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Sully and I never dated. Hell, we never had anything like what you’d call a relationship of any kind. Except we were friends and we sometimes fooled around. It’d been years since the last time. Hell, I’d still been in college that last time.
“You met somebody,” he says. He doesn’t even have to ask. That’s one of the best and worst things about people who’ve known you practically forever.
“Sort of,” I agree. “I met two somebodies.”
“Ah,” he says, sipping his drink. “That might be trouble.”
“Not the kind of trouble you might be thinking,” I say.
We’re quiet for a few minutes. That’s the best thing about Sully—he’s pretty much the best listener in the world. Shit, that’s how we’d ever hooked up in the first place. He’d let me ramble on and on about this crush one night after a football game and never once called me on it that I’d spent the whole conversation going on about another guy. When it belatedly dawned on me that I’d outed myself, Sully had kissed me until I couldn’t breathe.
There might have been beer involved.
“There’s this girl,” I say. I’ll have to be much more careful with my words today. “And then we met this guy. It’s… all three of us.”
Sully nods. “I see.”
“Then you’re further ahead than me.”
“If you’ve got him and her waiting for you, what the hell are you doing drinking with me in a bar on a Friday afternoon?”
“They’re working,” I say. I’m pretty sure that’s true, at least for Callie.
“Right,” he says. He waits, but not as long this time. “You’re lying.”
“I’m going to fuck it up,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because that’s what I do,” I say. “And even if I don’t fuck it up, it’s impossible.”
“Were you always this dramatic?” asks Sully. “I swear, I can’t remember.”
“Really impossible, Sully. There’s three of us.”
“I heard you the first time,” he says, his eyes back on Sherman’s ass. “But the thing is, West, you always did have a thing for long odds.”
That shuts me up.
“And even if you didn’t,” he continues, “if you want them and they want you, who the hell are you to throw that away? Do you have any idea how rare that is? How precious? Life is too goddamned short to screw around with a gift like that.”
“You sound like him,” I say, unable to help my smile. He sounds just like Raleigh.
“Then he’s probably less of a fool than you are.”
“I should go, is what you’re telling me.” I’m already digging for my keys.
“Get your ass out of here already,” he says.
“You need a ride or anything?”
Sully smiles. He’s grown into a damned attractive man. Two weeks ago, I’d have jumped at the possibility.
But Callie’s face and Raleigh’s eyes are still fresh in my mind, and I’ve got somewhere I’d desperately rather be right now.
“Don’t you worry about me,” says Sully, his eyes locked on the bartender. “I know my way home.”
21
