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Ravi shook his head and pulled a face. “He’s a dick. He started saying that we needed stricter rules about allowing bisexuals too”—Ravi spelled the words slowly—"and if they got into a relationship with someone of the opposite gender, they had to take a sabbatical until they were queer presenting again. Luckily no one agreed with him on that, but the fact that anyone was on his side about anything made me feel like shit. And I’m tired of feeling like shit.”
Wren reached out and pulled Ravi close, giving him a kiss on his temple before letting go. “I know, but don’t stop fighting.”
“Like I would,” Ravi answered, elbowing him in the ribs before slinging an arm around his waist.
They paused as a car passed them, slow enough to be annoying with its blinding lights, and then it was gone. Wren gently stepped apart from his friend and turned the corner toward their house. He didn’t feel great. In fact, he felt a bit worse than he had when he got home from work, but having Ravi at his side mattered.
He hadn’t realized how important this sort of self-created family was until Caleb offered it to him. And whatever happened in his future, he knew he’d always have this.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I don’t think I can make it tod—” Tap, tap, tap. Percy deleted the text and started again. “Last night, I saw…” No. That wasn’t how he wanted to open up that conversation. He set his phone on the stone picnic table and stared down at the screen, where Wren’s message stared up at him.
Wren: Boba tonight?
He’d been sick over it since the night he’d been driving down the street near his new condo and had seen Wren and his not-boyfriend walking a dog. He’d been driving quickly and hadn’t slowed down because he wasn’t a creep, but he’d been given the perfect view of Wren gently holding the younger man.
Intimately.
Sweetly.
In all the ways Percy so desperately wanted to be held by Wren. It was foolish since Wren had been doing nothing but flying red flags, but Percy couldn’t help the way he felt. There must be something fundamentally wrong with him that he kept falling for these liars who took pleasure in screwing with his head.
Wren had been so goddamn sincere when he’d promised that Ravi was nothing more than a friend, and Percy had been far too eager to believe him. And men were just not that affectionate with their friends.
Were they?
Percy didn’t have a lot of friends to speak of, but the few he did have didn’t share roadside cuddles with him.
He just felt like a fool all over again. He should have called Wren’s bluff that day and had him go get Ravi. It would have hurt, but it would have saved him a lot of time trying to justify everything that had happened.
He’d also transferred that intern to IT, which meant he wouldn’t have to see her again, and now he felt even worse about that because she was probably telling the truth. Jesus, it was like Evan all over again. The man had turned bluffing and lying into a goddamn art form, and it had worked almost every single time.
And even when Percy did stand his ground, Evan would steadfastly refuse to back down from his bullshit to the point Percy just gave up trying.
Well, he wasn’t about to invite that into his life again. Not even over a friendship.
Rubbing his temples, he looked across the parking lot at his car. The sky was growing dark with the impending dusk, and he was feeling both good and bad after his ASL class. Anthony had been right about the fact that he’d catch up quickly. His vocabulary was still behind the other students, but being face-to-face with them, he was making far more progress than he’d done online.
But he’d gone through tonight’s class with a heavy weight on his chest because Wren’s text came in while he was walking through the doors, and it had been at the back of his mind throughout the whole lesson. He knew he needed to give Wren some kind of answer, but he just wasn’t sure what.
A shadow fell across his vision, and Percy startled, glancing up to see Anthony hovering nearby. Anthony smiled at him, his hand flat, middle finger touching his chest as he flicked it upward. ‘What’s up?’
Percy ran a hand down his face, then made an o under his chin and shook it. ‘Nothing.’
Anthony snorted and helped himself to the seat across from Percy. “Lying is a bad look on everyone, Percy. You don’t have to tell me since you don’t know me at all, but you look upset. Are you okay?”
Percy let out a tight laugh and stared down at the phone again. “Yes. No. I don’t—” He licked his lips and shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
“I got that,” Anthony said with a small grin. “If it helps, I’m a really good listener.”
Blowing out a puff of air, Percy dropped his arms to his sides. “There’s this guy. We had a…a thing. But we also had an agreement, you know. No second dates, no strings. Which was great, but now it’s less great because he wants to be friends, but I think he’s also a liar, and…” He stopped when Anthony put up a hand.
“Sorry, can I just…” He looked almost like he was in pain. “Is this about Wren?”
It was the tone in his voice that tipped Percy off, and his heart sank. “You too?”
Anthony shrugged and glanced away. “I’m engaged to the love of my life, and I’m so happy now, so I don’t want this to come across like I’m not over it.”
