Page 379 of Seasons of Love
“Fuck, Jake. That sucks.”
I sighed.
“What do I do?” I asked.
“You tell them you’ve been horny for them for months and take them on a tour of the house, starting with your room.”
“And now the serious answer, please,” I said.
Zak laughed. “That was my serious answer. I’ve got blue balls because of those guys. The least you could do is nail them while they’re there.”
I groaned.
“You’ve been hooking up with a different guy every week for months. If anything, your balls could fall off from overuse.”
“Yeah, but none of them were as good as you, so they don’t count.”
“Zak,” I warned.
“Okay,” he said. “Look, you’re not going to say anything, right? And I doubt they will either because it could put Mal’s job at risk. As I see it, you have all the power in this situation. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility.”
“I’m not feeling all that powerful.” I sighed.
“But I bet you’re sporting wood, amiright?”
“Bye, Zak,” I said before I disconnected the call. Seconds later, I received a message with three eggplant emojis.
“Okay, let’s regroup,” I said to myself.
Zak was right. Both Mal and I could be in trouble if the truth came out. Maybe this lunch was a good opportunity to know more about them.
I knocked on my cousin’s bedroom door before I opened it. As predicted, he was lying face-down on his bed.
“Fun night last night?” I asked, grabbing a ruler from his desk and swatting his butt with it.
“Fuck, that hurts.” He groaned and turned around.
“You look a mess, Gabe. What time did you get in?”
“An hour ago?”
“Well, you’re gonna have to sober up quickly because the general manager and his husband are downstairs for lunch, and you know your dad will want you there,” I said, leaning against his desk and crossing my arms.
I loved my cousin, but sometimes his carefree attitude frustrated the hell out of me.
“His husband? I didn’t know he was gay,” Gabe said, getting up from his bed and looking for clothes. The room was so messy that I couldn’t tell which clothes were clean and which were dirty, but he just grabbed a random pair of jeans and put them on before taking a clean shirt from his closet. “I must be getting rusty.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was at his interview with Dad. He was Mr. Professional, said all the right things. Not for a split-second did I think he was gay.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Of course Gabe would have been at the interview. After all, he was in line to take over the business when my uncle finally decided to retire.
When we made it out to the back porch, my uncle was by the grill, talking to Mal.
“Look who’s decided to join us,” my uncle said. “Gabriel, why don’t you get some drinks for our guests?”
“I’ll get them,” I said, glad to have an excuse to get away, but as soon as I turned back toward the kitchen, I came face to face with Griff.
