Gunner’s heart pounded as if it were trying to crash its way through his ribcage. Swept up by growing panic, he was about to delete the photos and change the password to block Caspian out of it, but an incoming message made him freeze. He tapped it only to find a whole conversation Caspian was having with some horny stranger, and it seemed they’d be hooking up… right… about… now.
Gunner took a screenshot of the address, jumped to his feet and ran.
“Not in my fucking body!”
Chapter 8 - Caspian
Anticipation buzzed in Caspian’s veins as he sipped coffee in a booth at the back of the diner. Unlike at the cafe he’d lost some of his warm feelings for, in the dingy box of concrete, glass, and plastic everyone was equally welcome as long as they paid for their orders. Not a single person here piqued his interest, but he hadn’t come to eat or chat with the server.
He’d come here to get laid.
The box of condoms and lube, both of which he’d got at the nearby gas station, burned through the pocket of his jeans like a constant reminder that this was it—he’d finally have anal. His new tattooed face didn’t have as many takers as the photo of the handsome blond guy Caspian had stolen off the internet and used on Grindr since he’d first downloaded the app, but following the confrontation at the café, he decided to be upfront about the ink, because having someone run off would have been much worse than getting fewer messages. Not to mention, less productive in the hook-up department.
What counted was that he was about to hook up, and while he did have stage fright, he kept telling himself that it didn’t matter if he fucked up with a stranger. So what if he came too soon or made some other blunder? He didn’t know the man he was about to fuck, so even if something didn’t go according to plan, he could just forget it and move on.
It was safe.
Easy.
It would be fun.
“Here we go,” the server said with a smile and placed a juicy burger in front of Caspian. He was so girly-looking with his painted eyelids and small frame that Caspian had mistaken him for a woman at first, but his chest was flat as the table, and his voice, while high in pitch, sounded male.
Caspian had gotten hungry. Again. He’d never considered how many calories a body as big as this burned through, but at this rate, he’d be spending everything he earned on food.
“Getting ready for a long drive?” Gale, the server, asked, which made some sense considering how many trucks were parked close to the diner.
Caspian shrugged, smiling up at the guy as he dug in, eager to sate his hunger before his hook-up called him over to the motel. He groaned in pleasure as beef, chili jam, and peanut butter combined in his mouth. Yes, he could finally have peanuts, and they were fucking glorious.
“No, I’m local. Are you sure we’ve never met?”
Gale snorted and tugged on his short blond hair. “I would have remembered.”
Was he flirting? Caspian wasn’t very good at telling, but he could see how this new body could attract attention. It was everything he wanted—big, firm, tall, with ruggedly masculine features. Only the big face tattoo spoiled the perfection of Caspian’s current form, because the other ink, while not perfect, gave him that hot and dangerous vibe he was going for without being too much.
The server wasn’t quite his type but maybe they could meet up some other time? No reason to be overly choosy when Caspian didn’t know how long he’d get to enjoy Gunner’s body.
“I would hope so. Will you give me your number?”
Gale bit his lip, shifted from side to side, then wrote down something in his notepad and passed it to Gunner. “Enjoy your meal, and call me over if you need anything.”
The piece of paper had Gale’s number written down along with ‘I finish at 10pm’ and a heart. Living as Gunner was that easy. A wink. A direct question, and—boom—he had a potential date set up for the night while he hadn’t dared to approach guys until college, and his first sexual experience was blowing a classmate at a drunken party. To this day, Caspian wasn’t sure whether the guy really hadn’t remembered a thing or had chosen to pretend it hadn’t happened. And even after that, Caspian struggled to find hook-ups so much he didn’t bother to try dating. Clearly, there were no takers for someone his size.
The ease with which he obtained someone’s phone number kept niggling at the back of his head, and he couldn’t decide whether he was glad or frustrated to see the insecurities that plagued him since puberty proven true. So what if some guys passed on him because he looked intimidating when others flocked to his muscles and ink like cats to a bowl of fresh milk?