Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 30353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
“Oh, I’m off work today,” I replied. “I just have a lot of cleaning to do around the house.” It was more information than I planned on giving them, but I felt compelled to talk and the details fell out of my mouth.
“We can help with that,” Enzo insisted while his brother nodded.
“That’s really not necessary.” They had apologized for scaring me, which I appreciated. They didn’t owe me anything. They could leave with clear consciences.
“We want to,” Felix assured, and I had a feeling that they weren’t going to take no for an answer.
“The help would be nice,” I replied, remembering the mess that awaited inside. The two men beamed and I felt the need to warn them, “But it’s gross in there.”
“We live with eight other people,” Enzo said with a flap of his hand. “Trust me, we’ve seen worse.”
I chewed my lip for a moment. Maybe it was a dumb idea to let two strangers into the house, but I wanted - needed - to be close to them. Maybe it was because I knew we shared a taboo interest (which I eventually wanted to hear about), or maybe I just craved the company of the two gorgeous men. Whatever the reason, I took a deep breath and nodded my agreement.
“Thank you,” Felix said with a gentle smile.
I replied, “Thank you,” as they were the ones who were helping me out. “But before you come in…do you mind…?” Guilt settled in my stomach when I pointed at the bags in their hands. They had brought me presents, but I was asking them to put them away instead of graciously accepting them. It wasn’t because I didn’t want them; that was the furthest from the truth, but I was too nervous. Felix and Enzo could obviously defend themselves, but I couldn’t, and I didn’t want any trouble.
“Of course,” Enzo assured, wearing an almost identical smile. “We’ll put them in the truck and be right back.”
Chapter Four
Enzo
Felix and I quickly stowed Ant’s gifts in our truck. Ant. I couldn’t think of a more perfect name for our sweet little guy. As much as I wanted to spoil him with the presents, I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable in front of his roommates, even if they did sound like douche canoes.
My heart pounded in giddy anticipation when we reached the top of the porch stairs and Ant opened the door to let us in his home, but then it quickly dropped into my gut when I stepped across the threshold.
I was wrong; I hadn’t seen a mess worse than this, and that was saying something, considering I lived with a bunch of literal animals. My nose curled up at the stench of beer and bad decisions as my eyes studied the floor, finding empty cans, food relics, and two aforementioned douche canoes sprawled out on sofas.
“It looks like you had quite the party,” Felix gathered, and I heard the hint of jealousy in his voice. I understood completely; I wanted to experience everything with our mate, especially when he was having fun.
“I didn’t,” Ant corrected. “I don’t drink or do whatever else they get into. I came home last night and went straight to bed.” The words Daddy’s good boy nearly left my lips, but I bit them back. “My roommates had some people over when I got home, but I think they’re all gone. I’ve thought that before though, and then found a guy passed out in the bathtub.”
My brother gave him a curious look. “So if you didn’t make any of this mess, why are you cleaning it up?”
“There’s no way those guys will do it,” Ant replied, pointing to the useless lumps, “And our building inspector is coming by this evening. If it looks like this, we’ll get tossed out.”
It was total bullshit. I didn’t mind helping my sweet mate; I’d do anything for him, but it wasn’t fair that the two people who made the mess refused to chip in. I marched up to the couches and looked down at the sorry pair. I’d never seen two more punchable faces. I’d think they were part weasel if I weren’t able to clearly make out their human scent over the stink they’d created.
I leaned in close to one of the young men and pried his eyelid open. His pupil was dilated and staring off into the distance. I gave the white of his eye a firm poke, but got no reaction. When I stood upright, I found Ant’s face screwed up in a disgusted expression. “I had to make sure he wasn’t faking,” I explained. If the guy was awake, his ass needed to clean up his own mess. But it looked like it would take firecrackers in his nostrils to wake him up.
Felix gave me an unimpressed glare before turning to Ant. “Where should we start?”