Page 10 of Sinful Nights
“He just doesn’t know how to handle being in a room with this many sexy men. Especially when I’m in the room. I make all the men weak in the knees.”
“Not me.”
“Or me.”
“Me, either.”
Bash, Tristian, and I all echo.
Declan rolls his eyes, sticking his tongue out. “Rude.”
6
OAKLEY
Cole:Picture Image
Opening the text on my phone, I smile when I see Cole and a baby goat taking up the entire screen. His vivid brown eyes are shining brightly, a huge smile on his face showing off his perfect teeth. I’m staring at the picture when another one pops up on my screen. The second picture makes me laugh loudly when I click on it. It’s a live picture, so I can see the exact moment the goat tries to lick Cole’s face, and he freaks out. His eyes get scarily huge, his pupils dilating as he realizes the goat’s tongue is about to touch his face. The live motion cuts off before I can see what happens next, but I can only imagine Cole freaking out and shrieking when he feels the rough tongue. I send off a quick text before continuing my workout.
Oakley: Love it! Send me more!
After placing my phone back down on the ground, I grab hold of a dumbbell and start working on my next set. From the corner of my eye, I see a man approaching, but I wait until I hit twenty-five before giving him my attention.
“Hey. Oakley, right?” The man says, stepping closer to me. It takes me a few seconds to recognize the face, but once I do, I grin excitedly, nodding my head.
“Jensen, nice to see you, man. I didn’t know you came to this gym.” Jensen is Lennox’s boyfriend and is best friends with Lennox’s brother, Nick. I’ve heard the stories of Lennox and Jensen getting together behind Nick’s back, which doesn’t sound too bad until you’re told that Jensen and Nick have been best friends for years, and it was actually some drama, which I’m glad I missed. I’ve only hung out with Jensen a few times when the guys from Peaches have hosted their game nights, and he seems to be a pretty fun guy.
“I just found it a few days ago. I happened to be walking back to the smoothie shop next door when I saw their ad on the window for a sauna, and that sounded like heaven, so I thought I would try it out. I’ve been here every day since.” He snickers, his eyes darting behind me. “Is your better half here with you?”
“No, Cole is out at some goat-yoga thing,” I say, already knowing who he meant by my better half. It’s not the first time someone has called Cole that or referred to him in that manner. At this point in life, I just roll with it. It’s easier to do that than to try to explain our friendship. Most people don’t understand it anyway.
“Ah, Lennox is there too. I’m sorry, but I don’t see the appeal of doing yoga next to some smelly animals. Lennox invited me to go, and it was a quick hell no. I love that man, but even I have a line I don’t want to cross. Working out next to goat shit is one of them.” He shudders visibly, as thrown off by goat-yoga as I am.
“Hell yeah! That was my exact reaction when Cole brought it up. Kudos to them for wanting to try it and go, but hell no. I’m content in my little gym bubble where there’s air conditioning and no smell.”
Jensen and I fist-bump, laughing at being in the same predicament. “Mind spotting me?”
Jensen and I spend the next hour spotting one another, taking turns keeping the conversation going. He tells me more about him and Lennox and about his job in tech. I tell him a bit about myself, not able to share much because there’s really not much else going on in my life. After wrapping up with the weights, Jensen and I make our way over to the sauna to sweat out the rest of our time there.
“Are you coming to game night at our place this weekend?” Jensen asks, taking a spot on the bench next to me. His towel opens slightly, and he quickly closes it, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.
Cole hasn’t said anything to me about another game night, and I don’t want Jensen to know that. “I’ll have to see. I know I’ve missed a couple.” Which is true, but it sucks. The last couple of times the Peaches crew got together, Alex started a fight and made me too late. By the time I was driving over, finally on my way, Cole was already texting me to let me know he had left for the night. And there was no reason for me to go if Cole wasn’t there.
“You should. Cole’s been quiet the past few times. I realize I don’t know him that well, but I know he’s not shy.”
“Quiet?” I question, my heartbeat speeding up. Cole never mentioned anything about not having a good time at game night. Hell, if anything, he would come home and talk my ear off about everything they did and all the fun they had. Each story he told would make my jealousy spike, and I had to keep reminding myself it was okay for him to have other friends besides me. Even if I hated hearing how much fun he had without me.
“Yeah, more reserved might be a better word. He would still interact and hang out, but it was as though there was somethingon his mind or something that was bothering him. Lennox figured it was because you weren’t there.”
“Yeah, that might be it.” I play with the loose thread on the towel, thinking about how horrible I feel and that I can’t believe I could hurt Cole. “I hate that I missed it. I had a blast the few times I’ve gone.”
“Well, I hope to see you at the next one. I have to head out; Lennox is going to be home soon, and I want to make sure I have something ready and cooked for him on the stove.”
Standing up, I fist-bump him, feeling like a kindergartner who’s made a new friend on the playground. “No worries. Same time tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I can be here.”
Jensen takes off, and I sit back down on the bench, my mind wandering to Cole and what Jensen had said about Cole being quiet. I swear, the couple of times I’d missed out on game night, Cole came home with a large smile plastered to his face, telling me about all the fun they had. He would tell me about the karaoke, the card games, hell, even the time they played strip poker, and he finally won. Was he lying? Was he just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear? He knew I felt like shit that I’d missed it, and knowing Cole, he wanted to spare my feelings. He probably didn’t want it to seem like he didn’t have a fun time.
