Page 36 of Chasing You

“You can talk to me, man,” Ridge reminded him. “You know I have your back.”

Adele bit his lip, then said, “We’ve been fooling around.”

“So…you think he doesn’t know you want him for real, but he’s letting you touch his dick?”

“That’s oversimplifying it. But that’s not the problem. It was kind of…me who started the whole fooling around thing. I came on to him.”

Ridge’s face went blank. “But he said yes.”

“Yeah,” Adele said, then fell silent for a beat. “Except now I’m panicking because maybe he felt cornered into it.”

Folding his arms over his chest, Ridge gave him a pointed look. “Not that I want too many deets here, but can you elaborate? What do you mean he might have felt cornered?”

Adele dropped his face into his hands and groaned, then grimaced because they were covered in truck dirt. “He was having a hard time the second day we were in DC. It had been a rough afternoon, and his body was being really uncooperative. He was angry that his hands weren’t working. He was talking about not being able to do the things he used to.”

“Like?” Ridge asked.

Adele flushed. “Jerking off. He said it had been a while because his arms were weak, and every time he tried, he couldn’t finish.”

“So you offered a hand. So to speak,” Ridge said, his lips twitching.

Adele flushed, but he nodded. “It’s not the first time we fooled around. We used to call it practice when we were younger.”

Ridge rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Yeah, been there.”

“I offered to help him out. I told him it didn’t have to mean anything, and he agreed. But he, uh…he said my name when he, you know…”

“Came?”

Adele swallowed heavily and nodded. “It happened again after we got home. In the shower.”

“Did it seem like he didn’t want it?” Ridge asked.

Adele shook his head. “No. I told him he could think of anyone he wanted, but he said my name both times.”

“Jesus Christ, dude.”

“I know. I should have done better at making sure he?—”

“No,” Ridge interrupted. “That’s not what I mean. Christ, you both deserve each other.”

Adele blinked at him. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means you both seem to be experts at self-sabotage when it comes to falling in love. You two obviously want each other. I saw the way he looked at you when I was over for dinner. I saw the way he looked at me.”

Adele felt something hot in his chest. “How did he look at you?”

Ridge laughed. “Like he wanted to carve my heart out with a rusty butterknife. Every time I got near you, I got a death glare.”

Adele wanted to argue, but the truth was he hadn’t noticed. He’d been so fixated on making sure Kash was okay that he’d shut everyone else out. “That doesn’t mean he wanted any of this.”

Ridge shook his head and took Adele by the shoulders. “I’m not going to say it’s impossible to coerce him because, honestly, that can happen to everyone. But your best friend, who clearly has big, big feelings for you, is letting you touch his dick, and he’s saying your name when he comes. I could be way off base about this, but I’d say that’s a clear path to at least tell him you want him.”

Adele closed his eyes. “If I do and he tells me he doesn’t want me back, I’m not sure I could take it. And…” He trailed off.

“And?” Ridge pressed.

Adele took a shaking breath. “And he’s too much like me. If he doesn’t want me, I’m scared he’ll lie and say he does to make me happy because that’s what I’d do for him. Then he’d spend the rest of his life quietly miserable because he thinks he’s doing the right thing for me.”

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