“It’s not a war zone, Peyton. It’s a breeding station. You have a healthy dust bunny population, every single corner of your home is listed on the spider housing market as a prime location, your kitchen and bathroom are officially silverfish territory, and last time we were there, I think they were thinking about mounting an attack on the living room as well.” Leeland shook his head.
“Hey, that’s not fair. Those dust bunnies do no harm, the spiderwebs are kind of quaint, and having silverfish in your home means there’s no nasty toxic things in your walls or paint or floor.”
Curtis couldn’t suppress his grin. It was an old argument between Peyton and Leeland, though Peyton’s apartment wasn’t that bad. He did clean it once a month. It wasn’t his fault that Leeland was after every bit of dust like the devil was after poor souls. The two stopped their bickering when Dean turned to Collin.
“So when’s the big day, Collin?”
Collin looked to Seth, who grinned broadly. “In October. We didn’t want it to be too hot, but it shouldn’t be cold either, and Seth has already composed the perfect cake for me, and he’s shown me the most beautiful flowers, and I’m going to wear a suit, and we’ll have the ceremony at home in our garden, with a big party afterward, and the only decision I had to make was picking my best man, and I really love you all, you know that, but for my best man there’s only one choice, so Curtis, I hope you say yes, because Seth has already picked out a suit for you as well so that we all look good when we’re standing in front of the officiant.”
Collin smiled broadly at him, and Curtis couldn’t help the welling of tears in his eyes. It was good to be loved so much, good to be among friends.
“It would be my honor, Collin.”
With a squeal, Collin threw himself in Curtis’s arms, and the others hooted and cheered. When the noise finally died down, Leeland turned to Seth. “I guess we know what your big news is. I can’t believe you kept that from us.”
The wedding planner shrugged. “Secrecy is my middle name. You know the difficulties I had to overcome to get this wedding. There’s no way I’d have compromised my success by telling you meddlers.”
Leeland threw his hands in the air. “So much for helping you with Collin’s likes and dislikes! I’m through with this. Where are the sweets?”
They all laughed. Helping Seth plan the perfect wedding for Collin without Collin realizing it had been their mission for the past few months. The work had paid off, it seemed, if Collin’s relaxed stance was any indication. Even the cake conundrum had been solved when Martin decided they would simply have two layered cakes instead of one after the bakery had informed Seth that having the waterfall of fruitandthe semi-liquid chocolate coating wouldn’t work.
“Now all we have to do is teach Dog to carry the rings and we’re golden.” Seth looked very pleased with himself, as he should be. As much as Curtis loved Collin and liked Martin as a friend, he was the first to admit that they weren’t the easiest clients to have. While Collin’s inability to make a decision could be considered mildly annoying, though still kind of sweet, Martin’s demanding manner that stemmed from knowing exactly what he wanted and having the money to back those wants up, was anything but.
“Great, we have a baby, a first competition, a wedding, and two cases of blissful boredom.” Peyton counted on his fingers. All eyes went to Curtis, and for a moment he considered not telling them. Theirs had all been good news or no news, which was good news, no matter what PR people thought. He would seriously dampen the mood if he aired his less than satisfying personal life in front of them.
“You’re hesitating. That means it’s bad news and you don’t want to ruin our evening. Forget it, Curtis. You all were here for me when the surrogate miscarried. That’s how our group works. You should know better than to hide things from us.”
Curtis gave Dean a grateful smile.
“Yes, you’ll feel better once you’ve told us everything.” Peyton managed to keep his curiosity to a minimum, for which Curtis was grateful. He knew Peyton didn’t mean to pry; he just wanted to help—and satisfy his need for juicy stories. To his credit, though, Curtis had to admit that he never gossiped. For Peyton, it was enough thatheknew.
“I probably will. Thank you, guys. This means a lot to me.” Curtis drew a deep breath. “I had a date yesterday, and it went terribly wrong.”
The boys made sympathetic sounds.
“Who was he?” Dean asked.
“The man who made the macarons,” Collin volunteered before Curtis could answer.
“The macarons you shared with me?”
Collin nodded. He took Curtis’s hand and squeezed it. “That man kept staring at Curtis as if he wanted to eat him and when I asked him why he was doing it, he said he found Curtis hot and that he wanted to ask him out but didn’t know how. He was also glad when I mentioned that Curtis doesn’t have a Dom at the moment, so I figured he has to be one.”
Curtis raised his brow. Leave it to Collin to be perceptive when you least expected it. The man usually lived in a happy bubble, mostly unaware of what was going on around him. But when he picked something up, it was always accurate, and it made Curtis wonder if Collin’s constant absentmindedness was his brain’s way of coping with the fact that he could absorb everything.
“That doesn’t sound too bad so far. He asked you out and you decided not to tell us.” Leeland grinned at him. “I wonder why.”
Curtis sighed. “You know why. Because I didn’t want to be driven up the wall by all your good-natured meddling.” He held up his hands. “As it turns out, I could have told you, because that date couldn’t have been worse even if all of you really tried.”
“Hey.” Peyton pouted. “We’re helpfulness personified. We could have come to the place you had your date and helped you out when things went south.”
Curtis buried his face in his hands. “You know what the worst part is? I actually think that would have been a good idea.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Dean leaned forward from his seat left of Curtis to pat his thigh. “You had a traumatic experience with an asshole. Happens to all of us.”
Which wasn’t entirely true, because Dean had conveniently stayed with his first boyfriend ever and then married him. He knew next to nothing about the agonies of dating, but Curtis still appreciated the sentiment.
“He was a good-looking asshole, though.” Curtis remembered Andrew’s thick hair, the light stubble on his chin, the way he moved with easy grace. Oh yes, he could have seen himself with that man.
