Damaged Goods (MxM - BOOK FIVE)

Chapter Ten

"Really?" Dimitri asked him in a curiously dubious tone that left Tyler feeling immediately taken aback. "Hmmmm...." the Personal Trainers brow furrowed and he seemed to be biting his tongue.

"What?" Tyler demanded urgently. That hadn't been how he'd thought Dimitri would take his decision.

"Well, no, ok," Dimitri stammered, and his sudden lack of confidence in the way he spoke had Tyler feeling instantly uncomfortable himself.

"What?!" Tyler demanded, more urgently this time.

"Nothing," Dimitri responded unconvincingly and his jeans up over his muscular thighs, but left them hanging open on his hips while he searched for his belt.

"You don't believe me?" Tyler accused him, sitting up on his bed and setting his phone aside to regard his roommate.

Dimitri shook his head as he sat down to pull his shoes on. "Not overly," He laughed.

Tyler felt his facial expression morph into a scowl, and Dimitri buckled up his jeans and raised two muscular arms in surrender.

"You have to admit, you've been fairly hot and cold on the subject," the Personal Trainer pointed out, and Tyler frowned slightly.

Tyler didn't appreciate being laughed, "I don't understand, haven't you been trying to recruit me since I met me?"

Dimitri furrowed his brow and looked at him with a level expression, "I have been trying to gauge your interest, but you've been pretty clear that it's not for you."

"I said I wasn't there yet," Tyler disagreed, "I didn't say never."

Dimitri seemed to be considering his memory before responding with, "If you didn't, you implied it."

Tyler's frown downgraded to passive determination, "I just asked you to take me with you."

"Are you sure that's what just happened?" Dimitri responded, standing up again and collecting his wallet and phone from his bed after pulling a shirt on over his head.

"If that's how bad your memory is..."

"No," Dimitri interceded before he could say anything further. "Whether you said it outright, you definitely said it between the lines."

"No," Tyler disagreed. Why was Dimitri arguing with him about this? "I might have been hesitant in the beginning, but I have made my mind up now."

"No, you haven't," Dimitri shook his head and his barely wet hair scattered droplets across his broad shoulders. "You've just demonstrated to me that when shit goes south, you immediately go to DEFCON one."

Tyler was... he didn't know what he was. Confused? Angry? He was definitely more than a little panicked. This was his last option to keep his university career funded and was slipping through his fingertips because Dimitri wasn't convinced.

Wasn't this what Dimitri wanted?

He wasn't offering himself up on a platter? Expressing a willingness to earn some money doing... what?

His thoughts accelerated now as he considered this. What would they expect him to do?

Let some gay guy blow him? He could do that, he'd done it before. Providing there was no emotional connection there...

And, sure, they'd probably expect more than that, but they'd let him work up to it, wouldn't they?

He wasn't precisely sure about what he'd be willing to do... but he was desperate.

Dimitri was watching him as all of this started filtering through his mind, and the Personal Trainer did not seem very impressed by what he was seeing.

"You've already changed your mind," Dimitri accused him, and it sounded like an accusation.