“Nothing.” He held up his phone. “Found it.” It said virtually the same as what Cate had told him.
They ate in silence for a moment, but he felt Cate’s gaze on him.
Eventually she set her croissant on top of the bag. “Um, Ian...”
He looked up to find her grimacing slightly. “What?”
“I may have told Blake that you took someone home last night.” She waited, watching for his reaction. “That’s okay, right?”
Swallowing his mouthful, Ian closed his eyes for a moment, trying to sort out how he felt. Weird still seem to be the best descriptor. “What did he say?”
Her expression softened, and Ian braced himself. “He said, ‘Good for him. ’Bout time he got some action.’ He sounded really happy for you,” she added, as though that was a good thing.
Ian blew out a breath and sat there for a moment, looking up at the ceiling. He hadn’t expected Blake to be wracked with jealousy or anything, but...Fuck that, he’d thought he might at least be a little jealous. The fact that he wasn’t the least bit bothered hammered home how he really didn’t see Ian like that. At all.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he said when Cate was starting to look anxious. “I’m not bothered that you told him.” He ate the rest of his breakfast in two bites and reached for his coffee.
“You sure?” She threw the empty bag in the bin and turned to look at him. “Because you kinda look a bit pissed off.” She waved a finger at his face.
Was he frowning? Maybe. “Fine. I thought he might’ve been a bit jealous of me taking someone home. I should’ve known better.”
She reached out and gave his knee a squeeze, then grinned at him. “You really fucking should. I love him, but he’s an insensitive arsehole sometimes and you deserve better.”
He shook his head at her but found himself smiling at her bluntness. “I’ll tell him you said that.”
She shrugged. “He already knows.”
Ian didn’t know if she was referring to Blake being an arsehole or Ian deserving better. He was saved from asking by the door buzzing again. “Go let him in, would you?” Normally Blake would just use his key, like he had for the front of the building. Apparently the thought of Ian having someone there had given him pause.
Cate stood and looked down at him. “Okay, but you might want to get up and put some clothes on. Unless you want me to bring him back in here?”
He glanced down at the rumpled sheets and the crumpled tissues on the floor near the bin—which Cate hadn’t spotted, thank God. “No. Go wait in the lounge, I’ll be there in a sec.”
She shut the door behind her, and Ian rubbed a hand over his eyes.
Of course he didn’t get to laze in bed and enjoy the post-sex ache of well-used muscles. Of course!
Voices in the hallway spurred him into action.
Five minutes later he was dressed and had cleaned his teeth. That was as much as he could be arsed to do.
With a deep breath, he opened his bedroom door and headed to the lounge.
Hopefully no one would bring up last night.
As soon as he entered the room, Blake turned and grinned at him. “I hear you got lucky last night?” He waggled his eyebrows. “Cate said he was hot too.”
Ian smirked, feeling a little smug. “Yeah, he was.” He was almost tempted to show Blake Jesse’s picture, but he refrained.
To Ian’s surprise, things didn’t feel as awkward as he’d expected. Blake took the piss exactly as he normally would, and Ian found himself relaxing into their easy banter.
He pointed a finger at Blake. “Pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who pulled last night.”
“Meh. We swapped blowjobs in his car. I didn’t take him home or anything.”
Cate wrinkled her nose. “Jesus, Blake, you’re thirty-one, not nineteen.”
Blake laughed, waving away her concerns, and settled back into the cushions. “He had to go somewhere after, and I was horny.”
