“Somehow, I seriously doubt that.” Some of the tension I'd been holding seeped from my shoulders. It'd be easier to keep up our ruse if the conversation stayed focused on Sebastian's job and not our past. “But I’ll make sure to warn Sebastian anyway.”
“So that’s a yes? You’ll come?”
“I mean, I haven’t asked him yet. But I don’t see why not.”
Even as I said it, I could come up with at least three different reasons why Sebastian would balk at the invite, but I was trying not to let myself go there. Bell was my teammate and my friend, and Sebastian was my … well, whatever he was. Friend, yes. But so much more, too, and there was no reason why I couldn’t introduce my friends. “If you’re sure it’s okay.”
“More than okay.” He climbed off his bike and grabbed his towel, wiping the sweat from his face and neck. “Come by around six?”
“Sure.”
“And I can’t wait to meet your … friend.”
I watched him go, my heart pounding harder than our easy workout warranted. After that parting comment, the way he'd stressed the word "friend," there was no way Bell didn’t suspect there was more to it than that.
And the weird thing was, I wasn’t scared. I was mostly just relieved.
Sebastian was exactlywhere I’d left him at the kitchen island, his laptop open, his coffee mug replaced with a glass of water. He glanced up when I walked in, his face lighting up in a way that still made my breath catch.
“How was practice?” he asked, closing his computer.
“Only a workout, but good.” I dropped my gym bag by the door and crossed to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water. “Watched some rookies puke. One of ‘em even cried. You know, the usual for this time of year.”
“How riveting.”
“It was.” I took a long drink, then leaned back against the counter, working up my nerve to tell him about dinner.
On the drive home, I’d practiced a few different ways to bring it up, but in hindsight, they all felt forced. It was probably best to just come right out and say it.
“So, uh. Bell—my captain—invited us to dinner tonight.”
Sebastian’s expression shuttered, turning instantly wary. “Us?”
“Well, he invited me. Then I mentioned that my college roommate was in town, and he said to bring you along.” I kept my tone casual. Like this was no big deal. Like he didn't need to freak out. “His husband got his hands on some lamb he’s dying to grill and wants to share it with us. Should be good.”
“That’s nice of him,” Sebastian replied slowly. “But I don’t know if that’s a good?—“
“It'll just be Bell and Ethan,” I blurted in a panic. “No one else. Super low-key.”
“Taylor,” he chided, his jaw ticking.
“Don't 'Taylor' me.” Like a petulant fucking teenager, I lifted my chin, practically pouting.
He pushed off the stool, moving around the island to stand across from me. “We talked about being careful. This is the opposite of that.”
Heat flared in my chest—not quite anger, but close enough. “How is taking my college roommate to eat food at a private residence with people I know and trust not being careful?”
“You’re asking me to sit across from your captain and his husband—two men who are openly living the life I can’t have—and pretend I’m just your buddy passing through town,” he explained, his voice laced with frustration. “That puts me in a very awkward position.”
“You want to talk about awkward positions?” I shot back, the words firing out of my mouth before I could stop them. “You’ll grind on Wyatt in the middle of a fucking club, but dinner with one of the only friends I have is a no-go? What kind of position do you think that putsmein? How do you think that makes me feel?”
Sebastian’s hand, which had been tracing idle patterns on the granite, stopped mid-motion. Even his breathing seemed to pause. “That’s not fair, and you know it.”
“Do I?” I slammed my bottle down onto the countertop, sending a geyser of water shooting up. “You’ll riskeverythingfor that asshole, butnothingfor me.”
“That's different, and you know it.”
“How?" I asked hotly. “Explain it to me like I’m five.”
