{ #3 } Twisted Moon (MxM || 18+)

Chapter 20 - Persistent Friends

Twisted Moon - Book 3 of the Black Moon series - Chapter 20: Persistent Friends

(Camden's POV - Sun. 15 March 2015)

"Noah... Noah!!" I call out from the entrance of his darkened bedroom, but he only grumbles in answer so I walk in to open the curtains and let the light flood in. In just two weeks at my place, Noah has recovered rather nicely and since he is not as weak as he used to be, it is time to get him back into shape; and by that I mean increasing his muscle mass a bit. This boy is rather slender, but I don't think his frame is the skinny type like Alex's for example, so working out should do him some good. But before we get to muscle-building exercise though, he needs to start with training his heart and there is nothing better than running for that matter. "Noah! Come on, get up! I told you we were going to run early this morning!"

"Ugh... It's too early..." he groans, flipping to his other side and away from me.

"I'll be waiting for you downstairs. You'd better be there in less than ten minutes. I swear that if I have to come back and get you, I will... but it'll be with a jar of freezing water!" I warn him before I whistle for the dog to follow me. Little Jess has grown more confident in the staircase and he goes down ahead of me, though quite clumsily still. "Do you want to go with us for a walk?" I ask, showing him his leash. I can't help smiling at how he begins to bark and jump for the thin leather strap. I attach it to his collar and drop it to the floor while I go and prepare our sweatshirts. The puppy immediately catches the other end of the leash in his mouth and follows me, waddling awkwardly. "Are you walking yourself, Dumbie?" I chuckle. Less than ten minutes later, just as I was about to pour some cold water in a glass, a grumpy Noah finally appears, hair completely disheveled and yawning widely, but still wearing his sweat pants, tee-shirt and sneakers.

"I had told you not to watch TV too late. What time did you go to bed?" I ask while he downs the glass of orange juice I had prepared for him. Last night, not willing to deal with my best friends' unceasing calls and texts, I went to bed rather early, leaving Noah on his own to watch television and reminding him that we would go running early on Sunday.

"Dunno... What does it matter since I'm here now?" he mutters bitterly, finishing to dress himself up warmly.

"Hey! Watch your smart mouth, Noah. Next time, I won't even warn you; I'll call you once and if you don't get up within the next minute, you'll get that jar of cold water to wake you up. You'll have to get up at six in the morning when school starts, so there's no way I'll let you watch TV too late; if any at all. You really need to develop good habits as soon as possible," I say firmly.

"Yeah, yeah, you already told me that. Shall we go now or are you going to lecture me for the whole day?" he then asks with insolence.

Deep breath, Cam... take a deep breath... He's no Sub and you can't do that...

Fucking Hell! I don't think it ever itched me so badly to grab a young guy, bend him over and slap his butt. For my defense, Noah has gained a bit of confidence over the past few days and yesterday, he revealed more of the inner brat in him. Why do I have a feeling that this is not going to get any better in the future? The more time I spend around him, the more I can define his personality as a boisterous one. However, I cannot treat him as I would a Sub and it requires a lot of efforts to ignore his remark, eventually pick up Jess from the floor and head out without another word.

I have already taken the car out of the garage so we all get in and I drive out of my parking space and toward the forest north of Lisle. The ride is rather silent except for Noah playing and talking to his puppy. Once there, we all get out of the car and I detach Jess from his leash once we are far enough from the main road. We start at a very slow pace since Noah isn't used to running; the puppy has no difficulty following us. Jess is actually quite chicken-hearted; he doesn't dare running away too far from us and I don't even have to call him to order.