Page 72 of Bonus Game
Jake’s lip was curled like he wanted to smile, but Allen could tell that he was hesitant to because of the severity of the topic. So, Allen offered one of his own, shoving the fury and heartbreak he felt for Riley down until he was able to keep a level head.
“You didn’t marry Riley, though,” said Allen. “What happened there?”
The smile finally broke, and Jake huffed. “We were too busy graduating high school, dealing with my hockey injury, selling his house before he lit it on fire, and buying our first property because we weregoing to be real estate kingslike my dad.”
Allen was unkindly reminded again, for the thousandth time, that Jake and Riley wereyoung.
“And besides,” Jake added. “Riley is straight.”
The disbelief must have been clear enough on Allen’s face for Jake to read, because he blushed and suddenly dropped his gaze.
“Do we believe that?” Allen asked. It felt nosy to dig into the personal topic, but Allen wanted to be sure.
“No,” Jake admitted. “But I’m letting him figure stuff out on his own. I just don’t know if…there are any options Riley would be satisfied with for either gender. You’ve heard the comments he’s made.”
Allen had, several times. Riley often lamented how he wished there were afemale versionof Jake and Allen so he could date the perfect woman. Allen had been willing to let the touching, snuggling and platonic head kisses between the three of them slide, but those comments always made him pause.
“I feel like you’re leading me somewhere,” said Allen. “Don’t be scared to voice your opinions, Jake. I’ll let you know if you’re overstepping.”
Jake’s mouth pressed into a thin line, and Allen waited patiently, giving him time to organize his sentences properly.
“I’m bad at reading people,” Jake said, gaze darting up to meet Allen’s before dropping just as quickly. “But when Sloan was here, Riley was acting possessive of us in a way that I’m not used to.”
Jake wasn’t wrong. Allen remembered thinking the same thing before Kingston bolted out of the penthouse.
“You think?—”
A loud buzz cut Allen off, and he gasped when Jake flinched hard enough to startle him.
“Jesus, it’s just my phone,” said Allen, cupping Jake’s face again to give him an apologetic kiss. “Why are you acting so spooked?”
Jake returned to grumbling and having a staring contest with Riley’s shoe, so Allen picked up his phone and answered it before the sound made his sweet boyfriend break out in hives.
“Hello?”
The line was silent for so long that Allen pulled away to check the number in case it was a scam call, but then a gruff voice finally spoke.
“Monroe, we need to talk.”
Allen and Jake snapped their attention to each other, and Allen’s mouth fell open as chills rushed through him.
“That’s fucking creepy, it’s like he knew we were talking about him,” Jake whispered, and suddenly it felt like they were the main characters in a horror film.
“Are you whispering? I can’t hear you,” said a very pissy Kingston Sloan.“Squeak up, Hamtaro. I need to ask my questions before I chicken out.”
“H-Hamtaro?!” Allen wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the arrogant bastard. “Ask your goddamn questions before I hang up and block you.”
A garble of muffled curses answered him, and Allen was reminded of Riley’s frantic agitation a moment before Kingston hit him with a baseball bat of a question.
“How did you know you liked guys?”
Allen’s eyes found Jake’s, and both of them were wearing identical expressions of confusion.
“Oh no,” Jake whispered. “I was right. I read things too well this time.”
“Uh…” Allen’s throat was dry, and he had to swallow before he could answer. “It’s hard to say when it started. I always thought about kissing boys when my classmates wanted to kiss girls. I always had crushes on boys, too. When I was a teenager, it finally clicked for me, and I realized I was only attracted to men, so I started dating them.”
There was movement on the other line, and if Allen didn’t know any better, he would have thought Kingston was dramatically rolling around in his bed.
