Page 63 of Stick By Me

Pouring creamer into his coffee, Remy said, “So, how was your night hanging out with Archer?” He slurped his coffee.

“Oh, it was good. I made him dinner and then we watched this cool action movie with Tom Cruise.” I slowly nodded, then grabbed the toast as it popped up and flung it on a plate. “How was the show?”

“Awesome as usual. I think they may have outdone themselves last night.” He stepped to me and wrapped an arm around my waist, hugging me to his side. “They got asked to do a gig in Vegas.”

“What? Are you shitting me?” I stared at him, my brows lifting. “When?” Because of course my mind was stuck on how I could have Archer stay the night here while they were gone. Fuck, I had to come out and quit keeping him a secret. I buttered the toast.

“It’s a smaller, outdoor venue, but it’s on the strip.” He freed me and grabbed a plate from the upper cupboard, then opened the oven where I was warming the bacon and fried eggs. “I think they’re going to play there when it warms up. It’s too fucking cold in Vegas this time of year. At least at night.” He slid out the baking sheet with the food on it and plated a few eggs and strips of bacon.

“Yeah, I could see that. You can’t put all these desert rats out in the cold, they freeze to death if the temperature drops below sixty.” I chortled. That would be shorts and t-shirt weather for my sexy Midwestern boy. I dropped a few slices of toast onto Remy’s plate as he set it on the counter.

“Thanks, man.” He kissed my cheek, then strolled to our dinette and sat down.

A grin tugged at my lips. When had we started doing that? Kissing and hugging like Axel’s friends do? Certainly after Remy came out. I’d always been like that with Axel, so it never bothered me. Well, Axel was always an affectionate bastard with me, whether I liked it or not growing up.

I plated my own food and joined Remy, sitting at the head of the table and next to me, then cut into my eggs. Would I have enough time to talk to Remy before Axel made his appearance? “Hey, how much longer do you think Axel’s going to be in bed?” I ate a bite of egg.

“Shit, he probably won’t be up for a few more hours.” As he dipped his head, his cheeks reddened. “We didn’t go straight to sleep after the show.” Holding a slice of bacon in front of his face, he said, “He was all wound up.” He wagged his brows.

“I don’t need to know any more.” With a soft snigger, I drank some coffee. Thank God I’d slept through whatever acrobaticsthey’d done last night and with my brother, sex included all sorts of crazy stunts. Ugh.

“I have to talk to you about something though.” Remy bit into his toast, then washed it down with coffee and slid his gaze to meet with mine. “Archer.”

Swallowing wrong, I coughed, my heart lurching. As I held the back of my hand to my mouth, I said, “Shit, sorry. Uh, what about Archer?” Fuck. Did he know what really happened last night? How would he? Could someone have seen us together at the house? But who?

“Axel thinks you need to be careful.” He scooped egg onto his fork and ate it. “He thinks Archer might have a thing for you.”

My eyes grew wide. Holy fuck, if only they knew. “Uh, yeah?” I choked out a chuckle. “Why would he say that?”

“Because, and this is him talking, he says Archer eye-fucks you when you’re not looking.” Remy chortled. “Fucking Axel, man.” Shaking his head, he ate more toast.

I fought to hide the wide smile threatening to break out over my mouth and drank more coffee. Archer did a lot more than eye fuck me. Shit, should I tell him? I parted my lips, the words forming in my brain.

“You need to be careful, Leo.” Remy locked his gaze to mine and tapped his index finger on the table between us. “Archer’s not straight and if you’re leading him on, it’s not cool. Axel knows what it feels like to love a guy he can’t have.” He grimaced. “Fuck, well, thought he couldn’t have. Turns out I wasn’t straight either.” His gaze searched the table a moment, then focused on me. “The point is, Archer’s a nice guy and we all like him. We don’t want to see him get hurt.”

With an ache filtering through my chest, I breathed in deeply. This was my chance. My gut coiled and a knot formed in my throat. “I’m uh, I’m not leading him on.” My mouth went dry. Fuck, this was hard.

Remy blinked a few times. “Okay, so he hasn’t made anypasses at you or alluded to anything to make you think he wants to be more than friends?” He eyed me for a moment. “Because fuck, from the moment Axel started tutoring me, he was all over my ass. Like, literally.” The edge of his mouth snapped up.

“Axel is not Archer. Archer’s not like that at all.” I set my fork on my plate, gathering my strength. “And I’m not like—” My eyes rounded. Wait, who the fuck was I kidding? I was just like Remy, wasn’t I?

“Me?” Remy set his elbows on the table and tented his fingers over his plate. “Is that what you were going to say?”

I shifted in my chair, staring at my plate. “Remy, when you and Axel were hiding your relationship from me, why did you do it?” I lifted my gaze to meet his. “Was it the brother thing or was it our friendship you were most concerned about?”

He balked and sat back in his chair, then looked around the room before facing me. “I think it was our friendship I was most concerned about. Plus, I wasn’t ready to be queer. I hid it because I could. I think when you’re gay, like Axel, it’s a lot harder to hide. But when women turn you on, when you can love a woman, why would you choose to be with a man?”

I knitted my brows. “It’s not a?—"

“Spare me theit’s not a choicebullshit.” Shaking his head, he held up his hand. “You know what I’m talking about. It’s easier to live in a hetero world as a hetero. It just is.” He leaned forward, fixating on me. “But I love your brother more than life itself and I’d never trade what we have for anything. I decided he was worth any and all bullshit the world threw at us and because I had him by my side, I could handle it.”

I stared at him, my jaw dropping open. “Jesus, Remy.” I swallowed hard. After all that, how could I deny what was going on with me and Archer? “Remy? I’m in love with Archer.” My pulsed thumped in my temples and my chest squeezed. I’d gone all the fucking way out of all the closets, with Remy anyways.

With a blink, he cocked his head and looked me up and down. “Y-you love him as a friend?” He scratched his head.

“No, Ilovehim. We’re together. We um…shit, we had sex last night.” Biting my lower lip, my lips curved up. Oh, I’d done it now. His head was going to explode.

“In our house? You fucked a guy in our house?” With his brows furrowing, he pointed at me. “You better have fucked him in your bed and not…” He looked around the room. “Not like, on our kitchen counter or our fucking couch like, like?—”

---