This is not what I need right now. “I don’t want to talk about this, Kaden.”
“He thinks you were hitting on some guy.” Wait,what?
Quick as lightning, I spin around to face him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Listen, I don’t usually tell my friend’s business to just anyone, but he likes you… a lot.” His words aren’t very reassuring, given Ender hasn’t answered any of my texts or calls in the past forty-eight hours.
“Kaden, just tell me what happened.” I can see the struggle in his demeanor. “Please.”
“When he came out of the restroom at the club, he saw you with some guy. He had his hands on your hips and a huge smile on his face while you were talking to him. He said you were whispering in his ear or something like that.”
I feel the weight of a Mack truck crashing into me, remembering that asshole who wouldn’t stop hitting on me while I was looking for Ender. By the third time he ignored my polite warning to keep his hands to himself, I had had enough. I can only imagine what Ender felt like thinking I was hitting on him after what we had just done. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” Kaden’s sympathetic tone doesn’t calm me at all. “Like I said, he likes you a lot, Gabe. And that fucked with his head more than you can imagine.” His eyes are saying more than his words do.
I silently plead with him for any clue as to what I’m dealing with here.
“Goddesses, I feel like I’m betraying my friend, but Luke and I both feel your intentions are good—and he knows you better than anyone else.” Every damn pause has me wanting to throw Kaden over the balcony on the other side of the room. “Ender has really deep abandonment issues. The result of shitty parents, to put it politely.”
“So, he thinks I fucked him and walked away to hit on someone else.” Kaden doesn’t seem surprised by my confession. “I wasn’t hitting on that guy, Kaden.” I sigh, then tell him the entire story of how I seemingly wound up in the arms of some random asshole in the club.
“Thanks for explaining, but I already figured it wasn’t what it appeared to be. I trust Luke’s judgment of character, and he’s always told me what a stand-up guy you are—even though you are—were—the typical bachelor.” His quip doesn’t hit as it should in my current state of panic. “Ender doesn’t get close to anyone. He thinks we don’t know that he never dates—like ever.”
My brain runs in circles trying to put the pieces together of every moment we’ve spent together. Every conversation, every text message, every reaction to my touch—and little by little, things are starting to make more sense.
“The fact that he’s let you get this close to him already speaks volumes.”
The hurt I’ve caused him must be ten times worse than what I’ve felt the past couple of days.
“If you like him as much as I think you do, then be patient with him. Don’t give up. He’ll come around once he sees you’re the real deal.” His hand on my shoulder relaxes me the slightest bit—no one knows Ender better than Kaden and Connor.
“Thanks, Kaden. I appreciate you.”
Of course, his boyfriend interrupts our hug, that’s more for me than Kaden. I swear, he can sense from across the room if someone even looks at Kaden the wrong way and rushes over to mark his territory.
“Hands off the merchandise, brother.” Luke physically takes an amused Kaden from my arms, no doubt to disappear together for their typical shenanigans when we all go out.
Instead of heading back to our group, I walked toward the door, taking a minute to gather myself in the car before I make a rash decision.
The emotional side of me wants to run full speed to explain to Ender what really happened and beg for his forgiveness, while the rational side knows that won’t work at this moment. Instead, I settle on a simple promise.
Whether you believe it or not, you’re a great guy, and worth fighting for. I’m not going anywhere. When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be right here.
Chapter Sixteen
Some Conflicts Lead to Intoxicating Resolutions
Ender
“I’m not going anywhere.”
What the fuck? His actions vs. words have been giving me whiplash since the night at the club. Since then, he’s sent me a few texts telling me about his day or asking about mine, and a selfie showing me the empty bed beside him with the caption, “I’d be sleeping by now if I had someone to cuddle with.” I almost texted him back, telling him to go find his buddy from the club to keep him company, but that would’ve opened the door for conversation.
For five days, I’ve been able to ignore his attempts to get my attention, but now he has Kaden begging me to come to his house tonight. Our teams are playing each other, and I can’t help but think Gabe planned this watch party for that reason alone—but why? Does he think I’ll just move on like it never happened?
“Just come with us. It’ll be fun, I promise.” Kaden’s been at this for twenty minutes, but now he decides to fight dirty. His puppy eyes have always been hard to resist, and he knows it.
“You’re not my favorite person right now.”
