Page 14 of Worth the Risk

This wasn’t high school, though, and Landon shook him off and pushed him away. Gregory stumbled back a pace and looked up at Landon who was panting, the back of his hand covering his mouth. Gregory watched the way the muscles of Landon’s throat worked as he swallowed. He took a step forward, but Landon stopped him with a raised hand and a shake of the head.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” He wiped Gregory’s kiss away with the top of his hand then dropped it to his side.

“Then talk to me. Like this, or like that, but just talk to me. Let’s try and fix it.”

“I don’t need you to fix anythingnow, Greg. I needed youthen, and you weren’t there so I’ve moved on.” Landon held his hands up.

“With Verity?” Gregory asked the question that had been on his mind since the first time he’d seen Landon again.

“Sure, Gregory. With Verity.”

“Don’t be snide with me, please?” he pleaded. “I’m asking you seriously, are you with him now?”

“Them.”

Gregory inhaled, having been corrected twice tonight about the pronouns of a person he liked a little bit less every second that ticked by.

“Are you with them?” he revised.

“Verity and I live together. With Ed.” Landon licked his lips and pulled them in between his teeth.

Jealousy bubbled up inside of Gregory, again, and he was hard pressed to squash it, but he bit back his envy and forced the next question.

“Ed? I never pinned you for the sharing type.”

“Says the man who never wanted to be out in public,” Landon snapped back.

“That’s a low blow,” Gregory retorted, his anger resurfacing. “I was out.Wewere out. But I didn’t think it was anyone else’s business how we fucked behind closed doors, alright?”

“It had nothing to do with how we fucked. You wouldn’t collar me.” Landon pointed at his throat. “You get how important that isnow? Do you understand how much that hurt?”

He was starting to second-guess whether he and Landon had ever had any good times together, or if they’d just spent years together secretly resenting the other for perceived shortcomings.

“New York, Landon,” Gregory reminded him.

“I know where my degree is from, thanks.”

Gregory ran his hands through his hair and tugged at the roots, pulling it before dropping his hands to his sides. His palms slapped against the leather and it echoed through the empty parking lot.

“I don’t want to do this with you,” he said quietly with a shake of his head. “At least, not like this.”

“I don’t want to do this with you at all,” Landon tacked on for emphasis.

“Landon.”

“I’ve gotta go. I need to get back to work. And for the record, Gregory…”

God, he hated the way Landon said his name.

“Verity is my best friend and Ed is their dog.” Landon rolled his eyes and turned, gravel crunching under his boots as he put distance between them, although this time instead of over a thousand miles, it was thirty-seven paces to Rapture.

Gregory counted.

6

Landon

Landon wason the couch with a bottle of wine when Verity got home. He’d bowed out of work early with little explanation, and Verity had given him a knowing, if not judgmental nod before returning to mixing drinks. They had enough people working tonight that Landon knew his presence wouldn’t be missed.