She continued to gaze up at him as he closed the lid to his crackers and considered getting up to change his clothes. It was clear that Eden was staying the night. Should they go ahead and turn in?
“What’s it like?” she asked, and he didn’t think about it at first, “to be attracted to both men and women?”
He almost knocked the box off his nightstand. “Well,that’sa topic change.”
“I mean, kinda. There’s a sapphic version of La Mariposa, you know. I could sign up for that and just be the center of attention for wealthywomenlooking to ‘fuck their tits off.’”
“That’s a really weird image you just put into my head.” Liam slammed back against his pillow. “Tell me more.”
“I mean, I couldprobablydo it, but what if I don’t like having sex with women as much as I do men? I’ve never thought about it. I mean, half the kids in my class were queer, I swear, but whenever I thought about girls that way, it didn’t click.”
“Not everyone gets a flag at Pride, love.”
She laughed. “Do you go to Pride?”
“Do I go to… where do you think I get my June-long hookups?”
“Shut up!”
“I’m only kinda joking. Actually, the last Pride I went to was in this small town in Oregon. Bend. They have Pride in the winter for some reason.”
“Really?”
“Of course! Combining my love for skiing with hooking up with some random guy I don’t know in the clubhouse? My favorite!”
“I can’t tell if you’re joking sometimes.”
Me neither.Liam tickled Eden’s shoulder as she cuddled with him. “It’s been a while. Maybe I’ll drag you somewhere this year.” He chuckled. “By the way, Benson loves drag.”
“You’rekidding.”
“No. It’s his worst-kept secret. There isn’t a single episode ofDrag Racehe hasn’t seen. His local favorite queen is Ursula Slay Nguyen.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“I was gonna hire her to perform at our wedding.”
It was one of the few times he referenced it in front of Eden.The wedding, I mean.Something that often went unsaid between them, even when talking about Liam’s relationship with Benson.
He almost cringed, really. But then Eden said, “I bet that would’ve been fun.”
There it was again. Something unspoken between them.
Liam couldn’t say what his girlfriend was thinking, but as for him?Should I tell her?About him and Benson. About the kisses. About the fervent discussions about who they had been to each other. About the…
Well, about me blowing him in his kitchen.
It wasn’t so much that Liam thought she’d be angry, or that Eden might be disgusted.Doubt it.More like she wouldn’t understand. Just because Liam and Benson were toying with each other, let alone for her sake, didn’t mean they were getting back together. Not like that.I’m not marrying him, that’s for sure.Now, Eden on the other hand…
Benson would fight me for her hand.
“What?” Eden said, propping her chin up on his chest as he rubbed her head.
He loves you. I love you. He and I still love each other. It’s just complicated.Liam couldn’t say any of that. Instead, he defaulted to his usual silliness that made her laugh. “Let’s play a game. Iask you something embarrassing about your past, and you get me back. Every time we answer, we have to take off a piece of clothing until we’re naked.”
“And the first one to lose their knickers?”
“Has to do whatever the other wants.”
