Contents ( 42)
- The Art of Breathing
- Part One: How We Became Who We Are
- Prologue: Or, Where the Kid Hears the Word of the Day
- 1. Where Tyson Learns to Breathe
- 2. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 3. Where Tyson Graduates and Bear Freaks Out
- 4. Where Tyson Says Good-Bye
- 5. Where Tyson Gets the Mail
- Part Two: Coming Home
- 6. Where Tyson Comes Home
- 7. Where Tyson Gives a History Lesson
- 8. Where Tyson Attends the Most Awkward Party Ever
- 9. Where Tyson Plans Attends a Protest
- 10. Where Tyson Gets Arrested
- 11. Where Tyson Gets His Ass Handed to Him
- 12. Where Tyson Writes Bad Poetry and Gawks at Frat Boys
- 13. Where Tyson Decides to Man the Fuck Up
- 14. Where Tyson Asks Some Questions
- 15. Where Tyson Remembers Theresa Jean Paquinn
- 16. Where Tyson Learns the Benefit of Therapy
- 17. Where Tyson Meets the Man Who Becomes Helena Handbasket
- 18. Where Tyson Gets Screwed at His Own Birthday Party (And Not in a Good Way)
- Part Three: Just Breathe
- 19. Where Tyson Goes to Helena Handbasket’s Sex Dungeon
- 20. Where Tyson Beholds the Awesome Wonder That Is Paul Auster
- 21. Where Tyson Receives Advice from the Six Sages
- 22. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 23. Where Tyson Hears the Inevitable
- 24. Where Tyson Meets His Match
- 25. Where Tyson Says Hello, Where Tyson Says Good-bye
- 26. Where Tyson Touches upon the Inevitable
- 27. Where Tyson Faces the Music
- 28. Where Tyson Breathes
- 29. Tyson And Dominic
- 30. The Art Of Breathing
- Epilogue: Or, Bear’s Perspective, As It Were (Yeah, He’s Gonna Freak)
- Author’s Note
- Excerpt
- Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
- More from TJ Klune
- Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
- By TJ Klune
He’s watching me now, a curious smile on his face, and I wonder what he thinks when he looks at me like this. Does he think of the past as much as I do? Not everyone is mired in the way things used to be like I am, but I think he and I are almost the same.
There’s a knock at the door.
“I need to get that,” I say.
“Just a minute,” he says, staring at me hard.
The knock comes again.
“Corey, come on.”
“Hold on.” He wriggles above me, and it goes straight to my dick. So unfair.
The door opens and Corey says, “You’ll thank me for this later,” before he bends his head down and kisses me deeply. There’s a brief flash in my head, and I think to myself that this could work. This could work if I really wanted it to. I only needed to push everything else from my head, and we could be happy together. We could have a life together. I don’t care if he’s bigender, transgender, gay, or any other type of person as long as he’s my person and I don’t need Dominic, I never needed Dominic, and I don’t need him that way, not Dominic. Dominic. Dominic.
“Oh,” Dominic says, his voice strangely flat. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can come back.”
Corey pulls away slowly, flitting his tongue out against my lips as our connection breaks. The smile on his face is filled with nothing but mischief, and I almost reach up and slap him for being so goddamn fucking stupid. I know what he’s trying to do, but it doesn’t matter. I am going to murder him later when there aren’t any witnesses.
“Don’t mind us,” he says, sitting up and straddling my waist. “We were just having a frank exchange of ideas.”
“Is that what you call it?” Dom asks, his expression giving away nothing. And for the life of me, I can’t quell the overwhelming feeling of guilt that rushes over me, though I have no idea what the hell I should be feeling guilty about. Well, aside from the fact that I’m pinned under my ex-boyfriend who just used my mouth for exploratory research while my first love (I swear I’m not a teenage girl) stares down at me like he doesn’t even know who I am. I don’t know how I find myself in these situations. They just seem to happen to me.
“Yes,” Corey says to Dom, rubbing his hands over my chest. “And trust me when I say that the ideas I’m having are certainly meant to be exchanged.” He gyrates his hips slowly, and I can’t even begin to express my horror at this blatant slut sitting atop me. That fucking skank!
“Good for you,” Dom says, sounding bored. “Tyson, you ready to go? Or should I come back later after you two finish?”
I buck my hips up (thinking how egregiously pornographic that probably looks to anyone who might be watching), and Corey falls off to the side, cursing as his elbow strikes the floor. I jump up to my feet and brush myself off, as if there might be errant hairs or semen on my front.