Page 16 of The Waiting Game

Felix was middle of the heap.

The kind of guy whose name would get mentioned and people would go, “Oh yeah, I forgot about him.”

Felix had worked his bag off to get where he was, but what did he really have to show for it?

A fucking arrest record and a drinking problem.

“I think I’m going to get out of here,” Felix said a while later, pulling Jonah out of the haze he’d been in.

Jonah hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol tonight but he still felt a little drunk. Not intoxicated, exactly, but floating on the high of having Felix’s undivided attention.

Felix was larger than life. Always had been. Always would be.

“Okay, we can go,” Jonah said, reaching for his jacket. Charlie Monaghan and Dustin Fowler had disappeared downstairs to dance and, across the table, Matty Carlson and Nico Arents were discussing something intently while August Manning talked to Dominic Olson.

“What? No, you should stay,” Felix argued, frowning. He leaned his forehead against the side of Jonah’s hair as he spoke and Jonah suppressed a shiver at how close he was. “Go dance. Find someone to go home with. I’ll just grab a rideshare. No big deal.”

But Jonah didn’t want to find someone to go home with.

He wanted to walk out of the club next to Felix.

He wanted to laugh with him on the drive home to the building they both lived in. He wanted to casually invite Felix into his apartment to watch a movie or something.

Of course, he also wanted to have Felix turn to him, voice all husky as he said that rehab had made him realize he was in love with the one person who had always been there for him and press their lips together and …

But that wasn’t happening.

Still, Jonah would be perfectly content to spend a few hours platonically watching a movie together.

He could get hot and sweaty with some stranger and it would be good. But still not as good as feeling Felix’s knee pressed to his, warm through his sweats, and hear him laugh at some stupid joke.

“I’m not feeling it tonight,” Jonah admitted. “I’d rather just head home.”

Felix sat back and pointed at him. “I swear to God if you’re doing this just to keep an eye on me—”

Jonah held up his hands. “I’m not! I trust you.”

The tightness in Felix’s shoulders softened. “Good. Because all I have planned for the night is to go home, text Ismael like I promised I would, then sack out.”

Jonah relaxed too. That was good if Felix had already prearranged a check-in with his AA sponsor.

Ismael Hayes sounded like a good guy too. He was a retired pro-baseball player who’d been through his own drinking issues.

He knew what Felix was going through and would support him.

“I was thinking I’d watch a movie before bed,” Jonah said. “So whether you want to ride with me or not, I’m heading home too.”

“Okay.” Felix reached for his suit jacket. “Might as well ride with you then. Just didn’t want you mother hen-ing me.”

Jonah huffed. Felix was so bad at letting anyone look out for him. Didn’t he know that Grandma Ji-min and Jonah would never let him get away with that?

Nico and August had disappeared—probably off to have sex in the bathroom or something—so after Felix and Jonah said goodbye to Matty and Dom, they left the club.

While they waited on the sidewalk for the valet to bring Jonah’s car around, Jonah let his gaze wander across Felix’s face.

God, if only he’d stop being so damn good-looking. He had these thick curls that he wore long enough to swoop back from his forehead and his eyes were just …

Jonah couldn’t see the color in this light but he’d spent enough time mooning over Felix to know that they were this gorgeous stormy shade of off-gray. Maybe gray, maybe blue, maybe green, depending on what he wore.

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