He sent Kaiden a text, which almost immediately showed a “read” message below. No surprise. Kaiden had a habitual need to read and respond to any message as quickly as possible. This anxious quirk Dylan had always found cute.
The floating bubbles of a response danced on Dylan’s phone for the better part of a minute. Hell, he spent so much time staring at their rhythmic bounce that his screen actually turned black in the process. When Dylan swiped his phone back to an open screen, he found the bubbles had vanished. The message remained on read, but Kaiden didn’t respond to the simple check-in message.
That didn’t bode well in Dylan’s mind. Kaiden could be having a million feelings about their friendship right now, about their kiss, and for the first time in the three years since they’d known each other, he was dodging Dylan.
With no response, Dylan followed up with Rus from this morning, figuring he’d be leaving his first class right about now.
Dylan sat quietly, contemplating, searching for the right words to send his next message.
It made sense. Rus swooped in real fast to make a move on Kaiden the second an opportunity presented itself. And when Kaiden made a request for Rus to kiss Dylan, he obeyed almost immediately.
That made Dylan’s heart flutter. Then the flutter quickly twisted into knots that turned into a pit weighing on his stomach.
Bubbles danced, then stopped as Rus clearly contemplated what to reply with next.
Rus sent a barrage of crying laughing emojis.
They continued texting for a bit, sending silly GIFs until Dylan was called back by the dentist to discuss Chelsea’s cavities. He started checking his schedule and writing down information to relay to Jasmine.
Afterward, he returned to the waiting room as Yazmin was finally called back.
Dylan wondered what the result of a few days to reflect would be. In what direction would his feelings settle? Part of him wanted to explore this curiosity with Rus. Another part of himwanted to find out where his feelings for Kaiden had been this entire time. It was as if one moment he was looking at his best friend and the next, he was lost in this deep, sweeping desire to explore everything with Kaiden.
Maybe friendship was the best route. Dylan couldn’t fathom deciding between Rus and Kaiden. He also couldn’t imagine dating one of them and staying just friends with the other while the three of them hung out, casually ignoring the night they all made out.
Worst of all, Dylan worried that this time of reflection might reveal that Rus and Kaiden had a stronger crush on each other than on him. Maybe their connection worked better. It made more sense to Dylan since he couldn’t sort his feelings out for the life of him.
That pit in his stomach twisted tighter as he realized he’d have to be okay with it. He’d have to be okay with their feelings or risk losing two friendships.
Fuck, Dylan regretted so much.
Chapter Eleven
Itwas the most awkward and arousing experience of Kaiden’s life. He lay in his bed, wide awake and ignoring his morning errands in favor of a small existential crisis. For the life of him, he couldn’t get the memories of that night out of his head. The smell of Dylan’s sweat and cologne, the taste of tobacco on Rus’ lips, the firmness of their bodies pressed against his, the excitement in their gaze, the curiosity in their eyes, the hunger in their expressions.
The most maddening part of this was that Kaiden didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. If he were to talk to anyone, it’d be Dylan. But he couldn’t exactly discuss how hung up he was on Dylan’s kiss with Dylan, especially since he found himself entranced by Rus in equal measure. It wasn’t just the kisses. The touches. The passion. It was the kindness, the consideration, the sincerity in who Kaiden was and how he ticked.
When Dylan texted Kaiden about hanging out this weekend, he seriously considered it. Especially since Rus had group texted he’d be out of town this weekend, some college three-dayweekend trip home. If Kaiden were going to work up the nerve to talk about these kisses, these feelings, it’d probably be that much easier to just talk to one of them at a time. Then again, could he really talk to Dylan about these bizarre blossoming whatevers?
Kaiden couldn’t figure out what to make of his feelings for Dylan or Rus. The idea of Dylan being anything more than a friend was difficult to comprehend. It wasn’t like Kaiden hadn’t considered it. Oh, he’d most certainly daydreamed about Dylan once upon a time. He was funny and flirty. Mostly, he was nice. It didn’t hurt that he was adorable to look at and had no qualms about showing off his tight stomach at pretty much every opportunity.
But Dylan was out of Kaiden’s league. Truthfully, Kaiden didn’t believe he had any prospects to offer anyone. Sure, he’d lost weight, he’d jumped on the fitness train, but the insecurity of his skin still followed him. The inner fat boy still haunted him every time he stared at his reflection. And Kaiden really tried to see himself for who he’d become, to take pride in the accomplishments he’d made.
Kaiden just couldn’t celebrate one tiny victory when he had so many other faults. Sure, he gained control over his binge eating and worked out regularly to get into some semblance of shape, but he still blundered a thousand other things. He lived at home with his family. He had a job he enjoyed, but not one that paid well or came with benefits. His car was garbage and cost more to keep running than the damned thing was worth. He wasn’t smart enough for college—hell, he barely managed to graduate from high school.
It just didn’t make any sense.
Why would Dylan or Rus be interested in Kaiden?
He had nothing to offer them. No charming personality, no good looks, and certainly nothing materialistic.
He worried the kiss was pity. And that made facing either of them again that much harder. He didn’t want to drag Dylan or Rus down, didn’t want to hold them back, and somehow, he felt like he now stood in their way.
An awkward, silly conversation that turned into a wonderful kiss, followed by an enchanting kiss, met with the most spectacular five minutes of Kaiden’s life… But now he believed himself an intrusion on what was clearly palpable chemistry between Dylan and Rus.
Speaking of intrusions, the loud creak of Kaiden’s bedroom door alerted him to the presence of someone approaching.
“You’re actually home for a change,” Kaiden’s mother said, standing in the doorway with a basket of laundry.
