Page 29 of Striking Range

Great, she must have witnessed the whole thing.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I grumble.

She humphs, taking another drink of her cocktail.

“Actually, do you know that guy?” I add, pointing to Jacob, who is laughing loudly, slapping his friend on the back.

Every once in a while, his eyes will find their way back to the bar—back to Skylar.

“That’s Jacob Timber,” Kelly explains. “He’s on our football team. QB, I think?” She turns her attention to one of the girls at our table. “Hey, Anne, is Jacob Timber our quarterback?”

Anne gives her an affirming nod.

Just fucking great. The quarterback of our football team? Skylar accepts someone’s number at a bar for the first time, and he chooses the quarterback of our football team?

“He was like… definitely hitting on Skylar, right?” I ask.

If she saw us fighting, she had to have seen that too. She had to have.

Kelly nods. “Oh, for sure. He’s been out for years.”

“But Skylar isn’t gay,” I deadpan. As Kelly says nothing, I turn to look at her, meeting her raised brow and look of, are you serious? “What?”

“Has he ever had a girlfriend?”

I wave a dismissive hand. “No, but only because he’s a low-key narcissist.”

She rolls her eyes at me, patting my arm as she says, “Sure, Ev. And he’s just casually a virgin. Narcissists don’t have to be abstinent, you know. In fact, most aren’t.”

“He doesn’t have desires like that. That’s what he always says.”

Her expression increasingly shows how fucking dumb she thinks I am. “That’s literally him saying he’s gay without saying it.”

My eyes seek out Skylar again, watching as he makes drinks and laughs with different patrons. “Really?”

Kelly sighs. “Everett. I watched Jacob give Sky his number, and Skylar lit up like a Christmas tree. I think he’s into men. But who cares? Are you homophobic or something?”

There’s an edge in her voice—almost like a warning.

“Huh? No, not at all. I’ve known him since I was ten, so I’m just… shocked.”

“Or jealous,” she mutters.

I choke on my beer. “Huh?!”

“Nothing! Let’s play a game!”

All around me, Kelly’s friends rally together as they discuss what drinking games are realistic in a bar setting, pulling me into the rotation.

But my mind is somewhere else.

Jealous? No, certainly not. I know how to take these desires and shove them away—I’ve been doing it for long enough now that it feels like second nature.

… But have I really? Since last night in that bathroom, have I been able to take these wants and find a place to hide them, out of sight and out of mind?

Skylar being gay is a big accusation I’m not sure I’m ready to believe. Or that I want to believe. Because if it’s true, that means he doesn’t dislike what happened between us because I’m a guy, but because it was me.

That he prefers the press of quarterback Jacob against his body over the press of mine.