Page 95 of More than Need

“How sturdy is it, though?” Eli asked.

“Are you questioning my skills?” Dawson asked, offended.

Eli grinned, a hint of mischievousness in it. “Yeah, a little bit.”

“Has he always been like this?” Dawson directed the question at Seb.

“Always.”

“Okay, fuck you both. Oh, look, there’s your imaginary best friend.”

Dawson turned, and his eyes locked with Riley’s ice-blue eyes.HisRiley—who had one hand in the pocket of his slacks, his usual reticent look on his face—faltered when recognition set in.

“Finally,” Seb muttered. “Thought he’d decided to stand me up again.” He headed straight for Riley without another word.

“That’s Riley,” Eli said unnecessarily.

“That’s your brother’s best friend?” Dawson asked, needing to verbally hear the clarification. It could be coincidence, right? He could be here to… arrest someone. If he said Eli had committed some heinous crime, Dawson would believe it.

“Last time I looked. Though we only met him recently even though apparently, they’ve been friends for years and just kept it a secret from everyone? Who hides a best friend? That’s weird, right?”

“Right.” Dawson unfortunately knew a thing or two about hiding things. Boyfriends, best friends, nails he needed.

His Riley and Eli’s brother’s best friend were the same person. He’d been that close all this time? Barely one degree separating them. He could have met Rileyyearsago. Would he have noticed the similarities between him and Sadie before they’d known? Those eyes were a dead giveaway, and he liked to think he would have had some suspicions, but he probably wouldn’t have. Some things didn’t stand out until they made themselves known, and then they couldn’t be unseen.

Oh, fuck.

Riley was here.

“He can’t be here,” Dawson said, panic clawing its way up his throat.

“Why?” Eli asked, raising an eyebrow and looking even more like his brother.

Dawson searched the area for Sadie. Where had she gone? To help set the tables or inside the building? Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needed to get her to leave. Or to get Riley to leave. Orheneeded to leave. Someone needed to leave. If Dawson set a fire somewhere, theneveryonewould have to leave. Solid plan. Who here smoked? He needed a lighter.

Riley kept his gaze on Dawson even as he spoke to Seb, standing too close together. Eli had made some pretty interesting insinuations that Dawson didn’t like the sound of. What were they to each other?

Sidepiece.Dawson almost laughed hysterically. Seb had been talking about him and Gideon. The reason why Riley had been so busy lately. Because he’d been fucking—dating—the two of them. What an absolute mess this whole thing had become.

“Hey, Riley,” Eli said as they got into earshot. “Seb has had such lovely things to say about you, it feels like I’ve known you foryears.”

“Don’t be a brat.”

“Seb said we shouldn’t date, which is a shame. But alas, I’m already taken.” Eli dragged Dawson to his side. Dawson’s shock meant Eli didn’t have any trouble despite being so much smaller. “This is my boyfriend, Dawson. We’ve been keeping it a secret. Because that’s what normal people do about normal relationships.”

Sebastian put his hand over his eyes in utter exasperation.

Riley’s eyes swirled in a mix of heat, anger, and something much deeper, hidden below the surface. There was a sharp edge to his gaze that could have cut diamonds. There were plenty of secrets in this circle, but none of them had anything to do with Eli.

“He’s kidding,” Dawson said weakly. He tried to laugh, but it wouldn’t come out. Riley had a way of making his brain fall out of his ears, even when he wasn’t evenlookingat him. It was a terrible time for him to lose his ability to think.

“Don’t deny our love, honeybun,” Eli said, squeezing Dawson around the waist and giving him doe eyes that were strangely effective. “You don’t have to be shy.” The freckles. It had to be the freckles. A trick: Eli being innocent meant Hell had frozen over.

“I’m demanding a pay raise for this.”

“Whatever you want, pumpkin.”

He should definitely have been recording this. Jay would give him the raise. He deserved hazard pay every time Eli came on a job with him. They all did.

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