“Tell me about life back in L.A.,” Darius said, setting a fry pan on the stove. “Tell me about In-n-Out.”
“It’s as good as you remember.”
“Tell me about the proposal,” he said, flicking his wrist toward me.
I flushed and looked down at my lap, my hands clasped together, protecting the ring from view much like I had done in Colton’s car.
“It was a sex thing,” I answered dismissively. The tips of Darius’s ears darkened, and he dropped bacon into the pan. “But it was very romantic. It was very Ronan.”
“That’s sweet,” he said.
The bacon started to sizzle, the smell quickly filling the whole house.
“He makes me happy,” I said, to no one in particular.
“I know. You wouldn’t be with him if he didn’t.”
“Can you tell Colton that?”
“He just worries about you,” Darius offered.
“It’s misguided, and it’s hurtful.” I swallowed, the bedroom door down the hall opening with a loud creak.
“You should tell him.”
“He’s an adult,” I fired back. “We’re well past the age of me having to explain why being a selfish prick isn’t reasonable.”
The floorboards creaked as Colton made his way to the kitchen, sliding onto the stool beside me. He didn’t say a word.
“He needs reminding sometimes,” Darius said, shooting Colton a quick glance. “You can toast the bread.”
Colton sighed and stood up, walking into the kitchen and working his way around Darius to get bread into the toaster. I watched them move together in sync without even a word exchanged between them. I watched the way Colton dipped his head instead of looking at Darius when they passed each other. At first, I thought it was just Colton acting meek and mild to counterbalance the attitude he’d given us both earlier in the afternoon, but by the time Colton came to sit beside me again, I wasn’t so sure.
“Thank you for lunch,” I said.
Darius slid a plate in front of me, then arranged one for himself on the counter side of the kitchen. He angled a thoughtful look at Colton, then pushed the third plate next to mine.
“Thank you for lunch,” Colton parroted, the first words he’d spoken since the car.
“You’ll have to come home in the summer,” I said, turning my attention back to Darius in front of me. “Ronan wants to get married in the summer.”
I thought about a venue, a location. I thought about the warmth of the California sun beating down on us as we exchanged our vows and I wondered if our ceremony would be traditional or…alternative. I shivered, even as my memories of the summer washed over me like a thick blanket. It seemed to me that Ronan deserved better than a canned recitation of a verse from a book that condemned us. It seemed to me Ronan deserved more.
And maybe so did I.
“We’ll be there,” Darius said, looking to Colton. “Won’t we?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t want you to come if you don’t want to be there.” I offered him a sidelong glance. I knew he didn’t care for Ronan, but he’d never even tried to get to know him. He hadn’t put in the effort. He’d been mean and abrasive to Ronan the whole time we’d been together, and now the attitude was rubbing off on me. The shift in my relationship with Colton made me sad, and I suddenly found myself aching for Ronan’s touch. For the security of him.
“I want to be there,” Colton said.
“You don’t act like it,” Darius snapped, flicking a piece of bread crust across his plate. “You know, for being a grown man, a little spanking has really thrown you off your game.”
“Shut up,” Colton hissed, jumping up from the counter and running back down the hallway. The door to the bedroom slammed, and Darius sighed, taking another bite of his sandwich.
“What happened just now?” I asked, my stare drifting between the closed bedroom door and Darius’s bored face.
