Chapter 14

Anthony

“You missed one hell of a night, dude.” Dave bends in the middle, hanging his arms low to stretch out his back.

“Yeah, I hate when being an adult gets in the way.” Lifting my leg, I grab my foot to stretch out my quad.

“Cooper scored a fucking supermodel, and Jon bagged twins.”

Cringing, I look over at him. “You don’t think that’s kind of gross?”

I mean to each their own I guess, but sisters at the same time has never been in my spank bank.

He shrugs. “I don’t think the girls fool around with each other, but two girls at the same time, related or not? That’s hella hot.”

I chuckle. “Have a thing for threesomes, huh?”

“Who doesn’t?”

Me, regardless of what my porn web history looks like.

“I mean,” he begins as he stands back up and shakes his arms out. “I haven’t had one, but it’s definitely on my bucket list.”

“You have a sexual bucket list?”

Grinning wide, he nods enthusiastically. “You don’t?”

“My bucket list is filled with things like walking the Great Wall of China and having balls big enough to try Everest one day.”

“So no three-ways for you?”

Shaking my head, I drop my right leg and lift the left. “I think one hundred percent focus on one person is important. I don’t want to have to split my attention between two people. If they’ve committed to sleeping with me, they deserve all of my focus, not a fraction of it.”

“It’s a one night stand, Anthony. Don’t take it so seriously.”

“What about you?” I ask, just to change the subject. Discussing the fact that I regularly engage in one night stands isn’t something I’m going to get into with him. “Did you luck out or strike out.”

“I, umm. I had things to do Sunday morning, so I called it an early night.”

“Adulting,” I say in commiseration. “I told you, it sucks.”

“Ready?”

“How many miles are we planning?” When he asked me if I was up for a run after work, I almost declined, but then realized I needed to find out what happened after I left Saturday. Talking about his friends’ sexcapades wasn’t high on my list, but I knew we’d have to muddle through that to get to the other stuff.

“I usually just run until I get tired.”

We start off slow.

“Should I be expecting a visit from Jon anytime soon?” I ask after a couple of minutes of our feet rhythmically hitting the trail.

Real casual Anthony.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how did he react when he was told I broke the rule and kissed his brother?”

That’s how I’ve had to think of him the last forty-eight hours to survive. If I think of him as anything more than Jon’s brother, I’m in trouble.

“I don’t think anyone told him.” He shrugs as we turn the bend in the trail and begin running toward the water.

“No one told him?” So the fuse has been lit on the bomb by my kissing him, but the explosion is still in limbo? Geez, that’s ten times worse than dealing with the fallout.

“Forgot about it I guess.”

“Forgot?” How in the hell can they forget something that has haunted my dreams, my every waking hour, and the time I’ve spent fisting my cock in the shower?

“Do you plan to tell him? Does Cooper?”

“I don’t know about Cooper, but I’m not getting in the middle of that shit.” His breaths are coming out in rough pants. He’s either getting worked up because he’s agitated with me, or he’s winded already from running. As much as I hope it’s because of the exercise, I know how fit this guy is. “You have no fucking idea what kind of Pandora’s Box you opened with that shit you pulled the other night.”

My steps stutter, and I fight to regain the couple of feet he’s gained on me.

“Besides,” he continues, “Jon is just as likely to kill the messenger with that news as he is to kill the perpetrator.”

I stumble again.

“I’ll just stop coming around,” I offer when I finally catch up to him again.

“Not an option. If you don’t show up anymore, he’ll know something is up.”

Shaking my head, I take a couple of deep breaths to get my breathing back under control. “He won’t even notice. We’ve only hung out like three times.”

I’ve hung out with the guys a couple of times. I’ve kissed Joey’s lips a couple of times. If I had to choose…

“Dude.” He slows enough so I’m not killing myself to keep up with him. “He fed you a steak. You’re part of the tribe now. He asked me to invite you to the guys’ weekend.”

“Guys’ weekend?” This is the first I’ve heard anything about it.

“We go fishing every year. He told me to make sure you can come along. He really likes you, dude.”

Fuck my life.

“I’ll see if the trip works with my schedule. I can handle being around the guys, but I can’t be around Joey.”

