Page 39 of Strictly Curious
“Jesus,” I huffed, running a hand down my face. My face felt half numb. How strong was that fucking tequila? “Well, the thought was there after that…”
“Oh…” Was all she said as she sat up and I hesitantly wrapped an arm around her thin shoulders. She didn’t push me off or stiffen at the touch. “Thank you—thank you for trusting me enough to tell me. I know we haven’t been close since… everything. I won’t tell anyone. It’s your truth to share, anyway.”
We sat in silence and I couldn’t shake the feeling something still didn’t feel right about all of this. Sure, she didn’t seem all that mad anymore, but it also seemed too easy. Maisy wasn’t a bad person, but I’d really hurt her in the past. More than I’d realized.
WhenIcamedownthe stairs with Maisy, the guy leaning in close and talking to my stepbrother threw me for a loop. He had a hand on his shoulder and my chest tightened at the sight as a surge of jealousy hit me. Logically, I knew Garrett wouldn’t do something stupid while I was upstairs talking to my ex-girlfriend like he’d encouraged me to. That I didn’t know who this guy was didn’t sit well with me. Why the hell was he touching him and where the hell were these possessive feelings coming from?
“Take care, okay, Tyler? Let me know if you need to talk again.”
I nodded at Maisy, giving her a loose hug and helping her out the front door. The stranger and Garrett turned to face me as I shut the door and leaned against it.
“Well, I didn’t hear any yelling, so I take it I was right, and she handled it well?”
I tilted my head to the side because Garrett was openly talking about things in front of this guy. A sick feeling settled in my stomach. We hadn’t discussed telling anyone else.
I nodded at the guy sitting on the couch and Garrett’s eyes widened as if he’d forgotten that he was there. “Shit, sorry, Ty. This is Jacob. He’s one of Ava’s friends. He was there the day I told her about us…”
Not that it made me feel any better, because it was more people who knew about us before I was ready. Maybe it was a little better that he was a friend of Ava’s, though. While she could be wild and a little annoying, the girl could keep a secret.
“Hey, man.” He waved before standing and wiping his palms on his pant legs. It was like he was nervous about meeting me. “So, uh, Tony and I were wondering if you guys wanted to join us for dinner later. Nothing crazy. Just some pizza or something?”
Garrett nodded as I stood there stupidly not knowing what else to say. Who the hell was Tony? Garrett wanted me to have someone to talk to, and he had an entire army it seemed. Who else needed to know about us?
When Jacob went to leave, I moved out of his way. Maybe it was rude not to even talk to him, but I was blindsided by his sudden presence.
Once the front door closed, I beelined for the stairs, taking them two at a time, ignoring the pain in my ankle. I didn’t stop until I was in my room with the door safely closed. It didn’t take but a moment for Garrett to try to come to me. I leaned against the door, heart hammering wildly in my chest and ringing in my ears.
Garrett
Goddamn,Ishouldhave told him about Jacob and Anthony. It hadn’t felt like a big deal but it was thanks to them I’d even started pursuing this after that first night with Tyler. They’d taken the risk on their friendship and it had paid off. Sure, I still had no idea if Tyler saw anything outside of experimentation with this, but I wanted to take the risk, too.
“Tyler, open up.” I pushed on the door and it didn’t budge. The doors in the house didn’t lock, so he had to be blocking it.
“Ty, come on. Let me explain what that was. I promise he doesn’t know the details. I said something before anything even really started.”
“You had no business telling anyone.” I heard through the door. It was muffled, but at least he was acknowledging me now.
“You weren’t this upset when I told Ava and Lucy.”
The door flew open and Tyler stood with his arms crossed. “Because it’s Ava and Lucy. I don’t know who that guy is. And not only that, but there’s someone else who might know something as well?”
I nodded. “Yeah, his boyfriend.”
Tyler’s stance lost some of its hostility. His shoulders dropped a little and his jaw relaxed.
“I wouldn’t tell anyone I didn’t think was safe. I went to meet up with Ava and Lucy to talk about what had happened, and they were there too. They had some good advice.”
Tyler stepped aside to let me in the room. I didn’t get past him before his arms wrapped around me and pulled me to him. When his door fell closed with a soft click, his mouth was on me in a heartbeat and I got whiplash at the sudden change.
I could taste the remnants of the tequila he’d been drinking with Maisy on his tongue as it worked its way into my mouth. I let him kiss me for a few moments before forcing him to slow down. We needed to talk about the way he’d responded to Jacob downstairs, no matter how much I was enjoying this.
He rested his forehead on my shoulder, panting softly, as I rubbed slow circles into his back. He melted against me and I wondered how well things had actually gone with Maisy. I noted the bottle sitting on the nightstand was more than half empty. That was a lot of booze between the two of them.
“Do you want to talk about what happened with Maisy?”
After he nodded, he grabbed my hand and led me to sit on the edge of his bed. He practically vibrated with nervous energy, and I rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb to calm him. He looked like a wreck.
“She’s understandably hurt. Maybe telling my ex-girlfriend the fact that she was a chick was part of why I couldn’t get it up wasn’t the smartest move.”
