Bea hummed and brought her thumb to her lips to nibble on the manicured nail. “Did he apologize for what he did?”
“He did,” said Quinn. “And he told me not to forgive him.”
A noise of surprise caught in her throat. “Well, that’s…yeah, I can see why you’re so torn up about this.”
Good, so he wasn’ttotallycrazy.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” said Bea, and she shoved herself onto her elbows so she could get back into a sitting position. “We’re going to drink more alcohol, eat all the snacks, and finish watching our shows. Then, when we’re sober, we’ll rehash this. We’ll have plenty of time to talk once you enroll the girls on the local Timbits team, like I told you to.”
“You did?” Quinn couldn’t remember that conversation, but he was a little messed up at the moment.
“Yup.” Bea clapped her hands excitedly. “I told you about my girlfriend, Indigo, and her little boy, who’s Emira and Alara’s age? She goes on the weekends, and she convinced me to sign Tate up. I know he’s young, but he wants to be like his dad—and the girls have said the same thing.”
They had. Multiple times. Despite Quinn trying everything he could to get them interested in arts and crafts instead.
“We can hang out every weekend when you’re not with Eren, and sort the mess that is your love life,” Bea continued, not giving Quinn a chance to wiggle out of it. “All I ask in return for my investment in this situation is either the Maid of Honour role at your wedding,orpermission to be your backup if you decide to break things off with August. I happen to be very good at writing strongly worded text messages and dishing out firm phone calls if need be.”
Quinn laughed and sat up so he could bump shoulders with her. “You’re working your way into my number one best friend position.”
He held his smile as he waited for Bea to process what he had said, laughing again when she glowered at him.
“Who the hell has first place?”
“Eren,” said Quinn, like it was the most obvious answer.
This time, he didn’t raise his arms fast enough when she threw a pillow in his face.
Chapter 22
August
August was expecting a call or text from Quinn the following week, but he wasn’t prepared to open his front door and find the man standing outside, red-cheeked and frowning at him like he’d done something wrong.
“Quinn?”
Quinn said nothing as he placed his hands on August’s chest and pushed him into the house. “Bedroom?”
It was eight in the morning, and August had an interview and a team photoshoot that he had to get ready for, but—
“Yeah, bedroom.” August wrapped an arm around Quinn’s waist and spun them, nearly walking into Niko, who had been heading to the living room with a protein bar hanging from his mouth and a bowl of cereal in his hands.
There was a short span of shared, awkward eye contact before Niko ducked his head and scurried away, his skin flushed from the ears down.
“I have thirty minutes before he starts yelling up the stairs for me to get dressed,” August muttered, checking with Quinn to see if that was okay.
“That’s more than enough.” Quinn removed his shoes and took August’s wrist, dragging him upstairs along with him.
August had to direct them once they were on the top floor because the master bedroom was tucked around a corner, but the second they were alone with the door shut, Quinn began to strip. He quickly followed his example, taking his clothes off while grinning like the fool he was.
“In a hurry, are we?”
He didn’t know what it meant when Quinn’s frown turned more severe, but August held back his comments and waited, taking his time to enjoy the view of so much pale skin on display.
“Look, I’m a busy man,” said Quinn. He stalked toward August, corralling him to the bed with singular focus. “I’m a full-time student, weeks away from getting my Master’s degree in fine arts, after which, I can moveon to work at an art museum. I’m a part-time nanny to two very hyper six-year-olds who only have one parent, who has a very busy job, as you know.”
August smirked and dropped onto the bed, moving further toward the middle as Quinn continued to follow him.
“These hookups are like my nail appointment or maintenance on my car. Something I could do myself, but it’s easier to have someone else help me out with it.”
