Page 26 of Protecting Mr. Fine

“Hook up with these guys? Nooo.” Landry pretended to gag before flicking his hair over his shoulder. “They’re all leg-shackled now. Monogamous as fuck, like the straights. Besides, hookups are a surefire way to complicate a… a friendship.”

I looked at Landry curiously. He spoke like he knew this from experience, and by process of elimination, there was only one person he could be talking about. More than once over the past couple of years, he’d let something slip that made me think he and Kenji had slept together, but I’d never asked either of them directly. Kenji wouldn’t answer, and Landry would only turn it into a joke. Besides, it was infamous among the brotherhood that Landry annoyed the fuck out of Kenji.

But then again, I’d worked hard to hide my crush on Bear, and all that strong emotion Kenji displayed might be less about dislike and more about fighting an inconvenient attraction.

“Okay, but… why not just do it once?” Grace said, turning toward Landry. “You’re both single. You could pop his cherry, right?”

Landry squinted at me as if assessing the possibility.

I glared at him. “You wish.”

He shrugged. “I mean, I’d do ya. And JK so generously offered us a camera-free zone, which sounds romanticas all heckity.”

“Don’t fake a Southern accent,” I said with a laugh. “You’ll make someone choke on their beer.”

Landry winked at me. Pearl sighed. “The more I think about it, the more I think it’s kind of nice. You’re saving yourself for someone special.”

I barked out a laugh. “I’m definitely not. I’d have sex tomorrow if I could ensure it wouldn’t end up on the internet.”

Landry made a big production about looking at his watch. “I do have some free time in the morning.”

I felt more than heard Bear shift his weight behind me again. Suddenly, I felt light-headed and vaguely sick. Ryan Galloway—my Bear—the man I had a secret and all-consuming crush on, had just found out my most embarrassing secret.

I was a world-famous rock star.

And a complete and total virgin.

I felt my eyes drift closed as I tried to decide whether to take off running and attempt to lose myself in the scraggly woods at the end of Gran’s street.

Landry must have caught the look on my face because he turned to Pearl. “You said there was one good-looking gay guy in Barlo. Were you talking about me, or do I need to get someone’s number? Because, like I said, I do have a few hours free in the morning…”

Silas immediately began giving him hell for his playboy ways and rolled right into a story from Yale about the time Landry had decided to try being straight for a month.

“It was Lent,” Landry said with a sniff. “You’re supposed to give up something good.”

“You’re not Catholic,” Silas pointed out.

I tried to let my embarrassing moment go, but I couldn’t. My entire face prickled as I tried not to make eye contact with anyone. Revealing personal information wasn’t something I was used to doing without careful consideration, but I didn’t want my cousins to have a false impression of me and think my life was a stereotypical rock star bang-fest. I worked my ass off, and I spent more time worryingabout getting a full eight hours of sleep and staying hydrated than I did trying to get laid.

After a few more minutes and more topic changes, I took the opportunity to go into the house to use the bathroom. I ignored Bear as he trailed me silently. When I came out of the hall bathroom, I was surprised to see Grace’s little brother waiting outside.

“It’s all yours,” I said, gesturing toward the powder room door.

“No, I… I was wondering if… I could ask you a question about… what you talked about earlier.”

This guy was a high schooler, which made me leery. I was glad Bear was here so I wasn’t alone with the kid. “What’s your question?”

“Yeah, so like… how did you get so good at sweeping?” He made a guitar-strumming gesture to go along with his words.

I tilted my head as my brain tried to make sense of his question. I’d thought for sure he was going to ask me about being gay. Or about being the world’s lamest virgin. But he was asking about… a guitar-picking technique?

“Uh. Sweep picking. Well… let’s see…” I tried to think back to how I learned. It seemed a million years ago. “Padge has some YouTube stuff. Search for one I think called solo? I think honestly… slowing the videos down and then just repeating. Start with your left hand first, and then bring in the pick.”

His blush continued as he stammered out a few more polite questions and then thanked me before going into the bathroom.

I took a deep breath and pointed myself back in the direction of the patio door to rejoin everyone by the fire.

Bear did what he always did and followed me silently, remaining in my blind spot so I didn’t even catch sight of him out of the corner of my eye.

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