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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

EASTON

After Gary’s little outburst, I didn’t bring up buying a jacket again.

I did find a spare of mine from a few years prior.

My old man’s wife got it for me. It was bright red, and I hated it.

I stuffed it away because it was too colorful for me.

When I gave it to Gary after we went home that night, I could tell he was suspicious, but I wasn’t ignoring what he said.

He wanted to be equals, to not use me for my money.

I appreciated that. I just didn’t want him going broke trying to stand on equal ground.

Everyone struggles sometimes. I was okay with helping him, because I knew he wouldn’t take advantage.

“It was mine, Gary. Just take it.”

“Yeah, right. I couldn’t even imagine you in a red jacket. If you bought this for me–”

I dropped my head back with a groan. “That’s why I don’t want it.

My stepmom bought it for me because she was trying to be nice.

I hated it, but Jayden convinced me to accept it and tuck it away somewhere, so I didn’t upset her.

I forgot about it until you mentioned needing a coat. Take it or I’ll hurt you.”

Gary scoffed, crossing his arms, but I could see the smile pulling at his lips. “You would not.”

True. I could get rough with Coach and sometimes Chuckles, but not with Gary. I’d break him. The only time I got rough with him was during sex.

“Take it or I’ll take over your workouts again.”

He blanched at that and snatched the coat away from me. “Don’t you dare.”

Barking out a laugh, I threw my arm around his neck.

We were meeting the guys at The Hideout soon, but I didn't want Gary freezing his ass off on the walk home, so I took him back to my place first. When he slipped on the jacket, I felt that possessive part of me warm at the sight of him.

Technically, I only wore it once to appease the family.

But it was still mine, and I liked Gary in my stuff.

Dragging him closer by the front of the jacket, I dipped my head to nip at his chin. “We should be late.”

Gary’s laugh was carefree, and he didn’t try that hard to push me away. “Caveman. I thought you didn’t like this jacket.”

“I like it on you. But you’re right. It’d look better on the floor.”

I tried to shove it off his shoulders, but he wriggled free and darted away, laughing his ass off as he dodged around furniture.

I liked playing with him, so I never said no to a chase.

Besides, the more often we did this, the faster he found ways to get out of tight spots.

It was good training. At least, that was the excuse I was using today.

He kept things between us to give himself an edge, but he misjudged when I feigned going around the back of the couch, darting towards me instead of away.

He saw his mistake the minute I came around the same side as him, and he tried to spin around, but he wasn’t fast enough, and he squeaked that adorable sound when I tackled him onto the cushions.

“Got you,” I murmured in his ear. He shivered, still wriggling, but he wasn’t fighting that hard to escape me. He liked being caught. I liked catching him. I ground my dick against his ass, grinning as he pushed back to meet me.

I was going to strip him and take him on the couch, but the front door opened and my annoying brother poked his head into the condo, his eyes covered. At least he was smart enough to do that.

“Is everyone decent? I don’t want to meet my future brother-in-law while my brother is inside him.”

Gary’s gasp was horrified, and he was quick to bury his face into the couch cushions to hide. Chuckling, I tossed the hood over his head and pushed to my feet, glaring at Jayden when he peeked through his fingers.

“Oh good. You’re dressed.”

“What are you doing here?”

Striding inside, he beckoned me and pulled me into a hug. I grunted, but put up with it, and when he released me, I raised my eyebrow at him, giving him the hurry up and spit it out look.

“I texted you and told you I was coming by,” he said, grinning at me. “Are you forgetting things already? Might be time for an alternative career choice if it’s addling your brain, little brother.”

I scoffed and shoved him, but he only laughed. Asshole.

Jayden’s gaze shifted to Gary, who was sitting on the floor, still mostly hidden by my jacket. His face almost matched the color of the jacket, which was fun. I wondered what I’d have to do to get him to match it completely.

“You must be Gary. I’m Jayden, the favorite brother.

Nice to meet you.” He offered Gary a hand, and when Gary accepted, Jayden pulled him to his feet and tugged him into a hug.

A muscle ticked in my jaw, but I kept my opinions to myself.

Jayden would keep messing with me if he thought it annoyed me.

Gary looked a little shell-shocked after Jayden released him. He wasn’t used to decent family members. I snagged his hood, pulling him backwards and threw my arm around his neck. It was a comfortable position, and Gary never argued with it.

“So. Dinner?” Jayden prompted.

“We’re supposed to meet the guys at The Hideout,” I said, grabbing my own jacket from the counter where I’d tossed it earlier. Black, not bright red, because I knew how to shop for clothes.

Jayden wrinkled his nose. “Nah. I want to grill my future brother-in-law. We need to be close if we’re gonna convince the ‘rents that you’ve been seeing him long enough to propose.”

I frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Jayden shook his head, giving me a look that said I was an idiot.

“This is why we need a game plan. Mom and Dad won’t just accept an engagement after a few months of being together.

