Ash chuckles and I try not to stare at his naked ass as he walks by me and heads to his room, but I fail miserably.

He always looked good, but there’s something about him now that seems a little different. There are no circles under his eyes, and he seems to have put on some muscle since the last time I saw him a couple months ago. It suits him well.

Ash comes back wearing a pair of boxers with bright pink donuts on them which I’m immediately disappointed with. The frown must be showing on my face as I stare down at them because he says, “Got a problem with my underwear, Kalias?”

I do. I have several problems actually. The first being that he’s wearing any underwear at all while I’m still naked in thehallway. The second problem is that in all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him wear anything other than plain boxers.

It feels like there’s a new side to him that I don’t recognize and that feels like a punch to the gut. I used to know everything about him, all his little quirks, all his likes and dislikes.We used to be inseparable.

Ash clears his throat and I finally stop staring at his crotch. I muster a smile and reach out to take the clothes from his hands. “Nope, no problem.”

“Here, this pair is brand new, you can have them,” he says, running back into the room and coming back with a similar pair, these ones covered in little tacos.

I sigh at his ridiculous choice of underwear and mumble a thank you on my way to the shower. I can still hear Ash’s chuckle long after I close the door.

When I getout of the shower, I hear Ash making coffee in the kitchen but decide to take another moment to myself and head to my own bedroom. Not only am I jet lagged, but this reunion has taken me by surprise and completely thrown me off kilter.

Realistically, I knew that I would have to face Ash at some point this week while we start training camp, but I thought I would have more time to prepare myself. After everything that happened this past summer, we are long overdue for a conversation. We both said and did things we didn’t mean and I don’t know how to act around him anymore.

I look in the full-length mirror in my bedroom and immediately feel embarrassed. Ash’s black athletic shorts are a size too small and show off all of my muscles, but they are especially tight on my ass. And his red T-shirt with our team logo on it is so tight I can almost see my heart thumping through the material.

I look ridiculous. I can’t possibly walk into training camp like this and not be made fun of. I sigh and close my eyes, resigned to stay here just a minute longer and stew in my embarrassment, but Ash knocks hard on my door.

“Are you ready to go? I have a rental car here so I can drive us to camp.”

“I’m contemplating skipping today,” I say miserably.

The door opens and Ash leans on the frame, his arms crossed over his chest. The bright grin he gives me makes my heart skip a beat. “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

I immediately feel myself blush and my accent slips out a little as I tell him to fuck off. All that does is make him laugh.

I shake my head and make my way to the door, but Ash doesn’t move aside, so I slow down in front of him. His grin turns more into a soft smile and he licks his bottom lip before catching it between his teeth.

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