Hot Licks by A.M. Arthur

Author:A.M. Arthur [Arthur, A.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swerve
Published: 2017-02-07T05:00:00+00:00

I’m an idiot, calm down, it’s fine, this is all fine.

Benji couldn’t stop himself from getting uptight now that he was alone with Van. Not that he expected Van to lunge at him or anything, but the guy was practically a stranger.

A stranger who kisses like a porn star and who just fucked your boyfriend. Calm down!

“Sorry,” Benji said, forcing his muscles to unknot themselves. “Is it cliché to say it isn’t you, it’s me?”

Van smiled, then eased off the coffee table to sit on the couch, keeping a respectable distance from him. “It’s okay. So pizza Pringles, huh?”

“I will inhale a can in one sitting, so I try to limit my purchases. Gotta stay in shape for my fans.” Not that he’d ever had major issues maintaining his weight. If anything, he’d spent much of his childhood and adolescence as too short, too small, too effeminate. It hadn’t done him any favors in school, either. “How about you? What’s your food crack?”

“Will you think less of me if I say it’s sharp cheddar cheese paired with fresh grapes?”

“I won’t think less of you, but I might look at you funny.” He raised one eyebrow dramatically in what Joshua called his Spock Face.

Van laughed. “Sorry. I eat an extremely healthy, mostly raw diet. Things like dairy and meat are super-rare treats.”

“Because of your heart issues?” When Van frowned, he added, “Joshua told me. When he was trying to explain himself over that kiss last month.”

“Yes, because of my heart issues.” Van seemed to debate something. “I left home as soon as I turned eighteen. The atmosphere was unbearable, so even though I barely had any money and no place to land, I left. Spent some time in New Orleans, and that’s where I finally embraced my sexuality. I did it all. Sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, eating. There was nothing I didn’t try back then.”

“Sounds freeing.”

“It was, but I was hard on my body. After a couple of years, I got restless and started hitchhiking it north, taking work as I found it. Those are what I refer to as my professional hobo years. My diet was for shit, and I started getting dizzy spells and tinnitus in both ears. When I was twenty-two, I woke up in a Kentucky hospital after passing out on the side of the road. They said I had hypertension, which had also led to adult-onset diabetes, which totally floored me. I always assumed adult-onset was only in overweight people, but apparently not.”

Christ, that happened at the age I am now.

Benji couldn’t imagine facing a serious health crisis at any age, much less so young. “You started eating better afterward?”

“More than that. I found a library and read everything I could about nutrition, which helped manage the diabetes. Hypertension is more complicated, though, because it’s stress related, and I was incredibly stressed back then. And homeless. So, I took the meds they prescribed, got a job, found a room to rent, and I stayed put. I learned yoga and that helped relax me.

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