Page 51 of Heal Me, Love Me

My orgasm crashed through me, a blinding wave of pleasure that left me gasping and shaking. I came hard, my release spilling over my hand. My body went limp, and I would have collapsed if Rowan hadn’t been holding me up.

He wasn’t far behind me. With a groan, he buried himself deep inside me one last time, his body shuddering as he found his own release. I could feel the pulse of him as he filled me with his hot cum.

I rested my forehead against the door and closed my eyes. Nothing had changed since earlier. Florida was still on the table. Devon was still an issue. The future was full of questions neither of us could answer yet. So maybe we hadn’t fixed much of anything. But for the first time since LA, I found myself hopingthat whatever happened next, we were finally fighting for the same thing again.

No one was usuallyup when I got home from a shift at the bar, so I was surprised to find Mason stretched across the couch in the dark, wearing an old hoodie and sweats, one arm draped behind his head as some rerun played on the TV.

Between taking a break from training at Titan and spending time with Rowan over the past few days, I hadn’t seen much of my roommates. After LA, I hadn’t been in any hurry to go to the gym. I’d gone in once for cardio and ended up having a brief and awkward talk with Devon, but otherwise I’d kept my distance and found other ways to get my cardio in.

Mason glanced over when I walked in. “Hey.”

“Why are you awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

His answer came quickly, but without any of his usual energy. Mason was known to be loud, but the last time I’d seen him, he’d been quieter than normal. Not rude, just off lately.

I leaned against the wall and studied him for another second as headlights flashed briefly across the living room windows before disappearing as a car passed.

I decided to rip off the band-aid and ask him point-blank. “You got a problem with Rowan and me?”

His head snapped up. “What?”

“You’ve been different since we told everyone.”

“I haven’t.”

“You have.”

He looked back toward the television. “I don’t have a problem with you guys dating.”

“Okay.”

He said he didn’t care, and I was going to take his word for it, especially since he wasn’t known for having a filter when he had something to say.

I pushed off the wall and headed toward the hallway.

“Keaton …”

His voice stopped me, and I turned back. “Yeah?”

“What made you stop hiding it?” he asked, not looking at me.

I furrowed my brow. “My relationship with Rowan?”

He nodded as he grabbed the remote, muted the TV, and sat up.

I thought about it for a moment. “Because hiding us almost cost me the person I love.”

For once, his face showed no grin or sarcasm, just nerves that suddenly made the last week make a whole lot more sense.

I walked back toward him and dropped into the recliner, wondering if something more was going on. “Is there a reason you’re asking?”

He let out a long exhale and stared at the beer bottle on the coffee table. The label was half-peeled off, probably from him picking at it while he sat there, thinking too much.

Silence stretched between us for a few seconds before he muttered, “I just ... I don’t know. Watching you two come out like that kinda fucked with my head a little.”

“Why?”