“It was a nice kiss,” Seth confirms.
His eyes look away, trailing movement across the room.
“He’s leaving.”
“He hates that I’m gay.”
“He’s jealous,” he repeats from earlier. “You should’ve seen the fire in his eyes while we were kissing.”
“You had your eyes open?” I ask, my tone indignant.
He shrugs, cavalier, like only Seth can be. “It was an experiment, and I can happily say, my assumptions were right.”
“Drake mentioned something about it last month.”
“Now there is a sexy piece of meat.”
As if I’m not sitting there, as if he hadn’t kissed my lips a moment before, Seth pulls out his phone and fires off a text.
“Really? Are you texting another guy right in front of me?”
His eyes find mine. “Careful, sweets. You sound like a jealous boyfriend. Damn it.”
“What?”
“Drake is busy later.”
I shake my head.
“Did you think we’d end up together tonight?”
I shake my head, because honestly, I really didn’t, even after the kiss.
“The kiss was only nice?”
He shrugs again. “You’ve always been in love with Landon. I’d never get in the way of that.”
“He hates that I’m gay,” I say again. “It wasn’t jealousy.”
Seth nods out the window. “Angry men leave. Jealous men stick around to stop their love interest from leaving with someone else.”
I hazard a look out the window, and sure enough, Landon is leaning against my car, his arms crossed, eyes locked on the two us through the window.
“I know why you’re frowning.”
“Because the guy is a complete douche?”
“Because you’re scared of getting your hopes up. I blamed Landon when we broke up, and yes, it was mostly because I was scared of being my true self, but he was always your end game.”
“Straight,” I snap.
“Not completely. Go talk to him.”
Annoyed by both the man in front of me and the one outside, I stand, just needing to get the hell away from all of it.
Seth’s hand lands on my arm after I drop a twenty on the table to pay for my meal.
“Just don’t push him too hard. It won’t be good for either of you.”
Chapter 7
Landon
Who cares if they know I’m standing out here brooding? It’s not like it made Rick hurry up his conversation with Seth.
God, I always hated that guy.
I growl, knowing that isn’t true. Seth was always cool in my book. For some reason, I both hated and liked when he and Rick broke up. I was angry my friend was hurt, but also a little happy I could spend more time with him.
I don’t know what pissed me off more, the public kiss or seeing how hot Seth has gotten.
What?
No, not hot.
I’m sure Rick noticed the man’s looks.
I shake my head. Fuck, what’s wrong with me?
I watch—more like glare—at the two of them for long minutes, until Rick finally stands from the table, wanting to growl when Seth touches his arm.
Are they making plans to hook up later? Why does it bother me if they did?
I don’t know what I was planning to say when Rick walks up to me, but I’m certain it was more verbal than staring at him when he got here.
Rick doesn’t open his mouth either, but it’s clear that he isn’t very happy that I’m responsible for ruining his make-out session.
My anger fades away, and not just like a slow leak. One minute I’m standing here livid, and the next I’m just… not.
I want to confess all the thoughts I had when I was with Keira earlier, that I think of him, that I miss him, that I want things to go back to the way they were.
I want to reach out to him, shake him if I have to until he agrees that this fight is fucking stupid, and we’d be fools to let it continue.
He was like a brother to me, and just like a brother, we’re locked in this ridiculous battle with only our own stubbornness keeping us apart.
Unbidden, my eyes drop to his lips.
Rick snarls, not missing where my gaze lands.
“Are you seriously pissed that I kissed Seth in public?”
My eyes lift back to his.
“Are you so fucking ashamed that I’m gay? Think I should live in a dark room because any level of intimacy with another man is disgusting to you?”
“No. Fuck, no. Why would you ever think that?”
“Not to mention the fact your dick was in Keira earlier. You know she has a boyfriend back in California, right? Ever think of Brandon when you’re fucking his woman? There’s more shame in that then two single, consensual men sharing an innocent kiss.”
“Brendon,” I clarify, not willing to touch on the fact that the kiss they shared was less than innocent. Rick looked like he was seconds away from climbing in the man’s lap and maybe that was the rub. I didn’t want Rick to do that with anyone.
“You piece of shit. You seriously know about him?”