Page 6 of Catch Me
Linc rolled his eyes. “We don’t even live together.”
“Whose fault is that? Brooks and Tilian just moved in together.”
“My place is too small for two people. And before you say it, no, I’m not moving into your roach-infested apartment. But...my lease is up in December. Maybe we can look at some places.”
West shot me a grin. “I knew I’d wear him down. Trav, you dating anyone?”
I shook my head. “Kind of hard to try during the season. I have terrible luck with men anyway. Always find the toxic ones.”
“Same,” Linc muttered.
“Well,” West drawled. “You need a good man in your life. Tessa needs another dad.”
I leaned back in the seat and shrugged one shoulder. “One day.”
I felt eyes on me, so I looked at Roman. His eyes were narrowed slightly, and his lips were pursed. I had to grip my beer tighter and tuck my other hand under my thigh to keep from reacting to the expression.
“You good?” I asked.
He faced forward again without responding. I wasn’t sure what had happened. A few minutes ago, things had been fine.
West motioned for me to come closer, then he dropped his voice low. “He’s Tilian’s stepbrother. Majorly repressed and hates gay people.”
“Oh.”
I glanced at Roman one more time before I focused on the game. If that was the case, I felt sad for him. He’d obviously turned his fears into anger, which was tragic. If he’d let me, I’d recommend some people who could help him unpack everything that was going on inside of him, but it wasn’t my place, and I wasn’t going to assume West was right.
“Don’t give him that look,” Linc hissed. “You’re not beating him up.”
West grunted in annoyance. “But Icould. That’s what’s important. I’d do it for my boy, Tilian. He’s precious. Pretty sure Roman’s in love with him.”
Roman jumped to his feet and headed to the bar to get another beer. He didn’t come back, and I couldn’t say I was upset about it. I didn’t like being around people who were that hostile. At the same time, I didn’t like the way West spoke about the whole thing, whether he was serious or just being dramatic. Regardless of Roman’s situation, it was obvious he felt out of place.
I had to remind myself that it wasn’t my business, and I knew nothing about Tilian’ family dynamics. It was better not to involve myself, especially if it was as messy as it sounded.
Chapter 2
Roman
As I worked on my fourth beer, I tried to distract myself. With one earbud in, I put on a playlist that didn’t exactly help.
My stepbrother, Tilian, used to play music in his room, and it wasn’t loud since he hated to draw attention to himself, but my room was next to his, so if I listened, I could hear it. When a song came on, I’d add it to a playlist, which eventually became filled with the ones he’d played for two years.
Was that weird? Yeah, it definitely was. It was when I listened to this playlist as a teenager that I’d lose myself and go to his room at night. I knew it didn’t mean anything to him, and I hadn’t wanted it to. When we left for separate colleges, though, some ridiculous, weak part of me tried to convince me that it did.
I wasn’t gay, but we’d fucked around back then. I didn’t know why. It just happened sometimes. I was bored in high school. Sex was sex, right? I always topped him, so it wasn’t a big deal. Except for one time, but I tried not to think about that. I didn’t know what had come over me that night.
When I looked at him, he was leaning back against his boyfriend, Brooks. The guy was good to him from what I’d seen.He was a dick to me at Alex’s birthday party, but he’d obviously seen me and Til glaring at each other. I guess he was protective or some shit.
Til turned around and rose on his toes to kiss Brooks. His fingers brushed through his long, curly hair, and I wondered what he saw in the guy. Was it his looks? Maybe it was because Brooks’ family had money. I’d seen his Audi at my mom’s place in March, which told me he was loaded.
Or they were actually into each other on a deep level. The way Brooks looked at him...The way Til looked at him...
I tore my gaze away and focused on the music. Bring Me the Horizon was one of his favorite bands, so there were a lot of those songs in the playlist. This was the third one in a row. Pulling out my phone, I switched it to something else.
I should just delete the fucking thing, honestly. I’d do it later.
It was dumb to come today, but I was in town and my mom invited me to see the Mariners in the World Series. How could I say no? I wasn’t really watching, but whatever.
