Page 9 of Poolside

“Sage’s garden has tomatoes,” David said proudly, adjusting his baseball cap. “She actually grew them from seeds. Had them on the windowsill and everything, like a goddamn plant whisperer.”

Darius snorted from where he sat on the other side of Rebecca, one of his long arms wrapped around her back. “You do know that’s how plants grow, right?”

David reached over and shoved Darius’ shoulder, causing the other man to shake with his wheezing laugh. Darius had a wide, white, gap-toothed smile that contrasted his dark brown skin.

“Chuck has a raccoon under his house.” Tommy had his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, like he’d come straight from the office. Chuck knew he kept a hanger in the back seat of his car so he wouldn’t wrinkle the nice suit jackets he wore for work.

“A raccoon?” Darius looked horrified.

“Ithinkit’s a raccoon,” Chuck added, chuckling at the expression on Darius’ face. “All I know is that it’s alive and loud and has glowing yellow eyes.”

“Sounds terrifying,” David said, his big shoulders quaking as a shudder went through him. “At least it’s not grackles.”

“In what world are birds living in a crawl space, Hughes?” Keaton shook his head. He turned back to Chuck. “Have you called an exterminator?”

Chuck nodded. “Yeah, they’re supposed to be out tomorrow morning.”

“If it doesn’t work let me know,” Rebecca said, sipping from her water glass. “I had to get a wild animal or two out of the house when I was growing up.”

Chuck’s brows shot up his forehead.

Rebecca just rolled her eyes. “Back inboricuawe’d get armadillos in the house all the time.”

Rebecca had grown up in Puerto Rico before moving to Florida with her mom for high school. Darius had met her back when they were in school and she was working as a waitress at one of the local diners near the Southeastern University campus. Now they were happily married.

“Becs, do you have anyone who does men’s hair?” Tommy absently flipped his cell phone in one of his hands while the other ran over his chestnut brown hair, which had reached the point where the longer strands on top flopped down into his eyes.

Chuck would never say anything, but he’d always liked it like that.

“My graduate assistant Jordan can do it,” David chimed in. “He’s been cutting my hair for the past year.”

Rebecca shot him a glare. “Don’t go trying to steal my business, Hughes.” Turning back to Tommy, she pointed at him. “I can do a men’s cut. Text me and I’ll get you on the schedule.”

“Any news on the dating front, Chuck?”

He glared at Keaton, who’d asked the question.Asshole. “Still dating Jessica?” he countered.

Keaton shrugged, an indifferent look on his face. “It’s Cassidy,” he corrected. “And yes. She’s still around.” He took a sip of his beer. “You didn’t answer the question.”

Chuck huffed out a breath. Everyone was looking at him, obviously waiting for an answer. Andtheyweren’t the assholes. They were his loyal friends, the ones who had become his family, and they were looking at him like that because they cared about him. And now most of them were coupled off, they wanted that for him too.

Shit,hewanted that for himself.

“Nah,” he replied honestly. “Nothing new.”

He glanced down the length of the table to find Tommy watching him with a curious tilt to his head.

Tommy pursed his lips. “What’s your type? I’ll be your wingman.”

Chuck barely had time to think about what a fucking disaster that would be before David jumped in. “Chuck’s sneaky about dating. Always has been.” He turned, furrowing his dark brows as he looked Chuck right in the eye. “You never even brought girls back to the room when we were in school.”

There was nothing to say to that. Well, there waseverythingto say, but how the fuck was he supposed to begin?

He made sure to fix a smile to his face as his friends laughed off David’s comment, guessing that Chuck had been more discerning than to subject his girlfriends to the horror of a dorm room shared by two jocks.

But still, there was that tugging ache in his gut. The exhaustion of pretending.

Chuck had never lied to them. Omission wasn’texactlya lie.

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