He stopped babbling.
When we pulled apart, his breathing had steadied.
“You were saying?” I kept my voice neutral.
His head lowered, then only his eyes lifted to meet my gaze. “I have to tell Ty about me and you and all of this. He’s my best friend, and I’m pretty sure he already suspects something. I can’t walk into practice today looking like”—he gestured at his own face, which was, admittedly, radiating a post-coital glow visible from space—“this, and expect him not tonotice.”
“You do look aggressively happy.”
“Exactly. He’s going to ask questions, and I don’t want to lie to him.” He paused. “I’m tired of lying.”
Something about the quiet, certain way he said it, like it was a decision that had already been made, told me this wasn’t up for discussion. He wasn’t asking permission. He was telling me what he was going to do.
And that, more than anything, told me how far he’d come in such a short time.
“Then tell him,” I said. “Just be prepared for others to ask why you’re grinning like you’re being tickled.”
“I am not.”
“Yeah, you are. Should I tickle you to prove it? We can get a mirror.”
“Fuck off. No tickling before breakfast.”
I smiled and nodded. “Wise words, Obi-Wan.”
“Why are you still in my apartment?”
“Because you keep asking me to stay,” I said, only half teasing. “So, back to Tyler and the guys. You’re okay with that? If others start asking questions, too?”
He paused, his gaze drifting before finding me again.
“What if he’s weird about it?”
“He won’t be,” I said with more conviction thanI felt. I didn’t know Tyler well. From what Skyler had told me, the guy was solid and would stand by his friends no matter what, but with news like this, no one ever knew how another person might react. I hoped I was right.
“How can you be so sure?”
I shrugged. “You told me about him following you outside in Calgary when you were spiraling. He said, ‘Whenever you’re ready, I’m here,’ without knowing what he was volunteering for.” I squeezed his hand. “That’s not a guy who’s going to be weird about much.”
He nodded, processing. “Erik, too, probably. He’s my roommate on the road. He’ll figure it out.”
“The newly engaged Viking who gave a speech about love so beautiful it made you question your entire sexuality? Yeah, I think Erik can handle it. Besides, Europeans aren’t as uptight as Americans. He probably tried dick a few times before settling on the big P.”
Skyler laughed—a sharp, surprised bark that he tried to smother. “The big P? When you put it like that . . .”
“All I’m saying is that you’ve surrounded yourself with good people. Trust them.”
The doorbell rang, breakfast arrived, and we spent the next twenty minutes eating on the couch again,because apparently we’d silently agreed that all dining tables were decorative. Thank every god that ever existed, he ordered coffee with our food.
The acai bowl was purple and ridiculous and tasted like dessert pretending to be health food.
I stole half of it.
“That’s mine,” he protested.
“Consider it payment for the coffee assault.”
“Fair.”
