Page 51 of A Real Good Lie

“If you know your brother is so horrible, why did you even suggest this idea? Was your plan all along for everyone’s lives to get ruined in seventy-two hours?” He poured the remainder of his drink down his throat, then crumbled the paper cup in his fist.

“I wanted more thanthisfor you.”

Callahan pushed up from the couch and threw his cup into the trash, his appetite long gone.

“This is my life, Sebastian.” He gestured around the room. “This is your life, too.”

“What if it sucks?” Sebastian asked, sounding more like the high school version of himself than Callahan had heard in years. “What if I want out?”

“What if I don’t?” He braced his hands on his hips and stared down at his friend, still on the couch. “This is what we know.”

He understood that Sebastian might be having a mid-life crisis about a decade too early, but Callahan didn’t want any part in that. He was happy, and his life was fine. It didn’t matter that it had been as long as it had since he’d allowed himself to be taken apart by another man’s mouth and hands the way he’d let Jace. It didn’t matter that his best friend was married, his ex-boyfriend was getting married, that he was the only one who’d done nothing to invest in or protect his legacy. It didn’t matter that he didn’t even know who he was if he stripped away the expectations of everyone around him.

None of that mattered, but all of it counted.

“Maybe I’m projecting.” Sebastian stood up and smoothed his hands down the front of his clothes. He was dressed impeccably, as he always was, with a tight polo and pressed khakis.

“You are,” he agreed.

The door to the room opened and both of them glanced over, catching Jace in their sights. Jace looked up, his eyes wide, and he froze like a deer in headlights.

“Am I interrupting?” Jace asked softly, clutching his camera in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“Sebastian was just leaving,” Callahan said. “Right?”

“I did say I wanted out.” Sebastian chewed the corner of his lip between his teeth and gave Callahan an imploring look.

“It doesn’t need to be the way it’s been,” Sebastian said, then he looked to Jace and pointed at the table. “I got you breakfast, but you weren’t here. And a Bloody Mary.”

“I hate vodka,” Jace said, “but thank you just the same. That was very thoughtful of you, Sebastian.”

“I’ll see you two at the event later today.”

Sebastian gave Callahan one last look, then said goodbye to Jace and slipped out. The door closed behind him, the automatic deadbolt locking into place with a loud latch. Jace shifted his weight around awkwardly, but didn’t move further into the room.

Callahan’s brain was fried.

Seeing Jace for the first time since the night before had him feeling more things than he’d anticipated. His body immediately started to remember their encounter, cock twitching to life in his sweats. His mind, on the other hand, was at war with itself. Why did Jace sleep on the couch last night? Why did he leave without saying anything? What was Sebastian even talking about?

“Did you want to eat?” Callahan tried to gather himself together, sitting back on the couch and gesturing toward the food Sebastian brought.

“Not if you’re going to just sit there and stare at me.”

Jace finally moved, coming to sit beside Callahan on the couch, despite the tone of his words. He unwrapped one of the sandwiches and shifted his attention to Callahan, who quickly looked away.

Jace took a bite, then unraveled his camera strap from his neck as he chewed, leaving the camera to fill the space between them.

“You didn’t sleep in bed,” Callahan said, keeping his eyes averted, even as he felt the weight of Jace’s stare on his back.

“No.”

“But we had sex.”

“One thing is more intimate than the other,” Jace said, and Callahan couldn’t stop himself from wincing. He turned back around, his face undoubtedly hurt and confused.

“Are you really saying sleeping together is more intimate than sex?”

“I’m saying sleeping with someone new, for the first time…” Jace’s tongue darted out to lick at something on the corner of his mouth. “That’s vulnerable, and I didn’t want to be vulnerable with you.”