Chapter 27

Joey

My mouth is still open, tongue working on nothing but air when Anthony releases me so fast I’m confused as to what the hell is going on.

When he turns, I notice Dave standing in my now open doorway. He’s glaring, head shifting as he looks at both of us over and over again.

“What if he was naked, asshole?” Anthony spits.

Well, that’s not exactly how I would handle this situation.

“If he were naked, in here, with you, I’m not the only one in the house you’d need to be concerned with,” Dave whisper-yells.

“You need to knock on his fucking door before just barging in.”

Dave turns his full attention to Anthony. “Because you don’t want to get caught?”

“Because he deserves fucking privacy!”

“Guys.” I take a step around Anthony to stand in between them with my arms held out. “This situation is going to get worse if you two don’t lower your voices.”

“He wasn’t worried about Jon while he had his tongue down your throat,” Dave grumbles.

Anthony takes a step closer to me so the tips of my fingers are pressed against his hard chest. Uncontrollably, they flex against the muscle, and I’ve never hated the sight of Dave more than I do right now.

“Do you honestly think your big brother would be okay with this?” He points, shifting his finger between Anthony and me.

“Big brother?” I sigh. “Dave, he’s six minutes older than me.”

“There’s nothing going on,” Anthony says as if we hadn’t been caught red-handed.

It’s fucking complicated alright.

“Dude?” Dave grunts.

“What is your problem?”

Anthony is trembling with agitation against the palm of my hand, and once again it makes me think back to the power he had when he moved me and repositioned me on the bed exactly the way he wanted me yesterday. I’m not a small guy, but Anthony is just muscles on top of muscles. Shaking my head, I try to refocus.

“One minute you’re enticing me with the thoughts of him, and the next you’re trying to act like some overprotective guardian.”

“Hold up.” I snap my head in Anthony’s direction. “You guys are talking about me?”

“We weren’t.” Even though I look back at Dave, I hear the lie in his voice before I see it on his face.

“I’ve known you almost all of my life, David Smith. You never were a good liar.” Dropping my hand from Anthony’s chest, I clench my fist and face Dave fully. “There’s a rule.”

“Another one?” Anthony sounds frustrated, and I wonder if it’s the unrelieved sexual ache that I’m also feeling.

“Are you going to stand there and tell me you and Andi don’t talk about us when you’re alone.” Dave petulantly crosses his arms over his chest. He’s deflecting since he’s never been one to appreciate scrutiny when’s it’s being turned on him.

“That’s different,” I argue because he’s completely right.

“No, it’s not.”

Hitching my thumb over my shoulder in Anthony’s direction, I say, “He’s an outsider. That’s the damn rule, and you know it.”

“Thanks,” Anthony grumbles at the distinction.

“Exactly,” Dave says and points around me. “He’s not an outsider, and that’s my whole fucking point. That rule trumps the no gossiping with outsiders rule.”

“I’m torn,” Anthony interjects almost comically.

“You should probably get out of here,” I tell Anthony as I face him. “We aren’t going to solve anything tonight.”

His eyes on my lips and the way he presses his lips together makes me consider the consequences of knocking Dave unconscious so the two of us can continue what he interrupted.

His hand flexes as if he’s going to reach out to me, but as if he thinks better of it, it drops back down to his side. Without a word, he walks past Dave, who has some common sense and moves from the doorway so Anthony can get by.

Dave and I stare at each other until the front door opens and closes, only this time, Anthony walking away doesn’t carry the same sting as it did yesterday. I can live with that, for now anyway.

“What is your problem?” I ask after grabbing Dave’s arm and tugging him inside my room so I can shut the door.

“You’re in dangerous territory, Joey.”

Most days, I love the big brother act. It makes me feel loved, but today I could throat punch this asshole for sticking his damn nose where it doesn’t belong.

“Not for long,” I mutter as I climb back into my bed, pulling the covers up to my chin.

“And what exactly does that mean? You’re actually going to give him up?”

“Why do you sound disappointed in that?” He shrugs, and my confusion only grows. “Have you ever been evaluated for being bipolar?”

“Oddly, you’re not the first person to ask me that this week.” His weak smile isn’t enough to deter me.

“Tell me what you guys talked about.”

“It’s between us,” he says shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

“Not when it’s about me.”

“Tell me what you meant by not for long?”

Hands twisting together under the covers, I look up at him. “I’m moving out.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I am.”

“You can’t.”

“I’m perfectly capable of making my own adult decisions,” I bark, hating his ability to piss me off so easily. “I can’t have my own life with three guys telling me what to do all of the time.”

“There are four of us,” he corrects. “But you’re not including Anthony, are you?”

“What did you two talk about? Why would I even come up in conversation?”

“Joey.” A frustrated hand runs through his hair. “I explained to him that you’re off limits.”

“He said you were enticing him, and it had to do with me.”

“I was trying to convince him to join us on the cruise. You seemed like the best bait.”

I freeze at his words. Anthony on the cruise with us sounds amazing, and also like the very last thing I need. There’s no way for me to keep my eyes, my hands, and various other body parts away from him if we were on a ship together. Jon would find out, and our worlds would come crashing down, and when Anthony backpedals and claims he isn’t gay, I’ll be left looking like a damn fool. No thank you.

But… Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I could make Jon see that Anthony and I work perfectly together, and if I’m able to convince Anthony that being with me is better than any backlash he’ll catch over people knowing he’s gay… It’s the reminder that Andi would press Jon even harder that keeps me from considering the idea completely.

“Bait?” I ask instead.

“In retrospect, maybe it was a bad idea because now he seems to think I’ve given him permission to pursue you.”

“Permission? Seriously? You just need to stay out of it. It’s none of your business.”

“Jon losing his shit isn’t any of my business?”

“I’ll deal with my brother.” I slide even deeper into my bed. “I need to go to sleep.”

He allows my dismissal without another word as he leaves my room. I hear him in the hallway opening the linen closet, grumbling about having to get his own sheets and blankets.

Grateful that it was Dave that came into my room tonight and not my brother, I close my eyes and try to force my racing brain to shut the hell up so I can get some sleep. I know we’re only putting off the inevitable. There’s no possible way Anthony and I can continue whatever it is we’re doing without him finding out eventually.

Being the stubborn person that I am, I push those thoughts as far away as I can manage and let ideas of what could happen if Anthony came on the cruise filter through my head.

Drawing from prior experiences and things I’ve seen other couples doing, I imagine it’s only Anthony and me together. I don’t let my brother or our mutual friends enter the equation at all.

Dancing, swimming in waters so blue they don’t seem real, and the things we could do locked inside of a tiny room on the cruise ship are enough to make me hate Dave even more. I have an ache all over from Anthony walking away leaving me unsatisfied because of his intrusion. That irritation leads to thoughts of smothering Dave in his sleep for opening my door once again without permission.

Which leads to the memory of how protective and jealous Anthony sounded when he warned Dave to knock so he won’t see me naked.

Not protective.

Possessive, as if he’s the only one with the right to see my body.

Imagining his propriety brings me back full circle as I picture some guy taking liberties on a beach in Cozumel and Anthony beating his ass for even looking at me before sweeping me off of my feet and having his filthy, dirty way with me in a cabana on the water’s edge.

It’s those thoughts that carry me into sleep with some of the most vivid dreams I’ve ever had.