Page 8 of Unicorn Unashamed

Chapter Four

After they’d all paid and Josh had said his goodbyes in the parking lot, Curtis dropped a hand on Raymond’s shoulder. “Hey, you want to come back to the hotel and hang out a little more? Have a few drinks, maybe?”

Raymond hesitated. “I would, but I’ve got an early morning.”

“I promise to have you in bed at a reasonable hour,” Curtis said, hand on his chest. “Besides, I know for a fact that you nap in between clients.”

“Be that as it may, it’s still not fun waking up at five in the morning if you get home after ten.”

Curtis huffed, looking put out. Simon patted him on the back.

“You have fun trying to convince him. I’m being eaten alive by mosquitoes, so I’m going to wait in the car.”

“Yeah, of course,” Curtis said, eyes going soft. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

Simon nodded and held out a hand to Raymond. “It was really nice to meet you.”

“Same,” Raymond said, shaking. “It was a fun time. Glad you came.”

“Yeah.” Simon gave him a tired smile. “Me too.”

Raymond threw Curtis a knowing look once Simon was in the car and out of earshot. “So, Simon Daniels, huh?”

Unfortunately, Curtis gave him the look right back. “Yeah? And you and Josh?”

“Okay, no, that’s not something we need to talk about.”

“Are you sure?” Curtis said teasingly. “Because I think we all had a good time partaking in lively conversation.”

“Curtis—”

“Like I couldn’t tell from a mile away that this is the client you have a crush on. You were making eyes at him all through dinner. Not to mention how your scent changed like every time he smiled at you” Curtis grinned. “You’re totally into him.”

Raymond was a shit liar, and usually chose to lie by omission. In this case, though, the silence was what gave him away.

Curtis laughed. “That into him, huh? That’s awesome. It’s been forever since you’ve had a crush. You should totally go for it.”

Raymond sighed, going with his go-to. “He’s a client. It’d be unethical.”

Curtis rolled his eyes. “That is the dumbest excuse. You’re not his doctor, you’re a personal trainer. And a damn good one, but that’s beside the point. You’re into him. Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Look, he’s… he’s not interested, okay?” Raymond scuffed at the ground with his shoe. It was surprisingly difficult to admit it out loud. Probably because he liked Josh so damn much. “It’s pretty obvious.”

Curtis frowned. “Obvious how? Like, obvious as in he’s already taken, or obvious you’re making up another excuse? Because it looked to me like he was giving back as good as he got.”

Raymond sighed again. “Look, he’s… he’s really smart.”

“Okay? I mean cool. You’re perfect for each other.”

Raymond looked away.

“Whoa,” Curtis said, crossing his arms. “Whoa, okay, hold up and fuck no. You’re fucking brilliant and you know it,” A pause, then Curtis was glaring. “Wait, has he said something? Because yeah, if he doesn’t realize how smart you are, he certainly doesn’t fucking deserve you.”

No, he deserves much better than me. But Raymond wanted to defend Curtis’s opinion of Josh. “He’s great, actually. He’s just as interested in random facts and stuff, and we have some really good conversations.”

“That’s what I thought! Okay, cool. So why haven’t you asked him out yet?”

“Can we not talk about this? Let’s just go with ‘he’s not interested’ and leave it at that.”

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