“So, you had dreams? Urges?”Kingston pried, his gruff voice climbing in octaves.“And when you kissed a guy, you didn’t hate it?”
Allen…didn’t like where this was going.
“That’s right,” said Allen. “I liked it enough that it made me hard, if that spells it out more clearly for you?”
“Fuck,” said Kingston.“Motherfucker. Stupid, slutty brain. What the hell?”
Jake mouthed the words, ‘What the fuck is happening?’ and Allen shook his head because he had no idea.
“Okay, so—”Kingston took a shaky breath and let it out in a sigh.“I shoved Evans against a wall and kissed him, and I thought that would make me realize that I was straight, but I think it did the opposite?—”
“You thought kissing a guy would make you straight?” Allen deadpanned, unable to help himself.
“How is that the first thing you’re asking after hearing that he kissed Riley?” Jake hissed, keeping his voice low enough so Kingston couldn’t hear him.
Allen waved his hand to quiet Jake as Kingston snarled his answer.
“I don’t know! I was expecting to hate it enough that I would punch him in the face instead, but now I can’t stop thinking about it. Tell me I’m not gay—there has to be a glitch.Something that will click in my head and make it stop telling me to want more.”
Allen frowned, his amusement vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared. “Do you like Riley?” Allen asked. “As in, do you have feelings for him?”
There was a loud scoff and then,“If wanting to strangle him can count as a feeling, then yes.”
So, Kingston wasn’t demisexual and falling for afriend, which only left one thing.
“Kingston, I think you might just be bisexual. It’s not like you have to like men and women fifty-fifty. You can like women ninety-nine percent, and then find the one percent in a man. That’s totally okay.”
Kingston’s groan was muffled.“Ninety-seven.”
Allen waited for him to continue, but when it became apparent that there would be no further explanation, he decided to push and poke the bear a little.
“So…do you want to kiss Riley again or punch him? I’m still not sure which one you were leaning toward.”
“That makes two of us,”said Kingston.“I don’t think it matters. I can’t like guys, and I can’t fuck my rival. I don’t think that’s what our coach meant when she asked us to bond.”
Allen folded his arms across his chest, not caring if Kingston couldn’t see his expression. “Youcanlike guys. There’s nothing wrong with having feelings for a man, and I know there are unresolved issues between you, but there’s nothing wrong with liking Riley, either. He’s charming, sweet, and he takes care of the people he loves. It’s not like you’re falling for a jackass who treats you like shit.”
Kingston gave another sigh.
“Okay, so I can want to kiss Evans, and you guys would be cool with that—great. That doesn’t change the fact that he’sstraighter than I am. Fuck, I never thought I would say this shit out loud. Am I having a midlife crisis?”
Jake turned away and laughed into his hand, while Allen let out a quiet sigh of his own.
“You can’t be having a midlife crisis,” said Allen. “You’re a baby, so it’s more like a quarter-life crisis.”
“Whatever,”Kingston muttered.
“Did Riley kiss you back?” Allen asked, switching the topic before Kingston became too sour and ran away. “The information is important for me to know when I talk to him in a few minutes, because I’m going to go out on a limb and say you want to kiss him more than you want to punch him.”
Kingston disappeared behind more muffled curses for a moment, and he was curt with his answer when he returned.
“Yes.”
Allen was plotting, already forming ideas in his head about matchmaking potential between Riley and Kingston. His two encounters with Kingston weren’t enough to deduce how compatible they were, but hand-holding all the way to the penthouse had to count for something.
Kingston could have been aggressive like he always was and pushed Riley away, but he allowed the contact and followed his rival to a stranger’s home. Granted, Riley had looked so terrified that Kingston probably followed out of concern, but then he stayed to hang out with them, talk with them, and even allowed Allen to flirt and tease him.
Now that Kingston was having a bi-awakening on the phone with him, certain parts of the last visit were making more sense. Maybe Kingston coming out as bisexual was less shocking than Allen originally had thought, especially when he recalled the way Kingston had fallen in place with them so easily.
