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Lake bit his lip as he thought about his answer. “He makes me feel safe.” He didn’t know how else to explain the warmth he got even justthinkingabout Grady.

Felix stopped wiping up the mess he’d made. “Is this the cop you’ve been hanging out with so much lately?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Lake tried to sneak a tart, even though he knew they still needed to go in the oven—he wasn’tthatpicky about what he ate.

“You fucked acop?” Avery asked, his eyebrows raising.

“Why does his occupation matter?” Lake asked. If that were the case, people Grady knew could do the same thing with “you fucked asoldier”? It sounded ridiculous no matter which direction it came from.

“Peyton’s boyfriend’s detective partner?” Zach asked. He bit his lip as he thought. “Peyton always likes to make his life complicated. What was the guy’s name? We met him at our New Year’s Eve party, right? And you stayed the night at his place. And made ‘I’m in love’ faces at lunch. Grady?”

Lake was ignoring the comment about the faces. “Yeah, him.”

“I fuckingknewit was more than friendship!” Zach said loudly, pointing a finger at Lake.

“It wasn’t until last night,” Lake said, refusing to give Zach the satisfaction of having been right. “We really were just friends.” Until they hadn’t been.

“Did he force you?” Zach asked dangerously, his brown eyes darkening.

“No!” Fuck no. “I wanted it, trust me.” Just thinking about it now made him want it again. He felt empty, physically and emotionally. Was that normal? He had no idea.

“And… what now?” Avery asked. He used one hand to take the lid off a jar shaped like a giant bone. He came out with a bone-shaped cookie treat that had Ares wriggling anew in his arms. Avery put him down and he flopped around as he kicked and got himself out of the towel. Avery handed him the treat and patted his head while he happily crunched on it.

“You’re supposed to get him to sit,” Felix said mildly.

“Oops?” Avery said innocently. Felix’s smile was pure indulgence, and Avery melted onto the floor.

Lake fake gagged. “You guys are sickening. You need a puke bucket in here.”

“It’s called the bin,” Zach suggested with a wide grin, all teeth.

“Don’t you dare throw up in our bin,” Felix warned.

Lake waggled his eyebrows, and Felix threw a stray piece of pastry at him. Lake ate it, because wasting food was a crime.

“Anyway, now I have no idea?” Lake said, picking the conversation back up. “Do I have to have a plan?” He’d left Grady’s that morning with plans to see each other tomorrow, and they’d been texting all day like normal. Nothing had changed except that the feel in the pit of his stomach had swirls of lust accompanying it now. Because when he saw Grady next, he couldkisshim, and that thought had kept Lake company all day like an old friend.

“You’re really going to do it again?” Zach asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Once hadn’t been anywhere near enough. Lake wasn’t finished with Grady, far from it. Not to mention, since he considered Grady a close friend now, even if he didn’t want to sleep with him again—which he definitely did—it wasn’t like he would never see him again.

“That good?”

“Please don’t ask him that,” Avery groaned.

“Why not?”

“Because… I don’t know!” Avery sighed. “Please leave and go talk about mybrother having sexin another room while I set the table and dish up tea.”

Lake ended up sitting cross-legged on the comfortable dog bed beside the couch, with Ares snuggled around him. Ares’ tail was wagging as he closed his eyes, enjoying the head scratches that Lake was giving him. Lake wondered if the tail ever stopped, or if it was just constantly turned on. He grinned at the image of a sleeping dog with a wagging tail.

“Did you bottom?” Zach asked as soon as he’d flopped onto the couch, spreading his legs and draping his arms across the back. “Because it sounds like…”

“Doyoubottom?” Lake retorted.

“Hell yeah, I do.”

“Is it just a sex thing?” Felix asked, settling beside Zach.