Not without proof that you’re head over heels and not being manipulated.

You’ve always done things your own way and that’ll work in your favor, but if you want them to think you’re serious, you need to have done the things that matter, like introducing him to your favorite brother. ”

Gary’s brows were drawn together tightly, his frown deep. “How many siblings do you have?”

Pointing at Gary, Jayden raised his eyebrows at me. “Your fiancé should know that. Honestly, your boyfriend probably should’ve known that. Do you seriously not talk about us?”

I shrugged. “Hadn’t come up.”

It wasn’t like I didn’t care about my family.

I just didn’t bring them up in conversation regularly.

I had other shit to deal with. Like getting Gary more confident for finals.

I wasn’t worried about them, but he was studying for hours every night.

It was interrupting our sexy time. It’d been two days since we last hooked up, and it was driving me nuts.

Jayden interrupting us only put me in a worse mood.

“See? We need to cover the basics so your beau won’t be thrown to the wolves with no background information. So tell your friends you’ll see them later. We’re going out. I’m thinking sushi.”

Gary shook his head quickly. “Easton doesn’t like sushi. It has to be cooked if he’s going to eat fish.”

I smirked at Jayden. Gary knew me better than he thought. Which meant he could go away, and I could drag Gary back to our room.

“That was a test,” Jayden said with a grin. “One of many. Let’s go, little brother. Your favorite pizza restaurant is calling your name.”

Ugh. Jayden knew me too well.

GARY

I could feel the irritation coming off Easton.

He wasn’t happy about what we were doing.

I couldn’t figure out what bothered him most. That we were having dinner with his brother instead of his friends or that he had to talk about our fake relationship for a few hours.

Or something else entirely. I didn’t know.

He was hard to read lately. And a little distant.

I tried not to take offense, this wasn’t an actual relationship, but it made me antsy.

I buried myself in studying to keep him from figuring out that I was bothered by it, which was great for preparing for finals, but not great for fixing whatever was going on with him.

Easton’s brother brought us to a little hole in the wall pizza restaurant closer to downtown.

It was small, and it looked like it’d been around a while, but the decor was warm and inviting, and it smelled delicious.

Definitely nothing like that restaurant Brienna had her party at.

We were sat at a small booth in the corner, with me and Easton next to each other and Jayden on the other side.

It felt a little like an interview, and I was nervous, despite knowing this wasn’t real.

If Easton’s family didn’t like me, it didn’t really matter in the end.

This wasn’t forever. He wanted us to go back to being friends.

Didn’t mean I didn’t want them to like me.

Once we received our menus and I’d hidden behind mine for a few minutes, Jayden finally spoke.

“So. Gary. Where did you meet my brother?”

Peeking over the menu, I hesitantly answered, “He’s in a few of my classes. Our majors have some overlaps in credit requirements, I guess.”

Jayden nodded, smiling encouragingly. “And when did you start dating?”

Uh… He knew this wasn’t real, right? I shot a questioning look at Easton, who looked bored already.

“I, uh… A few weeks after we met? We had a group project together, and we spent more time together doing that, and I guess things kind of went from there?” Sort of.

We already finished the project when that guy first approached me in the library.

I frowned. Something about that didn’t add up.

Easton wasn’t supposed to meet me that afternoon.

After weeks of knowing him, I knew Easton wouldn’t set foot in the library unless he absolutely had to.

He thought it was boring. Yet he showed up exactly when I needed him to. What was he doing there?

“What?” Easton must’ve noticed me staring at him, because now he stared back, raising an eyebrow at me.

“Nothing…” My non-confrontational side said to let it go, but then I remembered I was trying to get past that.

I was allowed to ask questions. I wasn’t going to get into trouble with Easton.

“Why were you there that day in the library? Our project was done. We weren’t planning on meeting up again. Were we?”

To my surprise, Jayden snorted. I jerked to face him, and he looked like he was trying to mask his expression but was failing miserably.

“What’s so funny?”

He put his hands up in surrender, his shoulders shaking. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

I turned back to Easton, shooting him a look that demanded an explanation.

He shrugged. “I was following you. You were interesting. I wanted to see what kind of person you were.”

“You mean you were stalking him,” Jayden teased.

Easton rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t stalking him. It wasn’t anything creepy. If he didn’t want to be followed, he should’ve gone somewhere private.”

That didn’t track but I wasn’t going to get in the middle of that. I was more focused on the fact that Easton was following me. It didn’t bother me, he was right that he never did anything creepy, but it made me wonder.

“What about me was interesting?”

Easton lifted a shoulder, his expression bland. He didn’t see it as a big enough deal to remember why he’d done it. Just that he followed me around and that gave him the opportunity to step in when I needed him.

“He wanted to know if you were trying to use him. He didn’t understand why someone would be nice to him for no good reason. You giving him notes without knowing him threw him off guard,” Jayden explained, shooting his brother an exasperated look. “I told you it was weird.”

It really wasn’t. It was just…Easton.