Page 45 of Digging Deeper

Jameson squeezes my shoulder, whispering, “Good luck,” as he passes me.

My brother walks into the living room, points at the couch, and sits on the loveseat waiting for me. “Speak,” he demands.

“About what?” I ask, dryly.

Ticking off on his fingers as he speaks, he says, “Let’s see: first, I call both you and Gavin this morning to see what you guys have planned for today and there’s no answer. Second, when Gavin finally answers the phone, he says he can’t talk and hangs up on me. Third, when I try to call him back, his phone goes straight to voicemail. Fourth, when I try to call you to go in and check on him, you don’t answer the phone at all. Fifth, when I call Aiden to ask him if he’s heard from either of you, he says you just called and he’s on his way to pick you up because you asked him to.” At this point, his voice begins to go high-pitched and screechy. “So if I wasn’t worried enough, already, that the person who comes to me first when he’s upset isn’t talking to me, imagine how much more concerning it was to find out that my brother, who lives with him, is avoiding me and running from his own damn house.”

Covering my face with both hands, I mumble between my fingers, “We may have had a misunderstanding last night.”

“And?”

I throw my arms out to the side, letting them fall helplessly next to me. “And he’s not talking to me now.”

His eyes narrow on me. They feel like laser beams cutting across my face as he searches for my secrets. “Oh my god, you touched him.”

“Ew, why do you have to say it like that? I didn’t push myself on him or anything.”

“What did you do, Hendrix?”

Ugh. Now he’s Hendrixing me, too. “I may have kissed him last night—a lot.”

Holds deflates just a little, his posture relaxing. “Okay, hmm… maybe he freaked out by thea lotpart.”

Clearing my throat a couple of times, I fess up. “No, I think it may have been what I said afterward.”

Immediately, he’s back to being tense, spine ramrod straight and hands clenching at his sides. “What did you do?”

“I uh…” I rub the back of my head, scrubbing my hand down over my face before massaging my throat. “I may have also suggested that our makeout session was a mistake.”

Holds hops up onto his feet and is hovering over me in one second flat. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he yells.

Jameson runs into the room and wraps his arms around Holds’s shoulders and pulls him back so I can breathe. “Okay, what did my dumbass best friend do now?”

Holds points at me accusingly. “He… he… heusedmy best friend like one of his little hook-ups.”

Struggling with my cane to get up, Aiden, who had followed Jameson in, comes over and grabs my arm to assist me. Although, if the way his lips are pursed is any indication, he’s not any happier with me than Holds. Once I’m up and able to stand, leaning heavily on my cane, I say, “Don’t you yell at me, Holden. I didn’tuseGavin. You know I think more of him than that.”

“Sure you do. Up until recently, you hated him.”

“I didn’t hate him. I was jealous of him, sure. I thought he was the only reason you didn’t come home.” Releasing a sigh of frustration, I say, “And truth be told, now that I know him, if he was the only reason you stayed away, I’d think it was a good one.”

Holds shakes off Jameson, then crosses his arms across his chest. “Then why would you purposefully hurt him if you know what a good friend he is? If you just needed to screw around with someone, Aiden would’ve taken you out. He’d make a great wingman.”

Jameson’s eyes widen from where he stands next to Holds at the same time Aiden sputters unintelligibly.

“I didn’t have sex with him, Holds,” I say loudly.

“Of course you didn’t. Unlike you, he isn’t a manwhore. But you shouldn’t have touched him at all if you weren’t actually interested in him.”

Jameson’s face begins to turn red, so I shift my gaze completely on him and ask, “What do you think is so funny?”

He lifts his hand, the one on the other side from Holds, and points across the front of his chest at his boyfriend. My brother steps away from him and says, “Excuse me?”

Jameson cackles. “The fact you could even suggest he’s not into Gavin. Baby, are you kidding me? It’s as obvious as the blue in your eyes. I’ve never seen him like this about anyone. He can’t take his eyes off of him.”

Instead of that reassuring Holds, he whirls back on me with his death glare firmly back in place. “Oh yes, my brother, the ass man. Well, Gavin’s more than that.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter.

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