Page 28 of Dance With Me
Joe just hoped she was right.
Chapter Sixteen
Seb
Saturday morning arrived and, as it was school holidays, there were no lessons today.
Seb stretched in his bed, surprised to see not Rocco, but Dom, lying next to him. He’d left the other three talking on the sofa when they got in last night, saying he had a headache and wanted to go to bed. He hadn’t heard Dom come into his room.
Not that he minded. He was his best friend, after all. To think Joe had called him his boyfriend. Seb snorted at the thought.
That got him thinking about what Dom had said about Joe acting jealous, and the more he thought about it, the more he puzzled over it. Joe was straight and was marrying Clare in… six weeks, was it now? But he had to admit, they had shared some moments between them—last night in the bathroom being no exception—and they had flirted when they’d had their private lessons with Clare not there. Seb dismissed the thought that was running through his head, that maybe…No, that couldn’t be right.
Joe had said he wanted to be Seb’s friend. That was why he was being so nice to him, especially after he’d told him about his stalker. That was it, that must be it. It couldn’t possibly be anything more.
And wasn’t that just the problem, though? Seb wanted to be more than friends with Joe. For fuck’s sake. He knew better than to crush on a straight guy, but he couldn’t deny what he had started to feel for him. The way they could talk effortlessly, the smiles Joe passed his way, his blue eyes sparkling when he laughed, the flirting?
Seb sighed. He supposed he should get up and get the coffee on.
“I can hear you thinking from here, you know. You’ll injure yourself if you carry on.”
Seb sighed again. “I know, but I can’t help thinking about last night.”
“What, you mean about Hotty McFlirt Pants?”
“Who now?” Seb looked over at Dom, whose eyes were still closed.
“You know, Mr Hot and Wonderful… Joe.” Dom sighed dreamily, and he threw his hand across his forehead dramatically.
“I know who you meant, just surprised at the name.” Seb laughed as he turned on his side to face Dom.
“Well, I know he didn’t flirt with you outright, but those eyes were doing some serious fucking, I tell you.”
Seb smacked Dom on the chest. “No, he wasn’t. Don’t get all excited.”
“Wasn’t me that was excited, sweetie. I could smell the testosterone across the room. It was hawt.” Dom fanned himself for effect.
“He’d obviously been drinking, so whatever he said or did is irrelevant. How many more times do I have to say it? He’s getting married in six weeks… to a woman.” Seb jumped up out of bed. “No amount of wishing or hoping is going to change that. I knew I should have said no to him when he asked me about private lessons, but I just felt sorry for the guy. He wanted to do what was right for his fiancée, and now it has me all messed up inside thinking about things I can’t have.”
Seb was close to tears at this point and hadn’t realised how much this was upsetting him. What with Natalia leaving and everything with ‘stalker person,’ he was starting to feel the pressure.
Dom pulled him back onto the bed and into a hug.
“Aww, my poor baby boy. Come to Daddy, and we’ll snuggle in bed.”
“Hey, I’m not into that Daddy shit, and you know it.” But as he said it, he moved just a little closer to Dom, where he fell asleep, snuggled against his best friend.
They got up later in the afternoon, thankful for the rest. As they stumbled out of the bedroom, they found Natalia and Louis lying on the sofa, watching some random film on the TV.
“Here come the love birds,” Louis quipped.
“Don’t you start. I had enough of that last night.” Seb scowled at Louis.
“Someone’s tetchy this afternoon; I was only kidding.” Louis held his hands up in surrender.
“Sorry, I know you didn’t mean it, but Joe made a comment last night about Dom and me, and it just got me mad.”
“No worries, man. We took Rocco out earlier, seeing how you were sleeping. Natalia and I were going to order some food. Do you want any?”
