Page 25 of Necessary Time

That was it.

Oh.

“I only ask because no one has ever complimented my eyes before,” I muttered, tipping my chin toward my chest and daring a glance back up at Colin. “Except for David.”

“Are you asking me if I’m attracted toyou?” Colin slid his beer toward him, taking a drink that knocked out a third of the contents in one swallow.

“I was just making an observation.”

Colin being attracted to me came with a lot of problems. He was my brother’s friend, for one. He was almost twice my age, for two. But he was attractive in about a thousand different ways, even down to the tedious blue comforter on his bed that matched his slacks and matched his tie and the unused suit coat that hung on the back of his closet door. But there was nothing boring or bland about him.

Colin was the reason I’d put my whole sexuality together. Because it was impossible to not be attracted to him. It was impossible to not want him. But he was a friend first, and that was what I needed more than a test run. I didn’t want to ruin things, but I didn’t want to go into a relationship with him with my eyes half-closed.

“There’s a thousand reasons that I shouldn’t say what I’m about to say.” Colin took another drink, and another, then the pint glass was empty. From the other corner of the pub, feedback blared through a speaker, and we both winced.

“It’s that time, ladies and gentlemen.” The voice over the speakers was rough and annoying against my ears. Too abrasive and too loud, and Colin snapped his mouth closed with a look of relief settling across his face that had me feeling like I’d just lost out on something I didn’t even know I wanted.

But it was fine.

Probably for the better anyway.

“Did you want to go bet on some turtles?” I asked him, grabbing my soda and climbing out of the booth.

Colin cleared his throat, looking away from me.

“Yeah,” he said. “You go get us a good spot. I’m going to get another drink.”

He slipped out of the booth and went to the bar, not even looking back at me once.

“Right. I’ll get us a spot,” I said to no one in particular before shuffling through the crowd to go place some illegal bets on turtles at a pub in Manhattan Beach.

What the fuck had happened to my life?

CHAPTEREIGHT

Colin

The turtle raceswere unlike anything I’d experienced before, and on the drive back to Wesley’s apartment, I was riding a high also unlike anything I could remember experiencing. But it wasn’t just the races and the bets. And it definitely wasn’t just the beer. Something about the conversation had shifted things between us, and I wasn’t sure it was for the good. After we’d talked, Wesley watched me with so much intent it was near impossible to look away from him, and I had to look away.

I had to.

Because if I didn’t, I’d think about kissing him.

And I didn’t think he would tell me no.

And he knew that I knew that.

It felt like he was betting on that more than the turtles.

Pulling up along the curb across the street from his building, I shifted the car into park and dropped my hands into my lap.

“I never asked. How did you even find out about that place?”

Wesley grinned, arm still out the window, but instead of walking across the wind, his fingers drummed against the outside of the passenger door.

“I asked Grayson for fun things to do that weren’t like…” His voice dipped lower, barely over a whisper. “A date.”

My breath caught in my throat and I moved my hands to the steering wheel, curling my knuckles tight around the leather.