Never Hide

Chapter Ten

I’ve never been ashamed of who I am, Raven, and I’m not going to start now.

I woke up with Sky’s words running through my head. A lot of things had surprised me about him, including the way he was so good with my body, almost like we’d slept together before. But the main thing that had taken me by surprise was his casual attitude about coming out.

It was so different.

It was refreshing. Sky seemed like a breath of fresh air with the way he wasn’t concerned about anyone thinking that he was gay, not concerned about people thinking that he was anything other than straight. I’d been worried that as soon as we were finished hooking up, he was going to ask me to leave or even wake me up in the middle of the night to let me know that he’d changed his mind about me staying over, and that my Uber was waiting for me outside.

But none of my worries had come to fruition. In fact, I’d managed to get a solid eight hours of sleep at his place, and I hadn’t seen a glimpse of him since last night.

I briefly wondered if Sky was the kind of person who’d leave his apartment with a nearly total stranger sleeping in his bed. As I thought about how trusting or even naïve someone would’ve had to be to pull something like that, I started to head for the kitchen.

Even though I hadn’t been drinking that much, last night still seemed like some sort of blur. It’d honestly felt like a dream, the way Sky’s mouth had pressed against mine, the way he’d so perfectly fucked me against the wall.

As I entered the kitchen, I looked around to see if there was a coffeemaker. My eyes scanned the kitchen as I whispered a prayer that involved the words “ground”, “coffee” and “please”. Eventually, my eyes landed on the ground coffee, which Sky had tucked into a little spot beside the fridge.

Once I found the coffee, I spotted the coffeemaker. The machine looked pristine, which told me that Sky must not have been much of a coffee person. I pulled a coffee mug out of a nearby cabinet and placed a filter into the machine. Then, I patiently waited for the coffee to start boiling down into my waiting mug.

Once the coffee was ready, I pulled my mug away from the coffeemaker and brought it up to my lips. I blew on it for a few seconds before I took my first sip.

Bitter.

Way too bitter.

I scrunched up my face in response to the taste of the coffee. I went searching through Sky’s kitchen cabinets, desperate for any source of sweetness, like creamer or honey.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Sky’s boyfriend!” Eddie’s voice carried over to me in the kitchen.

And I immediately froze in place. “Oh. I’m not Sky’s boyfriend--”

“I know you’re not. I’m just messing with you, man,” Eddie chuckled. “No offense, but you’re not exactly Sky’s type.”

“Sky’s type?” I was curious about what he thought Sky’s type was, especially after I’d just spent the night at the man’s apartment.