Page 15 of Our Bright Christmas Town
“The prodigious son returns!” Ezra exclaimed, and right—other people in the room.
Ashby’s gaze slid away from me. “Isn’t it prodigal?”
“Ah, no. That’d imply he left in a blaze of mistakes.” Ezra waved a lazy hand in the air, clutching a glass of wine in the other. “Don’t doubt the English teacher, mate.”
“I am pretty prodigious,” I agreed, all self-important grandeur.
“Prodigious?” Jude carried in some water and a stack of glasses. “More like promiscuous, innit?”
Aww,man. Just as I’d been about to join Ashby on the sofa, maybe even try for a kiss and a cheeky grope. Well—no. I knew better. But a boy could dream.
“Not anymore,” Dom was quick to jump in. “Kieran and Ashby figured things out.”
Ezra’s head snapped around, like a cat who’d spotted delicious, bite-sized prey. “Didthey?”
“Figured what out?” Jude asked.
“That they’re in love,” Dom said, like the awesome mate he was.
I dropped onto the sofa, slung an arm around Ashby’s shoulders, and smiled, catching the slightest upwards hitch of Ashby’s mouth when I confirmed it. “Yeah, what Dom said.”
“Wow, really?” Jude perched on the armrest of the sofa. Then he frowned, eyes narrowing. “Wait, are you all just having me on? Since when are you”—he shot me a suspicious look—“gay?”
Oh, for Christ’s sake. As a policeman, shouldn’t he, like, serve the community and all? I didn’t feel very served right now, what with Ashby already on edge about the whole thing.
“I’m bi,” I informed Jude.
“Since when?”
“Since he kissed me,” Dom threw in, and thank God I’d already told Ashby about that part. Didn’t stop him from shifting just slightly away, and nope, this wasn’t going according to plan.
“Mistletoe made Dom and me do it,” I said firmly. “Ash, however, I actuallywantto kiss. No holiday-infused peer pressure involved.” I made sure to hold Ashby’s gaze when I said it and was rewarded with a proper smile and what might be a faint flush to his cheeks. Funny—I’d never taken him for the blushing type, maybe because he’d always seemed so laid-back about his boyfriends. Which… well. Apparently, none of them had mattered.
“I, for one, am not surprised. Always thought there was something just a little too intense about that friendship of yours.” Ezra stated it with the smugness of someone who feels validated, kind of like Dom last night. His advice, once he’d stopped gloating, had been to skip the romance and jump straight into bed because there was no way Ashby would actually say no to me.
Not helpful.
“Can we please stop this conversation from happening?” Ashby asked, voice plaintive. “It’s all still quite new, okay? Nothing official yet, so…”
“I’m wooing him,” I explained, because hey, might as well make it a public statement.
“I did not agree to any wooing,” Ashby said with just a hint of his usual spark. Good. I didn’t want him to suddenly hold back around me.
“You agreed to let me prove myself,” I told him. “That implies wooing.”
“What’s this—some Jane Austen period piece?” he asked, at odds with the subtly pleased quirk to his lips. His whole attention was on me, and that wasn’t new, but I’d always been just a little addicted to it. Go figure.
“Get a room, you two,” Dom drawled from the floor, and Jude huffed out a chuckle.
“Sorry, lads, but not here. I only just changed the sheets.”
I tore my attention away from Ashby to find the others watching us—Dom with a small smirk, Ezra looking sweetly pleased, and Jude with a mix of amusement and lingering surprise. I grinned at him. “That’s okay—I don’t mind changing them again after.”
“Pizza,” Ashby said loudly. “Who wants some pizza? Because I do.”
“Smooth,” Ezra said, gently mocking. “What’s next—the weather?”
“In case you were wondering,” Ashby said, “I hate you all.” His eyes were bright, though, and he was leaning into me just enough that it registered. It felt like progress.
