Page 60 of Riley

Perhaps I was not the confidant, bold man I thought I was. Perhaps I was a coward who could not look this man in the eye and tell him,I know.

“You would know something about that, wouldn’t you? Standing there, lookingpretty,as you say?” I bit out, watching Eric’s eyebrows furrow.

He left his hand on the table, leaning back in his chair languidly. The motion drew my attention to his groin, knowing full well in detail what he was packing beneath his tight, form-fitting pants.

But so did thousands of others.

Call it jealousy, call it petulance.

But I wished it was all for me and no one else, and that made my stomach flip once more.

“I know a thing or two about weddings, actually. I’ve been a groomsman, like, three times.”

I blinked. “You never said...”

Eric shrugged. “You never asked.”

Images flipped through my brain of Eric looking pretty in a suit, of him and my brother and party members tossing back shots and dancing with strippers... To that of him wrestling his thick cock out of his suit pants, looking down at me like he looked at me through the computer screen, taunting me to take him into the back of my throat. My own cock twitched in response as my heart lifted, and I nearly jumped when my phone rang.

I didn’t even have to look at the name to know who it was, since my brother had his own ringtone, after all.

“Excuse me a second, Eric,” I said as I rose from my seat and headed outside, out of earshot.

“Hey, what’s up?” I answered, trying to sound normal. The cool air outside the shop was like a balm to my flushed self, and I let out a small sigh of relief.

What sounded like asobon the other end had me on high alert.

My brothernevercried. Over anything, so the immediate sound was like a giant red flag.

“Aaron, what’s wrong, are you okay? Do you need me to come get?—”

“It’s Giselle,” he breathed, his voice heavy.

“Is Giselle okay?” I asked, panicking right along with him.

Giselle was hisworld.She had been ever since they met in college, and I knew then the day he brought her home for Christmas break, there was no denying that one day they’d be theitcouple of Jasper Springs.

A part of me was jealous, to hear him fall apart over her. I wished someone could love me like that.

With such intensity and depth, the world would stop for them when I walked into a room.

“She’s fine, she’s...” Another sob, and now I really was worried.

“What, Aaron, she’s what?”

“Pregnant, Riley. Giselle is pregnant.”

All the blood in my body chilled at those words, warmed only by the remaining ones, full of shock, awe, and happiness.

“I’m going to be a father, Aaron. You’re going to be an uncle.”

I couldn’t speak. I could barely process the words as he said them. Giselle was pregnant... and the wedding was only a few weeks away.

“We’re not telling anyone, for... obvious reasons,” he said, sniffling on the other end.

“Oh,” I said, like an idiot, at a loss for words. I wanted to congratulate him, but suddenly the world seemed so vast, I could barely breathe.

I always figured they’d be all in on starting a family, but not this soon.

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