Page 105 of Love It or List It
“Yes.It does.You were right, he’s too cute not to date.”
“I knew it!”
“Yes!”
“So, like, the wedding is next week?”
“Wait—Will.You knew?”
“Well….”
“Oh my God!Betrayer!”
“Wait, does that mean he’s kicked out of the betting pool?”
“Betting?”Austin stood in the doorway with a plateful of pasta.“Who’s betting?”
“The children, and probably others, presumably about our romantic prospects.”
Austin froze with his fork halfway to his mouth.“Uh… what?”
“Apparently we won someone money by getting together.”
“Oh.”Austin cocked his head.“Should we, like, do something about that?I feel like you should scold children for betting on something personal and tell them it’s very bad and wrong, but honestly, I don’t care.”
Joe laughed.“Me either.If they’d run away to Vegas, maybe I’d have something to say about it.”He winked at the kids as Austin settled next to Joe on the couch, their thighs and shoulders pressed together.
Alex flushed and looked down at their lap, and then up again too quickly for Joe to figure out who or what they were looking at.No one else seemed to notice, and the atmosphere was too nice to disrupt by poking anything with a stick.Especially after the past couple weeks.
Austin’s thigh was warm and solid against his own, and Joe let whatever was happening go.Right now he had his crazy family around him and he could breathe all right for the first time in weeks.That was enough.
“So hey,” Meg said slyly, as they paused between episodes for a bathroom break, “if you and Austin are together, that means there’s a bed going totally unused upstairs, right?”
Alex was in the kitchen making popcorn, as per tradition, but Will and Gavin whipped their heads around to look at Joe.
“Yeah…?”
“So we can totally have a sleepover, right?”
Joe opened his mouth to object—surely they were too old for sleepovers, especially now they could drive themselves around; surely their parents would want them home; this was very last-minute and they hadn’t brought toothbrushes—but his eyes caught on Will’s, open and pleading and bright for the first time in weeks.God damn it.
He sighed.“It’s Austin’s bed,” he said pointedly.“So you’ll have to ask him if it’s okay if two of you sleep in it.”He paused.“And no horny shit.”
Meg wrinkled her nose.“Gross.”
When Austin emerged from the bathroom, Gavin and Meg set upon him.Will hung back, obviously still feeling some guilt.Joe figured the two of them needed space to talk it out, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen tonight.
“Please,” Gavin said, all puppy-dog eyes.
“Yeah, please?”Meg echoed.“I’ve been training so much I barely get to see anyone.”
Alex entered with the popcorn.“What’s going on?”
“Sleepover,” Meg said.“Austin’s totally going to let us share his bed ’cause he’s sleeping with Joe anyway.Right, Austin?Alex and I need to catch up.”
“How come I get stuck with Will?”Gavin grumbled.“He kicks in his sleep.”
Will shoved him with a shoulder.“Sleep on the couch, then, dick.”
