Page 4

OLLIE

Ollie woke up Sunday morning with a half-hard cock and a sinking disappointment crushing his chest.

What the…? Had he been having some sort of weird dream? He closed his eyes, and Dante’s magnetic stare popped into his head.

Nope. He was not lying around longing for some guy he’d met twice. He wasn’t disappointed about Dante. How could he be when he didn’t want anything from the guy?

Ollie had everything he needed. No man necessary. Even not getting laid last night wasn’t a big deal. Whatever was going on with his sad boner was nothing but a weird fluke.

Ollie ignored his cock until his erection deflated. He had brunch plans to get ready for.

An hour later, his best friend Dex buzzed to be let into the building.

Ollie already had a fan going. The apartment had never cooled down last night, and he almost couldn’t bring himself to preheat the oven.

A knock came from the front door, and Ollie hurried down the hall .

“I’ve got cinnamon rolls.” Dex lifted a familiar canvas bag, grinning like a dork.

“Thank god.” Ollie pulled him inside. “They’re the only thing worth heating this place up for.”

More Sundays than not, Dex came over for brunch, bringing day-old treats from the bakery on the ground floor of his building.

They’d started the tradition years ago when they were both still studying and couldn’t afford to go out.

The bakery owner often gave Dex stuff for free back then, after everything that had happened with Dex’s parents, but now Dex insisted on paying.

Dex headed straight for the kitchen. “The cinnamon rolls are fresh, by the way. They’d still be hot if it didn’t take so long to walk here.”

Ollie flipped on the coffee maker. “But we’re supposed to get day-old stuff. It’s tradition.”

Dex unpacked the cinnamon rolls. “Screw tradition. Look at these.”

Three large cinnamon rolls sat in a tray, smothered with icing. “Fuck yeah. Okay, they look better than sex.”

Dex snorted. “I’m guessing you stayed in last night.” His teasing smile fell. “Or was he an ass?”

“No. I stayed in.” Ollie turned away and got out the mugs. “I’m over hookups.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.” Ollie leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “I spend more time getting rejected and scrolling than having fun. I deleted the app.”

“If it’s not making you feel good, that’s probably the right thing to do.” Dex bumped his shoulder into Ollie’s encouragingly.

“I’ve grown so much, figuring out how to do what’s right for me,” Ollie muttered.

“You have,” Dex said, apparently ignoring Ollie’s sarcasm as he put the cinnamon rolls in the oven.

Ollie bit back a smile.

He fucking loved Dex in a non-romantic way.

Dex had helped him get away from his abusive college boyfriend, Brayden, even after Ollie had been a terrible friend and ignored Dex for months.

He used to think he didn’t deserve Dex, but that wasn’t true.

He deserved a good friend as much as Dex did and hadn’t flaked on Dex once since he’d left that asshole.

Ollie pulled a few containers of fruit out of the fridge and began washing them.

Across the living room, the bathroom door swung open. “Hey, I’ll be back out in a minute,” Harper called as he hurried to his room, wrapped in a towel.

Ollie smiled. Harper always seemed excited to join him and Dex, no matter what they were doing.

“How was dinner with his boyfriend last night?” Dex asked after Harper disappeared.

Ollie placed the fruit on a cutting board and grabbed a knife. “It was good.”

Dex paused with a stack of plates in his hand. “But…”

Ollie narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t say there was a but.”

Dex set the plates down, brows raised. “I’ll wait.”

He gave the best—or was it the worst—knowing looks. Dex had these cool gray eyes that made him seem intense even when he didn’t mean to be. Kind of like Dante’s stare, but Dex had never made Ollie’s insides melt.

Ollie might as well give in. Dex could stand there all day. “Ash brought his hot friend, and I may have flirted a little too much right off the bat. I think he likes me.” He grimaced.

“Oh, the horror.” Dex pressed his hand to his chest, his face blank and tone criminally dry .

Ollie pushed him. Dex didn’t budge. “You know I hate turning down guys who want to date me.”

“Did he ask you out?”

“No.” Ollie turned back to the fruit. “But I got a vibe.”

Dex grabbed Ollie’s shoulder and shifted him back around. “You know I love teasing you, but if him liking you makes you uncomfortable, there’s nothing to feel bad about in turning him down.”

“I know.” Ollie puffed out a tired breath. “But I hate the whole…you know, confrontation. Especially when they aren’t dicks about it.”

Turning down kind, considerate guys was harder than turning down guys who got defensive. People who got mad about your rejection weren’t people you wanted to date, but knowing someone was a decent person still wasn’t enough to tempt Ollie into a relationship.

It wasn’t only about fear of finding himself in an abusive or unhealthy situation again. Not dating was about being true to himself and not defaulting to someone else. It was a bad habit Ollie fell into, and it could happen even with the most respectful partner.

He wasn’t living for other people anymore. Not at the expense of himself.

“Maybe you should lay out your boundaries before he asks you out. Be upfront so there’s no confusion,” Dex suggested.

That wasn’t a bad idea. “Maybe. I guess there’s nothing wrong with being clear where I’m at. But I don’t know when I’ll hang out with him again, so I’ll worry about it later.”

Harper reappeared in the living room, wearing cut-off shorts and a crop top.

“Look at you.” Ollie grinned. He’d never seen Harper in a crop top .

Harper’s cheeks turned pink, and he ran a hand over his shirt. “Does it look okay?”

“It looks great.”

