"Oh, hell no!" I cut into the conversation, my eyes widening. Where the hell did he get those? I didn't see them earlier.
“What?” Ry looks at me with a smirk as he snaps up the yellow one and holds the pink one to me. “You don’t like pink, Cap?”
“I don’t mind pink as long as I don’t have to wear it.”
Holding up the offensively bright pink shirt, I read what had been printed on the front in matching bright pink glitter.
“CAPTAIN JACK SWALLOWS” Lowering the shirt, I hold back a laugh as I look at Ryan and nod toward the yellow shirt in his hand. He lifts it up and shows us what it reads.
“CAPTAIN DAVY MOANS” Seeing his team name, a laugh bursts from me and Pete once again preens at a job well done. I’m not even going to ask where he got these. They are too funny.
Right at seven-thirty P.M the guys from Savage Ink show up with cases of beer and excited greetings. I think my coffee and lunch gifts this week have put me in their good graces for sure.
“Thanks for having us, man. Game night sounds fun as fuck,” Carter says as he slaps me on the shoulder, passes me in the hall, and heads to the kitchen with his beers.
Nyx walks in next and pulls me into a hug, “It’s good to see both of you smiling again,” she whispers before going straight for the snack table, where Pete and Ryan are still filling up bowls of nuts and pretzels. Gavin, stoic as ever, just nods his greeting and follows behind her. Until he’s not, and I walk right into him.
“What…” I wanted to ask but my brother cut in.
"And who is this bear of a man?" Pete seems to be the reason for Gavin's abrupt stop in the hallway. Standing almost half a foot shorter than the growly man, he doesn't seem deterred. In fact, he's throwing heart eyes at the big tattooed dude.
Rolling my eyes, I move around Gavin’s large form and turn Pete to face the other direction before he gets the idea to just climb the guy. I should have predicted this. Pete has always had a preference for the hairy nature, and Gavin really is a bit of a bear.
Not daring to look back to see how Gavin has reacted to my brother's advances, I quickly throw on my team captain jersey and move to round up my team, which consists of Carter and Nyx, who are already proudly dawning Team Jack Swallows T-Shirts.
Ryan, on the other hand, is sitting between Pete and Gavin, who is noticeably not wearing a Team Davey Moans T-Shirt and looking everywhere except in Pete's general direction, who is still throwing heart eyes at him. Maybe if I give Ryan a spray bottle, he can use it on Pete periodically to keep him from humping Gavin's leg for the rest of the evening.
RYAN
“Fuck off, there is no way you got that.” Drew is the worst. I mean, literally, the guy can’t even draw a hotdog right, yet his team is winning Pictionary. I call bullshit. He’s currently standing beside the whiteboard with what looks like one of those ink blot tests the head doctors show patients in a mental facility. I can’t make out one distinct feature, yet Nyx calls out the Eiffel Tower and wins a point.
My team would probably be doing a lot better if every time Pete takes a turn, he actually plays the game and doesn't just draw 'Pete hearts Gavin' on the board, or a guy holding a phone and the words "call me" written beside it. I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to write words in Pictionary. I take it back: Drew isn't the worst. Pete is.
Maybe if Gavin would just throw the guy a bone, he would settle down, but he ignores his blatant advances and just shrugs it off, repeating, "I'm too old for you, kid," which is falling on deaf ears. Clearly isn't getting us anywhere.
When we lose spectacularly at Pictionary, Charades doesn't go much better. Pete has taken to performing some kind of strange interpretive dance to show his interest in Gavin like he hasn't been obvious about it until now.
If we weren’t losing so badly, I would probably applaud the guy because he does have some serious moves, and those Aladdin pants have some serious stretch. They deserve a standing ovation for not ripping at the seam during some very vigorous twerking. Unfortunately for Pete, Gavin is an impenetrable fortress, and nothing is working.
The arrival of the food seems to break Pete out of his mating ritual performance, and we all take a break to recharge and refuel. I catch Drew's eye across the room. He looks like a smug asshole as he winks at me and continues his conversation with Carter. Looks like he isn't going to help me. He's enjoying winning too much. He's definitely not getting laid tonight.
I spot Pete on his way back from the bathroom and intercept him before he can lay down on the pizza in the hope Gav will take a bite out of him.
“Dude, seriously! You’re making me look bad. Come on, we have to at least try and win the next few rounds. We can’t let Drew take game night. You know he will hold this over our heads from now until forever.” I may as well be talking to the wall. He’s not listening to me. He’s not even looking at me.
"He is single, right? I don't see a wedding band or anything. Why is he so against this? I don't care how old he is. I like my men with experience. Does he not date guys? Because I thought Drew said all the guys at Savage Ink were gay?" Rolling my eyes, I throw up my hands.
"I give up. Drew's team wins, you all suck, and when you are done eating the food, you can all leave so I can sulk alone."
"Maybe I'm not his type." He's not even listening to me. "Nah, That can't be right. I'm everyone's type."
"For fuck's sake! He's not interested." I lose my cool on the guy.
“What?” He looks at me surprised. “Of course he is. He just doesn’t know it yet.” He turns and leaves to go back into the living room.
I don’t know why I even try. Shaking my head, I go back with the hope that everyone is done with this game night and ready to go home. I have some pent-up aggression, and I know precisely where to unleash it.
As soon as I enter the room, two things happen, One moment, I can see Pete showing the guys some yoga poses he recently mastered, followed by his ‘Look Grumpy Bear, how bendy I am,’ and in the next second, chaos ensues. Pete trips, knocking into the art easels, which fall directly onto the table of food, and a plate of unfinished barbeque wings flies into the air and lands right on Gavin’s chest.
