Page 18 of Break the Rule
“What exactly do you mean Jason and Emerson?” Charlie questions, picking up on something more.
“You are the nosiest asshole I’ve ever met,” Andrew snorts. “Did you know that?”
“Yes, I did. You should get me a shirt that says ‘nosy asshole and proud of it.’”
“The horrible thing is you’d probably wear it.”
Charlie pretends to mull the idea over, but there’s really no question, and the answer is easy. “Damn right I’d wear it.”
“Guess you know what you’re getting for Christmas this year.”
“Perfect,” Charlie grins, hoping the shirt is tie-dye. Quickly he rises, holding his hand out when Andrew doesn’t immediately copy him. “Well, are you coming?”
“Coming where?”
“With me inside the house. I need to shower and change if we’re going to meet Jason’s new friend. You need to tell me everything.”
“I don’t know much,” Andrew says.
“Tell me everything,” Charlie counters, wrapping his arm around Andrew’s shoulder to guide him toward the house.
Focusing on his little brother’s personal life is exactly the kind of distraction Charlie needs to avoid thinking about his own life.
“Jason Matias King.”
“What?” Jason blinks, and it’s all Charlie can do not to laugh. Jason might be thirty and the size of a house, but Charlie is always going to think of him as his awkward baby brother, especially at times like right now where he’s clearly so far out of his emotional depth and blind to what’s really going on. He cannot believe Jason’s friend is a redhead. A fucking redhead.
“This explains everything,” Andrew utters.
“It really does,” Charlie agrees. A fucking redhead. Leave it to Jason to find a gay redhead for his first man crush.
“Explains what?” Jason tries, head cocked to the side, not unlike a confused puppy.
Emerson, Charlie’s friend, looks as confused as Jason, and it’s possibly one of the most adorable and ridiculous things Charlie has ever witnessed.
“He’s a redhead,” Charlie and Andrew answer at the same time.
Charlie smirks, delighted Andrew is on the same wavelength. On the drive here, Andrew had, in fact, spilled everything he knew about Emerson, but true to his earlier words, it was close to nothing. A new, and now close, friend who Jason is desperate to protect and help get a suit for homecoming. What Andrew had failed to mention, because Jason failed to mention it, was that Emerson is a redhead, which explains everything.
Honestly Charlie should have put a stipulation in their bet about Jason’s sexuality regarding redheads. Dammit.
With slow movements, Emerson inches his way into Jason’s personal space, his shoulder pressed against Jason’s body and his eyes turning toward him as he reaches up to fidget with a lock of his hair. There’s something soft about Emerson, and he’s undeniably beautiful with his lanky, elf-like features and dark red hair. Most noticeable of all is the way his supposedly straight brother is orbiting around Emerson and looking at him in a way that no straight man ever would.
“Don’t be an asshole and talk about people like they’re not here, dude.” Jason looks like he’s ready to punch Charlie, and while his not-so-little brother has a few inches and at least eighty pounds on Charlie, it’s not the threat itself but the implications of it that have his mouth ready to run.
Jason likes Emerson. Even if Andrew hadn’t given him enough context on the way over to raise suspicions, seeing them together for less than five minutes confirms it. There is no mistaking the way they look at each other, but in typical Jason fashion, he doesn’t seem like he has any idea. Luckily for his brother, Charlie excels in butting in where he doesn’t belong and garnering emotional reactions from people.
“My apologies,” Charlie says with a smile. “I was rendered temporarily speechless by your friend's beauty.”
His flirting achieves the desired reaction, well at least from Jason, who looks like he’s going to turn into a tomato and choke on his own tongue. Poor Emerson quite literally chokes on his tea, blushing furiously while crowding into Jason’s side like he can hide there.
“You didn’t mention how pretty he is, baby brother.” Charlie smirks, ignoring the death glare Jason sends his way while holding out his hand towards Emerson. He is definitely fucking with Jason, but he’s not lying either, Emerson is pretty. “Charlie King, pleasure to meet you.”
“Emerson,” he replies, reaching out his own hand a bit shyly.
For a second, Charlie debates kissing the back of Emerson’s hand, but he’s not sure he wants to push Jason that hard. His poor, oblivious football-shaped head might explode, and while Charlie needs a hit of dopamine, that’s the only kind of hit he’s hoping to get today.
“I’m Andrew.” His twin steps forward, holding his hand out next. “It’s always lovely to meet a friend of Jason’s. He never lets us meet any of them.”
