Take My Body (Curse Bound 2)

Drunk. Cute. Laughing. Dancing. The life of the party.

So maybe he’d never wanted to be the adorable shorty, but the attention his boy was getting hit home. He could have gone to more parties while at university. He could have made friends and not have been a wallflower so much if he hadn’t been so obsessed with picking apart every flaw he saw in his body. He’d lost so much time in his own head, worried that his arms were too skinny, that his legs were too short, or what prospective partners might think of his naked body that he’d forgotten to live.

And seeing Gunner so comfortable in the skin he used to loathe so much didn’t just unlock stuck windows at the back of Caspian’s brain. Reality barged right through them, throwing open all doors until he had to face the fact that while his body wasn’t the kind he’d always wanted, it shouldn’t have been a hindrance. Those twinks he’d always stared at in secret on campus? Maybe they’d have gone for him, were he to make a move. Gunner had no trouble attracting the attention of all kinds of guys, and was currently back-to-back with a cute boy of the emo variety, who made very obvious attempts to lure Gunner into more than dancing.

The flush on Gunner’s face suggested he’d had one or three too many, so Caspian kept his eyes on his cutie at all times, while giving him space to have fun. Gunner had had so many doubts about coming here in the first place that Caspian had expected him to sit in the corner, but as soon as the drinks had started coming, he’d loosened up and was loving his first non-straight party.

Someone blocked Caspian’s view, so he got up without thinking, because losing sight of Gunner raised his blood pressure.

“Whoa! You’re taller than I thought,” the guy said, raising his hands. He wasn’t as tiny as Gunner, but Caspian was six-foot-five now and towered over most people.

The stranger had a broad, handsome smile and wore a shirt that showcased his muscular frame. He wasn’t Caspian’s type, since that skirted more toward what Gunner currently represented, but the attention was flattering nevertheless, so he grinned and leaned in to speak, because the music was loud enough to make communication difficult.

“I drank a lot of milk growing up,” he stated, cringing as soon as he’d said it. He wasn’t used to flirting. Not in real life at least, where he didn’t have whole minutes to come up with a perfect response.

The man leaned in too, looking up at Caspian. Up. At Caspian. The thrill of being taller would never get old. “I’d drink some of your milk. Your hands look like they have a good grip on a man’s neck.”

That was forward. Holding Gunner’s throat and squeezing it, to let him know who was in control, had come naturally to Caspian, but he didn’t quite think about it as choking, and having a stranger suggest this off the bat sucked all the magic out of the gesture.

Still, after making sure Gunner was safe, happily grinding back against a splendid dude with dimples, he decided to experiment and placed his hand on the stranger’s throat. Blood rushed to his groin the moment he felt the man’s Adam’s apple bob against his palm.

“You’d have to find out.” It rolled off his tongue, the perfect thing to say in response, yet despite the sudden excitement, he felt like a cardboard cut-out. Like a character he’d made up on Grindr rather than a real person. He always thought he wanted to be seen for who he was inside—a badass, dominant fucker who had all the confidence in the world, but that also wasn’t all there was to him?

The handsome stranger stared straight at him, and the attention tickled Caspian’s ego, but he didn’t feel seen. They were in a bar, not on a hook-up app, where getting straight down to business made perfect sense, and it struck Caspian that this guy hadn’t even asked for Caspian’s name. He wanted a type, and he’d have taken anyone who fit the bill. De gustibus non est disputandum, and all that, but it was a bit too objectifying for Caspian’s taste.

“My place? I’ve never been with a guy like you. I’m gonna choke on that D and rasp when I tell my bestie all about it tomorrow.” The stranger chuckled, but his eyes were hazy, as if his thoughts were already in his bed, and his mouth—on Caspian’s cock.

This was everything Caspian had wanted and fantasized about. For someone to submit to his strength and be his willing bitch. Maybe if this had happened on day one of his new life in Gunner’s body, he’d have gone for it, no questions asked, but the muscles, broad shoulders, and thick dick weren’t what he was. In fact, he’d only been enjoying them for two weeks, and while they felt like his own now, they were still a costume for the real Caspian to wear.