Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
But it would be a no from Knox, so he restrained his impulses and stood in the short line to the ticket booth. “Never took you for a flatterer.”
Knox bit his lip, and when his blue eyes locked with Liv’s, sparks seemed to appear in the air. “I guess I kept my thoughts to myself when you already had a million girls to bloat your ego.”
Liv shrugged, keeping his voice low. “Are you claiming girls showered me with compliments on a daily basis? The biggest compliment I could get was her wanting to fuck me again.”
Knox smiled and leaned in to whisper into Liv’s ear. “I bet lots of them told you how nice your dick is.”
Liv rolled his eyes. “Most of them just like what it does. Which is not really a problem. I don’t need to be pretty to have a good time.”
Knox cocked his head with raised eyebrows. “You’re not pretty. You’re handsome. And hot.”
Liv stalled, eyes locked on Knox’s as the faded carpet seemed to suck in his feet, keeping him in place. It was best not to care, but Liv did, and while he rarely found himself out of things to say, his head was empty and all he wanted was for Knox to tell him what exactly he liked about him.
“You. Are you waiting in line or not?” the teenage cashier asked, chewing gum loudly enough for Liv to hear it through the archaic sound system attached to the front of the ticket booth.
“Yes. Yeah, I am,” Liv said, marching up to her. “I’ll have two tickets.”
Knox was right behind him. “And popcorn.”
“That’s inside.” She rolled her eyes as she printed the tickets for the only movie available today. An anniversary showing of the 1979 Alien. It wasn’t Liv’s first choice, but this afternoon was the only time they had off this week, so beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Thanks. Very helpful,” Liv said, took their tickets and reached for Knox’s hand, to lead him toward the little snack bar, but his fingers found only air as Knox pulled away again, shooting daggers out of his pretty blue eyes.
“Come on, Liv,” he whispered. “I’m not a girl, remember?”
It was such a strange situation. Yeah, maybe Liv was just used to always being able to touch his partner, drink from the same milkshake and all that jazz, but he wasn’t in any way confused. He wanted to hold Knox’s hand because he did, not because he’d forgotten who he was with. It shouldn’t be such a minefield to want to hold your date’s hand.
“Didn’t say you were.”
Knox looked away, pretending to be very interested in the snack selection. “Two men can’t just…”
‘Can’t’ was Liv’s trigger word. Whenever he was told he couldn’t do something, he only wanted to do it more, so he was getting lowkey pissed off.
“No, they obviously can. You just don’t want to. Did you want that popcorn?” he asked, unwilling to let the topic spin out of control before they reached the screening room.
Knox groaned. “No. Looks stale anyway.”
Liv would have paid the five bucks just to find out what was going on in Knox’s head now. At home, he would have been able to fuck it out of him, but now, he was stuck.
Liv stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Okay, then I suppose we can take a seat now? Or do you want to go home? You don’t seem very happy to be here.”
Knox pushed a strand of hair out of his face as his chest filled with air. “No. Sorry, man. I just… It all makes me tense. I’m sorry I’m spoiling things.” He pulled on Liv’s arm, dragging him along the corridor as if they were two bros out to enjoy an old movie.
Which would have been fine last month, but now, Liv knew what it was like to be inside Knox, kiss him, and smell his sweaty skin. They were not just bros.
Okay, technically they were friends with benefits, but that did change things for him. He wasn’t the kind of person who could switch off affection at the snap of fingers, and this outing was challenging him already.
“Nothing’s gonna happen. People don’t know us here. There’s just a couple of people in this cinema anyway,” he mumbled as they entered the screening room and saw a total of five people sprinkled around the theater.
They’d been living in a gay bubble at the junkyard, so maybe Liv was a bit quick in thinking Knox was over the whole sexuality thing.
The lights were already dimmed, and Knox looked around as they climbed the stairs to their seats at the back. Ones Liv had chosen so that he could touch Knox.
Knox shouldn’t be ashamed of being gay, but worrying that he was ashamed of Liv was even worse.
But as they passed the few taken seats, Knox’s hand tentatively slid into his. The strong fingers of a man who’d packed so many punches trembled against his as if they were to break from being held. Tenderness set in Liv’s heart.