We walk the trail a bit more, admiring the artwork, enjoying the hot-but-not-too-humid weather.
I feel his next question building like an itch between my toes. “Ro, just ask.”
“You know I have follow-up questions on the Roly situation, right?”
“I figured.”
“Do you even like him? I mean, he was so…”
“Yeah, I remember what he was like. And… I don’t know. I don’t hate him. Apparently that thing he went through in Iraq de-assholed him. And he straight up saved his cousin’s life. Stacked a couple of tourniquets, severed the rest of the leg so that he could drag him to an alley, then refused to leave him. That’s actually how he got caught.”
“Shit, really? Damn, that’s hard-core.”
“Navy SEALS, dude. They’re just better than we are.”
He bumps my fist. “For serious. Though…”
“Apparently there’s no height requirement,” I say, anticipating his next question.
His laugh is loud enough to net a scowl from one of the other museum patrons. “That shit is wild. Our tiny, shitty, gay cheerleader goes on to be a fucking SEAL. Seriously, my job is so lame in comparison.”
“What? No it’s not. You know where all of the sexy criminals are hiding.”
He knocks his shoulder into mine, then winces. “Shit, dude. What’re you lifting?”
I shrug. “I dunno, depends.”
The answer that wanted to fall from my tongue wasRoly, but I decide against it.
“Also, you need to stop reading those mafia romance novels. My criminals are butt-ugly and mean to boot. Anyway, I think I might just be burnt-out on it.”
I turn to him so that he can see I’m serious. “Ro, I’ve got all kinds of connections. If you want out and need a recommendation, just let me know. Also, I can’t believe you haven’t gone to the gym yet.”
“I’ll think about the job brother, thank you. But I’m not touching that gym with a ten-foot pole.”
“Oh, come on. That wasyearsago, and Thane would never be an asshole to you. I mean, who doesn’t have an embarrassing sex story?”
Another patron gives us the evil eye, so we hoof it away from everyone else. Ronan scratches his head, working hard to put together sober-sounding words. “Well, there’s unpleasant…”
I hold up my hand. “True.”
“And then there’s, like, never want to look in the guy’s face again humiliating.”
“Worse than the pink-eye-inducing nightmare that was my first time?”
His sigh is a weighted blanket. “I told him I loved him.”
“When?”
Ro puts his hands on his head, a dark blush on his cheeks. He answers out of the corner of his mouth. “During.”
“Oh,shit. How did that go?”
“It didn’t. He stopped, apologized, said that there’d been a misunderstanding, and walked out the door.”
“Dude.”
“Yeah.”
