Page 2 of Finally
“Mmm.” Gray pinched his lips, scrunched his nose, and tilted his head, considering. “I wouldn’t say slut exactly.” In theory, he was very much a relationship guy. But his friends didn’t believe that because the entire time they’d known him, the only person he wanted hadn’t been available. Gray was patient enough to wait, but he got lonely and horny, so he made do with what was available in the meantime.
“You spent most of the evening in bed with a random you met on an app.”
“An hour and a half isn’t most of the evening and we were in the living room,” Gray said distractedly. He really wanted that beer and there wasn’t a member of the waitstaff in sight. “Besides, I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“Gray has a dash of commitment phobia,” Thom said, trying to defend him, which was kind but unnecessary because the dayGray came out to his father and received a detailed lecture about how that made him disgusting was the same day he vowed never to care what anyone thought of his sex life. “Also,” Thom added, “I’m never sitting on your sofa again.”
“A dash?” Kevin said. “Gray bought the Costco-sized commitment-phobia bottle and chugged the entire thing in one sitting.”
“It was his sofa, not mine,” he said to Thom, “and don’t act like you and Eric limit your fun time to your bedroom.” He considered whether he should navigate his way through the crowd to get to the bar. It probably would be rude to leave the group when he’d only just arrived, but the conversation meant the drink was becoming necessary. “And I’m not commitment phobic,” he mumbled. If anything, he was the most committed guy at the table, even if nobody else understood that.
“Look, if you won’t take a guy out in public—and even if you will, which, let’s be real, you won’t—that means you have an issue with committing.”
“Fine, I enjoy sex but I’m all about commitment and do you have an actual point, Kevin? Because if you do, please make it and then we can move on from this topic.” This was why he had agreed to the hookup despite having plans at the same time—sex was fun, but creating an excuse to reduce his time with his friends was even better.
“My point is that if you really are all about commitment, you’re shooting yourself in the foot with all the sleeping around, because if you ever meet a guy you actually deem worthy of a relationship, there’s no way he’ll settle down with someone who’s all used up.”
“Used up?” Gray asked. “I’m a human being, not chewing gum, and sex doesn’t work that way.” Sometimes he wondered if he should find new friends, but then he remembered that this was a good group of nice people, and realistically, he didn’tlike humans. Well, he didn’t like most humans. There was an exception to every rule.
“I have never been more uncomfortable in my life.” Thom wasn’t one to complain so the conversation must have been getting to him.
“Kevin, Thom is uncomfortable. Why don’t we schedule this lecture about my life choices for later in the week?” Gray offered. “We can do it over lunch, my treat.”
“Oh, I don’t care about that,” Thom said, moving his hand in the air between Gray and Kevin as he shook his head. “Kevin nagging is par for the course. Before you got here, he was all over Eric about his credit card.”
Rolling his eyes, Eric said, “I’m supposed to get some card because of airline miles.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Want me to get the credit card?” Gray offered Kevin. “Will that get you off my back about being late?”
“You already have a card that gives you travel perks.”
“Kev, seriously, think about why you know that and consider getting less involved in our business.”
“Watch it.” Kevin pointed at Gray and narrowed his eyes dangerously. “People pay me a lot of money for my financial advice and you guys get it for free.”
“Which we appreciate,” Eric said. “Right, Thom?”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work out.” Thom shook his head.
Gray scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.
“He wasn’t talking to me,” Eric explained. “Thom, want to concentrate on the people sitting with you instead of on Jack?”
Gray sat up straight, his heart suddenly racing. “What happened to Jack?”
“Nothing happened to Jack.” Eric sighed and threaded his fingers with Thom’s. “Stop staring at them.”
Noticing that Thom’s gaze was fixed on a spot over his shoulder, Gray quickly twisted his back and peered across the room.
“I said Thom should stop staring, not that you should join him!”
Sure enough, he caught sight of Jack’s blond hair at the bar. Moving on autopilot, Gray pushed his chair back.
“What are you doing?” Eric asked nervously.
“I’m getting a drink.”
