M/M- Ripped (Boys Of Summer) by Mia Downing Read Free Book Online Page A

Gavin painted to escape.
     
    Erik curled around Gavin and held him tight, vowing to be what Gavin needed him to be to get through this. Maybe they couldn’t have the end of the fantasy, but he didn’t have to suffer.
     
    Erik felt a little guilty, though. A month ago, he’d decided to go to California in the fall and live with his uncle. He could work from anywhere. He had money to make the move and, at the time he’d made the decision, Gavin was barely speaking to him. And though he had worried, Gavin had seemed to be surviving okay without him, holding his own. Erik moving wouldn’t have been much of a blip on his radar.
     
    Now Erik wasn’t so sure. He also wasn’t sure if he was man enough to be what Gavin needed.
     
    “I won’t leave you, Gav. Not tonight,” Erik whispered. He kissed Gavin’s shoulder and closed his eyes, hoping tomorrow would be better.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Gavin woke feeling as if a freight train had chugged through his head and over his body. Sunlight streamed under the blinds, hitting him square in the eyes. He groaned, warmer than usual, the bed way smaller than usual.
     
    He cast a hand over his back and felt a warm body, the skin soft yet hairy. Eyes closed, he remembered everything—Erik, loving Erik, telling Erik his deepest, sickest fantasy.
     
    He rolled. Erik was still here, snuggled under the sheet, drooling on his pillow. Gavin smiled at that. So normal, and something he didn’t know about his friend.
     
    Erik stirred and opened one hazel eye. “Hey,” he croaked.
     
    “Hey,” Gavin said softly. Man, what Erik did to him, even half-asleep. Desire floated up, making him want to turn Erik over and slip in behind, to explore every waking inch of him.
     
    “Not polite to stare,” Erik mumbled.
     
    “You drool.”
     
    “You snore. I doubt my drooling kept you awake.” Erik rubbed his eyes and smiled. “You okay? You survived. Sober. Clean.”
     
    “Yeah. Thanks.” Gavin hesitated. “I said stuff.”
     
    “Yeah, no shit.”
     
    “I’m not normal.”
     
    Erik stretched. “No fucking shit.”
     
    At least he was honest. “You hate me?”
     
    Erik arched a brow. “Only because you look damned fine after all that. You should look like something the neighbor’s cat dragged back from hell. You don’t,” Erik accused. “You look fucking hot.”
     
    To know Erik found him hot…Gavin’s skin flushed all over. “I feel like something the cat dragged back.”
     
    Erik shrugged and stretched again. “I hate cats.”
     
    Gavin had to laugh, loving Erik even more. “Me, too.”
     
    Erik shifted to his side, propping his head up with a hand. He let his other hand stray to caress Gavin’s shoulder. “We gonna talk about this?”
     
    Gavin hesitated. He should talk about it, but the dread came back, sinking into his stomach, making it churn. “No.” But that was weak. “Someday?”
     
    “Okay.” Erik fluffed his pillow, then sat up in the bed, leaning against the headboard. “So today my parents are having a picnic thing at the beach. You gotta work?”
     
    “No.” Gavin didn’t work Sundays.
     
    “Then you should come. They love you. I think you need family time after yesterday. Clarke family time.”
     
    It suddenly became hard to swallow. How Erik knew what he needed was freaky. He just was too chicken to ask for it. “Erik—”
     
    “Not leaving you.” Erik swooped in and kissed him. “You’re my best friend first, and you need me more than ever right now. Think of it as…aftercare. I think I read something about that in the BDSM shit I researched. So I’m asserting my rights as best friend to demand that you come to the freaking picnic. You gotta protect me, man. My Aunt Gert will be there.”
     
    Aftercare. It was an odd thought, one that strengthened the safe feeling.
     
    Gavin rolled his eyes at the mention of Erik’s crazy great aunt. “Does she still pinch cheeks?”
     
    “Yep. She swats my ass,