“Uh…”Fuck. What did I say?“Pizza. What do you want on it?”
“Oh, green pepper and pepperoni,” he replies, toweling his hair dry.
“Thought so,” I mumble to myself.
Hanlon disappears, and when he reemerges, he’s in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt that’s molded over his pecs and loose at his stomach.There’s no denying it;Hanlon is hot.I shouldn’t be disappointed that the towel is gone, but I am. He looks nice, but he also looks like he’s going out. And is that…
“Are you wearing cologne?” I ask, regretting it as soon as it leaves my lips. He probably thinks I’m judging him. If he got dressed up for me and I’m making him feel like shit about it, I will punch myself in the face.
“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t think it would be as strong as it is,” he says, his cheeks reddening.
I wave a hand. “Nah, it’s nice.” His lips curve into a smile, and his glasses shift as they’re pushed higher. Smiling is something Hanlon doesn’t do often because of me, but I’m starting to wish he’d do it more. “You want to watch a movie?” I suggest. “I’m pretty sure I can find Transformers on one of the streaming services.”
Hanlon looks up from his phone. “I’m not ten anymore, Stone.”
Yeah. No fucking shit.
“Okay, something else then?”
“I’m actually going to meet Micah for a drink after dinner,” he says, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Micah?”
“Uh, yeah. From the gym?”
“I know who he is,” I say harsher than necessary.
“Oh, right,” he says, typing something on his phone. Probably toMicah.
Jealousy twists in my gut before I can talk sense into myself, but I try anyway. I mean, come on, of course I’m not jealous. I’m glad Hanlon is making friends. I want him to enjoy his time out here. And Micah is a really nice guy. Just because Hanlon’s staying with me doesn’t mean we have to eat every meal together. We already see each other all day at work. It’s reasonable that he’d want some space.
A second later, his phone pings again, and my stupid mouth has to point it out.
“He sure does text a lot.”
This time, the judgmental tone is so obvious it’s glaring us both in the face, and unfortunately, Hanlon thinks I’m trying to pick a fight.
“How else are you supposed to get to know someone?” he asks rationally. He’s doing a much better job than I am of keeping his annoyance reigned in, and it only serves to annoy me further.
“Well, what time are you going to be back?” I ask.
“I don’t know.I might go back to his place if we hit it off this time. Don’t wait up.”
Hit it off?I huff a nervous laugh. Something dreadful and terrifying, mixed with a deadly amount of hope, coils itself around my spine.
“You make it sound like a date…and not the kind Logan was joking about.” Folding my arms across my chest, I wait for him to tell me I’m wrong and that I should stop being an asshole.Anything except confirm what I can’t bear to hear.
He snarls, and every nerve ending I have is on fire like I’m being held over an open flame.
“That’s because itisa date. I’m gay, Stone, and if that’s going to be a problem, I’ll stay with Micah tonight and move all my shit back into the apartment tomorrow.”
I can’t breathe.
Two fists are locked around my lungs, squeezing so that I can’t fill them with the air I desperately need.
When I don’t respond, Hanlon misunderstands my reaction and scoffs.
“Unbelievable. I’m going to skip the pizza. I’m not really hungry anymore. See you later.”
