Page 79 of Taming Tyler Hayes

Hayes nodded. “I mean…yeah. But if you and me are together? Not an option.”

“So, hypothetically, if you and I were to stay broken up, would you go for it with him?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Hypo-what?”

“Seriously? You just busted out debauchery on me a few minutes ago. I thought I could start using my 20-point words now.”

“Sorry. I’m a fuckin’ dumbass, man.”

“Hypothetically, meaning in theory, not real. So, in theory, if we stay broken up, are you going for him?”

Hayes nodded again. “Probably.”

“Do you guys talk about it, when you talk to him?”

“Not really. I mean, we’ve…fuck,” Hayes trailed off.

“What? You’ve what?” Ryan asked desperately.

“We’ve, like, done…a few things on Facetime together since we’ve been in treatment, just fuckin’ around. He kinda…likes watchin’ me jerk off. It’s not a big deal.”

Ryan became defensive. “Oh no? It’s not a big deal?”

“No, it’s not!” Hayes snapped. “Because we’re not together at the moment because you’re not ready. I am. You’re not. Did you forget that part?”

Ryan had nothing to say.

“I’m sorry, Rook. It’s just sex, I promise. I’m not in love with him.”

“This sounds familiar,” Ryan muttered before tilting his chin up and planting a small kiss on Hayes’s lips. “Hence, why I’m not ready. He’s not out of your system, Hayes. You know from what happened with you, Mar, and me that it won’t work.”

“I wanted it to be the three of us so bad, Rook. So did she. It was perfect when it was the three of us that night in the hotel room.”

“Yeah, during the act it was. Afterwards was a giant fucking mess if you recall.”

Hayes moved his face away from Ryan’s. He didn’t want to say what he was about to say, but he couldn’t stop himself. “Listen, I know you want him, too. And believe me, he’d fuck with you. What if we, like, share him a little? Just for sex, I mean. We’re…kinda into that now, right?”

Ryan’s eyes widened as he reached for Hayes’s hands and squeezed them, disappointed in himself and his stupid dick for even entertaining this insane idea, yet unable to say no. “And you don’t love him? You swear?”

“On my life,” Hayes said emphatically, raising one hand like he was swearing on a Bible. “He’s just…and I don’t even know, now that we ain’t gonna have drugs to bond over anymore. Maybe it’ll change our relationship. I don’t know…”

Ryan just listened as Hayes trailed off, then finally spoke. “You wanna share him a little? Fine. But only in the bedroom, OK? This?” Ryan said, placing his hand flat against the left side of Hayes’s chest. “Belongs to me. And I won’t share it with anyone.”

“I’d never put you in a position where you’d have to. Not to mention, you’re the only fuckin’ reason it beats, Ryan.”

Ryan yawned, glancing at the clock and noticing that it was after 10 p.m. “We should get you back now,” he said quietly, reaching for his shirt to put it back on as they both climbed back into the front seat.

Ryan shook his head as he buckled his seatbelt and started the Jeep.

This isn’t how this day was supposed to go.

He’d made plans to hang out with a teammate, to get to know him better.

Instead, he’d fucked said teammate on a boat, found out his ex-boyfriend had escaped from rehab, fucked said ex-boyfriend in a Jeep, and had agreed to share said ex-boyfriend with the guy he’d cheated on him with.