Page 85 of Unlucky Like Us
Water:Stop thirsting after Luna. Get a fuckin’ grip of your dick. ALSO! Drink actual water.
Question of the Day:Is Loren Hale a human lie detector by proxy of Connor Cobalt?How many broken promises are too many?Why is thinking about Qunnie’s belly button lint the best boner killer?
16
PAUL DONNELLY
My nipples could cut glass.Fuck cold showers. I last a second, then switch the handle to a scorching hot setting. Steam gathers around me, and I let the warm water pelt my head and taut shoulders. It’s not that I’ve got zero willpower. I’m just not putting myself through that torture when I’d rather rub one out.
Eighties rock blasts out of my phone, which I left on the bathroom counter. Music bleeds through my hot veins, and while water slips down my build, I push wet hair out of my face.
Before I draw visuals in my head of fucking Luna against the wall, I catch a new sound.
The door is opening.
“Luna?” I crack the shower stall door and peek out.
Yeah, she’s here.
I try to cup a hand over my cock, but as soon as she sees me, her gaze falls to my dick. I flex my muscles to avoid a raging hard-on, but my blood is pumping straight to my head.
“Howdy,” she mumbles, a tie-dye Fruit Roll-Up dangling out of her mouth like a long tongue. She throws up a nervous Vulcan salute and shifts the Roll-Up in her mouth to speak. “Uh, I just was going to grab some nail polish. I didn’t think you’d care.”
“I don’t care.” I skim the length of her. She’s in black baggy sweatpants and a green cropped top, my watch still on her wrist. Tiny strands of her long hair are tied with glittery ribbon. “You going to Penn?” I can’t tell if it’s an outfit she’d wear on campus. Maybe, but maybe not.
“Uh-uh. Not today.” She squats to the cupboard and searches for nail polish.
Not today.
Not yesterday or the day before either. Not since her fics leaked, really. What Charlie told her—to drop out—races back to me. I hesitate to influence her too much, but I’m praying she doesn’t give up this fast.
I close the shower door and rinse off some soap. “You quitting school?” I ask over the water and music.
I can’t hear her response, and it’s killing me. So I cut off the water and reach over the stall to swipe my towel. Holding the fabric at my waist, I kick open the shower door.
She’s already standing.
I watch her amber eyes trace my abs and my tattoos. Her desire amplifies mine a million times over. Vapor fogs the mirror behind her and thickens the tense air around us. Burning up, I grab the silver chain off the towel hook, and I loop the necklace over my head. The kyber crystal hangs against my wet chest.
“What’d you say about college? I couldn’t hear,” I say.
Luna glances at the carton of nail polish on the counter but doesn’t return to it. “I’m taking a hiatus.”
“The internet’s still got you down?” I ask. “Or is it about not wanting to see Frog get hurt on your detail?”
“Maybe both.” Luna shrugs. “It’s also good that I’m not going to campus and being seen outside anywhere. It’ll help cool off the article. A perk.” She sing-songs that word.
The photos Boom Box took of us outside the gas station were printed inCelebrity Crush, but rumors about me and her are fizzling out quickly. The pics were innocent.
Her dad wasn’t exactly happy though. Think he tried to imprint his glare in my cerebral cortex.
“It’s probably safe now,” I tell her, coming closer.
“I’d rather just stay here, for all the reasons above.” She watches me near her. “Would you rather I leave?”
No.Not completely.
I shake my head and reach around Luna to my drawer, grabbing the deodorant. Her breath shallows, and her gaze dances all over my face, my body.I want to fuck her.The sharp jolt of arousal is a ball in my throat that I’m trying to swallow down.