Page 26 of Devour

“Uh-huh. Sure.” My eyes rolled so hard, my eyeballs should’ve fallen out and landed in my lap. Rather than argue, I grabbed one of the menus left on the table.

“Have some faith in me,” Rhory said, his voice rumbling on the last word. Oh, he would never make it through this dinner. No way in heck.

I chuckled to myself, not only from Rhory’s word choice, but also at the realization he’d be crawling out of his skin until Asher left—and he hadn’t even arrived yet.

“Hey.” Asher did a quick sweep from me to Rhory and back again, then took a seat across the table from us. “Em told me you two kept in touch, but ah… wow.”

“Like I’d let him ditch his ball and chain.” While Rhory spoke, his gaze burned right through me.

I lifted a brow at Asher and swung out a hand toward Rhory to imply, “See what I have to deal with?”

Beneath the table, Rhory’s thigh bounced in place, which made the chain on his shorts create a melody of impatience. Tilting my head at him, I said, “Go ahead.”

“I can stay.” Shake. Shake. Shake.

“I think Asher and I can survive by ourselves.”

“Okay, real quick. Then I’ll be right back,” he muttered while standing, ending the soft jingle momentarily.

“Very good,” I said with a wide smile.

If anything could motivate Rhory, it would be praise. The irony never failed to entertain me, and not only because I also enjoyed his… fulfillment. Rhory bit into his lower lip while he watched me, but Asher didn’t notice.

“Now, go,” I said with a wave of my hand.

And… Rhory took off like a kid set loose in a candy store with a fistful of cash to spend. Not at all suspicious. Not in the slightest.

“Is he—?”

“He’s fine,” I interrupted, “and I know you don’t really care enough to talk about him.”

“Hey, I don’t hate him. Just surprised to see him here. With you.” When Asher failed to convince me of his sincerity, he added, “I know back then I was…”

“Bitter? Jealous? Petty? Stop me any time.”

“Yes, all yes. I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” I grumbled.

“Ironic, coming from you.”

“Not your priest. Not a priest at all, actually. I won’t be ordained as a deacon until I finish seminary. You’d know that if you picked up your phone.”

Asher inhaled and nodded. “I deserve that. I distanced myself and let our friendship fall apart.” He folded and unfolded his hands. “But I never hated Rhory. I resented him for being so out in the open.”

I hummed in understanding, not agreement. So far, Asher wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know.

“Back then, I sort of knew that I wasn’t totally straight, and I thought maybe you weren’t either, but…” He stopped mid-sentence and muttered, “Sorry, this is embarrassing.”

“I’m not. You’re embarrassed?” Gosh, when did I become Rhory?

“Yes,” Asher said. “I’m embarrassed for not trusting you more, then getting so bitter over being proved wrong. You were my closest friend, but I still thought that maybe because of all the religious stuff… that maybe you wouldn’t take it well.”

Well, that didn’t feel good to hear. I liked to think Asher knew me better than that. Clearly not.

“And you and Rhory, you just…”

“We just what?” I huffed.

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