Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Hammer stared at him, increasingly unsettled by this confusing situation. Was there something going on that he couldn’t recognize? Would be far from the first time. “I don’t get it.”
And as if attempting to make him even more confused, Dex started walking along the hotel parking lot as if he had places to be.
Hammer moved after him without thinking. “Where are you going? Dex?” Fuck. This was surely about his parents’ behavior. Was Dex angry that Hammer hadn’t warned him about them? “Look, I’m sorry. I assumed they’d be politer.”
“They were f-fine. I just need to piss, so leave me alone!” Dex said and sped up.
This was fucking ridiculous. Was Dex smiling or snarling behind the damn visor?
Losing his patience, Hammer grabbed Dex’s arms before the kid could start trotting and plucked the helmet off the blond head. “Just do it inside!”
Dex tried to grab the helmet, but Hammer held it out of reach. His anger turned into stunned silence when he saw tears streaking down Dex’s face. “I’m not crying, okay? I’ve got allergies!” He sniffed and rubbed his face with his sleeve.
“W-why are you crying?” Hammer uttered, put in a spot he hadn’t expected to be in. How did one even console a crying man? Last time Dex had sobbed for a reason different than a good dicking or hard spanking had been when he got that stupid cut on his cheek and panicked. But while that reaction had been more like a childish fit of uncontrolled emotions than anything else, this one seemed different.
Dex gasped for air but the tears kept coming. “Because I ruined everything! Like I always do. I can see it now. Why did I think it was a good idea to show off the gun? Why did I mention the stupid fucking condoms? We don’t even use them! I spoiled your chance with your parents, because I always spoil things. They could see right through me and noticed what a loser I am in an instant.”
Hammer rolled the helmet in his hands, happy to have something to do while his chest felt ever heavier. “What are you talking about? I left home without a word ten years ago. You had nothing to do with me and them falling out.”
“Yeah, but I could have made it better. You could have been dating some, I dunno, hot violinist who ‘challenges you intellectually’ and knows how to eat the fucking pasta correctly!” He sniffed and sobbed, as if he were on the verge of a serious breakdown, and for what? Hammer’s parents? They weren’t worth this much anguish.
“I don’t want to date a violinist!” Hammer protested, but when it bore no effect, he grabbed Dex’s arm and spun him around until he could see the tears on the handsome face more clearly. “I like bikes, and guns, and horrors, and I never was what they wanted me to be. This is why they went ahead and made a better version of me. But they don’t know you at all and don’t see how great you are.”
The big brown eyes glowed red from the neon light, but settled on Hammer without ever blinking. “I’m a violent mess who likes sex too much and doesn’t have a proper job,” he said quietly, but something seemed to be sinking in. If Dex was needy for more affirmation, then Hammer could give it to him.
“Neither do I! I move drugs and smash people with a sledgehammer! Look at me,” Hammer said, pulling on the front of his jacket as the world blurred, leaving him focused on the tear-stricken face in front of him. He often didn’t know how to react to people’s frustration and sadness, but this time he wasn’t the cause of it, and it would kill him if he were. “My own club brothers decided I was bad news after one accusation, but you see me like no one else does. You’re this sunshine that melts every bit of ice. Even me.”
A little smile growing somewhere on Dex’s reddened face was like a taste of sweetness after downing a bottle of castor oil. Dex stepped closer and after a moment of hesitation, put his good arm around Hammer. “I like every bit of you.”
They’d hugged many times before, but usually in some sexual context. Or when sleeping. This was different. The kind of affection men rarely shared. Dex wanted to be close to him, and Hammer took several moments to relax into it. Resting his chin on the top of Dex’s head, he took a whiff of the blond hair and embraced him after checking whether the parking lot really was empty.
“Why?” he found himself asking, because nobody would act the way Dex did just because of Hammer’s looks and good sex. Those always only took him so far.