Those two words—outing you—felt like a slap across the face. “You did that anyway.”
“She guessed, you asshole. I told her nothing, and it ruined our night together. Are you fucking happy?”
Well, yeah. And he had no right to be, which wasn’t fair to Jess. But he was stubbornly fuckingthrilledthat Evan hadn’t successfully gotten into her bed. Unless the night was ruined after they slept together—and now his brain was torturing him with that possibility.
“Do you have any idea how much you’ve hurt her?”
Of course he did. “You made it worse by—”
“I told her that I saw you check someone out at the bar. It didn’t take her long to ask me ifIwas that person. You hurt her. Not me.”
“You kissed me,” Brent said dumbly.
“We all make mistakes.” Evan gave him a cold, hard stare. “And I’ll own up to mine, unless you want to go first.”
“What do you mean?”
The other man jabbed his finger at his phone. “It means I’m going to do the right fucking thing and give her a call. If you want me to wait a few hours so you can tell her first, I’ll give you that chance.”
He couldn’t.
Rage rose inside him, hot and fast. “You tricked me.”
“You came here, man.”
“To talk.”
Evan laughed. “Sure.”
“You set a trap—”
“If I did, you walked into it willingly. Here’s a tip: don’t lie to yourself. That will make it a hell of a lot easier to stop lying to others. Me, Jessica, anyone else you might want to fuck at some point.”
Brent’s jaw flexed as he ground his teeth together. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
“Jess?” Evan’s eyes glinted dangerously. “You don’t like the idea of me with her, do you?”
“No.”
“Why not? She’s a gorgeous woman. She doesn’t deserve to be treated well?”
“She’s my—” He cut himself off, but it was too late.
“We’ve been over this. She’s not your fucking wife anymore, because you left her. Because you broke her, and made her think she wasn’t desirable. You don’t like me talking about her in that way? Too fucking bad. She does. And unlike you, I’m not lying to her about who else I might want to screw. I’m not going to lie to her about who I’ve kissed, or what it felt like.”
“It’s not that easy.” He didn’t have the words here. “I don’t know what to tell her.”
“What do you tell yourself?” Evan looked at him, his eyes narrowing. “Have you even figured it out for yourself?”
Brent felt his face flame up. “I guess I’m gay.” It was a wild thing to say out loud. He’d typed it into internet search bars often enough.How do you know if you’re gay. Coming out as gay in your thirties. Gay porn. Gay orgies. Gay gay gay gay—
Evan nodded. “Cool.”
Brent swallowed. “Thanks.”
“Do you want your secret membership card now?”
He laughed out loud, part relief, part confused desperation. “Shut up.”
