Page 51 of Winning You

Lucas did, hand outstretched, and then Gage’s fingers met his own before curling around his wrist and pulling him inside. Gage had set up his place the same everywhere he went, so Lucas knew exactly where to drop his cane and kick his shoes.

“Are you okay? Who am I maiming?” Gage demanded.

Lucas tried for a laugh, but it sounded a bit more like a strangled sob. “I made a mistake. I shouldn’t be here. You’re dealing with so much shit, and?—”

“Lucas?” Another familiar voice. Gage’s dad.Fuuuuuuck. “Is everything okay? Do you need me to call your dad?”

“Nope. I, uh…shit. I just came to borrow a cup of sugar from my best friend.” He turned to where Gage had last been standing. “Best friend, do you have a cup of sugar I can borrow?”

“You are a chef?—”

Gage was not standing where Lucas thought he was. He was probably talking to the wall. He adjusted his stance. “Yep. A chef who ran out of sugar like some kind of…I don’t know. Bad chef who runs out of things. Anyway, kitchen. Now.” He found Gage’s arm and tugged on it probably a little too hard.

With a small sigh, Gage tugged him back, then guided Lucas’s hand to the wall before heading for the kitchen. It was less than twenty steps, and it didn’t have a door, but it did have a wall, which provided some privacy.

“I don’t actually need sugar,” he said when they were alone.

“Yeah. No shit.” Gage’s dry tone told Lucas this really was a bad idea. “What’s going on?”

“I had a thing to tell you. It’s a big thing, but it’s not bigger than your thing. And I was being a selfish prick who totally didn’t think about that when I came here, and now I feel terrible.”

Gage let out a long-suffering sigh, and the sound of his footsteps told Lucas he was closing the distance between them. He had time to brace himself before Gage’s hands fell on his shoulders the way they always did when he was trying to calm Lucas down. “Talk to me.”

“I don’t want to say it where your dad might hear it. It’s embarrassing.”

“Did you get something stuck in your ass? Because you know he’s probably actually seen shit like that.”

“Oh my god, no. It’s…just. Personal.”

Gage was quiet for a moment, and then he gently tugged Lucas several steps to what he was pretty sure was the dining room. And…yep. That was a chair his elbow smacked. “Okay. Now, talk. He’s probably trying to eavesdrop, but just keep your voice down.”

Lucas was actually kind of terrible at modulating his volume. It was worse when he was a kid, but when he was overexcited or overstressed, it was harder. He cleared his throat and leaned his head in as far as he could toward Gage’s without knocking into it.

“I lost my virginity last night. Kind of. Sort of.”

“What!”

“Dude!”

“Sorry.What?” Gage hiss-whispered.

Lucas swallowed heavily and fought the urge to start rocking back and forth or swaying his head. Oh fuck it, he thought, and began to sway a little. He knew Gage didn’t care. “So my neighbor? You know, the hot one?—”

“Oh.”

“No, not your hot one,” Lucas clarified. “Myhot one. The older brother. Frankie.”

Lucas let out a sharp breath. “Right. Okay. You…wait. You boned him?”

“I mean, boning is not the term I’d use. We didn’t touch butts or anything.”

“What did you touch?” Gage sounded strange, like he was either going to start laughing or start punching something.

“His hand touched my penis.”

Gage choked. “Oh.”

“Dick? Cock? Pr?—”