“I’m not answering that. There’s no way in fuck I’m outing anyone,” Thad shouted. “And the fact you would evenaskme?—”
“Yeah, it’s me,” Graham said soberly, swinging the door open and stepping up beside Thad. “I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m bi. And Thad and I?—”
“Stop,” Thad pleaded, looking him in the eye. “Baby, please. This is between Gavin and me.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit here quietly while he says shit about you that isn’t true,” Graham said hotly. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
The bathroom door swung open again and Dakota ducked through it but not before revealing a line of curious faces on the other side. Graham’s teammates, staring at them with a mixture of curiosity and worry.
Great. Fuckinggreat.
“Should someone have an ambulance on standby?” Tanner muttered before the door swung closed.
Yes,Thad thought with a tinge of despair.Someone probably should.Because the likelihood of this conversation ending without someone taking a swing or two was pretty much zero.
Dakota put his hands on his hips and glared at the three of them who were arranged in a triangle glaring at each other. “Youallneed to take it down a notch. This isn’t the place for this.”
“Fine.” Gavin’s expression darkened. “Outside, Thad. We can talk on the patio.”
“Gavin,” Dakota said, grabbing his arm and looking at him pleadingly. “Maybe this should wait. We should go home and take some time to cool our heads before we say something we’ll regret.”
“No,” Thad snapped. “We’re doing this. Now.”
Dakota pursed his lips but stepped back. “Just don’t kill each other.Please. And if you let yourself get so worked up you have a heart scare again, I’ll kill you personally.” He glared at his boyfriend.
Thad nodded tersely at Dakota and followed his brother out into the hallway.
Players shifted, letting them pass, their worried glances following until the exit door closed behind them with a solid thud, leaving Thad and Gavin alone on the private patio.
It was deserted.
They’d had a sudden cold snap, and their breath created white clouds of steam every time they breathed out. A fire burned in the pit nearby, s’mores ingredients set out nearby that no one had touched yet.
But Thad didn’t shift any closer to the fire. He was already boiling inside.
HowdareGavin? Howdarehe get all high and mighty about Thad getting involved with someone from the organization when he’d dated his employee?
Howdarehe act like he was above reproach?
“I fucking warned you,” Gavin said through gritted teeth as they faced each other, a few feet apart. “Itoldyou if you pulled this shit again, you were done here.”
“And you’ve never done anything wrong in your life, right?” Thad snapped. “You’re completely faultless in every way?—”
“I never fucking claimed to be perfect!” Gavin shouted. “What I told you was that if you wanted a job here, there would be certain expectations about your behavior.”
“Mybehavior,” Thad sneered.
“Yes.Yourbehavior. I told you to keep your fucking nose clean and behave like a fucking responsible adult.”
“Oh, but it was fine foryouto fuck around with Dakota?” he shot back.
“I love him!” Gavin protested.
“Yeah, now,” Thad reminded him, his voice low and furious. “But you sure as fuck didn’t when you two started hooking up.”
A flicker of emotion crossed Gavin’s face. “I …”
“Oh, don’t blow smoke up my ass, Gavin. I know the truth. I saw you two at the club and I was there on that rooftop in LA. And that’sfine. I’m not judging you for it. Sure, you fell in love. But not atfirst. So don’t go getting all holier than thou about this shit with me.”
