Page 100 of A Little More Forgiveness

“He’s worried about you.” Ty’s hand reached up to rest on my shoulder—solid, comforting. “We all are.”

I placed my hand over his and patted it a couple of times. “I know you are and I’m grateful; really, I am.”

“But?”

“I don’t think fighting for what I want will make any difference.”

“How can you be so sure if you’re not even willing to try?”

I rolled my eyes and received more chuckling.

“Hey,” Ty shot back. “I’m on fire here; leave me be.”

“What would you do?” I asked him curiously. He fixed his eyes on me for a few seconds before looking away, staring blankly into the room.

He released a brittle laugh. “Relationships have never really been my forte, so no point asking me.”

I scanned through my long friendship with Ty and realized the truth of his statement. We’d been buddies a long time, and while I’d been introduced to his many casual dates, I’d never known him to be serious about anyone. I assumed he’d never found “The One,” but maybe he had a different reason for his reluctance to commit to one of the guys from the numerous short-term affairs he’d had in the past.

I was about to ask more questions, but he spoke again.

“What I will say, is if you care for these two men, and I suspect you do?” He stopped and waited for my confirmation. “Perhaps, even love them?” I gave a shaky nod, small, still trying to get accustomed to the feelings. “So, fight for them, Gabe, because the what-if’s and wondering what you should have done if you’d had a little more faith in them and your relationship will drive you fucking crazy.”

For someone who’d never had a long-term partner, he sure seemed to know a lot about what might happen if I didn't at least try to make a go of it.

Perhaps I needed to speak to the guys to see if they had any idea about Ty’s past as there seemed to be a lot more going on here than he was telling me.

“Perhaps you should start fighting right now?”

“Huh?”

He continued staring out into the room, so I followed his line of sight, my body jolting when I noticed Leo and Mitch standing in the entry, their eyes locked on me and Ty, and, boy, they did not look happy.

It took a second for me to work out why. My hand remained resting on Ty’s, and I had been staring up into his face. The image we made could easily be misconstrued as something else entirely, and the fact they’d jumped right to the point where they were unable to hide their jealousy made me all jittery inside and extremely fucking happy.

I released Ty’s hand, and he took his off my shoulder. Then, I stood and readied myself. “Show time,” I murmured.

He patted my arm. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

I scowled at him, and his big cheesy grin only made me scowl all the more. “Jackass.”

I didn’t wait for another smart comeback as I made my way through the groups of people, my gaze laser focused on the two men holding hands and staring right at me. I didn’t stop, walking straight past them onto the new teak deck Mason and Ash had recently installed.

“Let’s go over to mine,” I said. “It’ll be quieter over there.” Not waiting for an answer, I continued across the boards toward my house, my territory. It’d make a nice change to be on home ground, somewhere familiar where they would feel out of place rather than me. Plus, if our conversation turned to shit, they’d be the ones to leave, and I wouldn’t end up in Leo’s fucking Jeep half the night.

Of course, until I saw the thick winter jackets hanging on the dining chairs, I had forgotten Ethan and Nate were still here, and judging by the loud moans and bed squeaks traveling down the hallway, they weren’t planning on leaving any time soon.

Crap.

“Follow me.” I headed to the door under the stairs and down into the basement and my home gym. “And shut the door behind you.” At least down here the room was mostly soundproofed.

Flicking on the lights, I continued to the middle of the room, turned to face them, planted my feet, and crossed my arms much the same way Mitch had done when we’d first arrived at his cabin forever ago. He still had Leo’s hand firmly in his, which didn’t go in any way toward reducing my irritation, only annoying me all the more.

Once again, it was them against me. United.

I waited, determined to at least win this small battle. If they had something to say to me, they’d better start talking.

Mitch’s usual grumpy face had made a long-awaited reappearance, while Leo remained hesitant, nervous, scared even, and annoyingly, I wanted to try to calm him. He felt tension more than most, and despite what had happened, I hated what I was doing to him.

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