Devoted (bxb)

Chapter Two

I instantly realized that I had been horribly betrayed by my best friend. Sitting in the passenger seat, my passenger seat, was Royce.

"The fuck?" I snapped. Josh gave me a little glare from the front seat and shoved coffee in my face.

"Here, drink off the hangover. Thanks for a terrible night last night, dingbat," Josh crabbed.

I snatched the coffee and met Royce's eyes through the mirror. I'd never liked Royce, not since the first day he transferred to our high school. That was in our Junior year and he'd changed a lot since then. His blonde hair was cropped shorter, his jaw was a little more defined, and his muscles were bigger. Still, he dark look in his blue eyes remained the same.

"I hate you," I snapped. Royce's face twisted.

Oh yeah, there was another thing that hadn't changed. His bad temperament.

"You are such a little shit," Royce returned. His pointy nose wrinkled and his eyebrows drew together.

Usually Josh would butt in and scold us both, but today he stared out at the road and focused on driving. I'll bet his mind was preoccupied by a handsome gentleman named Gerald.

Oh, speaking of. "I banged a 27 year old last night," I said. Josh made some pretty bad maneuvers with his white Corolla and practically screamed. "David," I continued. "I kind of thought he was a senior at a nearby college or something, but nope. He's 27. And a really good fuck."

Of course Royce had to throw in his two cents. "Holy shit," he said in his nasally judgmental tone. "That's illegal."

Was he stupid? "Fuck off, douchebag, I'm nineteen."

I then continued to explain the situation to the two of them; our sexy catches from last night thought we were a smidgen older than we were. I recounted my conversation with handsome Gerald and finished with a grin just for Royce. "Don't worry, Joshie," I said. "I didn't correct him."

Just like I'd hoped, douchebag's face twisted with anger. I continued mercilessly torturing the slime ball until we dumped his boney ass at his house. I spent the rest of the ride joyfully poking Josh about his obvious soulmate, handsome Gerald. It was so cute how oblivious Joshie was about the whole thing.

When we got back to the dorm, Josh busied himself by staring at his phone obsessively and I busied myself by painting my toes.

He was definitely considering texting handsome Gerald. I eyed him suspiciously as he played around on his phone and finally he bit his lip, took a deep breath, and let his fingers fly across his phone. He tossed it away from him once he was done.

"HA! You texted handsome Gerald!" I announced, shoving a finger in his direction.

Josh looked up, startled, and then he blushed. "Aw, Ty... shut up."

"KNEW IT."

"Ty..."

"I'M A GOD."

"Shut uuup!"

I shot him a dimply grin and he rolled his eyes. "Don't worry Josh, he already likes you. Just be yourself."

His blush got even deeper. Without responding, Josh nibbled on his pointer finger and went back to his phone.

He kept blushing, so I made sure I sufficiently teased him about it.

Josh was adorable when he had a crush. I had been best friends with him for our whole lives, so I was pretty familiar with how Josh acted when he was infatuated with someone new. I really hoped more came out of this situation between Josh and his man from the club. Gerald was probably the only guy in the world who could watch a boy vomit into a toilet and still want to buy him water and give him his number afterwards.

Thoughts of Gerald made my mind drift to my man from the club last night. David. Damn, that man had been a great fuck. I'd pegged him as a top from the first moment I saw him, and from then on it was a matter of bringing that side of him out.

Not that it took much coaxing. All I had to say was, "I need you to dominate me" and the man was all over me like white on rice. Something about him was so much better than the rest.

He'd checked in a perfect amount of times, always making sure I was comfortable with the next thing we were going to do. He'd pushed my limits without only taking what he wanted from me. He'd been kind, but in control. Commanding, but caring.

I covered my lap with the bag of cotton balls and glanced over to Josh to make sure he hadn't noticed.

His face was bright red. For a second I got nervous that he saw my mini me, but then I realized that he was staring at his phone.

"Handsome Gerald, let's go!" I screamed. "What is he saying, Josh? Is he texting you dirty things? Please tell me he is, Josh."

"He's not. He...called me adorable and handsome. I have no idea what I'm supposed to say." Aww, Joshie. His face was still all red.

Poor Josh was so starved for affection from a sweet man, especially considering his own boyfriend was a frigid prick.

Ugh, Royce. Fuck Royce. I grinned and gave Josh my sage advice, "Ask him on a date!"

Josh gave me an exasperated look. He never really appreciated my intense hatred for Royce. He acknowledged it, accepted it, but never really fought to understand it. He just thought I was being petty.

I wasn't being petty. I was concerned. But I didn't do vulnerable discussions well, so I had yet to share that with Josh.

My depressed inner monologue was interrupted by Josh screaming. Suddenly he was on my bed, shoving a phone in my face. On the screen, handsome Gerald (whose name was "Ger" in Joshie's phone, how sweet) had sent the message, The only thing that ruined my night was finding out you have a boyfriend. Oh, and that's also the only thing that's ruining my morning.

Ha! Gerald, how smooth. I had fun gushing with Josh about his guy before suggesting he took the man out for coffee as thanks for helping with the puke situation last night. Perfectly harmless, perfectly normal. And yet, Josh still hesitated.

"This is why I don't like Royce," I told him. "He gets all jealous. You are allowed to go have lunch or whatever with a man you are friends with. He can't control that shit."

Josh looked guilty. He knew Royce was too overprotective, but he was convinced it was because of his damaged past, or whatever. Finally, he ended up going through with it anyway. And good thing, too. I could tell that Gerald was going to be a good thing for Josh. Even if Josh was doomed to marrying Royce, at least this Gerald guy could help me do the job of making sure Royce never crossed a line.

I busied myself by thinking about Josh's shitty relationship and future schoolwork that I had to do, but my thoughts kept drifting to a familiar warm smile and firm hand.