Nate had a feeling if he hung back, Aidan would do the Aidan thing where he took over, and not surprisingly, he did, stepping forward. Offering his hand and introducing himself.
“You’re the QB, huh? Mentoring Wes here?” Ramsey asked.
But Nate had a feeling that if Ramsey was as close to Wes as it seemed, Ramsey knew exactly who Aidan was. This was justanother part of the act. Another facet of the shiny, hard surface that he worked so hard to maintain.
Aidan nodded. “Hockey, huh?” he said to Ramsey.
Nate felt a little more justified then that he’d missed it too. But then Ramsey was so gorgeous, he’d never have expected a hockey player to look like him. Maybe that was stupid or short-sighted, but it was still true.
Dawson approached next, and Nate wasn’t surprised by that either. Dawson was single, and while he and the rookie punter hung around each other some, anyone with eyes was going to make a move on Ramsey.
Speaking of the rookie punter, he added a flustered, “Oh my God, you’re hot.”
Ramsey didn’t look even the tiniest bit shocked by that outburst. How many times a day must he hear that? Nate wondered if he got tired of it. If he ever wanted to walk around with a paper bag over his head.
But Ramsey did surprise Nate because he didn’t shoot Cam that cool and careful put-down, the way he had the bartender back in June. He just smiled, a glimpse into the Ramsey behind the mask, and teased back, “Hey, so are you, kid.”
Nate was still smarting over how their one night together had ended. Ramsey had the capability to be cruel, even if he hadn’t been cruel to the kid, now.
The demon twins approached next.
Wes listed them all off. “That’s Cameron, we like to call him Cam. Then there’s Levi. Lane. Trevor. And Nate.”
Nate was pretty sure Wes wasn’t aware they knew each other. Instead, his final inclusion on the list was because he was hanging back. Maybe he didn’t want a night out after all. Maybe he actually wanted to escape this bar and go far away, somewhere Ramsey wasn’t.
Ramsey greeted everyone smoothly, with the kind of charm Nate expected of him. He hoped that by the time Ramsey got to him, there wouldn’t be much left. But of course that wasn’t true.
When Ramsey looked over at him, meeting his eyes for what felt like the first time since that night—since they’d walked into the kitchen and Nate had stupidly flicked the lights on—he smiled, and even though nothing Nate had said to any of the other guys had even registered, Nate absorbed every word Ramsey said to him.
“Nate, yeah? It’s good to meet you.”
It was only seven words, but every single onehit.
He should say something but all he could do was nod, stupidly. Relieved when Ramsey moved on, like it hadn’t really mattered what Nate did or didn’t do.
“I got us one of the private rooms,” Ramsey said, the whole group clustering around him like he was starting a cult. Natehated it.
Nate had known Ramsey was going to play it like they hadn’t ever met. That they’d never kissed. That he hadn’t ever been inside of him. But it was one thing to be sure of it, in his own mind, and it was another entirely to hear Ramsey perform the lie.
He’d expected it, but it still felt like shit.
Like he’d been just another guy, despite that he’d been telling himself the whole summer that he’d, in fact, beenjust another guy.
Was he hurt? Was he angry? An ugly, toxic blend of both?
“There’s different private rooms?” Dawson asked as they headed to the bar.
Nate had spent the last minute debating whether he’d turn around and leave, but if he did that, even if he figured out a half-assed excuse, it would look weird to his teammates. But even more than that, Ramsey wouldknow. He’d know he wasbothered by his presence, and Nate refused to give him the satisfaction.
“Oh yeah. Several different gaming rooms. Pool tables and darts. A poker room. A library. And the vault,” Ramsey said, his voice weaving around the group like he was the Pied Piper in that children’s fairy tale.
“There’s an actual vault? Holy shit. That’s so fucking cool,” Lane said.
Lane hit on everything that moved; it was inevitable he’d end up sleeping with Ramsey. Nate just hoped that he wouldn’t have to witness it, because he liked Lane a lot. And he didn’t want Ramsey to poison their friendship.
“Next time we’ll try that one out,” Ramsey said, winking.
It felt like a performance. Pitched perfectly to the group he was with. But then of course he knew how to deal with professional athletes—hewasone.
