“You can leave if you want, you know.”
Tyler flinched and turned his head. He forced a smile when he found Miles standing there, nursing a beer. “The birthday boy!” He raked his hand through Miles’s gold-brown hair, earning a deeply unimpressed stare from him.
“I’m serious,” Miles said. “You look like you’d rather be somewhere else. I won’t take offense if you decide to ditch our boring family party. Though Nick might.”
Tyler glanced Nick’s way, but he still seemed engrossed in his conversation with Brad. “Right. He didn’t even notice my arrival.” He was pretty damn proud of how indifferent and casual he managed to sound.
Miles snorted. “Yeah, sure. You know how weird he is about you.”
Tyler looked at him with a frown. “Weird? Don’t be silly.”
“Come on, he’s always been weird about you.”
“In what way?” Tyler asked, against his better judgment.
Miles glanced toward Nick and Brad. “Like, the fact that he’s never dated a blond in his life. There have been, like, fifteen blokes he’s bothered to introduce to us over the years, and all of them were dark-haired.”
Tyler wet his dry lips, unsure where Miles was going with it. “He has a type.”
Miles shrugged. “Maybe,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced. He smiled crookedly at Tyler. “You know, being the baby of the family has its advantages: you hear and notice shit the ‘adults’ remain blind to. I’m pretty sure even Nick thinks he has a type. And maybe he does.” He shrugged again. “Our subconscious can be funny like that. He’s always disliked the whole gay-guy-pining-after-straight-best-mate cliché.”
Tyler opened his mouth and closed it. Miles didn’t know what he was talking about. Nick didn’t…Nick had never been weird about him—at least not until recently. The mere idea that Tyler somehow influenced the choice of Nick’s boyfriends was laughable. Completely laughable. They were just friends. They had been friends. Nick had never seen him as anything but a friend—until Tyler forced Nick to see him as a fuck-buddy.
“You’re wrong,” Tyler managed at last. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
Miles shrugged, already looking at his phone distractedly. “Wanna bet how long the new bloke will last before Nick will find some fault in him and ditch him? A week, two weeks tops.”
“I think they’ve already been together for a month,” Tyler said.
“Really?” Miles said, tapping something on his phone. “We found out about that bloke’s existence an hour ago.”
Tyler blinked.
“Go home if you’re bored, Ty.” Miles wandered away.
Tyler hesitated. He did want to leave, but at the same time he felt paranoid that if he left, Nick would take Brad upstairs and—
“Ugh,” Tyler grumbled, frustrated with himself. He was being ridiculous. His presence wouldn’t stop Nick from taking Brad upstairs or kissing him in front of everyone, for that matter. Tyler was no one. Well, not no one, but…
Pursing his lips, Tyler shot another look Nick’s way and scowled when he saw that Brad was leaning into Nick’s personal space. Nick wasn’t encouraging him, his hands in the pockets of his dark trousers, but he wasn’t pulling away, either. Tyler wanted—he wanted—he fucking wanted to scream from frustration.
He wasn’t supposed to feel this way, bloody hell. Nick was his best friend. His very male best friend. What was wrong with him?
Nick’s gaze suddenly shifted to Tyler, for what felt like the first time that evening. Nick’s expression was odd. He seemed…annoyed? With whom? Tyler was just standing there, minding his own business.
Confused, Tyler watched Nick more closely.
Nick did seem to pay a lot of attention to Brad, but every once in a while, he would glance Tyler’s way and his gaze would become darker, his jaw would clench in that distinctly irritated way. Tyler was completely confused. Who was Nick irritated with? Tyler? Himself?
Maybe Nick was irritated that Tyler wasn’t making any effort to befriend his date?
Tyler frowned. To be totally honest, he didn’t feel like making any effort to befriend that pretty little prick.
But maybe he should. If Nick was serious about Brad, he would want his best bro to get along with his boyfriend, right?
Ignoring the ugly, tight feeling in his gut, Tyler slowly wandered toward Nick and Brad.
“Hey,” Nick said when he approached them. Something shifted in his expression before he slung an arm around Tyler’s shoulders loosely. The gesture was so perfectly friendly and casual that it had no business making Tyler so damn aware of him. Tyler breathed shallowly in the familiar scent of Nick’s aftershave and tried to pretend he didn’t feel like shoving his face against Nick’s throat and breathing in.
“Brad, Tyler,” Nick said. “I don’t think you’ve been officially introduced yet.”
“Nice to meet you,” Brad said, barely looking Tyler’s way. His eyes were only on Nick. He was practically drooling. It was sickening.
Tyler mumbled something noncommittal, trying to suppress the ridiculous urge to tell that prick to stop ogling Nick.