Page 32 of All of Us

My heart flopped around because he thought about me, too. Suddenly, I felt all kinds of things that were new or long forgotten.

GENTRY

Would you like to have dinner after riding?

I’ll bring stuff and cook for you.

JOE

That would be amazing.

GENTRY

I can’t wait.

I was genuinely excited to see him. We weren't calling it a date, but I was pretty sure it was.

As I got into bed, I embraced the feelings swirling around. None of them were unwanted, but they scared me.

Chapter thirteen

JOE

It had been a few days since I saw Dusty. DRACO was about to release another album, and he was there to help Montgomery—and by extension Arthur—keep on track. From what I understood, keeping both of them and their dragons wrangled was a lot of effort. I got text messages from him that had made me smile, but we hadn’t been able to get together.

I needed to let him know I wouldn’t be available tomorrow in case he got a free evening. It would probably be awkward if he came over during my date with Gentry. Was it a date? It felt like I had a connection with Gentry, and I looked forward to growing it. Yeah, it was a date.

After my conversation with Mont, I felt better about spending time—including sexy time—with both men. I was a young man who was exploring my sexuality, and nobody had asked for a commitment. He told me to enjoy myself, be honest, and get to know them. The biggest thing he warned me against was getting too attached.

The truth was, I liked both men. Mont had a lot of partners; he had a few literally in bed at the same time. I didn’t think I would ever do that, but dating them both, then sleeping with them separately until something more happened between us, I could work with.

I got a notification on my phone.

JOE

Hey!

DUSTY

Hey.

What's up?

JOE

I know sometimes we get together on Fridays, but I won't be available.

It felt like I was cheating on him or something. I needed to tell him that I was dating Gentry to make sure he didn’t get hurt.

DUSTY

Oh? Do you have a date?

It felt like he was always really interested in me being with another man, which I hoped was a good sign.

JOE

Maybe?! We are getting together.