Page 18 of Shared With His Friends
He’s ignoring me. When I ask again, he barely turns his head, “Where’d she go, Jet?”
The little muscle in the back of his jaw pops. “She left us.”
Spreading my fingers out, I slap him on the back of the shoulder as he sits on the edge of the pool. Maybe I’ll shove him in. “Why’d she do that? What did you say to her, you fucking prick?”
As if that was the keyword to make his resolve dissolve, he sits up straight, then looks out over the infinity edge toward the dense tree line. “I gave her five million and a Lamborghini. She took both. Said she’d send for her things later and walked out.”
“Wh-what? No way. Why’d you do that? Why would you do that, Jet?”
“Because she just wanted the money.” Lowering his voice, he murmurs, “They all just want the money.”
With a sigh, the ire dissipates somewhat in my chest. Fucking asshole, trying to gain some sympathy after he sent her away. “I mean, you’ve always treated her like shit, no wonder she took the money and ran.”
Lifting his face to me, he finally gives me a full look and I feel sorry for him. I’ve never seen Jet show much emotion, but the fullness of his bottom eyelids make it seem like… Well, like he could cry. “Iknowthat, Dane. I’m not a fucking white knight like you. I’m not emo-tortured like Ash. And I’m not a force like Wade. She was willing to take me only if she had all of you. But then I offered her the money to see if she’d take it instead, to see if that’s really what she wanted. To show how much she doesn’t want me. And she left.”
Slumping forward, he sticks his bare feet in the water and his elbows on his knees. Part of me feels sorry for the fuck. Easing down next to him, I only say, “I guess you hadsomethingshe wanted if she stayed with you so long.”
He huffs out a chuckle. “Yeah, money. And I gave it to her. I just wish… I just wish she chose me.” Turning his gray eyes to me again, he mutters, “I wish she chose us.”
Letting my eyes rest on the tranquility of nature around us, I ask him seriously, “You’d share her with us? Withallof us?”
“Do I have to sleep in the same bed as Wade? ‘Cause he snores and takes up a fuck ton of room.”
My chest tightens as I let out a little laugh. “No. I don’t think we’d wish that on her, either.” Swallowing, I urge up some confidence. Seeing my cousin, first in everything, so broken. So lost… It somehow makes me feel like maybe he’s been faking his life all along. Which, oddly, gives me a sense of direction. “Ash and I are together.”
Jet nods slightly. “Yeah, I’m sure he’s pissed at me, too.”
“No, I mean...” Licking my bottom lip, I try to rephrase it, but I’m not exactly sure of what the terminology should be. “Ash is my boyfriend. We’re, like, together. We’re, uh, I don’t know, bi for each other or whatever.”
Jet dips his hand in the water, then uses it to style back the sides of his hair, then leans back on his elbows. “Yeah. Makes sense.”
My eyes never leave any of his movements. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
Those gray eyes lift to my face. “What do you want me to say, Dane? Cheers to finding love? My heart is broken. It’s hard to be ecstatic for my cousin and best friend right now. Let’s be real, it was only a matter of time before you two hooked up. Maybe only Wade and I could see it, but I guess it took Amber to bring you together.Fucking finally.” With a little lift of his upper lip, he snorts. “I mean, why do you think I had you two DVP her? Figured you’d enjoy it. Guess I was right.”
Standing up, he claps a palm on my bare back. “Congratulations on coming out. Your dad’s gonna be pissed, but fuck ‘em. When is he not? Dr. Jameson will probably throw a fucking parade for edging into the Harrington name as long as you get that shit fixed with your nose. I’m drinking whatever we have left in the cabinet. You guys can stay or go. I don’t give a fuck anymore.”
As he slinks away, the pads of my fingers press around my face. “What do you mean? What problem with my nose?” But he’s already gone, and just as he rounds the corner, Ash walks out in a tight-ass black T-shirt and his low-slung jeans. The somberness of losing my girlfriend is replaced with a slight pulse in my dick.
I’ve started noticing all these things about him I never did before. Like the exact way his cologne smells, woodsy and spicy. Or how long his toes are. The way his back muscles twitch just before he lays an insult at someone. And now the way he tugs on his lip piercings with his teeth or dips at them with his tongue makes me want to do fucking nasty things to him.
But I’m also kinda scared because I’ve never been in this place before. With a guy.
“Is my nose crooked?” I ask as he sits down next to me.
“Yeah, slightly. It’s cute.” And before I figure out exactly what to do with him, he leans forward and presses his lips to mine in a warm greeting, then darts his head back to the kitchen door.
“I told him.”
Turning toward me, he gnaws at one of the metal bars in his bottom lip. His black eyebrows lift in surprise. “You told Jet?”
“Yeah… Was that—was that okay?”
“What did you tell him?”
Staring at the water, I suddenly get butterflies in my stomach. “I told him that you’re, uh, my boyfriend. And that we’re, I don’t know… ‘bi’ for each other, I guess.” Fuck, I feel so stupid now. We hadn’t even discussed anything. This is probably what everyone who has their first non-straight experience does, right? Like this is it? I found ‘the one,’ or whatever?
He’s silent and still, but then I realize he’s just waiting for me to look at him. When I do, there’s so much heat behind its green eyes they look on fire in the sunlight. “I wanna fuck you so bad right now, captain.”
