Page 57 of Xavier

“Yeah, well. No, I don’t.”

Okay, that was a total surprise.

Aside from them both being identical, they were both charming to a fault, which had gotten them in and out of trouble many a times during high school. Having to go down to that damn campus every other week had been a true testament to my patience as a caretaker and one that I’d welcomed in dropping the proverbial hat as soon as they graduated.

If Asher was getting plenty of action, then by default, Greyson would be, too. At least patterns from their past suggested as much.

Unless...

“Someone else entertaining you?” I guessed.

Greyson’s eyes widened briefly before he focused back on shoving a fork full of food into his mouth.

Bingo.

“Tell me.”

So that I can rag on you for it.

As brotherly payback and all seeing as how when I’d finally told them about Gage, they hadn’t dropped teasing me about it for weeks. While endearing that they were all for me finally finding someone I clicked with, after about the fourth week, I’d been over it.

“Tell you what? I’ve got nothing.” His tone was a little more defensive than usual.

“Greyson Torres, you tell me who’s keeping you preoccupied.”

He scoffed. “No one, okay? Maybe I want to be single and focus on my work at the ranch.”

The ranch...

Actually, wasn’t Asher saying something about his boss a while back?

Some handsome guy that had Greyson dragging himself out of bedwillinglybefore the sun rose?

I was positive I wasn’t imagining that.

“Not your boss at the ranch?”

He choked on his food hard enough to toss the container onto the counter and pound his fist against his chest a few times. I doubled it up by slapping him on the back, finally getting the noodle loose from his throat so he could breathe again.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Wow, so was that a yes?”

He slammed his elbow into my ribs, causing me to yelp and shuffle away.

“Rude,” I said, grabbing my dishtowel to snap it in his direction. “You know, I can’t be a supportive brother if you don’t tell me things.”

“There’s nothing to tell, I’m serious. My boss is...”

I waited while he trailed off, sure he was going to finish his thought. All he actually did, though, was to sigh and roll his eyes while giving his goulash a glare that could rival my own.

“He’s what, Grey?”

“Just. Ugh, it’s hard to explain.” Waving a hand in the air, he snatched his food back off the counter and quickly finished it off.

I grabbed the empty container from him to dunk under the water in the sink. Well, if he wasn’t going to tell me anything, I was just going to have to bother Asher about it.Oneof them was going to have to let me in.

Besides, this was all a nice distraction from the shit with Xavier and Dexter. Teasing my brothers over their love lives was a much simpler path than trying to sort through my tangled emotions regarding a teenage boy who was close to my own two brother’s ages being assaulted by someone that he was supposed to be able to trust.

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