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“Once they have us, they don’t let people like you and me go,” Oliver said.
Renzo’s brow furrowed. “So feel free to tell me to fuck off if you don’t want to talk about it, but how did you and Victor, you know…happen?”
Oliver coughed, faint color darkening the tips of his ears. “Yeah, so…when Victor kind of…accidentally became my client.”
Renzo coughed to hide a laugh. “How does someone accidentally become a client? Like oops, he tripped and fell on my dick and agreed to pay me my rate, or…?”
“Oh my God,” Oliver choked, hiding his face. His shoulders shook with the laughter, and he peered over the tops of his fingers, his eyes crinkled in the corners. “He thought I was his hired driver. I thought he was my client for the night. He got into my car and criticized it for being a mess.”
Renzo snorted. “Seriously?”
Oliver shrugged. “He was having a bad night, and he was pissed that his travel agency sent him such a shit ride.”
Renzo chuckled, thinking of Emil and how prissy he could be. “These rich boys are so damnfussy.”
“I know,” Oliver said, dropping his elbows on the table and leaning forward. “Victor tries to pretend like he’s some paragon of humility and virtue, but really he’s just a spoiled little shit who really, really gets off on seeing me in lingerie.”
Renzo blushed hard. It had been a while since he was truly attracted to Oliver, but the man was still obscenely beautiful, and picturing him in lingerie was almost too much. It wasn’t Renzo’s thing, but it wasn’t like he would have told Oliver he wasn’t into it if they’d dated.
“Sorry. TMI. I do that way too much,” Oliver said with a sheepish smile. “But yeah, he’s not the kind of guy I thought I’d ever date. When he’s in, he’sallin. I told him I needed space, and he gave it to me, but the minute I sent him an email that I wanted to reconnect, he came running. Literally. He showed up at my graduation with zero chill and basically proposed that night. After I ghosted him for months.”
Renzo bit his lower lip. “So you’re saying the silence is on me.”
“Yeah,” Oliver said, not pulling his punches. “Emil knows he has something with you that he’s not going to get from literally anyone else. But he also knows you have more power right now because he thinks you’re the only one in the relationship willing to call it off. So he’s going to sit in this silence and wait for you. Probably forever, if you make him.”
Renzo’s chest burned with the ache every time he got when he thought about how neglected Emil had been for his entire life. And now, without even realizing it, he was contributing to that. “God, I was just waiting on him. I kind of made him leave, so I was waiting for him to tell me we were okay.”
Oliver grimaced. “And he’s sitting there waiting for you to decide if he’s still worth it.”
Renzo’s entire body hummed with panic. If he’d been uncertain at all about Emil before, he wasn’t now. He knew Emil was his happily ever after. “I need to call him.”
“Give him a little while. He’s with Victor, who’s probably telling him to just be strong and be patient and that you’ll come around.”
Renzo groaned and flopped backward in his chair, covering his face with one hand. “I didn’t even mean I wanted space. Matty just kind of freaked the fuck out when he saw me and Emil together, so he left. He was kind of short with me over text, so I figured he needed time to figure out if being with me and all my complications was worth it.”
Oliver’s face fell. “Matty doesn’t like him?”
“Matty loves him,” Renzo said with a small laugh. “He thinks the sun rises and sets at Emil’s command. But he’s sensitive about me being in a relationship. The last time I was with someone was John, and…” Renzo trailed off. He and Oliver were a lot closer now, but like Oliver hadn’t shared details about his past with Renzo, Renzo had kept the trauma of his ex to himself.
Oliver knew it had been rough, but he didn’t know how rough.
“John was cruel in ways I don’t like to talk about. Not just to me,” Renzo added, and Oliver looked ready to kill, which was another reason why Renzo loved his friend so damn much. “I don’t think it matters how nice a guy is. Matty will always be a little scared at first that he’s going to lose me.”
“Do you think he’s ever going to be okay with you and Emil?” Oliver asked.
Renzo softened all over, and he was grateful he had the answer he did. “He already is. Matty kind of freaked, but by the end of the day and a lot of talking, he was able to work through his anxiety. He’s expecting Emil over for New Year’s Eve, but I don’t even know if he’ll come at this point.”
Oliver snorted a laugh. “If you called him right now, he’d apologize and thank you for the invite.”
“He’s not that into me,” Renzo started to defend.
Oliver crossed his arms on top of the table and grinned at him—sharp and a little evil. “Bet me.”
“Terms?” Renzo said. He knew Victor and Emil were similar, but Oliver didn’t know Emil as well as Renzo did now.
“Loser has to dust the winner’s office every weekend for a month.”
Renzo grimaced. The university was going through some upgrades, and the dust was next-level. Housekeeping took care of the trash and the vacuuming, but Renzo spent more time with a dust cloth than he did on marking papers during the last semester.
