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We all agreed, then answered a few more questions before going into “Mimosas and Man-Talk,” where we talked about current events, recent movies, and things like that. I ended the show by sharing the prompts I had from our sponsors, and then we stopped recording.
“I think Marcus and Kai are boyfriends!” Corbin blurted out.
“What the fuck, Corb?” I grumbled.
“Did I tell you guys that Kai asked me for sex advice about Marcus?” Declan said.
“Wow…that bad in the sack, are you?” Corbin asked me.
Like I so often did, I pretended not to hear him. “We’re not boyfriends. We’re hooking up while he lives here. He’s moving to Atlanta.” Which he still needed to tell his parents about. It was strange to me, how nervous he was about it. I couldn’t imagine the kind of reaction he was expecting because my parents would be proud of me if I was doing something to further my career that way. We were so different in that.
It took me a moment to realize none of them had replied, but they were all looking at me like cartoon characters with their mouths open and their eyes bugged out.
Parker collected himself first. “So are you saying the fact that he’s moving is the only reason you’re not boyfriends? If it wasn’t for that, you would want to be?”
“What? No!” How in the hell had they gotten that from my response?
“Because the Marcus I know would have just said you’re not boyfriends and you don’t want to be. Instead, you qualified it with Kai moving.”
Oh fuck. He was right. I had. What the hell had that been about? “That’s not what I meant.” I stood and left the room. Like I knew they would, all three of them followed.
The house was empty besides us. Elliott was with his friend Vaughn, Kai had picked up an extra shift at Driftwood, and Sebastian was doing whatever it was movie stars did when they wrote their own screenplay and would be meeting with some execs soon to see what they could do with it.
“What did you mean?” Declan asked.
“Oh Jesus. Not you too. I meant he’s not my boyfriend. What else was I supposed to mean?” This kind of situation was a whole lot easier when I was on the other side of it.
“They’re so cute and domestic,” Corb said. “I came over one night, and Kai was cooking him dinner.”
“Nice, Corb. And I planned to hang out with you after this. Not anymore.”
“You still will because you love me and I can make you do anything. It’s part of my charm.”
Damn him for being right.
“Kai likes cooking.” I opened the fridge to see what we should have for lunch.
“And apparently you like him,” Parker teased.
I turned to Declan. “Control your best friend.”
He smirked. “The way you control Corbin?”
Who responded by singing, “Marcus loves Kai.” Fuck my life. Sometimes having friends was the worst. Then, “Do you think Kai will care if I call him Daddy too? It is Marcus’s nickname, after all, so it makes sense that I would need to call his boyfriend the same.”
Knowing exactly what I was going to do, Corbin started running a split second before I gave chase. He sped out the back door toward the beach, with me right behind him. I tackled him, both of us falling fully clothed into the surf. Seconds later Declan and Parker were there too, and while their teasing drove me up the wall, in my head I could admit that having friends wasn’t the worst—it was actually the best.
And I’d rather think about that than my complicated feelings about Kai…
Chapter Eighteen
Kai
“What can I get you, ba—gorgeous,” I asked a guy sitting with his friends at a table in Driftwood. My head cocked slightly at the fact that I’d changed what I was going to call him. Baby was fun and flirty. I used it with a lot of men, but I also used it with Marcus, and now…well, shit. Now randos couldn’t be baby because Marcus was. I didn’t even call him Teddy anymore. This development made my stomach flip uncomfortably but also piqued my interest. I’d never cared about something like that before.
“What about you? Are you on the menu?” the guy asked, and I had to admit, he was really hot. He was Asian, with black hair that went down to his shoulders. He dressed nice, in a button-up shirt, and was similar in size to me.
Normally, he’d be one hundred percent someone I would hook up with, but then I thought about Marcus and whatever it was we were doing. We’d agreed to fuck around until I moved to Atlanta, though we hadn’t talked about exclusivity. Still, while this sexy flirt would definitely be a good time, I realized I didn’t want anyone else right now. Marcus kept me plenty satisfied. I just wanted to enjoy this time, enjoy him, and then be on my way.
