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He grabs my hand, cutting me off and his eyes find mine in a panic.

“Raven,losiento. I’m sorry.Pero, I love you.”

The “L” word. The fucking “L” word. I already knew, and Chrissy told me as much, but it’s different hearing him say it.

“Chris…”

“I know, it’s crazy. You don’t have to say it. It’s too soon and all that. But I do.Teamo,Mami.”

He looks so defeated, so hopeless. He’s going to be crushed. But Gage is right, too. Why stay with him when I don’t feel the same?

“It’s okay. I know you’re not there yet. Just don’t rule me out.”

“Oh, Chris…”

I don’t know what to do, what to say. This is not who I am. I’m not some shy, indecisive weakling. What am I allowing these two men to do to me? I feel horrible for what I’m doing to Chris. I throw my arms around his neck and hold him tightly. Am I really going to give him up for some potentially good sex? No. I won’t. When I see Gage tonight, I’ll just have to end it. End it? It’s not like we started anything. I’ll just tell him that I changed my mind. It’s the best thing to do. The right thing.

***Gage***

“Yo!”

E barges into my room as I’m getting dressed. He closes the door and drops down on my bed.

“Don’t you knock?”

“We used to take baths together, motherfucker. You ain’t got nothin’ I ain’t never seen.”

“That was a long time ago, dickhead. I’ve changed.”

We both chuckle as I get boxers from my drawer.

“Nope. Everything looks the same to me.”

I grab the first thing I can from my dresser – my deodorant – and pitch it at him. He catches it and bursts out laughing.

“You’re just jealous because you’re literally half the man I am.”

“That’s not what Jessica Morris said,” he says with a smirk.

“Dude, we were sixteen. And Jessica Morris fucked every guy at school. She probably said that to every single one of us.”

“True.”

“Why aren’t you at work?” I ask.

“Day off. Wanna do something?”

“I gotta go look at a few properties. Wanna come?”

“Sure. But first, you gonna tell me about last night?”

I retrieve my deodorant and head to the bathroom to do something about my hair.

“Nothing happened.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“We talked, watched a movie.”