Wes’ jaw dropped. “Are you fucking serious? No. You’re not. You can’t be.”
“When am I evernotserious?”
“Um, all the time?” Wes stared at him over the blender. “Why didn’t you say this last night? Why didn’t you tell mefirst thing?”
But Ramsey just shrugged, easy and casual. If he’d rushed to tell Wes, excited like an overgrown puppy with his first crush, Wes would never have believed it.
Telling Wes and Wes believing it was the trickiest part of this whole charade.
“What happened?” Wes looked fascinated. Worried, yes, but also extremely interested. “You know he’s a good guy, right?”
Ramsey rolled his eyes. “And what, I’m not?”
“No but you’re the fuck them and leave them type,” Wes said sternly.
“Maybe, maybe not.”
Wes looked even more boggled. “What.”
“Maybe everyone’s been right.”
“I’m sorry,what,” Wes repeated. He came around the island, giving Ramsey a hard look the whole journey.
“Maybe I—we—just needed to do something else,” Ramsey said nebulously.
Wes put his hands on Ramsey’s shoulders, his hazel eyes full of dubious concern. “And what would that be, exactly?”
There was a part of Ramsey that wanted to squirm away. To not say any of it. It wasn’t like heenjoyedlying to Wes. He wouldn’t enjoy lying to Brody either, and there was no question the first person Wes was going to text about this was Brody, despite his west coast time zone.
“How am I supposed to know yet?” Ramsey said, wide-eyed.
But Wes just shot him a look. “Don’t play that innocent bullshit routine with me. I know you too well.”
He did, and Ramsey had figured that it wouldn’t work, but it had been worth a try.
“It’s not like I’ve done this before,” Ramsey confessed. It was the truth, and he’d long since discovered that some carefully chosen truths were always more effective than the most well-constructed lie.
Wes’ expression softened. “No, you haven’t. You like him?”
Every muscle in Ramsey’s body tightened. Wes must have sensed it, and thankfully, he misinterpreted it—or at least misapplied the conclusion—because he said, “Okay, yeah it’s too soon for that, for you. Baby steps, right?”
Ramsey swallowed hard. “Yeah, sure.”
“If you like him, though, it’s okay,” Wes said casually.
There was no question that in addition to all the exclamation points Wes was going to send Brody, he was going to add,and Ramsey LIKES him.
It made Ramsey squirm, but he wasn’t sure he hated it. Or that it would be a lie.
Undoubtedly, Nate fascinated him. He wanted to know how his brain and his heart worked. He wanted to pick them apart and then put them back together until he understood everything about them. That was similar enough to liking him, right?
“Okay,” Ramsey said.
“But, we don’t have to talk about it. When are you seeing him next?”
“Not sure,” Ramsey said honestly. He’d told Nate they were playing it by ear, after he shot Ramsey that adorably affronted look about the phone number.
“Well, you should text him,” Wes said, returning around the counter to the blender with his protein shake.
