Taming Arrogance (MalexMale) 《COMPLETE》

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Blake's long legs fall in stride with mine as we make our way back to the hotel. The sun is but a whisper in the sky, giving way to the start of another evening full of promise and possibility. The night sky isn't what I'm used to, though. Here in downtown Miami, the moon and stars are well hidden by the myriad of manmade lights filtering out of the various bars and clubs.

"I've made arrangements for you to have a room of your own," Blake announces, his voice overtaking the welcomed silence.

"I don't know why I didn't get a room of my own in the first place."

Blake sighs. I can hear him inhale, allowing the sticky warmth of the night fill his lungs before slowly pushing it all out again through his nostrils. It's the type of sigh my mom would always give me when I was younger. She called it a 'sigh of patience.'

"Phil will be arriving first thing tomorrow morning," Blake continues. "I will take him out to breakfast before we start our day. You may order room service; please order whatever you'd like. I will make sure to get you a copy of our itinerary prior to picking you up at the hotel. Any questions?"

"Yea. How would your fagtoid boyfriend feel if he knew you attacked me earlier today?"

Blake doesn't sigh this time. I watch him out of the corner of my eye, and I see the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. The sight makes my stomach quiver again. Is he thinking about our kiss again? Do I want him to?

Stop, Callum. Just fuckin' stop.

"He wouldn't mind," Blake answers quietly.

I frown, surprised. "What? Do gay dudes just like – have a different set of relationship rules?"

This time Blake sighs again.

"Callum, despite your grotesque mindset regarding the gay community, our relationships are every bit as 'conventional and normal' as straight couples."

Yea. Except there are dicks everywhere.

Blake and I come to a stop light. A small, elderly woman is already waiting at the corner, her eyes fixed forward and her hair pulled back into a tight bun. I expect her presence to be enough to deter our current conversation topic, but Blake continues on as if she isn't here.

"I met Phil four years ago," Blake explains. "We dated, casually of course, for the first two. It was a perfect arrangement for the both of us; I was busy with work and Phil wasn't ready for commitment."

The light changes to red, and the neon, white stick-figure glares inside its box indicating for us to cross the street. Blake pauses, ushering the elderly woman to walk ahead of us. She eyes him up and down warily. Her look goes unnoticed by my boss.

"By year three I was beginning to lose my patience," Blake admits, and he lifts his wrist again to fidget with his cufflink. "I wanted something with more substance. So around this time last year, I told Phil if he wanted to keep me in his life, he needed to commit. If he still wasn't ready, I was prepared to move on."

For some unknown reason, that ludicrous feeling of jealousy prickles inside me again hearing Blake talk about Phil. Blake waves a hand through the humid, Floridian air, shaking his head as if pulling himself from a distant memory.

"To make a long story short, Phil agreed to commit. His terms in doing so, however, were that we would not live together, and that whenever we weren't around each other, we were allowed to do as we pleased – physically speaking."

I snort. "I wish women had that type of mindset."

Blake hums in his throat. "I wasn't keen on the terms. It took some negotiating on my end. Eventually I agreed to it, but with a condition."