“Yeah, she did.”
“Hey,I’m right here,” I snapped.
“Quiet, Willa,” Savage said, a twinkle in his eye. “This here is man talk.”
“I should’ve elbowed you in the junk when I had the chance,” I muttered.
“I just have one stipulation about this new development,” Savage said.
“What’s that?” I demanded.
“You name your first born after me,” he said. “Cooper works for a boy or a girl.”
“How about we name the dog we get after you?” I joked. “Cooper is a good dog name.”
“Once a savage always a Savage.” Savage lifted his beer. “To you guys. Fucking, finally.”
We clinked our glasses against his.
“Fucking, finally,” Duke repeated.
Duke’s phone rang. “I’m gonna take this outside so I can hear.”
I nodded.
He leaned over and gently brushed his lips against mine and then left.
“That’s gonna be a little weird getting used to,” Savage said, hand around his second pint.
“Yeah, for me too,” I admitted.
“I’m not lying. I really am happy for you guys.”
“I’m glad,” I said with relief. “I was worried about how you’d react. In fact, you’ve been the source of a crazy amount of my stress recently…”
“Why? Did you think I was going to lose my shit?”
“Well, yeah,” I admitted with a sheepish grin. “I’m glad you didn’t though.”
“Why the secrecy?”
“I wanted to make sure that he and I were…that we were…”
“Not just fucking.”
I winced and nodded.
“Because you weren’t going to potentially blow up our friendship and it wasn’t going to be worth it if all you were doing was fucking?”
“Right again,” I said. “Damn, you’re insightful, aren’t you?”
“I can, on occasion, be insightful.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody,” I jested.
He smiled. “Nothing’s changing. Well, I’ll start knocking before I enter rooms. God forbid I see you riding his dick. There’s close, then there’slet’s not even go there.”
“You mean it?” I asked quietly.