Page 48 of Jacked
He stops to pet someone’s puppy, stooping down right between the tables. The woman holding the leash smiles and flips her hair, batting her eyelashes at him as he scoops up the puppy and cradles it like a baby in one arm. The woman is a stunner, full stop, but I can’t stop looking at Slater. From the big grin on his face to the way he holds his free hand over his forehead to block out the sun like a dope instead of just turning his hat around, he’s fucking cute.
I can’t believe I’m using that word to describe a six-foot tall, jacked dude like him, but it’s true. He’s fucking cute. He puts the puppy back down and the woman reaches out to put her hand on his forearm as she says something to him. Probably asking for his number if I had to guess. My stomach sinks. She really is gorgeous, and if her smile is anything to go by, she looks sweet too. I hold my breath, waiting to see if he’s going to pull out his phone and exchange numbers with her.
“The line’s moving,” the guy behind me points out.
Shit. I reluctantly tear my attention away from them and step inside the shop. Did he give her his number? Did he take hers? Even if he didn’t, now that he’s out and clearly ready to explore his sexuality, there’s nothing to stop him picking up any of thedozens of guys at Sweat who check him out every time he’s in. By the time I reach the counter, I’ve ruined my own good mood imagining the nonstop bisexual fuckfest Slater is gearing up for. And why shouldn’t he? Why shouldn’tI,for that matter?
“Whoa, did somebody spit in your sandwich or something?” His sunny, teasing tone startles me when I reach the table with our food and a couple of water bottles.
I grunt in response and pull out the chair opposite of his.
“Seriously, why do you look so pissed?” Slater asks, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a huge bite.
His face is full of nothing but innocent curiosity; an open, sweet expression like he’s dying to hear what made me so grumpy so fast and what he can do to fix it. Fuck, maybe Ilikehim.
I crack open my water bottle and guzzle down half of it, using the back of my hand to wipe my mouth before I answer him.
“Did you get that chick’s number?” I ask, trying my damnedest to sound like a bro and not like a jilted lover, even though I’m feeling kind of fucking jilted right now.
His eyebrows pull together and he cocks his head curiously.
“What chick?”
“The hot redhead.” I don’t want to crane around and point at the poor woman or anything, but I tilt my head in the general direction of her table. “The one with the puppy.”
His expression smooths out and he stares at me for a second before he lets out a laugh.
“That’s fucking adorable.”
I frown harder and tear into my sandwich. I am not adorable. Slater bumps his foot against mine under the table. I pull my leg back to give him more space, but less than a second later his foot is pressed against mine again, so I’m pretty sure it’s intentional.
“I didn’t even notice that she was hot,” he says in a low voice. “I just couldn’t resist some puppy snuggles.”
The tightness in my chest eases and I nod.
“It’s fine. It’s not like trading handjobs means we’re married or anything,” I say quietly, leaning across the table so no one else will hear our conversation.
“It doesn’t?” He looks scandalized, and I chuckle. “Serious question though—you saw a hot woman you thought was flirting with me, were you jealous of me or her?”
Shit. It didn’t even cross my mind to be jealous of him. The answer must be written all over my face because he bumps his foot against mine again and grins at me across the table in a way that makes my heart beat faster. After a few seconds of the two of us staring at each other like idiots, Slater takes another bite of his sandwich.
“I texted my brother last night before we went out,” he says after he swallows the bite. His tone is casual, but there’s something about the set of his shoulders that doesn’t quite match and I can’t figure out why. So, he texted his brother that he was going out for drinks? Did something happen with his brother? I’m lost. “It’s so dumb that it feels like such a big thing to come out to him and Nolan when they’re full-on gay, but it was nerve-racking anyway.”
Oh.
“That’s not dumb,” I assure him, my stomach already twisting itself into fresh knots at the realization that eventually I’ll have to come out too. I’ll have to look my brother, Logan, in the face and tell him I’m… whatever I am. Bisexual? Pansexual? That’s a thing now too, right? Fuck if I know the difference. And it’s not just Logan, I’ll have to tell my dad at some point too.
“Whoa, you okay, man?” Slater reaches across the table and puts his hand on top of mine. The heat of his skin jolts through me and he misinterprets my flinch, yanking his hand back quickly and shooting me an apologetic smile.
I curl my fingers into a fist and then relax them, my heart still beating a little too fast. It’s right on the tip of my tongue to tell him I’m fine and not to worry about it. But that earnest look in his big blue eyes disarms me.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m not trying to steal the moment from you or anything, it just hit me hard that I’ll have to come out eventually. You know, if…” I clear my throat. I was going to say “if this is real,” but I think last night cleared that up. It’s real. I’m not straight.
Even thinking those words inside my own head has a surprising feeling of relief rushing through me.
Slater’s fingers twitch, and I think he wants to reach for me again, but he doesn’t.
“You don’t have to do anything on anybody’s timeline but your own,” he says firmly, immediately slipping into Serious Slater mode with his jaw set and his eyes burning like he’s ready to set fire to anyone who dares to argue with him. I nod and tap my foot against the concrete. “AJ, I’m serious. It’s not anyone else’s business who you fuck unless you want it to be. You don’t have to tell themeverif you don’t want to.”
