Jase didn’t say anything, he just grabbed a new foam brick and started over.
Brek pulled a chair up to the side of the table, lounging like he had nothing better to do. Didn’t he have a bar to run? And a kid to take care of? And a wife to do shit for?
Jase didn’t look up. “I fucked Heather.”
He’d also had lazy sex, and fun sex, and hot sex, and he’d kissed her and talked with her until one in the morning. He’d made her coffee and he’d held her hand. Yeah, he’d done all that.
“You didwhat?” Dean asked from the doorway.
Jase jolted. Another rose snapped in two.
He clipped it and tossed it into the bucket.
He’d fucked Heather and he’d fucked himself. Dean would not be as forgiving as Brek. But he might as well know, too. Their wives would be all over Jase like a grenade with the pin pulled when things went south. And he’d been around long enough to know things would eventually go south. “Figure you guys should know so, when shit blows up, you’ll know why.”
“She okay?” Brek asked, his expression blank. “Heather?”
“Yeah.” She was fine. Right now, she was fine. This morning when she knew what was coming, she hadn’t been fine. “We agreed to be exclusive. Then I asked her not to bring it up to my family. Now shit’s weird.”
“I think he caught the bug.” Dean pulled up his own stool. “But he’s fighting it.”
“Don’t fight it. Not worth it.” Brek leaned his elbows on the table.
Eli strolled into the back room like he was there for a tea party. “What’d I miss?”
“He and Heather had sex,” Dean supplied.
“And he’s emotional about it,” Brek said.
The hell he was.
“And they’re together, but he’s not telling his family,” Dean added.
“Keeping track of your not-a-relationship is a full-time job,” Eli grabbed a stool. “So your family wanted you to date, but you didn’t want to, so you said that you and Heather broke up and you were too devastated to date. Now, you are dating her, but you don’t want them to know…because…?”
“Because then they’ll want to get involved and they’ll start whispering in her ear and then shit will go sideways.”
“Maybe shit won’t go sideways.” Brek toyed with the foam Jase had tossed earlier.
Jase moved his gaze between his three friends. “Why do I feel like this is a setup?”
“If it looks like a setup and it smells like a setup, it’s probably a setup.” Eli straddled the stool and took his place with the other traitors.
Son of a bitch. “Your wives talked to Heather, didn’t they?”
“I don’t think we’re allowed to say.” Dean grimaced.
“They have her back? They’ll make sure she’s fine?” Jase asked. She had to be okay.
“You just said she’s fine,” Brek replied.
“I mean when shit goes bad. They’ll be there for her?” Jase asked. He should just give up on work for the day, let someone else finish up.
“Why is shit going to go bad?” Dean was apparently in shrink mode.
“’Cause he thinks shit always goes bad,” Eli answered for him.
“Should we all hand in our balls, grab a pot of tea, and sit around processing my sex life?” Jase asked. “Because that sounds like shit I do not need.”
