Within an hour, all of my belongings were in the spare bedroom in a neat pile up against the wall. The boys had gone to the gym to work out while I set everything up in my room, stacking my small collection of books against the wall, hanging up my clothes, and setting the small TV on top of the dresser. I kept some of the smaller items in their boxes, opting to shove them under the bed so I would have less packing to do again in a month from now. I still hadn’t heard Damien and Alex return, so I grabbed my laptop and headed downstairs. I could at least get some more work done in my spare time, and, if I was being perfectly honest with myself, I didn’t like having so much spare time to simply think, especially when my mind kept drifting to the future. It was better to keep myself occupied.
I had just finished my current writing project when the boys came through the door, their shirts clinging to their bodies wet with sweat. God damn. I watched as Damien strode through the room, giving me a wink before walking into the kitchen and downing a glass of water. Alex followed, peeling off his red t-shirt and tossing it on the couch as he walked through the room. I watched the tight muscles in his back and shoulders flex as he moved and thought about how those muscles looked when he was over top of me, holding his weight on his arms as he . . .
I didn’t know how I was going to control myself around them for an entire month.
“Liking the show?” Damien had appeared in the doorway, blocking my view of Alex and catching me blushing at my thoughts.
“Maybe I am,” I retorted.
“Well, in that case . . .” Damien whipped off his shirt, revealing his sweat-slicked torso, and flexed, the muscles in his chest and arms growing and tightening under his skin. I rolled my eyes, and he blew me a kiss.
“That’s not fair,” I laughed as I threw one of the couch cushions at him. “Go take a shower. I can smell you from here.”
“Maybe I will. Feel free to join.”
I rolled my eyes again and watched him saunter up the stairs. The best thing about Damien was that he could never fail to make me laugh.
Alex came back into the living room and sat on the armchair across the room, drinking a glass of water and running his fingers up through his hair. I forced my eyes back to my computer screen as soon as he glanced up at me. Don’t stare, don’t stare, don’t stare. Even though we were on decent terms now, he still unnerved me a bit. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was his ridiculous good looks, or maybe it was the fact that he was so unpredictable. Either way, anytime I was alone with him, the effects of his presence were powerful. Whether it was nervousness, lust, or a combination of the two, I couldn’t really tell.
He sat in silence as I typed on my computer. I knew I would probably have to rewrite this paragraph later when I wasn’t distracted by the devastatingly attractive man next to me. I continued to type solely to look unaffected by him.
I finally braved a glance back up at him, and he had a book in his hand that had been sitting on the coffee table. As if he was waiting, he looked up at me and caught my eye with a small smirk.
“Why do you like to read?” I blurted.
“What?”
“Well, it’s just that most people I know don’t like to read much. But you seem to read a lot. Why?”
He looked up and met my eyes. “To me, it’s the same as watching a movie or TV show. It’s relaxing, and it distracts me from everything else going on in my life, at least for a little while. And sometimes, I really need those distractions.”
I nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. It was nice to get lost in someone else’s story sometimes, to forget the building pressures of my own life. “What do you need to be distracted from?”
He thought for a moment before speaking. “I’m not sure. Do you ever feel like life is just the same predictable day over and over again? Like there has to be something else out there?”
“I used to, but now I’m not sure. My life is like a constant spiral of chaos lately. I could use some stability at this point. What makes you feel that way?”
He shrugged. “I go to work when I need to, then I come home or go to the gym. I hang out with Damien, and sometimes we go out and party on the weekends. That’s all there is. When you came around . . .” He paused as if he wasn’t sure if he should continue, then took a deep breath. “When you came around,” he repeated, “it was like life had spark again. It scared me that one person could change so much, but it also excited the hell out of me. Your ‘chaos,’ as you call it, is sort of inspiring.”
I gave him a sad smile. He was finally opening up to me, and it filled my heart with joy. But at the same time, I wondered what he would be like after I left . . . I pushed the thought out of my mind as quickly as it came. I didn’t want to think about leaving. “Well, it sounds like you just need a little more chaos in your life,” I teased.
He returned my taunt with a grin. “That, I do.”