Harper smiled, his cheeks fading to their usual color. He’d confided in Ollie that he’d never been allowed to dress the way he wanted growing up. Seeing Harper flourish now that he was free of his family and their cult gave Ollie all sorts of proud, warm tingles.

How cool was it that he got to be part of Harper exploring new things and getting to know himself better?

They all fixed their coffees and plated the cinnamon rolls and fruit, taking everything to the living room. The small apartment didn’t have a dining table, but Ollie never missed it. Other than last night, it wasn’t like he hosted dinner parties.

Ollie turned on the TV and his PlayStation before sitting on the couch between Dex and Harper. “What are we feeling today?” He set his plate on the coffee table and grabbed a controller to scroll through his loaded games.

Harper took a bite of cinnamon roll, shaking his head. “I won’t play.”

“Are you not into gaming?” Dex asked like he couldn’t understand how someone would pass it up.

Harper shrugged. “I’ve never played.”

“Really?” Ollie was sure Harper hadn’t mentioned that before.

“I never had a chance. We didn’t have anything like this where I grew up. It wasn’t the kind of thing my family wanted me doing.” Dark emotion flashed across Harper’s face before disappearing as he turned back to his food.

“You should give it a try,” Dex offered. He didn’t know the details of Harper’s family situation but always opted to encourage people. “We can do a racing game and take turns playing the winner. ”

Ollie nudged Harper. “Go on. Plus, when you lose, you can eat your cinnamon roll while you wait for another turn, and is that really losing?”

Harper set his plate aside. “All right, good point. But this might be painful to watch. I won’t even know what buttons to push.”

It was more hilarious than painful. Harper couldn’t seem to stop waving his arms and moving his whole body when he turned. Ollie’s stomach ached from laughing.

“There’s too many barriers,” Harper whined as he smashed into a wall.

Dex’s car shot past him. “Look how much fun you’re having.”

Harper laughed as he rear-ended another car. “Yeah, but I need a lot of practice. I don’t even know how to drive in real life.”

Ollie polished off the last of his cinnamon roll. “I don’t think it would help. I haven’t driven in at least a year, and I’m great at this game.”

He borrowed his parents’ car when he was home to visit, but there was no way he’d keep a vehicle in the city.

At the end of the race, Harper forfeited the controller to Ollie.

“Speaking of, I think I’m going to sell my parents’ car,” Dex said way too casually. “That way, I can rent out the parking spot.”

Ollie put the controller down and faced him. “Are you sure?”

Dex averted his gaze. “I don’t use it, so there’s no point keeping it. I figured it was time.”

Ollie’s chest pinched. Dex holding on to the car had always been more sentimental than practical. “You ready for that? ”

Dex cleared his throat. “Yeah. I am. I dunno. I might sell the condo too.”

Ollie’s eyes widened.

“Not right now,” Dex hurried to say before focusing on the controller in his hands. “I’ve changed my mind on the whole thing. I wish I’d made this decision a year ago and moved in with you. Then you’d never have met Kirt.”

Ollie wrinkled his nose. “That would have been nice, but I refused to move in with you first. So Kirt is on me. Besides, we wouldn’t have met Harper if that whole thing hadn’t left me with a room to fill.”

Dex lived in his late parents’ condo and had offered Ollie a room for free the last time he’d been looking. They’d lived together after Ollie left Brayden years ago, but Ollie hadn’t wanted to move in with Dex again.

They were best friends, but Ollie still needed space. Independence helped him feel like his own person. Not that Dex ever tried to change him. But he couldn’t move in with Dex just because Dex wanted him to, and Dex understood why Ollie didn’t do it.

Too bad that particular shot at independence had turned into Ollie latching onto his roommate Kirt, sleeping with him, and ending up with another guy who used him.

But that was over. And the months between Kirt moving out and Harper moving in had been a good adjustment. Even if it had been lonely as fuck living by himself.

“I still can’t believe how lucky I was, moving in with you,” Harper said.

“Yeah, it must have been fate or something.” Ollie laughed.

Harper cocked his head like he was seriously considering fate playing a role.

Who knew? Maybe Harper believed in fate.

Ollie hadn’t asked for details about what his family’s cult believed or what mystical things Harper might still subscribe to, even if he’d clearly left all the Satan worship behind.

Harper’s phone dinged and he shook himself out of his thoughts. A tiny smile appeared on his lips as he read the message. “Do you guys want to go to an art show this Friday?”

Dex’s face lit up. “Yeah, totally. What kind of art?”

“Paintings, I think.” Harper typed out a message. “Ash’s friend runs a gallery.”

“Which gallery?” Dex had gone to school for art and sold pottery alongside his job at Seaside Coffee.

“Gallery Four?” Harper said it like a question, frowning slightly at the phone. “I’ve never been there.”

Dex’s eyes widened. “Wait, your boyfriend’s friend runs Gallery Four ?”

Harper nodded.

“You know it?” Ollie had never heard of it.

“Yeah, I’ve told you about it. It’s, like, the most prestigious gallery in the city.”

“Oh, that one. Sorry, I forgot the name.” Ollie turned to Harper. “I guess we’ll be there for sure.”

“Nice.” Harper beamed, typing away on his phone.

This could be a great opportunity for Dex, but Ollie’s stomach swooped. “Will, uh, Dante be there?”

Harper’s eyes snapped up. “Yeah. That okay?”

“Sure.” Ollie forced his face to stay neutral as the swooping turned into full-on butterflies.

Feeling this drawn to someone was nothing but a recipe for disaster. Ollie had to put a stop to whatever Dante was doing to him before it started clouding his judgment.