“That was nice. You look worse than shit.” He folded his arms across his chest, the blue of his eyes only visible through narrow slits, but even half closed, he still appraised me entirely.
I wondered if he saw me any differently now that he knew.
Now that he knew beneath the bruises, cuts, and college athlete, my heart beat for another man.
“What happened, Trent?” he asked.
“I’m sure B told you.”
“B wasn’t there. I want to hear it from you.”
I told him everything. About how the trouble I said I took care of at the frat hadn’t really been over. I told him about Con and the shit he’d been saying to me for weeks. Anger bubbled up inside me when I retold how I was jumped, pinned down, and beaten by four guys that were supposed to be my brothers.
Sure, I was upset by all this. I was hurting inside because of Drew.
But I was also pissed.
Con knew he’d never win a fight against me alone or even if it were fair.
So he came with backup.
Motherfucker.
When I was done talking, Romeo rubbed a hand along his jaw and gestured toward the bed. “You mind?”
“I’m in love with Drew,” I said, deliberate.
The side of his lips tilted up. “Yeah, I might have heard.”
“You still wanna sit there?”
The small smirk left his face, and he sighed. Instead of dropping onto the side of the bed, he kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the mattress. The bed bounced a little beneath his weight as he took up Drew’s side and mirrored my sitting position. When his back was leaning up against the headboard, he dropped his hands in his lap and looked in my direction.
“I didn’t know I came off as a judgmental asshole,” he mused.
“You don’t. But you are a total alpha male and you know it.”
“All the men in this house are,” he retorted.
“Maybe, but I think we both know you’re number one.”
“Have you met my wife? She totally runs me.”
I laughed. It was so true. Rimmel was less than half his size, and he was totally wrapped around her little finger. “Don’t make me laugh,” I grabbed my side again, trying to hold it still while I guffawed.
His eyes narrowed with my movement, and it served to help sober me up.
“You really didn’t think I’d accept you?” he asked, bringing the rest of the laughter out of me.
I looked him in the face. “Honestly? I think I always knew you would, but I was scared to tell you. Scared if you didn’t, it would crush me twice as hard because it would mean I was wrong about the one guy I always admired.”
“I’ve always admired you. More so since I stepped in this house tonight.”
Of all the things he could have said, that was probably the least likely I would have ever guessed.
My voice was rueful. “I just got my ass beat.”
He waved that off like he wasn’t quite ready to deal with that, like it paled in comparison to everything else we had to talk about. “You’ve always been a quiet guy. You’re the observer. The friend, the guy who’s always there but stays in the background. You’re kind of like the funny sidekick in a TV show. People might not have come to watch you, but you’re the reason they stay. That inner strength you all say I have? You got it, too.”
I swallowed past the rocks in my throat. Not lumps of emotion. Rocks. “I’m not so strong, Rome.”
“You’re dying inside right now, aren’t you?” he said, frank. The nakedness of his words made me feel uncomfortable. It was hard to show him just how much I loved Drew when I still wasn’t used to admitting it to myself.
I glanced down at my lap and didn’t reply.
“I watched you and Drew dance around each other for months and months. I was starting to think you two would deny each other forever. You made the first move, didn’t you?” he asked.
I thought back to the night of our first kiss. The night I grabbed Drew’s arm and felt him shake. I nodded once.
“Starting something with him took strength. Breaking it off with him tonight took even more.”
“You heard?”
“I think the entire house heard.” He joked. “And I saw him in the hall.”
“How did he look?” I asked, forgetting about the throbbing behind my eyes and the sharp pain in my side.
“Just like you.” He was silent a heartbeat, then said, “I imagine I looked the exact same way the night Rimmel found out about initiation and the dare to sleep with her. The night she got out of my car and walked away. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again.”
Oh, I’d see Drew again. And it would feel like salt being poured into a gaping, raw wound.
“I think my situation is a little different.” I pointed out.
In his lap, Romeo began twisting the wedding ring adorning his finger. “Why’s that? ‘Cause you love a dude and not a woman? Man, have you met women? They’re borderline impossible to deal with half the time.”
I snorted. I learned it from his wife.
The humor left his voice when he spoke again. “I know something about loving someone you aren’t supposed to. Someone no one thinks you should.”
I looked up.