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“I think he’s got someone coming in to take photos for the new website. At least, that was the impression I got.” Teague paused. “So what was it this time? Another nightmare?”
Hell no. Butch wasnotgoing to talk about this. “Leave it.” The words came out more gruffly than he’d intended.
“And what if I don’t want to leave it?”
Something in Teague’s voice registered, a hint of belligerence that tugged him from his safe space of quiet contemplation and thrust him closer to the chasm he’d come there to avoid.
The chasm that lurked in his dreams. The one that contained not only the horrors that usually plagued him, but also a new one. Sol Davenport waited in there. Sol, who would arrive all too soon.
Butch didn’t want to stare into its depths again, and fuck, he was pissed at Teague for dragging him back to the precipice.
“Look, what is your problem? I thought you were okay with this.”
Teague was silent for a moment, long enough that Butch believed their conversation to be at an end.
I should go. Now.
“Iwasokay with it—at first.”
Aw fuck.
“Then what’s changed? I mean, it’s been five years, for fuck’s sake. If you had a problem with our arrangement, I’d have thought you’d have said something before now.”
Teague took another drag. “Don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms about us fucking.”
Butch snickered. “‘Qualms’? You’ve been hanging out with the boss too long. You’re starting to use them big words.”
Teague glared at him. “Will you stop that? You’ve got just as wide a vocabulary as I have. You may put on that blunt redneck act around the guests, but Iknowyou, okay?” He chuckled. “In the Biblical sense, as my grandma used to say whenever she wanted to talk about people having sex, without actually using the word sex.”
Teague’s words had hit their mark. Butch frequently hid behind the mask of a dumb good ’ole boy, at least until he got to know someone.
“Just tell me what’s on your mind,” he said at last.
It was clearsomethinghad ruffled Teague’s feathers.
Teague blew smoke into the night. “I guess what we have going on is what the boss calls a symbiotic relationship—we both get something out of it. And I was totally okay with that.”
“But you’re not anymore,” Butch surmised. It wasn’t as huge a blow as he’d imagined it would be, maybe because hadn’t he been having the same kind of thoughts?
“I’ve never said no, have I? I mean, you turn up in the middle of the night, you walk in, strip off, get hard, and we fuck, no questions asked. I knew what I was to you—a convenient hole.” Butch opened his mouth to protest but Teague held his hand up. “Don’t, okay? We both know that’s all I was. And if it comes to that, I wanted my hole filled and you were on hand. Hell, it was my idea, right?”
Butch only had to listen to Teague speak to know whatever they had, it was over.
Using the past tense was a bit of a giveaway.
“But what happens if I meet someone? If I’m no longer… available? Or my ass is no longer available, which I guess is nearer the mark.”
That made Butch sit up.
“You got your eye on someone?” He didn’t know how he’d feel if that was the case. He’d be happy for Teague, no doubt about that, but…
There shouldn’t be abut, asshole. You should be happy. End of.
Teague shook his head. “No. This is all hypothetical. I guess what I’m saying is… I feel like I’m being used, physically. Like I don’t matter.”
“Course you matter,” Butch retorted. His chest grew tight.
“So you say, but I know how I feel.” He paused. “There’s no one on the horizon… but one day there might be, and both of us are going to feel awkward as fuck when you turn up one night and your space in my bed is already taken.” Teague huffed. “What if I meet someone who actually wants to kiss me?”
