Max knew the tyranny of the snooze button well, and he had to keep his alarm out of reach if he had any chance to getting his ass to the gym for leg day. As usual, his first thought after too cold and make the noise stop was about law school looming closer, accompanied by the familiar acidy drop of his stomach.
But today, that was followed by a burst of memory that made him smile. He broke the cardinal rule of mornings and let himself flop back into bed and pull up his duvet. Just for a minute. His brain was whirring too fast for him to go back to sleep anyway, replaying the strange night he’d had.
Maybe not strange—more like…unexpected. He’d been planning to get buzzed and have fun with the guys, but he wasn’t sorry about missing the party. Hanging out in res with a sad little frosh having a weirdly intense conversation about his anxiety had been…
What? Not fun, exactly. Max’s dad would say poor Jeremy had more issues than TV Guide. Then Max and his sis would ask, “What’s TV Guide?” to be assholes, and Dad would throw up his hands theatrically and bellow, “Kids today!”
Max laughed, missing his dad all of a sudden. He’d see him soon enough for the holidays at least. And by then he’d have the LSAT results.
Stomach twisting, he threw back the duvet and forced himself up, tugging on his track pants. He shuffled into the hall and closed the bathroom door behind him, ordering himself to stop thinking about it. Hey, maybe he’d bomb the LSATs and the decision would be made for him.
He didn’t know what the hell to hope for these days.
Yawning widely as he pissed, he remembered his plans for the day and found himself smiling again, changing gears back to the Jeremy train of thought. It wasn’t that he enjoyed that Jeremy was so lost. But he’d liked hanging with him. He’d liked getting him home safely.
Maybe Honey was right, and he had a thing for helping out clueless newbies. It made him feel good. So did donating to charity or dropping a loonie in a hat when someone asked for change. Nothing wrong with that.
Cute baby gay definitely needed a nudge in the right direction. It would be fun to take him shopping and help him find his way around the Village.
Brushing his teeth with his hip against the counter, Max wondered if he’d ever been so clueless. Maybe he had, but he’d definitely never been as anxious as Jeremy seemed to be about meeting people and getting laid. Shit, that was the best part of university.
But Max would get him sorted out. In no time, Jeremy would be strutting confidently across campus, his virginity a distant memory. The kid clearly had no clue that he was sexy as hell. In other circumstances, Max would have been tempted to pop that cherry himself.
Cherry was a fitting nickname, he thought, remembering the postcard. He smiled around his electric toothbrush. Mmm, the ginger hair and adorable freckles. The way Jeremy bit his lower lip and blushed. That earnestness—like a puppy with zero chill. A sad puppy in need of a bone.
Laughing at his own dumb joke, he spit toothpaste into the sink. A white film of soap scum had built up, and it was probably his turn to clean the bathroom, but he’d deal with that later. He popped his toothbrush back on its charger, ignoring the gross ring on the bottom that also needed scrubbing.
His mind easily bounced away from any more thoughts of chores, and he went to pull on his workout clothes, thinking of Jeremy again with a smile. Jeremy needed a friend, which was why Max had left before he’d been tempted any further to see how deep he could make him blush.
He would fairy godfather the shit out of this. Build up Jeremy’s confidence and get him to relax and have fun. He’d be catnip to so many guys. Hell, they’d definitely be lining up to be Jeremy’s first.
Max frowned as he dug in his knapsack for his earbuds. There were plenty of creeps out there. He’d have to keep an eye on Jeremy and make sure his first time wasn’t with some asshole who would use him and throw him away.
In the kitchen, he grabbed a too-ripe banana, grimacing as he ate it. Bleary-eyed and groaning, Honey dragged ass past him to the coffee machine, fumbling a pod into it. He rubbed his hand over his tightly braided hair. His Raptors shirt was ripped at the collar, revealing a fresh hickey on his dark skin.
“Morning!” Max practically shouted because he was a dick.
Honey grunted.
“Good party?”
He grunted again. “You should have showed. The strippers were epic.” He whistled softly in appreciation. “There was one chick with the biggest tits I’ve ever seen. And you would have loved the Santa guy.” Honey flexed his muscular arms in demonstration. “Where’d you get to anyway? You hook up?”