Page 35 of Pull
I did exactly what Ryan told me to do last night. After Ethan fell asleep, I ordered fried pickles and a quesadilla from room service and ate it watching reruns ofBar Rescue. Then I took a long, relaxing bubble bath in the massive Jacuzzi tub before knocking out into a deep, luxurious slumber, dreaming of my sexy husbands and all the delicious things they were most likely doing to each other.
It was a great night ofJesstime. Much-needed.
And now I get to be present for the post-Pride hangover, which is really all I could ask for.
I kick Ben’s foot a few times and he groans, before dropping to my knees to push Ryan’s hair back with my fingers. “Hey… wake up, sleepyheads.”
“Mmm…” Ryan’s brow furrows and he tucks his face into Ben’s back. “It’s too bright in here.”
“You’re wearing sunglasses,” I chuckle. “Big ones.”
“What did we do last night?” He begins to sit up, rubbing Ben’s shoulders, who’s still in some awkward version of child’s pose with half his ass hanging out of his pants. “After we left the club everything got fuzzy…”
“You dragged me to another party,” Ben grumbles, finally straightening out and rolling over onto his back, rubbing his eyes hard with his hands. “With the guys who watched you blowing me.”
I gasp, teasingly, and the two of them glance up at me, faking innocent looks. “So you two got into it last night then?”
“We didn’t do anything too crazy,” Ben says with sincerity lining his tone. He sits up and immediately rests his head on Ryan’s shoulder. “But this one kept wanting to fool around in front of strangers.”
“Um, I happen to recall the sun room at Tate’s friend’s house being mostly your idea.”
“You guys saw Tate?” I ask, surprised, and also not, by this fact.
I keep up with Tate on social media, and it was never a secret that he’d be attending Pride in ABQ. But it’s a big enough event that I figured we might not run into each other.
To be honest, I was sort of hoping wewouldcross paths. Tate is a good guy, a little misunderstood—mostly by Ben— but he means well, and I know he cares about Ryan. I’ve been craving a friendly reconciliation for a while now, because he’s one of Jacob’s—Ben’s brother’s—best friends and I’d like to invite him to family gatherings again. I don’t want to leave him out just because he and Ryan… did what they did.
“We ran into him at a bar and he invited us to his friend’s house for food,” Ben says, noticing that my gaze is stuck on his nails. He holds his hands out in front of his face and his eyes widen. I laugh out loud. “When the hell did this happen??”
“I think that guy did it… What was his name?” Ryan’s head cocks as he tries to remember through the obvious haze of alcohol still in his system. “Danny? Manny? Sammy?”
“Rico,” Ben chuckles. “Yea, it was definitely him because he had acrylics and a full face on.”
“He looked fierce,” Ryan comments and Ben nods in agreement.
I have to laugh. They’re so fucking cute like this. I’m more than a little obsessed with it.
Ben wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me onto his lap. “We missed you.”
Ryan nestles up on my side. “How was Ethan?”
“Perfect, as usual,” I tell him, dragging my nails along Ben’s stubbled jaw. “So… how was Tate?”
Ben shrugs. “He’s Tate. Always the same.” Then he looks around me at Ryan. “What do you think the deal was with him and that guy?”
“Thestraightguy?” Ryan’s brow cocks. “Who knows. They seemed to have some sort of tension happening. I hope they can make it work…”
“Tate doesn’t want a relationship,” Ben grumbles, playing with my hair. “He’s a bachelor. I’m not sure he’s ever even dated someone more than a couple times.”
“Jake told me he was really into this guy he knew in college,” I interject to share my knowledge on the subject. “Lancesomething.”
Ben freezes and gapes at Ryan. “Lance… wasn’t that the guy’s name last night?”
Ryan nods. “Yea. Shit, you think that was him? Tate did say he knew him from a long time ago…”
I’m insanely intrigued by this. I remember when Jacob told me about Tate’s college friend, Lance. Apparently, he was the only guy Tate’s ever been in love with, though according to Jake, Tate would never use those words. But Lance had always been arrow-straight, so he sort of freaked out and vanished. And since then, Tate’s been determined to prove how thoroughly uninterested he is in settling down.
I’m not one of those people who subscribes to the idea that everyone needs to get married and have babies. Just because that’s the life I lead, doesn’t mean I’m going to say it’s for everyone. Each person is different.
