Page 23 of Pick One
Eyeballs? Oh, fucking lovely. They had inside jokes now? Had they exchanged numbers, too? Were they going to see each other again? I was miserable and jealous and soaked to the skin, and now I felt tiny and inconsequential, too.
I tried to step away, but John’s arm tightened around me.
“Are you okay, Gage?” he asked.
“Me? Fuck yeah. Doinggreat,” Goodman confirmed. “In fact, we should go dance some more. Because I got mooooves and—” He started to push himself to his feet, but Knox held him in place with a hand on his shoulder.
“How about you settle down, Magic Mike,” Knox said dryly. “Before the world starts spinning again.” He turned to me. “Our ride’s arriving. Come with us, T, and we’ll drop you off on the way.”
I started to shake my head, but John spoke up before I could. “His name isTeagan, and we’re all set. I already got us a ride. Thanks anyway.”
Knox grunted. “You good with that… T?”
I found his concern really, really sweet, and in my emotional state, I got a little teary. “Yeah, we’ll be fine.”
He opened the rear door of their Lyft for Goodman but turned to look back at me. “I’d feel better if you take my number and send me a quick text when you’re home.”
I nodded and plugged his number into my phone, ignoring John’s growing impatience. “Got it.”
Knox still didn’t seem convinced. “If you’d like, I could—”
“Thanks anyway,” John repeated, all but growling this time. “But Teagan’s with me. I’ve got him.”
I buried my face in his chest and shivered, suddenly exhausted.
“I wish you really had me,” I murmured.
4
JOHN
The wind pickedup as Teagan and I stood on the curb outside BarZ waiting for our ride, and Teagan shivered despite being tucked against my side. I let him go just long enough to pull off my jacket and wrap it around him.
“I’m f-fine,” he said, pushing half-heartedly at my hands as I zipped it up. “It’s going to get all sticky and ruined.”
“Shush.” As if I cared about that. As if I cared about anything but Teagan.
I zipped it all the way to his chin, and he finally, reluctantly, pushed his arms through the sleeves. It was too big on him—the hem fell to the top of his thighs, and the cuffs covered his hands—but the sight soothed some caveman impulse inside me. An impulse I only ever felt around this one particular person.
I wrapped him back up inbothmy arms this time and savored the feeling while I could, the image of him dancing cheek-to-cheek with another man still throbbing in my brain.
Get used to it, I told myself.That’s gonna be your life.
After I’d dragged Teagan off the dance floor, I’d been mere seconds away from spilling my guts and telling him every one of my secrets—how much I loved him, how much I wished he’d be mine, how I wanted to build a life with him in Vermont as so much more than his very platonic best friend—but then he’d stopped me in my tracks, literally and figuratively, with his pick-one question.
Would I rather have friendship or sex?
I wasn’t sure where that question had come from, but there was zero question which one I would pick, even if it meant my right hand was going to continue to get a workout until the end of time. Even if it meant I was gonna have to learn to watch him dancing with other guys without wanting to break things.
Teagan—having him whole and happy andin my life—was the most important thing.
It always would be.
“Four minutes until our driver arrives,” I told him after a glance at my phone. “When we get home, I’ll order us some dinner while you warm up in the shower, and we can…” I hesitated. I wanted to ask what had happened to his plans with Other-John, but I wasn’t sure whether that would upset him more. “We can watchKnightfallif you want.”
Teagan shrugged. “Don’t worry about me if you have other stuff to do,” he said dully. “I’ll be okay on my own.”
My arms tightened around him in concern.
