Just a Bit Twisted (10 page)

Shawn wondered whether whoring himself out for a grade was better than whoring himself out for money. He wasn’t sure.

“Look…” Shawn ran a hand over his eyes. “I don’t really want to talk about it. Yeah, it’d been going on for a few weeks, but the important thing is, it’s over now. I ended the deal.”

“But did you, you know… did you fuck him?”

“Yeah,” Shawn said, struggling to keep his voice casual. “I fucked him. Well, he fucked me.”

Christian grinned, brown eyes dancing with mischief. “How was he? Any good?”

Smiling crookedly, Shawn shook his head. “Come on, do we have to talk about it?”

“Of course we have to talk about it! You had sex with Rutledge! Rutledge!”

“Hush,” Shawn hissed, glancing around. “I don’t want to talk about it. Nothing to talk about. It didn’t—it didn’t suck, but obviously I’m glad the whole thing is over.”

He felt Christian’s eyes on him, unusually serious and assessing.

Shawn fidgeted under his scrutiny. “What?”

“Then why is he so pissed at you if it’s over?” Christian said, drumming his fingers on the table.

Shawn had an idea why, but it wasn’t something he wanted to think about. “No idea.”

Christian gave him a skeptical look, but didn’t press any further and looked down at his cup. He fell silent, a distant, thoughtful expression on his face.

Shawn eyed his friend. Come to think of it, Christian had been a bit distracted all day. “Something wrong?”

Christian looked up. “Not really. Just…you know Mila?”

“Mila?”

“The girl in Rutledge’s class? Very pretty, curvy, dark hair?”

Shawn shrugged. “It’s a big class. Can’t say I remember her. So what about her?”

“She invited me for a threesome.”

Shawn raised his eyebrows. “And what’s the problem? It’s not like you’ve never done threesomes before.” There was very little Christian hadn’t done, actually. His friend got so many lewd offers sometimes it got silly. The guy didn’t even have to try. If Christian wasn’t so damn likable, all guys would hate him.

“The problem is her boyfriend,” Christian said.

“What about him? You know him?”

Christian hesitated. “Not exactly. But I’ve seen him around. He always picks her up after school.”

Shawn snorted a laugh, finally realizing who his friend was talking about. “The straight guy you’ve been crushing on for ages?”

“Come on, I don’t have a crush on him,” Christian said with a lopsided smile. “I don’t even know his name.”

Shawn gave him a look that said,
Please
. “Yup, you don’t have a crush on him. You just stare and drool whenever you see him.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

Christian laughed. “Fine. Maybe. Just a tiny one. But come on, who doesn’t? All girls stare at him and drool whenever he comes. The guy is ridiculously good-looking.”

“So what’s the problem?” Shawn said. “Shouldn’t you be happy you’ll get to have sex with him?”

Christian looked at him like he was an idiot. “He’s straight. It’s not going to be that kind of threesome. We’ll just share his girlfriend; that’s all. Maybe I’m wrong, but I got the feeling the threesome is entirely Mila’s idea—she always flirts with me, and I don’t think he even knows I exist. I don’t think the guy is all too happy about her inviting me to join them. I don’t know… I get the impression he’s the possessive type.”

“A tiny crush, yup,” Shawn teased. “Very tiny.”

Christian’s ears turned red. “Oh, shut it. Anyway, that’s the problem: I’m not sure this threesome is a good idea. The guy will probably hate my guts for touching his girl.”

“Then tell her you can’t do it.”

“I already told her I would.” Christian gave him a sheepish look. “Couldn’t resist the chance to see him naked.”

Shawn shook his head. “You’re hopeless, man.”

Christian grinned. “At least I’m not fucking Professor Asshole. Come on, tell me he has a tiny dick! It would make my day!”

Shawn rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “He doesn’t have a tiny dick. And I’m not fucking him anymore. We’re done.”

