“What?” Heath looked between us, confused. “What’s not what it looks like?”
“I think, uh. I think Brandon may have stumbled over my Punishr profile.” All morning I’d been making a fetish of Tyler blushing, and now my own face felt like it was on fire.
“Yeah,” Brandon said slowly.
“I forgot to turn it off,” I went on. “The profile, I mean.”
“Uh-huh.” Brandon did not sound convinced.
“I haven’t been on that app for, God,” I blew out a puff of air, trying desperately to remember my Shane backstory, “months. Since Ty and I got together.”
“It says here you were on it two days ago,” Brandon said. His voice was giving the icy lake some chilly competition.
“Oh, I guess I was,” I said vaguely. “I was trying to turn off my profile.” That wasn’t a lie. I’d been on it two days ago wondering if I should delete the profile entirely, since I wasn’t interested in anyone but Tyler these days. But I’d gotten distracted and the profile had stayed up. “I should just delete the app completely.”
“And so should you,” Heath said firmly to Brandon.
“Anyway, I don’t think Ty would be down with me stripping for the happy couple.” My joke fell flatter than Jon’s cousin nearby landing on the ice.
Heath gave me a tight smile, and Brandon a tug by the elbow. “Enjoy your coffee.” They started drifting away from me.
Shit. They didn’t believe me for a hot second, either one of them.
Cursing under my breath, I pulled out my own phone and deleted the Punishr app completely. But I needed to warn Tyler before the gossip train started. The last thing he would want was well-meaning advice from all his friends to dump the motherfucker. That’s exactly what he’d been trying to avoid, all that attention.
But that’s exactly what I would’ve told him too, if the situation between us had been real: dump the motherfucker. Tyler Blakely deserved all the attention and commitment in the world from his boyfriend.
Even his fake boyfriend.
Chapter 6
Tyler
Damon looked so serious and worried when he skated up that my heart jumped uncomfortably. It didn’t help when he gave only a distracted smile and nod at Tristan and Ezra, and then said in a low voice to me, “Hey, can we chat?”
“Sure.” I said some hasty goodbyes to Tristan and Ezra. I didn’t know Ezra very well, but he seemed like a good guy. Last I’d heard he wasn’t into kink at all, and apparently now he was a spanking enthusiast, but okay. “What is it?” I hissed, as Damon handed me my hot chocolate and linked an arm through mine to guide me to a quiet part of the lake.
“I think I fucked up,” he said, and then he told me about Brandon and the Punishr app.
“Oh, my God,” I breathed out. “Is that all?”
“Well—I thought you might be pissed. Your buddies might start poking you to dump my ass, if they think I’m cheating. But I’m not.”
I had to laugh at that. “Damon,” I murmured, “you can’t be cheating, because we’re not—” I gestured with my hot-chocolate-holding hand, feeling the slosh of it in the covered paper cup. It was warm in my hand, even through my glove. Almost as warm as my other hand felt, being held by Damon.
“I know,” Damon said after a second. “But I didn’t want anyone to spring it on you.” He shook his head, brows pulling together. “Being Fake Shane is getting complicated.”
“Okay, well, Fake Shane,” I said, “it’s fine. Thank you for letting me know, and if Brandon tries to moan at me, I can tell him that I know all about it. Right?”
That, finally, pulled a relieved smile out of Damon. “Right,” he agreed.
“And hey, good news—the afternoon is free.” I lowered my eyelashes and looked up at him. “So I invited all the guys around so you can get to know them better.”
“You did?” The disappointment was clear in his eyes. “That sounds…neat. I actually like your friends. Mostly.”
I laughed out loud. “Of course I didn’t invite anyone over,” I said, bumping him with my elbow. “I thought we could, you know…”
“Yeah?” A grin lit up his face.
