Page 54 of Bull's Boy

“Ollie, you can’t invite yourself to someone else’s house,” CJ said, exasperated.

Emmett snickered, ducking his head when Ollie stuck his tongue out at him. At least his shirt was benign, featuring cartoon dogs from a kids’ show Becca was obsessed with. Maybe he’d ask Emmett where he got it so he could suggest it to Dahlia if she hadn’t noticed.

“Okay, yes, you’re right,” Ollie said, pointing at his friend. “Normally. But since you also tell me that there are certain things we shouldn’t discuss in public, I thought we should give Malcolm here the opportunity to choose where we talk.”

CJ rolled his eyes. “I like how you only follow social norms when it’s convenient for you.”

“Thanks. I like that about me too,” Ollie said, then spun to face Malcolm. “Well?”

Malcolm glanced back and forth between the three of them, almost afraid to ask what it was Ollie wanted to talk about that he thought Malcolm wouldn’t want to discuss in public. “I guess it kind of depends on, you know, the subject,” he said cautiously.

“You and Bull, duh,” Ollie replied.

“Well, apparently, everybody here already knows,” Malcolm said and shrugged. “So I guess we can just stay.”

“Okay!” Ollie scooted into the booth next to Emmett, smiling at him more gently than he had at CJ. “You hungry, Em? I think we should get some food.”

Emmett nodded and grabbed the menus that had been lying in the middle of the table.

Malcolm slowly lowered himself onto the other side of the booth, next to CJ, still a little worried about what Ollie wanted to know about him and Bull.

Ollie grabbed his own menu and then said, without looking up from it, “Firstly, I’d like to know why you lied to me about having never seen Bull’s dick before.”

Malcolm choked on his own spit and glanced around, but no one was seated close enough to have heard. He hoped.

“Good lord, Ol,” CJ said, patting Malcolm on the back. “You okay? I swear you get used to him.”

Slamming his menu back down, Ollie rolled his eyes so hard Malcolm worried they’d get stuck. “Well, he did. Six told me that Houston told him that Marv toldhim?—”

Malcolm’s head started to hurt.

“—that Bull was kind of mopey today because he missed Malcolm.” Ollie grinned at him. “Because you guys spendallyour time together. Banging like bunnies. According to Marv.”

Malcolm was never going to be able to show his face at Bo’s again. He dropped his head onto the table and covered it with his arms. “Oh my god. Marvsaidthat?”

“Oh no, you’ve broken him,” CJ said, gently rubbing Malcolm’s back. “Would you rather we not talk about this here? Because his questions will probably only get more invasive. We can go to your place if you’d be more comfortable. I promise we just wanted to reach out and let you know we’re available to talk to. About anything.”

He slowly sat up, touched beyond words for a second. These guys barely knew him and yet were making more of an effort than any of the friends he’d made in college had when he’d dropped out. A couple had texted him a handful of times, but those had dried up quickly, and he was forgotten.

“Uh, well,” he said, tugging at his earlobe and dropping his eyes. “My place is kind of… small, and Emmett said he was hungry.”

A warm hand covered his, and he glanced up at CJ, who smiled at him in a soft, understanding way. “You don’t need to be embarrassed about where you live, but we can stay here, and Ollie will use his inside voice.”

“Totally,” Ollie said, getting up onto his knees and planting his forearms on the table to lean over it so he was closer to him and CJ. He lowered his voice and said softly, “Babe, you never have to be embarrassed in front of me. I share a single room with the love of my life on the second floor of a motorcycle club’s clubhouse. And before that, I lived above a friend’s garage in a tiny little studio.Thatwas my first time ever living on my own.”

“I’ve never lived on my own,” Emmett added, his round cheeks flushed but he held Malcolm’s eyes. “I lived with my parents until about a year ago. Then I went from a roommate to my Da—boyfriend’s place.”

“I also used to share one room with my husband at the clubhouse,” CJ said, squeezing Malcolm’s hand before pulling away. “Though we did recently buy a house.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Which still seems crazy to me.”

“Yes, yes, we’re very proud of you,” Ollie said, stretching to pat CJ’s shoulder and then refocusing on Malcolm.

“I can tell,” CJ muttered, but he was still smiling, a small dimple flashing in his right cheek.

“So, is it a micro? Is that why you lied?” Ollie asked, head cocked so that some of his purple hair fell over his forehead. “Because we don’t body shame here, and I didn’t mean to make you feel like I would judge him if his dickwasn’thumongous.”

“Oh my god.” Malcolm’s face was on fire. He covered it with one of his hands.

Ollie resettled onto his side of the booth, looking genuinely confused. “What?”

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