Page 42 of More Than a Spark

I choked out a huff. “L-lovebirds, yeah.” Heat swept up my neck. If Cash only knew how true that was turning out to be.

“Stop that, Cash. Look what you’ve done?” With a soft snort, Milo pinched my cheek.

I tipped my head back, out of his reach. “Don’t make it worse,” I said, pulling him along to the open front door. Now that I knew Cash was in on Milo’s little secret, I had to talk to him some more.

“Trying to air condition the whole fucking neighborhood?” Silas stood in the doorway, his hand up high on the jamb, jutting out his hip. “Get in here and let Cash gush over you both.” With a tsk, he twisted and strolled into the house.

We all followed Silas into the main room, closed the door, and fell into the couch, Silas on one side and me and Milo on the other.

Cash sauntered into the kitchen. “What’ll it be boys? Beers, Ciders or water?” He grabbed a canned beer and a bottled cider out of the refrigerator, set it on the kitchen island, then went back in.

“I’ll take a beer.” I glanced at Milo. We’d had a few beers at the gay bar, but we’d worn them off walking around all afternoon. But was I staying the night again? I probably shouldn’t assume. God, dating Milo made things a little weird.

“Cider for me, Cash.” Milo picked up my hand and kissed the back of it.

“All righty then.” He pulled out another set of drinks. “Silas, hun, can you give me a hand?”

With a sigh, Silas said, “Yeah, guess so.” He rose up and grabbed our drinks, then handed them to us and took up his position on the couch with Cash dropping in beside him.

“Isn’t this cozy.” Cash beamed at me, then Milo. “What did you two do all day?”

“We uh, we hung out in downtown Tempe and, and I took Ryder to the gay bar on Mill.” He sipped his sider, giving me the side-eye.

Cash widened his eyes. “You did what?”

“Damn, Milo, way to break a guy in slowly.” With a soft snicker, Silas shook his head, then wrapped an arm around Cash’s shoulders.

“It’s okay. I’ve been to gay bars before.” I picked at the pull tab on my can. “Never as a queer person though.” I scratched my head. “It was interesting.” Shit, was I going to sound stupid if I told them what I really thought about the whole thing? Fuck it. I leaned forward, setting my beer on the coffee table. “Truthfully, it was a nice place to go with Milo because I felt like we could be ourselves there. Nobody would be looking at us funny or saying something nasty.”

“You mean you didn’t have to worry about homophobic assholes?” Silas drank his beer, then hissed. “You won’t get a lot of that around here. I’m not saying it never happens, but…”

“But it does, and I’ve seen it happen. A guy I worked with, Tate, he was gay and sometimes guys on the other crews would say shit, mostly behind his back.” I furrowed my brows. Fuck, I did not want to have to deal with that crap being directed at me.

“Tate, the guy you hooked up with?” Milo stared at me. “Did you tell those guys to shut up?”

“Of course I did. Who do you think I am?” I shrugged. That’s how it’d started. With me sticking up for Tate and telling him my best friend back home was gay and soon, we were friends and then…the hook up.

Cash stared at me, arching a brow. “Hun, you hooked up with a guy before Milo?”

“Yeah. I told Gabe and Jeremy about it.” I flicked my gaze between Silas and Cash. “Well, and then Silas when I came over here on Friday.” None of them had told anyone. They’d kept my secret. What stand up guys. “It happened a few weeks ago, so when I came down here, I was, well, confused might have been an understatement.” I took a gulp of my beer.

“This is all making sense,” Cash said. “Your friend up in Flag lit the fire and when you saw Milo dressed to kill up on the stage, you couldn’t resist him.” With a starry-eyed grin, Cash covered his heart.

“Oh, brother.” Silas rolled his eyes, then focused on me. “So, you two are dating now or what?”

“Boyfriends.” Milo lifted his chin. “We’re too close already to just be dating.”

“Yeah, that makes sense, I guess.” Silas nodded. “Anyways, we were going to grab a pizza and watch an action movie. You two in?” He lifted his wrist and glanced at his watch.

“Sure, sounds fun to me.” I bumped Milo with my elbow. “Is that okay?” Leaning in, I whispered in his ear, “Do you want me to stay the night again?”

“Yes.” His gaze met mine. “But what are you going to tell your dad?”

Silas held his beer can to his mouth, then lowered it. “I take it you’re not out to your dad yet?”

With a quick shake of my head, I said, “No. I-I’ll tell him though.” My gut clenched. How would he take it? I was pretty sure he’d be fine with it, but would it change something between us? “I’ll call him really quick and let him know what’s going on.” Last night I’d only texted him. With a slap of my hands to my thighs, I stood up. “Be right back. You guys order the pizza. I’ll eat it any way you all want it.”

“Oh good, not a picky pizza eater like Axel.” Silas snorted.

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