He lifted his cup and brought it to his lips, avoiding Christian’s eyes. He thought about the way Rutledge had looked at him back in class: angry and so damn intense it made him instantly hard. He thought about how he’d spent half of the class fantasizing about dropping to his knees before Rutledge and sucking his dick, right there, in front of all other students. He thought about his other fantasies: how he wanted to climb into Rutledge’s lap, shut him up with kisses and then get Rutledge’s cock inside of him—

“You all right?” Christian said. “You look flushed.”

Shawn forced out a smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Just peachy.

Chapter 14

Shawn’s cousin Sage lived in a less than safe part of the city. It was partly why Shawn didn’t see him much. The other reason was that his cousin had been weird as hell after he had been released from prison six months ago: he seemed depressed and distant, like he wasn’t even there. At first Shawn attributed it to his aunt’s death—she had died while Sage was still in prison—but it didn’t seem to be the case. Instead of getting better, his cousin seemed only more depressed as time went on. Shawn was worried about him, of course, but truth be told, he had more pressing problems to think about and didn’t have time to visit his cousin.

But since he’d had to drop the kids at Mrs. Hawkins’s place before his night shift, Shawn decided to make a small detour and find out how Sage was doing.

His cousin greeted him with a grin. “Hey, come on in,” he said, opening the door wider.

It took Shawn a moment to recover from his surprise. “You look good,” he said, patting him on the shoulder and entering the apartment. Sage looked great actually; he’d always been the better-looking one out of the two of them. They might share their moms’ blond hair and blue eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. His cousin’s features were far more delicate—hell, downright exquisite. If Christian had seen Sage, he would never call Shawn the princess anymore.

It actually made Shawn wonder, and not for the first time, whether something…had been done to his cousin in prison. If the rumors about what happened in prison were true, with a face like this… Shawn shuddered.

“How are the girls?” Sage asked, pulling him away from his thoughts.

“Good. I have the night shift tonight, so I just dropped them at their babysitter’s.”

Sage sat on the couch, cross-legged, and patted the place next to him.

Removing his jacket, Shawn took the seat. “I can’t really stay,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Or I’ll be late for work. I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing—”

The door opened and a man walked into the apartment.

Seeing Shawn, he stopped and stared.

Shawn stared back. The man was tall and pretty handsome, clearly of Hispanic descent.

“Who is that?” the guy asked.

“It’s my cousin, Shawn,” Sage said, rather defensively. “Shawn, it’s Xavier.”

Shawn waited for an explanation, but there was none.

But when Xavier walked over, tipped Sage’s head up and kissed him, no explanations were needed anymore.

The kiss went on and on, and Shawn could only stare. He’d been pretty sure Sage was completely straight.

Well, apparently not.

His cousin actually moaned, and Shawn looked away, beyond uncomfortable. He stood up and cleared his throat. “Um, I’d better go.” He chuckled. “You’re clearly fine.”

Behind him, the kissing stopped.

“Look,” Sage said, sounding embarrassed. “I—”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Shawn said quickly and headed to the door. “I’ll go.”

“Wait,” Sage said. “It’s dark already. It’s not safe to walk alone around here. Xavier will drive you home.”

“I will?” Xavier murmured.

“No, it really isn’t necessary—”

“He will,” Sage said.

“I guess I will,” Xavier said. He gave Sage a short, hard kiss. “You’d better be naked and ready when I’m back, Blue Eyes.”

Flushing, Sage pushed Xavier to the door. “I’ll come over next week,” he told Shawn. “I haven’t seen the girls in ages.”

Shawn nodded and slid into his jacket.

Xavier moved past him. “Let’s go. What was your name again?”

“Shawn,” he said, not sure how to talk to the guy.

“Where do you live?”

Shawn told him, and Xavier led him to a very old, rusty Ford Pinto. Shawn looked at it warily. “Are you sure this thing is safe?”

“No,” the guy said, getting in the driver’s seat.

“That’s…not very reassuring.”

“Did you want me to lie?” Xavier said with a hint of impatience, clearly eager to get it over with and go back to his cousin.

Shawn got in the car, and they took off.

