Page 47 of Spite Crush

“Come on.” Rye slung and arm around my shoulders and led me into the living room where his husband was laying on the sofa with a fluffy, grey cat on his chest.

“That’s Bella,” Rye said. “She’s my cat.”

“She’s my cat,” Austin corrected him, his tone making me feel as if this were a common argument between them. He swung his legs around to sit up and the cat ran off. “You’re back awfully quickly.”

“That’s what we were just about to talk about,” Rye said, shoving me toward an armchair. “Sit and spill.”

“Do you want some privacy?” Austin asked.

“No,” I said. “It’s nothing. Really. I just sort of walked out on Zak.”

I’d told both of them about the situation when we’d flown to Chicago together. I trusted Rye more than anyone else in the world, which meant trusting Austin as well, and I’d had to talk to someone about it.

Zak had Naomi, apparently. And I had these guys. So there I was again, spilling my guts to my only two real friends.

“You guys broke up?” Rye asked, dropping onto the sofa next to his husband.

“No, we didn’t. But I couldn’t stay there. I’ll be out of your hair in the morning, I promise.”

“Like I give a shit,” Rye said, rolling his eyes. “You could move in and we’d barely notice. So stay as long as you like.” He turned to his husband. “I mean, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t know…did you two ever—” A smile twitched at Austin’s lips, so I was pretty sure he was kidding, but Rye was having none of it.

“He was eighteen when I met him,” Rye snapped. “Besides, Cherrywas absolutely in love with him. She would have killed me if I slept with him.”

“Your sister had a crush on me?” I asked. “Craig was right. No one knew I was gay.” I chuckled softly. “Besides, I had a thing for Brandon back then. How is the bi-wonder, anyway?”

“I hear he’s doing okay now. His recovery took a long time though.” Rye said, looking over at his husband. “We don’t talk about Brandon.”

A momentary look of absolute fury passed over Austin’s face, but he relaxed quickly and I desperately wanted to ask what that was all about, but it was none of my business.

“How’s your band?” Rye asked, changing the subject. “Was the tour good?”

“Tour was fine.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. You know Tim and Ford.”

“It’s getting worse then?”

“They are,” I said. “Ford is. Tim just lets himself get swept up in Ford’s bullshit I think. But Ford hatesme. And honestly, I’m to a point now where I hate him right back. He makes everything a fight. It’s exhausting.”

“Speaking of fights,” Rye said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Full circle, look at that. What the fuck happened between you and Dempsey?”

“Nothing, really,” I lied.

Both men stared at me, silently waiting for me to tell the truth and I blew out a sigh.

“You know, you don’t know me as well as you think you do,” I told Rye, glaring at him.

“Yes I do,” he said. “What did you guys fight about.”

“It wasn’t a fight,” I said firmly. “It was a misunderstanding. We’ve known each other for three weeks. He’s in the closet and he’s never had a relationship before. Ever. So he had no right to try to tell me that he…” I swallowed thickly as moisture filled my eyes and heat rose up my neck. God, I didn’t want to cry in front of Rye.

“Oh,” Rye said softly. “He tried to tell you he loved you.”

“Yeah,” I agreed before clearing my throat and blinking back my tears.

“Well that makes sense,” Rye said.

“It does?” Austin asked softly.

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