Page 47 of Handy

“I’ve never been so horny that I’d let anyone shove a stick of butter up my ass.” Ev shakes his head.

“No, just horny enough to lose a bullet vibe up there,” Apollo says, and Ev turns a shade of scarlet I’ve never seen before.

I’m still stuck on the butter thing with Stone though.

He rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t a whole stick, just a couple of fingerfuls. And it wasonetime.”

“Uh-huh. Is that why there were always finger divots in the butter when I lived with you guys? There’s a reason I switched to margarine.” He shudders, and Stone smirks again.

“Fine, it was more than once.”

I’ve never had an existential crisis before, but I’m pretty sure I’m having one right now. I’ve made choices Stone has made, and something about that feels very wrong on a cellular level.

My thoughts flash back to the feeling of Ledger squeezing around my cock and the sounds I drew out of him as I fucked him hard and deep on the kitchen floor. My lips twitch with another almost-smile and heat floods my veins. Maybe I can live with having this one thing in common with our resident dumbass.

“But what my husband and I do in the privacy of our own kitchen is between us and god.”

“And Land O’Lakes,” Ollie quips.

Stone chuckles and gives him the finger. “If I didn’t love you guys so much, I would hate you. Lucky for you, I can take your teasing and still be happy as a clown.”

“Happy as aclam,” Ollie says.

“Are clams known for their excessive happiness?” Stone cocks his head and frowns.

Ollie frowns right back, glancing over at Cole, who shrugs. They were right, the more time you spend around Stone, themore his versions make sense. Maybe I should quit and find a new job before I agree with him that taking something for granite makes just as much sense as taking it for granted. After all, if something’s ‘set in stone,’ you can count on it, right? Oh shit, it’s already happening.

It takes a few minutes and a bit more ball busting, but eventually everyone’s order is in, and West and Miller take off to go pick it up.

“Hey, speaking of doing the dirty with a sexy neighbor…” Stone waggles his eyebrows at me.

“When were we speaking of that?” I scratch the back of my neck and try to replay the last few minutes to figure out what I must have missed.

“Dare and I were neighbors,” he says, waving a hand dismissively. “Then I rented some goats, one of them ate his underwear, and we lived happily ever after.”

“I think you’re missing a few important plot points in that recap, Stoney.” Cole chuckles.

“Well, that’s the safe for work, TL;DR.Anyway…” Stone rounds on me with a grin. “Please tell me you’re out of denial about that sweet thang of yours with those pool shark skills and eyes that are clearly just for you.”

My lips twist into a full smile and I nod.

“I pulled my head out of my ass,” I assure him.

“Halle-fucking-lujah.” He slaps me on the shoulder in congratulations and the rest of the guys murmur similar sentiments. “Why don’t you text him to meet us at Wooley’s tonight for that rematch he promised?”

The familiar urge to beg off rises out of habit, but I can already picture the excitement written all over Ledger’s face at the invitation. I swallow the excuses forming on my tongue and nod.

“Sure, I’ll text him.” Ledger’s response comes seconds after I send the text, and it’s just a string of emojis that Ithinkmean he’s excited. I scratch my head and spend a minute or two trying to decipher them before shrugging and looking back up at Stone. “Yeah, I think he’s free.”

“We should invite Steele and his crew too,” Cole suggests.

Just like that, a pool rematch turns into a plan to pack the bar with half the middle-aged gay men in Fall Crosse. Surprisingly, I think I’m looking forward to it, as long as Ledger is there to carry my end of the conversation and sneak his hands under my shirt when he thinks no one is looking. Actually, it sounds like it could be a fun night.

LEDGER

“I was going to offer to get the first round, but somehow there are twice as many of you as there were last time,” I joke, looking around at the chaos of several tables all pushed together.

I didn’t realize it when I moved to Fall Crosse, but I swear this town is Hot Bear Central. My eyes land on my favorite growly bear though, and I grin and skirt around the tables to reach him.

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