Chapter 75

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I remembered the bear hug Captain Falcon sent me off to my plane with as I sat in the changing area, prepping for my final races at Worlds. The smells, sounds, and aura around me—the musk of dozens of half-dressed males, a dozen more totally undressed males, the clashing scents of varied brands of body wash and deodorant—it was enough to get me drunker than the three beers I’d needed to get up on the stage at that bar near campus to sing about tiny white Austrian flowers. I couldn’t let it, though I did so enjoy the smell of a man, especially the more intimate places on his anatomy, those only a lover got to see and inhale up close, whether it be behind his ears, his armpits, or my favorite part of all, the area where the upper leg met the pubic bone. I had nothing to base some of that on but imagination and memories of getting partially there with Mathias. I never got that far with any of my captains or with Cal. I’d come closest with my feathered friend.