Page 29 of Punchline
“Yeah.” He met my gaze, his features taut with uncertainty. “I have no idea what counts as too fast or too much or?—”
He stopped talking when I kissed him.
CHAPTER 10
JAKE
I hadn’t intended to start my afternoon schedule by being interrogated by my best friend, yet here we were.
“You what now?”
“I went inside.”
“Dude.” The look on Carson’s face would have been funny under other circumstances, but being the object of his “you fucking dumbass” expression wasn’t as nice as seeing it levered toward other people. “You were in his car, kissing the hell out of him, ready for more, and then… you went into your apartment. Alone.”
I nodded.
“Why, though? Oh.” Incredulity gave way to understanding. “Were you weirded out by the kiss?”
Weirded out by it? A little, but only insofar as the hottest fucking kiss of my life had come from a guy. Up until now, it was solely the women I’d dated who’d been interested in kissing. The few guys I’d been with had been way more “hands on and pants off.” Kissing them had never even crossed my mind.
“Ethan’s a great kisser.” Eager, hungry, and the fact Iknew he saw more to like about me than my six pack was nice.
“So it’s not the guy thing?”
I shrugged. “It’s maybe, kind of the guy thing? Like, if I invited him in to my place, would we just… I don’t know. I just know I don’t really want to rush this.” I wasn’t sure what constituted a rush, but I knew I didn’t want to fuck things up with Ethan. He was fun, he was funny, he was kind but he didn’t put up with assholes… there was a lot to like about him.
“That’s fair.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“But you didn’t leave him hanging, right?” Carson pressed, and for the love of God, it felt like talking to my therapist for a moment.
“No. We’re going to figure out our next date after his session today.” Actually, this was something good to run past Carson. “I was thinking of taking him to a smoker, if there’s one coming up soon.”
Carson leaned back on his hands. “Huh, is boxing okay?”
“Boxing would be fine.” Better than fine; I didn’t know a hell of a lot about boxing, which made it easier to relax and just enjoy the fight instead of analyzing every little thing about it. Although, judging from how Ethan and Marek got with hockey, maybe that was what he preferred.
I’ll know more than him about boxing, at least.
“Because I think Miguel is having a smoker this Friday at his school. You know he’s handed over most of his teaching because he’s traveling for fights, right?”
I nodded. Miguel was a welterweight champion boxer in two different organizations now, and he was working his way up the ranks both nationally and internationally. Hisgym was a mix of boxing and MMA, but since Carson had moved over to Beth’s place full-time, Miguel had focused his own school more on boxing. I’d met him a few times and seen him fight live once; he was a fucking sniper.
“Well, his head student is prepping for his own run at going pro, and that means getting that time in the ring. I think they’re going to have around ten fights—just three three-minute rounds apiece, so they’re going to be fuckingfeisty—and he’s got a few kickboxing matches in there, too. Not Thai style, but it’s still going to be fun. Just… ” His lips tightened for a moment. “Be aware that some of the students there are assholes.”
“Asshole” was a code word for “homophobic” between Carson and me.
“Yeah, I figured,” I said.
“I’m just putting it out there because if you start making out in the gym, someone will give you shit for it.”
“I get it. I’ll let Ethan know.” He could decide whether that was something he wanted to put up with or not.
“Miguel’s a good guy,” Carson added after a second. “And his wife, Camila, will absolutely cut a bitch if she finds out they’re talking shit about who you’re with. Her sister is lesbian, and those ladies are tight. Just… you know, you’re never going to get rid of all the jerks.”
“Yeah.” I thought for a second about my own family, who both supported me financially and were also very happy to never have to see me face-to-face except on calls at Christmas. I’d given up on having a genuine relationship with them a long time ago, but it still hurt to reflect on the fact I wasn’t the son they’d hoped for. “I know.”
