“Why would you know what’s going on with Layne?” Zane asked, taking a long pull from his beer. He was a quiet guy by nature, but a beer or two into the conversation he loosened up.
Jace closed the barbecue lid, cutting off some of the heat that had been soaking into us. “Elias, did you not share with the class?”
Wyatt and Zane looked between the two of us. “Don’t tell me you’re banging the bossman’s sister,” Wyatt said with a laugh.
Jace shot him a death glare. “No one is banging anyone. Well, except me and my super-hot lawyer girlfriend. But Layne’s in a shitty spot, trying to get rid of Teddy.”
“I’m acting as a fake boyfriend so Teddy gets the idea and backs off,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat and hoping the darkness around us covered it.
Wyatt eyed the two of us. A smile slowly spreading over his lips. “No way. This is too good.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I insisted, trying not to sound defensive and failing epically.
Wyatt rubbed his hands together. “Must be one hell of a dry spell you’re having if you agreed to pretend to date. That’s half a step past the Friend Zone.”
“Not all of us think with our dicks,” I said, wishing he would drop it.
“No, you have the poor bastard muzzled.” He leaned down so he was at eye level with my crotch. “Help, I can’t breathe in here,” he said in a fake cartoon voice.
“Alright, and Wyatt’s cut off,” Zane said, taking the beer from his hand and dumping the last of it over the railing into the snow.
“Hey!”
Zane shrugged. “Talking dicks is where I draw the line.”
“Damn right,” Jace said, pointing the neck of his beer bottle at Wyatt.
“Let’s see what Layne has to say about that,” Wyatt said, already heading for the door into the house.
Wyatt loved to stir up trouble, and he was damned good at it. I turned and followed him inside. My chest feeling tight.
The warmth of the house hit me, and I shivered at the change in temperature. Wyatt had already pulled off his boots and was in the living room where Sloane and Layne were drinking wine on the couch.
“So,” he said, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face, “anything new in your world, Layne?”
Layne’s eyes darted to me, then back to him. “What are you so happy about?”
He laughed. “I just learned about you and Elias’s little arrangement.”
She snorted. “You make it sound like some mafia deal.”
“Did she make you an offer you couldn’t refuse?” Wyatt said, laying the accent on way too thick.
The funny thing was, she had. Or at least she’d presented the opportunity. I wasn’t a seize-the-day kind of guy, but when it came to Layne, it was different.
“Something like that,” I mumbled.
Wyatt perched on the edge of the couch next to Layne and Sloane. “So let me get this straight. You needed to make your ex jealous, so you picked the human equivalent of a level to get the job done?”
“I—” she started, but of course Wyatt wasn’t done.
“A man with the personality of Stonehenge and the dating history of a reclusive monk.”
Layne flashed me a sympathetic smile. It did something in my chest.
“Not to mention that I, easily the best-looking of the bunch, was right there as an option.”
Layne ran his eyes over him and shrugged. “Meh, you’re not my type.”
