On a Roll by Beth Bolden (free ebook novel .txt) 📗

“Yeah, except you don’t have resting bitch face normally,” Tate said. “So what’s going on? You and Gabriel still having some kind of deathmatch over who’s going to keep the name?”

“Yes, and no,” Sean said. He really didn’t want to tell Tate about the rejection, even though he knew Tate wouldn’t blab about it to everyone, like Tony might.

“Oh?” Tate asked. “What else is going on?”

“Ugh,” Sean said as he uncovered a crushed plastic cup, holding the remnants of some of Gabe’s meatballs and a bit of moldy sauce. “Gross.” He picked it up with his glove-covered hand and shoved it in the bag. “I hate being on trash duty.”

“Yeah, it’s not a picnic,” Tate agreed.

Sean glanced up. “Don’t you dare say you’re just happy to be here. You’ve earned your spot.”

“Okay,” Tate said with a sharp grin. “I won’t, if you’ll tell me what has you glowering at Gabe’s trash.”

“We just . . . well, we kind of kissed, the other night, after I’d had too much to drink.”

Tate dropped the plastic bag he was holding. “What? Really? Oh my god,” he said, sounding way more excited than Sean had expected. “This is awesome.”

“It really isn’t awesome,” Sean complained.

“We’ve only been waiting for this for, well, a really long time,” Tate said. “Wait until Tony finds out.”

“Tony,” Sean said, enunciating each word clearly so there could be no confusion, “is not going to find out.”

“Alright, I get it. But why are you so pissy if you finally managed to stop fighting?”

Sean sighed. “I told him I just wanted to hook up,” he said, because he wasn’t quite ready to tell Tate his other secret yet. “And he got all offended.”

“How do you know you just want to hook up?” Tate wondered.

“I just know,” Sean said. “The man makes me hot. But that’s it.”

“Are you sure?” Tate asked. “Because Chase and I . . .”

“Yes, well, we’re not a star-crossed love story that began in high school,” Sean retorted. “So I’m not sure there’s much to compare here. I want to get naked. Gabriel wants . . . I’m not sure what Gabriel wants actually, but apparently it’s not only getting naked.”

“You could always ask Ren,” Tate suggested. “He’s always down for a hookup.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that would make Gabe lose his fucking mind,” Sean said. And then stopped abruptly. Right next to another few pieces of plasticware that had been hiding behind a bush. “You know, it really would, wouldn’t it?”

“Are you attracted to Ren?” Tate asked.

Was he attracted to Ren? Not particularly. Other than the fact that he looked a little bit like Gabriel, he’d never really noticed the way Ren looked. At least not the way so many other people seemed to notice.

“Not really,” Sean admitted. “But . . . it might be a good way to convince Gabriel that he’s being stupid.”

“Is he though?”

“Is he being stupid? Of course he’s being stupid. He doesn’t like me. He just got his pride hurt because I said I didn’t want anything romantic. He doesn’t want that either, I’m sure of it.”

“You do seem pretty sure about it,” Tate muttered.

“Well, has he ever seemed particularly interested in wooing me?” Sean demanded. “The man threw a meatball at me!”

“True, true,” Tate acknowledged. “Well, maybe Ren would be willing to play along, like an experiment to see how pissed off Gabriel can get.”

“He’s so stubborn though,” Sean said, pondering. The last thing he wanted to do was convince Gabriel further that getting naked was a bad idea. “But maybe . . . maybe if it was something he really wanted, and he got jealous . . .”

“You,” Tate said, gesturing with a handful of plastic forks, “are playing with fire. And you might get burnt.”

“As long as it’s Gabriel doing the burning, I don’t care,” Sean said.

———

“I hate everything,” Gabriel said.

“What is it now?” Ren asked as he finely diced an onion, his knife flashing so quickly in the morning sunlight that Gabriel could barely see it.

“What do you mean, what is it now?” Gabriel demanded.

Ren shot him a very unsympathetic look. “With you, it’s always something. So, what totally unfair thing happened to you today?”

“For the record, it was the other night,” Gabriel said, sulking because he couldn’t quite help himself. “Sean . . . well, Sean wants to have sex.”

Ren set his knife down. “Okay, I’m failing to see how this is ruining your life. Haven’t you wanted him for, I don’t know, forever?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel admitted. And even admitting that wasn’t easy for him. But it was true, and he could hardly deny it any longer.

“I’m failing to see the problem,” Ren said very evenly. Too evenly. He had yet to pick his wickedly sharp knife back up, which probably boded well for Gabriel’s balls.

“It’s not cool for him to finally, finally get on the same goddamn page and then say, all brazen, that all he wants is sex. He wants to get naked, and that’s it. I’m not even sure he likes me.”

Ren cracked a smile. “I can kind of see where he’s coming from, to be honest.”

“What?” Gabriel couldn’t help his outraged bellow.

“I mean, we’re family. I’m sort of required to like you. But it can be a challenge, some days,” Ren said, turning back to his rapidly growing pile of minced onion.

“It is not . . .” Gabriel spluttered. “But I have feelings.”

That was not an easy thing to admit. He might not have even realized he did, until Sean had said so bluntly that he didn’t. That he wouldn’t, ever. That Gabriel could never expect him to.

Maybe it had been unfair to accuse Sean of asking him to fuck his dead husband out of his system, but that was what it amounted to, wasn’t it? They’d have sex a few times, have a boiling hot hookup, and then Sean would push him out, and he’d end up dating someone he could actually like.

Leaving Gabriel to sulk. Again.

“I don’t