“Riley and I are boyfriends!” Josh shouted, raising their joined hands above his head.
Shouts of congratulations rang out from Cole and Elena, who were seated on Josh’s side, snuggling in the corner of the couch. They sprang upright at the news.
Elena pulled Josh in for a hug from her spot next to him, muttering, “I knew you two would figure it out,”into his ear before she released him. Cole reached over Elena with his glass to clink it against Josh and Riley’s.
“Aw man, I don’t even have confetti ready for you guys,” Cole said. “That would have been ablast.”
He playfully elbowed Elena and gave her an exaggerated wink.
“I told you, you’re not setting off confetti cannons in my house,” Elena snapped. “I already have to deal with your socks everywhere.”
“It was only twice!” Cole said, the words tickling part of Josh’s brain, but he wasn’t sure why. “That reminds me. We’ve got our own reveal for tonight. But first, a congratulatory picture.”
He held up his phone and pointed it in Riley and Josh’s direction, apparently wanting a photo to commemorate the night. Josh leaned into Riley, who threw his arm around Josh’s shoulders and they smiled into the camera.
Once Cole took the photo, he played on his phone for another minute before Josh felt a buzz in his pocket.
As he pulled his phone out, he realized Riley was doing the same thing. Maybe Cole had sent them the picture in their group chat.
When Josh looked at his notifications, however, the only thing there was a new email from CJ Rollins, who’d thankfully been quiet recently, but had sent them an email with the subject line,Surprise.
“Fucking CJ Rollins,” Riley muttered, likely looking at the same email notification.
When Josh opened it, all he saw was a picture of Riley and him sitting on Elena and Cole’s couch. The photo Cole had taken seconds before.
“What?” Josh muttered. “How the fuck did he get this picture of us? Colejusttook it.”
He turned to Riley, surprised to see him frozen and staring at Cole.
“Motherfucker,” Riley whispered, his voice rising to a shout as he continued. “You’re CJ Rollins?”
Josh thought for a moment and gasped as he connected the dots.
“What? Really?” he said as he turned to Cole. The man sat there with a wide grin on his face.
“Yup, I use the pen name CJ Rollins to write romance novels.”
Josh was in shock and didn’t know what to say, until he was broken from his stupor when the weight on the couch shifted.
Riley stood wordlessly, everyone’s eyes on him as he stalked around the coffee table, not stopping until he stood in front of Cole.
He calmly and quietly took Cole’s beer from his hand, placing it lightly on a coaster between the food on the coffee table, and turned to him. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and unleashed his fury,whacking Cole and shouting between hits.
“You motherfucker.”
Whack.
“I thought we were being stalked!”
Whack.
“You made me think,” whack, “that you were gonna,”whack, “hurt Josh!”
Cole doubled over in laughter as Elena smiled at his cotton-filled beating.
Wrigley ran to Cole’s rescue, pulling on one of Riley’s pant legs, growling at the man who dared try to hurt his owner.
Riley continued with his assault, so Josh ran to his side and pulled him off Cole.
