I shrug. “I don’t know, Otter,” I whisper. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”
His brow furrows subtly. “What? Creed?”
I nod.
He brings up my hands and kisses them gently. “Just say the word, and I’ll worry about Creed,” he tells me. “Until then, I promise to be good.” He grins. “But you’re going to owe me,” he says, kissing my hands again. “Just because Creed is here doesn’t mean there’s going to be a dry spell for the next couple of months. If I need to, I’ll knock him out and stuff him in my trunk until I’ve had my way with you eight or nine times.”
He finally gets me, and I laugh. He smiles at me and leans down to kiss me on the lips, and I close my eyes in anticipation and have a chance to think, Maybe it will work out okay, and then I hear Creed and the Kid thumping down the stairs. I hiss and move quickly to the other side of the kitchen, hiding my growing erection behind the counter of the island. Otter smirks at me and shakes his head, and I can see that shadow cross his face again, ever brief but there n
onetheless. I know somehow I’m causing it, but I don’t know what to do. I open my mouth to say something, anything, to make the situation just a little bit better, but Creed walks in, the Kid upon his back. He sets him down on the counter and then looks at me.
“Well?” he asks, his face suddenly serious.
“Well, what?” I say, trying to shrug nonchalantly. It comes out as a seizure, and I hit myself in the ear.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Creed growls, his eyes flashing.
The ocean rises, and the storm crashes, and the white noise in the back of my head rushes forward. I look at Ty, whose eyes are wide. He shakes his head behind Creed’s back, trying to tell me he didn’t say anything to Creed while they were upstairs. Otter’s staring stupidly at Creed, his mouth open.
“Tell you what?” I say, my voice wavering.
He walks and stands in front of me, his face a few inches from my own. He props his hands at his side, cocks his head to the left, and squints his eyes. I know he’s found out, and I know he’s trying to figure out how in God’s name I ended up fucking his brother. He knows, and he’s going to freak out and kick my ass, and Otter will let him because it’ll be what I deserve. I try to think of as many rebuttals as I can, but nothing comes to mind. Roaring panic is never a great place to be in when trying to think of quick lies.
“About you and Anna!” he says to me. “I had to hear it from her?”
“Me and… who? Me and Anna?” I say, still trying to think of a lie. One half of my brain still has not caught up with the other, and I don’t get what he’s saying.
“You guys broke up!” Creed exclaims, punching me on the shoulder. “How the hell could you not tell me that? I knew something was wrong with you when I spoke to you last night!”
“Uh, yeah,” I say, believing in God 100 percent. “Yeah, we did.”
“I called her this morning when I got back,” he says, pushing past me to open the fridge. He pulls out beers (I thought you didn’t want to drink anymore! I think wildly) and hands one to me and Otter and cracks his open. “She told me you guys broke up last weekend,” he continues, propping himself against the counter. “She didn’t really say why, though. She sounded really funny about it.”
I nod and drink three-quarters of the beer down in a single pull.
“Well?” he barks at me.
“Well, what?” I say, drooling the ale down my chin.
“Bear! What the fuck happened!”
“Oh. Oh, uh, it ended.”
He rolls his eyes and smacks me upside the head. “Are you broken tonight or something?” he scowls at me. “I know it ended, Bear, but thank you for refreshing that fact. I want to know why.”
I steal a glance at Otter and Ty for help, but they are staring everywhere but at me. I sigh and look back to Creed. I take another drink. “It… wasn’t working out?” I hazard.
He gives me a hard gaze. “Bear, you’re going to have to do better than that. I go away for two weeks and come back and everything is in disarray!” He holds up his hand and starts counting off. “You and Anna are broken up. The Kid is spending the night at friends’ houses. Otter has done a complete one-eighty over something. I swear to Christ it’s like the whole goddamn world is ass-backwards, and I don’t know what the hell is going on!”
I shrug again. “It just wasn’t the same anymore,” I tell him slowly. “She and I weren’t… meshing very well. As for the Kid, he’s trying something different, I guess. And Otter… Otter must… be in a good mood?” This last part comes out as a squeak, and I see Otter cover his mouth and try to conceal his laughter. I remind myself to kill him later.
Creed takes another drink and leans in and whispers (though loud enough for all to hear), “I think Otter’s back together with Josh or Jason. He won’t tell me, though, the fag.”
“His name is Jonah,” I say flatly, without meaning to.
Creed appears startled. “Well, Jonah, then.” He throws a dishrag at Otter’s head and says, “He’s not saying a goddamn thing to me about it, though. It sounds like you know more about it. Remind me to ask you later.”
“I told you I’m not back with Jonah,” Otter retorts, throwing the rag back at Creed, who sidesteps it and lets it fall onto the countertop.