He hesitated.
“Jer, come on. You’re kidding me, right?”
“What if she’s right? I mean, it’s not like I’m anything special. I own a small neighborhood gym—so what? Blake works for this huge, multinational corporation and has multimillion-dollar accounts. Maybe he’s only hanging around with me until someone better comes along.” Now that he’d started talking, he couldn’t stop his word vomit of fear. “We started out saying it was casual. The sex is amazing, so why couldn’t it have stayed like it was? People do that. They don’t need to get involved.”
“Because you’re not that type who can separate your head from your heart.”
Panic swelled inside Jeremy. “I—I don’t know. What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”
“Have you asked him?”
“N-no. Should I?”
“What do you think?”
“Fuck if I know. You’re the relationship expert. You tell me.”
Noah’s low chuckle didn’t make him feel any better. “I think you do, but you’re scared. You don’t have to rush it, but I’d bet Blake’s been thinking about it as well. You told me you guys were spending the rest of this weekend together, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“And how’s that going?”
Remembering how he and Blake couldn’t kiss each other hard enough or hold each other long enough, Jeremy couldn’t keep back a smile.
“Really well.”
“So I’m right and I bet Blake feels the same.”
“You do?”
“For such a smart guy, you can be a real dope. Yeah, I do.”
A rush of joy swept away the panic. “Thanks, Noah. I needed to hear that.”
“We all do sometimes.”
At Noah’s sober tone, Jeremy’s senses tingled. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“No.”
Sadness gripped Jeremy. “Are you—”
“Fine. Really.”
A steaming pile of lies, but Jeremy knew Noah would only run back into hiding if he pressed him. And with Noah only recently poking his head back into life after all the years of solitude, Jeremy wouldn’t do anything to push him backward. He didn’t want to lose his brother again.
“Okay, okay. Dinner on Sunday, though, right?”
“Yep. And now that you’ve gotten me up, I guess I could use a workout. I wish you would open a satellite gym here. It would be perfect for me.” He laughed. “Because you know it’s all about me.”
“I wish I could afford the rent. I’d love to expand out of middle-of-nowhere Brooklyn.”
“Hey, if anyone can do it, it’s you. I don’t know why you put yourself down, but you’re an amazing businessman.”
“Again, thanks. We’ll see. I have some ideas kicking around that I need to work on.” Noah’s praise did make him feel better, and he started making a list of what he wanted to do as they talked.
“Okay. So we’re cool now? I really am sorry about letting it slip.”