“Joey’s not going, but that’s gonna make the cruise incredibly awkward.”

“Cruise?”

“We all go on a cruise the week after the fishing trip.”

Shaking my head, I’m both disappointed and relieved. “I can’t take a week off from work.”

“Fishing is on the weekend, and the cruise is just five days and four nights,” he offers in explanation. “You can call in sick with the flu or something.”

“It’s not flu season,” I counter. “It’ll never work.”

“But you’re considering it?”

“No.” I shake my head again, more to convince myself than him. “I can’t be around him.”

“You’ll miss him in that speedo.”

I stumble yet again.

“Are you some kind of fucking double agent?”

Stopping altogether, I place my hands on my hips and wait for him to stop running and turn back in my direction.

“One minute you’re bruising my shoulder and warning me away from him. Telling me that you won’t even tell Jon that I kissed him because you’re worried about the backlash, and the next minute you’re taunting me with that fucking speedo? What gives, asshole?”

His grin is wicked enough that it makes me want to clock him in the jaw.

“I know you like him.”

“I’m not allowed to like him,” I remind him.

“True.” He taps his finger against his chin dramatically.

It takes everything I have not to growl at him. “This isn’t a fucking game, Dave.”

His eyes widen, head snapping back a couple of inches at my anger.

“Oh, you really like him.”

“I wouldn’t have risked getting my ass kicked by his brother if I didn’t.”

Truth time? I didn’t even realize I’d crossed the room until my lips were against his.

“So you wouldn’t have kissed him if you didn’t like him a lot?”

“Dude.” I give him an are you serious look. “I would’ve ended up kissing him again eventually, but I would’ve had better control over the timing than I did Saturday night.”

“Again?”

Fuck. Busted.

“Yeah,” I shrug acting as nonchalant as I can manage. “I’ve thought about it a million times.”

“Then it sounds like you need to make every effort to be on the cruise.”

I’m certain I’m going to end up with a concussion from all of the head shaking I’ve been doing lately. “It’s the last place I need to be.”

“Nope,” he objects. “You need to be everywhere he is.”

“Have you not been listening? I can’t be around him. All I want to do is kiss him, put my hands on—”

“Stop.” He holds his hand up in front of my face.

“My mouth is watering just think—”

“One more time,” he interrupts, “and I’ll punch you in your nose.”

“Sorry,” I mumble.

“He is a sexy guy,” Dave mumbles making my eyebrow quirk up.

I almost punch him in the nose for the comment. I opt to growl like a beast instead. The smile that spreads across his cheeks almost makes me reconsider my choice.

“Just by that reaction, I can tell how much you like him, and you turned down the chance to find some tail the other night. Those two things alone tell me even though I don’t know much about you, you’re a decent guy.” He claps me on the shoulder and directs us back in the direction we just came. “That’s why you need to be around him as much as possible.”

“Like what? A way to desensitize me to him?” I’m shaking my head once again. “It’ll only make it worse.”

“You want to hear about him hooking up with someone else? Risk the chance of not going one night to the Tavern and hearing about his after-hours fun the following weekend?”

“Fuck no,” I hiss. “Is that his thing? Does he hook up like you guys do? Andi?”

“I don’t think Joey has been on a date in a year. Andi has tried several times, but Jon is the only man she can see.”

“So I don’t have anything to worry about.”

What am I doing? Actually considering a shot with Joey? Being around him is one thing, but it doesn’t get rid of this Written in Jon rule that his brother can’t date his friends and vice versa, or the fact that we technically work together and there’s a fraternization policy, and it definitely doesn’t take into account that I told myself I was flying the straight and narrow. I snort at the mental use of the word straight.

“You really want to risk that he decides it’s time to start dating and you’re not there?” Such an asshole.

“Fine.” I shrug. “I’ll just date him and not be Jon’s friend.”

Best solution ever. I can watch baseball all by myself, with Joey in my arms, naked. If he’s willing to not tell anyone, then the issue with work would be resolved also.

“Idiot,” Dave murmurs as we draw closer to our vehicles. “He gave you steak remember?”

“Fuck.”

“Like I said. Make sure you’re on that cruise. Things get kinda crazy in Mexico.”

“Fuck,” I mutter again.