Page 65 of The Fullback
“Ah, communication is going well then,” Devon said with a grin and a delighted smile. “I’m going to assume you told Aiden you know about him and the boys? And Aiden did not take it well.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” I said as I mopped tea off my joggers, scowling at Devon.
“I would,” Jonny muttered.
“Wonderful.” Devon sat down on the other sofa opposite ours. “By the way, I didn’t rat you out. Jonny figured it out.”
That was something at least, but it raised a different question. I threw the damp tea towel at my brother’s head and said, “How? You’re the least observant person in the fucking world.”
“Hey! I’m not that bad! And you weren’t exactly being subtle. I didn’t realise it was supposed to be a secret.”
“To be fair,” Devon said gently, like he was trying to moderate the discussion before it went sideways. “I did say I mentioned it to Jonny back in June, remember? And he said it probably wasn’t serious, you were just having fun, and it was nothing to do with us. So he did already know. It’s the seeing them again, repeatedly, part he realised.” His eyes moved to me. “Although I’m guessing it’s still casual?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing serious,” I said, hoping to fuck I sounded calm and not like a strangled hamster, which was my default when I was nervous.
“Mm-hmm, and that’s why you went to see them last night and didn’t come back this morning until after we’d left,” Jonny said with a raised eyebrow. “You left all your shit here, though, which means you probably borrowed stuff and it means you were so desperate to see them, you didn’t care if I noticed your shoes had gone but your bag was here.”
“I’m not doing this with you,” I said flatly, sitting back on the sofa.
“Why not?”
“Because you… you’ll…”
“I’ll what?”
“I dunno, get involved. Threaten them. Do that overprotective thing you always do,” I said, throwing my hands in the air. My stomach was churning, but the annoying thing was I suddenly wanted to see Hunter and Bailey more than ever so I could vent to them about this.
“Give me some credit, Aiden, please,” Jonny said. “I’m not that bad!”
“You are.”
“Fine, well, I’m trying to be better. With everything that happened with Dev, I started talking to someone—a therapist—and I’m trying not to overreact as much.” He sounded embarrassed and I groaned, because of course my brother would get therapy and I’d be a dick about it. Congratulations to me.
“Besides,” Jonny continued. “I’m more worried about them than you.”
“What the fuck? Why?”
He chuckled, but it was warm and sweet, with an affection I still wasn’t used to. “Because I’ve met you, Aiden. You’re grumpy as fuck, cocky as shit, and you do exactly what you want. Always have. Just be gentle with them, yeah? I’m not sure they’re ready for you. I think they have a lot of feelings for each other they haven’t realised yet. And I know they occasionally fuck around with guys, but I don’t know how much experience they have with?—”
“And that’s my line,” I said, slapping my thighs and standing up, cutting him off. “I’m going out. I can’t deal with this right now.”
I needed to get out, to think. To not have this conversation with my brother because I was not there yet. And I was not aboutto let him make judgements about whatever the three of us were doing when I didn’t even know.
I needed clarification.
Jonny shot me an unimpressed look, but he didn’t try to stop me as I slid past him. “You can take my keys. I won’t need them. Be safe, please. Don’t murder anyone. And if you need stuff, there’s condoms and lube in the bathroom.”
Fuck, please kill me now.
