Nate tensed, envy surging through him even as he denied, denied,deniedthat he wished it was him, not Aidan.
“You’re not what everyone says you are,” Ramsey said. There was a knowing look in his eyes. Like he knew if he just kickedoff this conversational topic, where it would head, and where it would end up.
“What does everyone say I am?” Aidan wondered.
Of fucking course he took the bait. Aidan had beendesignedto take the bait.
“Don’t listen to him, bro,” Trevor inserted earnestly. “You’re the best.”
“No, no I really want to hear this,” Aidan said with an unsurprising frown.
“Hey,” Ramsey said, “are you alright? I don’t have to—”
“No, tell me,” Aidan insisted.
Ramsey just shrugged. “Nothing bad. Just serious. Intense. Works hard. Never takes a break. No fun.” Then his face suddenly broke out into a grin, and it was blinding. That smile should be registered as a weapon. Or maybe it was just Nate who it affected that strongly. “But you’re kinda fun, actually.”
“Don’t tell him that, it’s just gonna go to his head, and his ego’s already big enough,” Levi teased.
“My ego’s the perfect size,” Aidan claimed.
Levi glanced at him, clearly delighted, and Nate knew then that they’d end up together. It was so obvious, the way they circled each other. The inevitability in the way they fit. Aidan quieter, more intense, Levi lighter and sweeter.
“Oh, it is, baby,” Levi said.
Ramsey glanced over at them and then back at Nate, his blue eyes suddenly burning.
Nate glanced away first. Couldn’t help it.
It was stupid he’d ever thought he and Ramsey might be something more. Like their first night together was the beginning of their journey, not the end.
They weren’t Aidan and Levi, everything laid out before them, all dazzling possibility.
The group split up after that. Aidan and Levi headed back to the former’s apartment. Probably to flirt more and pretend that they both didn’t want so much more. Lane wanted to try some other bar, and tried to get Nate to join him, but Nate was tired and grumpy. Plus he knew from the way Lane kept eyeing Trevor that Nate wasn’t who he wanted to join him anyway.
He settled at the bar for a last drink, hoping to drink it in a melancholy silence.
But of course, that wasn’t going to happen. He’d just taken his first sip when Ramsey slid onto the barstool next to him.
Wes hadn’t wanted to head back to his apartment without him, but the thing about Wes was that he alsoknewRamsey, so he also knew that Ramsey was going to do what he was going to do, and there was typically nothing Wes could do to stop it.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Wes said, and though he still didn’t know what had happened with Nate two months ago, it was like he had a sixth sense that something was going on.
That Ramsey wasn’t going to leave well enough alone and he wasn’t going to leave Nate alone.
Wes probably just thought Ramsey didn’t appreciate that Nate had apparently disliked him on sight, and he wasn’t going to correct Wes’ assumption.
“When have I ever done anything stupid?” Ramsey asked smoothly.
But Wes just rolled his eyes and tapped him on the shoulder. “Don’tsleep with him, okay?”
Ha.Ha.
And this was exactly why Ramsey hadn’t told Wes about what had happened in June. He’d get this disappointed look on his face. He wouldn’tsayit, but he’d be thinking it. Turned out thatit was even worse in Ramsey’s imagination than it ever was in reality, but that didn’t mean Ramsey didn’t go out of his way to avoid it.
“I’ll do my best,” Ramsey said dryly.
“Good,” Wes said, nodding.
