When We Were Still Ours – Chapter 13
Gay Erotica, Cheating, 18+
In the last installment…
R. Adrian Thorne ⏾⋆.˚
CHAPTER 13: THE THING OF NIGHTMARES — TRIPP
I WAKE UP EXPECTING it to have been a bad dream.
For a few seconds, it almost works.
The light coming through the blinds is soft and ordinary. The ceiling looks the same. The hum of the refrigerator down the hall is steady, unremarkable. My body feels heavy in that neutral, just-woken way—untouched by consequence.
I lie there and let myself believe it.
Maybe I imagined the word “positive”. Maybe I imagined Aaron’s face going still. Maybe I imagined the crack of his fist.
I test that theory carefully, shifting my jaw as if the movement itself might expose the lie. Pain blooms along the left side of my face, sharp at first and then settling into a deep, bruised throb that radiates toward my temple and down into my teeth. It isn’t dramatic, isn’t cinematic—just dense and physical and undeniably present. I lift my hand and press my fingers to my cheekbone, feeling the heat under the skin, the faint swelling that answers back to pressure.
Dreams don’t leave tenderness behind. They don’t make it hurt to clench your teeth or turn your head too quickly. They dissolve when you wake; they don’t linger in muscle and bone.
