Free Savior: A Tattered Club Story (Tattered Social Club Series Book 1) by Pauline Allan Page A

So, forget it. Let’s get your shit and head home.”
    Home. This was going to be his first time to have a place of his own. The butterflies in his stomach revved into overdrive with the thoughts of sleeping in a bed and not having to worry about what would happen when he came home from school. He’d get to eat when he wanted and walk around in his underwear. If he could take a shower at two in the afternoon without a man staring at him while he washed his balls, he would be a happy camper.
    He’d be free. The heat from the ink on his side seemed like a medal of honor. Survival was his ticket to independence and finally living his life on his own terms.
    “My birthday’s next month.”
    Niko stopped and glanced over. “Okay?”
    Despite knowing what was unhealthy, like getting his hopes up that a guy like Niko would even be remotely interested in a young college kid, he said the stupidest crap. “I don’t know why I told you that.”
    Niko looked to his left. “Which way do we go?”
    God, he was a loser. This wasn’t anything personal, just a guy helping another guy out. “Down here.” They walked for a few minutes and made a couple more turns until he spotted the two small plastic tubs shoved under one of the corner desks.
    He leaned down and pulled them into the narrow path. There were only a handful of students in the study wing. It was musty and lit with shadowed lamps. The creative writing majors and gamers mostly met down here to discuss whatever it was those brilliant kinds of people discussed.
    Ethan stacked one tub on top of the other and hoisted them against his chest. He started down the hall. “Are you coming?”
    If Niko wasn’t going for the boyfriend scout badge then Ethan wasn’t as gay as a Pride parade. The hundreds of students scattered at desks, hiding behind laptop screens, took notice as Niko strolled by as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
    Two men walking together that looked like they did offered the contrast of a skyscraper looming over the lapping surface of the ocean. Niko, the skyscraper, tats scrolling along both arms, forearms roped with veins, carried the boxes with ease.
    Ethan adjusted the strap on his shoulder. He carried his laptop stuffed in his bag everywhere he went. He wasn’t about to leave the most expensive thing he owned in a tub in the university library.
    “They all notice you,” he said, alluding to Niko’s stark handsome looks, but instead it sounded like an insult. “What I mean is—”
    “I get it, man. I’m the freak show in this revival tent. You think this is the first time people have stared at my tats? Every time I pay for something people stare at my hands. Let them look. I don’t give a flying fuck if they like them or not. They’re me.”
    Ethan wanted Niko to dump the tubs so he could hug his arms around those stoic shoulders, or maybe jump into his arms and wrap his legs around Niko’s lean waist. Not getting punched in the face sounded like a good plan, too.
    “I think your tattoos are great.” He smiled a toothy grin, feeling proud he’d sat through the pain. Every moment was worth it—from having Niko’s art permanently on his skin to having those rough fingertips slide over his body. “All because of you.”
    Niko stood to the side of the heavy glass door waiting for Ethan to push it open. “Don’t get sentimental on me, skinny jeans. Let’s go home before you get gayer than you already are.”
    Ethan would’ve been offended if he hadn’t caught site of the wicked grin Niko sported as he walked onto the sidewalk. “ Gayer ? Like when I wear my rainbow tutu and dance to Madonna? Is that the gay you’re referring to? You seem more like a Vogue man than a Lucky Star kind of guy.”
    Niko snorted, broad shoulders bouncing up and down. “Neither. Damn, I’m a straight-up Seether kind of guy. Seriously, you like Madonna?”
    They walked the short distance to the parking garage. “Yeah, I do. So, maybe that’s a cliché,