Page 6 of I've Got You

I placed a pod of the coffee he liked in the machine, then switched it on. “Nothing.” I kept my back to him, my focus on the coffee machine.

“So nothing to do with Davis.”

I froze, understanding what he was referring to.Davis.That was who the guy was? Shit, Tanner’s best friend.Just kill me now.I kept silent, not trusting my voice.

“You know it’s okay, right?”

His coffee finished, I picked up his mug and placed it in front of him. “It is? How’d you figure?” I backed away and leaned against the counter to face him. A ball of something I was all too familiar with rolled in my stomach. Dread. Despair. I pointedly ignored the sweat coating the palms of my hands as I gripped the edge of the counter.

Carter tilted his head as if studying me. I had no idea what he saw, but I could read pity pretty damn easily. My gut tightened at the thought. I didn’t need anyone’s pity. I was Scott fucking Anderson. I’d spent my life being on top of the game, partying hard, being the best in my field, so what if part of it was a lie?

“I don’t need your pity, Carter. If that’s all you’re offering, you know where the door is.” My jaw was tense, and I was certain I’d have jaw ache from grinding my teeth so damn hard.

“Hey.” He raised his hands. “No pity here.”

I raised my brows.

“Seriously.” He sighed. “Tanner told me not to say anything to you.”

I snorted. “And when do you ever listen to anything Tanner tells you to do?”

With a grin, Carter lifted his drink to his mouth and said, “Occasionally, I do, but it’s good keeping him on his toes, and hell, he’s even hotter when he gets mad at me,” before taking a sip.

I was proud that I didn’t blush. Over the past couple of months of Carter’s frequent visits, I’d always been in awe of how open he was about his relationship with Tanner, which was ridiculous. Logically I was well aware he had every right to be open and himself, but in a world of forced repression, the concept still made me pause.

At first, I’d thought he was oversharing to get a reaction from me, pushing me to respond in some way by rubbing his relationship in my face. Yeah, I could be a self-absorbed dick when I wanted to be. It didn’t take me long to realize he was a loved-up fool with no filter. He always gushed over Tanner. And while in the early days I blushed so hard that I had to escape the room quickly, I’d finally reached a place where talking about two guys together naturally and openly had become the norm. I didn’t think I’d ever be as open and understanding about being in a gay relationship as Carter was, let alone have such awareness and compassion. The thought still threatened to blow my mind when I spent too much time letting it fill my head.

Quickly getting back on track—Carter, I’d discovered, liked to push my sorry ass—he continued. “Tanner said there was full-on open-mouthed action going on outside. Davis”—I gulped, my hands tensing at the mention of Davis’s name—“won’t tell me anything. But he does keep smiling.”

My heart leaped, my stomach uncoiling and filling with something highly different.

“He didn’t say anything?” I tried to sound casual but knew the slight pitch in my voice meant Carter wouldn’t buy it.

“Nope. Not to me anyway, and Tanner’s being annoyingly tight-lipped, but I have my ways of getting it out of him if you want me to find out.” He wriggled his brows, and despite the tension thrumming through me, a laugh escaped me.

Carter grinned big and wide. Yeah, it was rare I laughed these days, and I knew Carter enjoyed it when he managed to break through the walls I’d erected around myself. He took it as a personal triumph. Of course, Carter being Carter had told me as much. It was as refreshing as it was annoying—his honesty and lack of filter.

“I’m good, but thanks.” I had no plans to see Davis again. Hell, I still didn’t know if I’d be staying in town, but that pull, that irritating niggle to stay put was still there, ruling me.

Carter shrugged. “Okay, but….” He trailed off, wide-eyed and amused, just waiting for me to take the bait.

It worked. Bastard. “But?”

“Well,” he leaned in as though conspiring, placing his mug down, “he keeps doing this pause, eyes drifting off into the distance thing. Plus,” he continued when I threw him a confused look, “in his daze, he keeps rubbing his bottom lip.” He sat back, preening, as though totally satisfied with his weird observation.

I scrunched my brows. “That’s your big buildup?”

A loud sigh escaped from his mouth. “This is huge.”

“It is?” I was confused as hell.

He nodded. “Yep.”

I stared at him dumbfounded.

Once again, Carter sighed loudly. “Yes, it’s huge. Davis never gets that dreamy look. And that whole touching the lip thing is classic ‘I’m thinking of a hot guy’s tongue in my mouth’ thing.” He shook his head. “Are you really this naïve?”

Apparently, I was.

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