“There’s no seatbelt,” Shawn muttered. “Why am I not surprised?”

Xavier didn’t deign to reply.

“So,” Shawn said after a while. “Are you my cousin’s boyfriend or something?”

“Or something,” Xavier said.

“I thought he was straight.”

Xavier just laughed, as though he had said something funny.

“But I’m glad he has someone, you know,” Shawn said. “I was worried about him. He was depressed after he got out of prison.”

“Really?” Xavier murmured.

“Yeah. I hope I’m wrong, but I think… I think someone did something to him in prison.”

“You’re not wrong: I did.”

Shawn opened his mouth and closed it without saying a word. He digested the information for a few moments. “You’re an ex-convict?”

“Yep.”

Great. He was in a rusty Ford Pinto, without a seatbelt on, and with an ex-convict at the wheel.

“What were you in prison for?”

“Killed eight people at a mall.”

Shawn snorted a laugh. “You don’t actually expect me to believe that, do you?”

“Your cousin did, for a long time.”

Shawn smiled, shaking his head. Sage was a bit naive. Even though he was younger than his cousin, Shawn often felt he was the older one. “So what did you really do?”

“Manslaughter. Got drunk, got into a bar fight, someone died.”

A shiver of unease ran down Shawn’s spine. He couldn’t imagine what this guy and Sage had in common, but his cousin was clearly happy. That was the important thing, wasn’t it?

Shawn was quiet for the rest of the drive.

“Thanks,” he said when the car finally stopped in front of his building. To his surprise, Xavier got out, as well. Shawn chuckled. “No one will attack me here. You don’t have to—”

“Sage told me to get you home. I’ll get you home.” Xavier frowned, looking over Shawn’s shoulder. “Someone’s watching us. You know that guy?”

Shawn turned around and froze. Rutledge got out of his Mercedes and stalked towards them.

“Yeah, I know him,” Shawn said.

“He looks pissed,” Xavier murmured.

Shawn let out a laugh. “He pretty much always looks pissed.” He cringed—it came out almost affectionate—and Xavier shot him a sharp, assessing look.

Rutledge came to a halt.

“Hey,” Shawn said.

Rutledge gave him the glare he’d been giving him the entire week before slowly sweeping his gaze over Xavier with such a look of disdain that it would make anyone feel two feet tall. “Who is that…person?”

Xavier narrowed his eyes, clearly disliking Rutledge’s trademark haughty, condescending tone.

“Xavier Otero,” he said with a nice smile, stepping closer to Shawn and putting a hand on his shoulder. “I was just giving Shawn a ride.” Shawn inhaled sharply at the dirty undertone in his voice.

Rutledge clearly didn’t miss it, either. His shoulders tensed up and his gaze raked over Shawn, as if looking for evidence, before shifting to Xavier’s car. A sneer curled his lips. “I hope the ride was comfortable.”

Xavier’s eyes flickered to Rutledge’s Mercedes. “I don’t need a flashy car for that.”

“Nicely done, guys, that wasn’t passive-aggressive at all,” Shawn said, rolling his eyes. He looked at Xavier. “Don’t take it personally—he’s nasty to everyone. And you”—Shawn looked at Rutledge—“tone it down a bit. He’s an ex-convict, not your student.”

“He’s a criminal?” In a blink of an eye, Shawn was yanked away from Xavier and pushed behind Rutledge’s back.

Shawn yelped. “Hey! Are you out of—”

“Get in your car and drive away,” Rutledge told Xavier, his voice very, very soft. “Now. Come near him again and I’ll make sure you’ll be back in your cell in no time.”

Xavier stiffened, his fists clenching. “Are you threatening me?”

“Whoa, calm the fuck down, both of you!” Shawn stepped between the two men, putting a hand on Rutledge’s chest. He glared at them. Arrogant idiots, both of them. “You.” He looked at Xavier. “Thanks for the ride, but please go home and fuck my cousin. No one’s threatening you—it’s just Rutledge’s charming personality. Go.”