Page 3 of Nothing Left to Lose

BRODY MOLINA

Miller needed this time away.

He’d been so stressed lately. Quiet and not himself. His smile didn’t quite sit right, and his laughter fell flat.

That spark of light in his eyes that I’d always noticed was gone.

He’d said his job was a lot to deal with right now, and he’d been putting in some long hours. The last few times I’d suggested dinner or grabbing a few drinks, he’d been stuck at work. And then there was the whole stress of Paisley’s wedding.

And, the truth was, I’d missed him.

He was my wingman. The Robin to my Batman. I couldn’t remember a time in my life when it wasn’t us against the world.

But lately, things had been different.

Something didn’t feel right with him, and it scared me in ways I wasn’t ready to unpack just yet. So I knew Ihadto enter us when I saw that newlywed photo contest with a fully funded three-day weekend in Vegas.

Plus, we’d gone to Paisley’s wedding two weeks before and had those really cool photos of us, with the one near the altar in the church, which could totally pass asourwedding. And the dancing photo as well. We were slow dancing, and it justso happened to be a photo where Paisley in her wedding gown wasn’t in the background, so it looed likeourwedding dance...

Which it wasn’t.

But still . . .

The photo looked like it was, and that was all we needed.

Literally.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Miller mumbled as we waited to check into the hotel.

“It’ll be fun,” I tried, giving him a nudge. “Free room and free booze for three days. It’s gonna be great.”

“No, I mean, I can’t believe all it took was a photo to enter us. No marriage certificate or anything.”

“It was a photo contest.”

He made a face. “We’re going to get found out.”

“Stop stressing. All we gotta do is look all coupley. Be all cutesy with the sexy gay vibe. You know they love that shit.”

Miller’s gaze shot to mine, hard and fierce, and I knew I’d said the wrong thing. “That shit?”

Goddammit.

“You know what I mean. The sexy gay couples all over Instagram and TikTok. They want the photo ops and?—”

“Thatgay shitisn’t something I can turn on and off for a photo op, Brody. Jesus Christ.”

I put my hand on his back, sliding it down and pulling him closer than was probably necessary and giving him my sad puppy face. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”

Did I know that he’d forgive me for anything when I did that? Maybe.

Was that why I did it?

Yes.

I had absolutely zero problem with being handsy with Miller. We’d always been that way. It was why people often assumed we were a couple, because we were always handsy. Okay, correction.I was handsy with him. He was never handsy with me, but he was totally okay with me putting my arms around him, taking his arm or his hand, dancing with him.

So me putting my hand on his lower back and pulling him against me was nothing. Me pouting and batting my eyelashes until he smiled was par for the course.

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