He’d expected to feel like he was missing out or uncomfortable being tied down, but all he could feel was gratitude for Graham’s quiet understanding and affection when he thought about how it had felt to lie in bed with Graham curled up in his arms.
Thad briefly thought about flirting with the woman for cover anyway, but while they had talked about the idea of Graham telling everyone he was taking a break from dating, they hadn’t discussed how Thad was going to play this.
He didn’t want to give Graham the wrong impression. What if he misunderstood and thought Thad was seriously flirting?
Especially after he’d ducked out in the middle of the night without any real explanation after planning to stay.
When that same woman sidled up to him after he’d beat Crawford, Rafe, and Tanner at pool and collected his winnings, Thad stifled a groan.
After he placed his order at the bar, she eyed the cash in his hand. “Gonna buy me a drink with that, handsome?”
She was beautiful, dark-haired and curvy, with a sexy, husky voice, and in the past, he’d have said something flirtatious back to her, and they’d have ended up in her bed within the hour.
Maybe two, depending on traffic.
But this time, he shook his head. “Sorry. I’m, uh …” He floundered for a moment, not sure of what to say, but apparently it was enough.
“Got it,” she said with a shrug and rueful smile. “Figured it was worth a try. Enjoy your evening then.”
“Thanks. You too,” he managed.
A moment later, his brother slid onto the stool beside him. “Huh. I don’t know that I’veeverseen you turn someone down. Are you feeling okay?”
He held out his hand like he was going to press the back of it to Thad’s forehead to check for a fever.
Thad ducked out of reach, rolling his eyes. “I feelfine. But I just got here. I wasn’t ready to leave yet, that’s all.”
“And there’s that guy, isn’t there?”
Thad panicked for a moment before he remembered he’d told his brother there was a guy he was into.
“Right. Yeah,” he said, nodding at Liam in thanks as he slid a beer over to him.
He took a sip while Gavin ordered a whiskey for himself, then asked, “How’s that going?”
Thad shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to remember what exactly he’d told him.
Thad thought he’d told Gavin the guy was dating someone. It was probably a little risky to say he was single now. Gavin wasn’t stupid. He might easily put the pieces together and figure out it was Graham.
“I was starting to feel a little more hopeful but I dunno. I might have screwed things up.”
He sighed because all of that was true. What if he had fucked up everything when he’d ducked out the other night?
To his surprise, his brother snorted and slapped him on the back. “Welcome to being in a relationship, dude.”
“Who said anything about a relationship?” Thad protested.
“Oh.” Gavin looked surprised before thanked Liam in thanks for the whiskey. “Did I read you wrong? You seemed happier lately, so I assumed you’d gotten together with him.”
“We’re still figuring things out,” Thad said vaguely. “You know how it is.”
Gavin laughed and took a sip of his whiskey. “Yeah, Dakota and I had an interesting start, that’s for sure. It took us a while to get our shit together too.”
He glanced across the room, his expression softening when he looked at Dakota sitting at a table with Leah and Danny and laughing about something.
“He really makes you happy, doesn’t he?” Thad observed.
“Yeah.” Gavin’s smile was even softer now, but it twisted wryly at one corner as he glanced over at Thad. “Better for me than Rory ever was, huh?”
