Page 99 of Perfect Storm
“No?”
Aidan sighed. “Okay. Well. Anyway. I told him. First person outside of um . . .family and close friend circles I’ve told.”
“Whohaveyou told?” Levi wondered. Then realized he probably didn’t need to ask that. Didn’t need toknowthat.
But before he could tell Aidan that, Aidan just shrugged and said, “Well, you, obviously. Riley. Landry. And um . . .Dawson, too. Wes knows. And now Carson, my agent.”
“Cool,” Levi said, nodding.
He couldn’t make the argument these biscuits were as good as the ones his mom made, but they were close enough that he was going to have to get the name of this restaurant out of Aidan. Maybe a bit of sexy bribery might work?
And next time Aidan went, Levi would go with and make sure he didn’t get freakingavocado toast.
“I’m not really thinking of coming out, not publicly,” Aidan said, “but I’m not against it either? I don’t talk about my personal life much, anyway . . .”
“Bro, youhavea personal life?” Levi joked, smile fond.
He wasn’t ever sure what would be a step too far for Aidan—he could be so painfully serious, often caught up in his own head—but he only grinned. “Bro, see if I ever bring you the good stuff again.”
Levi laughed. It didn’t surprise him anymore when Aidan was funny. He sort of even expected it now. He imagined that Logan might tell him that Aidan’s sense of humor was still shit, but that when you were down bad, objective judgment on what was actually funny went right out the window.
“Oh, you will,” Levi boasted. Maybe Aidan loved Mo and not him, but who was he here with now? Who had he brought brunch to, just because he’d seen a dish on the menu he thought might be in his wheelhouse? Levi, that was who.
“Probably,” Aidan grumbled, but the corner of his mouth was tilting upwards, like he couldn’t really help smiling—even when he didn’t want to give Levi the satisfaction.
“So what did he say?”
“Who? My agent?” Aidan pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. Toyed with the cap. “Oh, all the right stuff. The league’s more accepting these days, the public barely even blinks at a coming-out party now, etcetera, etcetera. He’s right, I’m sure, and I didn’t think he’d say anything else.”
“It’s a brave new world,” Levi said. He finished his food. Patted his stomach happily. “Now I’m gonna go flop onto the couch in a food coma.”
Aidan shot him a sideways look. Tried to be all subtle about it, but he was looking. “You wanna play someMario Kart?”
“Thinking you’re gonna win because I’m full of brisket and biscuits? Bro, I’m from Texas. We were raised on this shit. I’m still sharp, food coma or no.”
“No, no. Just . . .” Aidan half grimaced and Levi couldn’t figure out why he’d made that face. Not until he finished his thought. “I just thought it might be fun.”
“Fun?Fun? Who are you and what have you done with Aidan Flynn?” Levi crowed, smacking him on the shoulder.
Aidan’s smile was slightly self-conscious, but Levi loved every bit of it.
“You’re the worst.”
You love me.Levi almost said it, but he stopped himself just in time.
Thank God for small miracles, at least.
Levi hadn’t been lying. No matter what he’d stuffed himself with, he was still sharp, beating Aidan so many times in a row Aidan actually lost track.
He was distracted, more than he wanted to admit to, by Levi’s big warm thigh, exposed in another pair of shorts, bright magenta this time, and the way it pressed against his own.
He was in jeans, but he could feel the heat of Levi’s skin through the thick fabric. It reminded him of sleepy, slow mornings, and how Levi had spent the last few nights in his bed.
How he was already wanting to coax Levi into it, even though it was the middle of the afternoon.
Finally Aidan tossed his controller down. Frustrated but not particularly surprised. “I do not have it today,” he said with a frustrated grimace.
Aidan knew he wasn’t particularly good at taking time off, even on scheduled days off, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t why he felt so antsy, tension crawling under his skin.
