Page 12 of Bull's Boy

Marv didn’t say anything for a second. “I don’t know what you just said.”

Exhaling roughly, he quickly shared a little about Malcolm’s issues with dating and then explained what had happened in the office. There was another long silence after he finished, which let him hear the noise again. It was definitely coming from outside his sliding glass door. He shoved the drapes aside, butwith the lights on inside and the darkness outside, he couldn’t see what was causing it.

“You’re sure he’s straight?” Marv asked.

“Yup. Well, as sure as I can be.”

“Then it’s not a date,” Marv said, using his big brother voice. “It’s just two friends hanging out. Don’t let yourself think otherwise, or you’ll just end up heartbroken. Trust me.”

“Yeah,” Bull said slowly, letting out a quiet breath. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”

Because he’d known that was the truth. As much as he might want it to be a date, Malcolm didn’t want that. Couldn’t want that. It wasn’t his fault any more than it was Bull’s that he’d developed feelings for him. He just needed to make sure he didn’t make things awkward between them that weekend.

He flicked on the switch to the back patio light just as there was another soft thump and found a fluffy gray cat with white on its chest and paws headbutting the glass door.

Huh.

“I wasn’t going to go to the party, but I can come if you want,” Marv said with a shrug in his voice. “I was just going to get caught up on this audit I’m behind on.”

Bull stared into the brilliant blue eyes of the cat as it sat and gazed right back at him. Just waiting. Now that it had Bull’s attention, the small creature seemed perfectly content to just sit there while Bull got with the program.

Though… he wasn’t sure what that meant. And he was trying really hard not to focus on how the first thing he’d noticed was that the cat’s eyes weren’t quite as dark a blue as Malcolm’s.

God, he had problems.

Clearing his throat, he turned and headed back to the kitchen, grabbing a can of tuna from the cupboard. “No, that’s okay. He’ll probably back out of going once he has time to come up with an excuse, and then I’ll just hang out at home.”

“You should still go even if he doesn’t. Mom’s not wrong that it’d be a good place for you to meet someone.” Marv paused, then added, “Which it sounds like you need to. Getting hung up on straight boys isn’t your style.”

It wasn’t. Unlike some guys he’d known, he’d never understood the desire to bag a guy who wasn’t interested in his gender. He’d never desired the thrill of attaining the unattainable. And he still didn’t. His feelings for Malcolm were inconvenient, but he wasn’t going to act on them.

Unlocking the sliding glass door, he said, “Yeah, maybe. What’s the party for anyway?”

Marv chuckled. “Does the club need a reason to have a party?”

“Fair enough.”

“Though I think it’s one of Tomas’s boys’ birthdays. I think.”

“You don’t know?” Bull shook his head in mock disapproval as he slipped outside, his stomach dipping when the cat scampered half a dozen feet away, but then it stopped. He held perfectly still, never more aware of his size than in that moment. “Shameful.”

“Fuck off. I’m really hanging up this time.”

He slowly lowered the open can to the ground, trying not to startle the poor thing again. To his shock and no small amount of delight, the fluffy creature slowly crept back over, nose leading the way. “Yeah, I should go. Thanks for… you know.”

Marv sighed into the phone. “Protect that big heart of yours, little brother.”

“I will,” he lied.

It was already too late.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Open the door, asshole!”

Sighing, Malcolm finished rinsing the bowl he’d left from breakfast and grabbed his plain gray hand towel as he headed toward the door. He hated the bland color, but when you got most of your stuff secondhand from friends or places like Goodwill, you couldn’t exactly be picky. He tossed it onto the end of the counter and braced himself.

“I know you’re in—oh, hey.” Dahlia grinned at him, her small frame taking up most of the space on his stoop.

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