Page 27 of End Game

But when Ronan doesn’t answer, Micah admits, “I’m ready too.”

Ronan takes a long drag on his cigar and blows out the smoke. “Soon, boys. We need to have some talks first, but soon.”

We’re quiet for a moment before he adds, “I think maybe Griffin is anxious for that, too. He wants to start the group chaos with just Cami and me.”

“Okay, so serious question,” I announce, “and I know it’s me, but it is a serious question.”

I pause, and when they don’t respond, I continue, “Am I like… not supposed to look at Griffin? Because I know he’s straight. Obviously. Very, aggressively heterosexual. But the man is hot. Straight doesn’t make my eyeballs stop working?”

I’m a little surprised when they don’t laugh.

They actually contemplate it as a serious question.

“I think as long as you don’t ogle….” Micah begins and then doesn’t quite finish the thought.

“Agreed,” Ronan says. “But it probably is something we’ll need to discuss with him.”

“I’m sure that man gets ogled every day at work,” I say. “Man in uniform, just walking around all hot and stuff, while he saves lives.”

“Is it just the naked part that’s got you spinning in circles?” Micah asks with a smile.

“I mean… yeah.”

They both laugh.

“Unless he has a tiny penis, then maybe it won’t be so impressive,” I tease.

“Jesus, Dex,” Micah says, while Ronan chuckles softly.

“I’m sure his penis is just fine,” Ronan contends.

“Guess we’ll find out soon.”

We’re quiet for another few breaths before I look at Ronan. “Are you okay, man? Seriously?”

He loudly inhales through his nose and nods. “I am. I think I’d be more upset if Cami was less okay or my family had sided with my brother. But, while I know she needs to process all of it, she’ll be okay.” There’s a short pause before he adds, “She is worried it is something that will happen more often. There’s also a concern that it may happen to us, too.”

“Oh, so now we’re worried about incest, too?”

Ronan lets out an amused scoff. “No.” He shakes his head. “But it may be something we have to answer for sometimes—people thinking that polyamory equals promiscuity. I’m sure it’s something that… vanilla people confuse frequently.”

“Yeah, welcome to the club,” I mutter. “People have been assuming I’ll fuck anything with a pulse since I started openly seeing men.”

Micah looks at me.

“What?” I shrug. “Pan means greedy. Flirty means easy. I make sex jokes, so obviously I can’t commit to anyone. Same bullshit, different packaging.”

We’re quiet for a few heartbeats.

“People confuse being open about sex with not taking relationships seriously,” Micah adds.

“Exactly,” I say a little dramatically. “I can be a slut and still be in love. Two things can be true at the same time.”

Micah smiles, but then adds, “I understand the concern. I think it’s legitimate to discuss and prepare for.”

“I just hate that different automatically means less real to some people,” I say finally.

No one laughs at that.