Chapter 6
Ramsey should’ve sensed that he was riding too close to the edge. Should’ve predicted that in this kind of mood he’d do something inherently stupid that he couldn’t take back.
But suggesting to Nate that they fake date to get their friends off their back felt so inevitable, Ramsey wasn’t sure that even if he’d seen it coming from a mile away that he could’ve dodged it.
He and Nate had been on a collision path for so long it was probably a miracle that Ramsey hadn’t lost his mind and suggested something like this ages ago.
The next morning after, he sat at the kitchen counter, drinking his coffee and eating his eggs, watching Wes as he blended up his daily protein shake.
It still felt weird that he wasn’t bulking—had been specifically told not to do it, in fact, so he wouldn’t gain too much weight before he got back on the ice.
“You disappeared for awhile last night,” Wes said, not looking up as he worked the blender.
Ramsey knew that Wes would give him some kind of opening.
Last night Nate had wondered when they were going to start their charade. If they were going to walk out of the room and begin right then, convincing everyone they’d ducked into that private room specifically for some alone time.
But Ramsey told him no.
It made sense, sure, but it had been too fun to watch the flush rise on Nate’s cheeks when he’d retorted fondly, “Like I would ever let you pull me into a bathroom for our first hookup.”
Nate had cleared his throat and nodded along.
“I’ll go first and you can leave later. We’ll be in touch about our upcoming plans.”
Nate had mouthed along with upcoming plans, and had tried to say something about how Ramsey didn’t have his phone number.
Ramsey had only pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted him, the first actually sent text in the thread he’d been haunting for two months, Yes I do.
Nate’s expression had been priceless.
Ramsey wasn’t proud necessarily, but he was still thinking about it eight hours later.
“Yeah, I was chatting with Nate,” Ramsey said casually.
Wes’ head snapped up.
“What? You were just chatting with the guy who’s been giving you shit since the moment you started coming around the team?”
“Yeah. He’s a cool guy, actually.” It was hard to fool Wes, because he saw through him in a way almost nobody else did, but he could easily paste a smug expression on his face and mean every bit of it. “Not sure he’ll keep giving me shit anymore, though.”
Wes’ jaw dropped. “Are you fucking serious? No. You’re not. You can’t be.”
“When am I ever not serious?”
“Um, all the time?” Wes stared at him over the blender. “Why didn’t you say this last night? Why didn’t you tell me first thing?”
But Ramsey just shrugged, easy and casual. If he’d rushed to tell Wes, excited like an overgrown puppy with his first crush, Wes would never have believed it.
Telling Wes and Wes believing it was the trickiest part of this whole charade.
“What happened?” Wes looked fascinated. Worried, yes, but also extremely interested. “You know he’s a good guy, right?”
Ramsey rolled his eyes. “And what, I’m not?”
“No but you’re the fuck them and leave them type,” Wes said sternly.
“Maybe, maybe not.”
Wes looked even more boggled. “What.”
“Maybe everyone’s been right.”
“I’m sorry, what,” Wes repeated. He came around the island, giving Ramsey a hard look the whole journey.
“Maybe I—we—just needed to do something else,” Ramsey said nebulously.
Wes put his hands on Ramsey’s shoulders, his hazel eyes full of dubious concern. “And what would that be, exactly?”
There was a part of Ramsey that wanted to squirm away. To not say any of it. It wasn’t like he enjoyed lying to Wes. He wouldn’t enjoy lying to Brody either, and there was no question the first person Wes was going to text about this was Brody, despite his west coast time zone.
“How am I supposed to know yet?” Ramsey said, wide-eyed.
But Wes just shot him a look. “Don’t play that innocent bullshit routine with me. I know you too well.”
He did, and Ramsey had figured that it wouldn’t work, but it had been worth a try.
“It’s not like I’ve done this before,” Ramsey confessed. It was the truth, and he’d long since discovered that some carefully chosen truths were always more effective than the most well-constructed lie.
Wes’ expression softened. “No, you haven’t. You like him?”
Every muscle in Ramsey’s body tightened. Wes must have sensed it, and thankfully, he misinterpreted it—or at least misapplied the conclusion—because he said, “Okay, yeah it’s too soon for that, for you. Baby steps, right?”
Ramsey swallowed hard. “Yeah, sure.”
“If you like him, though, it’s okay,” Wes said casually.
There was no question that in addition to all the exclamation points Wes was going to send Brody, he was going to add, and Ramsey LIKES him.
It made Ramsey squirm, but he wasn’t sure he hated it. Or that it would be a lie.
Undoubtedly, Nate fascinated him. He wanted to know how his brain and his heart worked. He wanted to pick them apart and then put them back together until he understood everything about them. That was similar enough to liking him, right?
“Okay,” Ramsey said.
“But, we don’t have to talk about it. When are you seeing him next?”
“Not sure,” Ramsey said honestly. He’d told Nate they were playing it by ear, after he shot Ramsey that adorably affronted look about the phone number.
“Well, you should text him,” Wes said, returning around the counter to the blender with his protein shake.
“Yeah?”
After emptying the blender, Wes took it over to the sink to rinse. “Well, yeah, you should. Especially if you do uh . . .feel that way we’re not saying you’re feeling.”
While Wes’ back was turned, Ramsey rolled his eyes. He loved his friend, but Wes could be ridiculous.
“If we’re thinking along those lines,” Ramsey said, “I’ve got something to say too.”
Wes turned back, smile bright. “Yeah?”
He had no idea what was coming, that much was obvious.
“You should text Marcus.”
Wes froze, plastic cup full of smoothie halfway to his lips. “What?” he barked.
“If you love him still, you should text him. That’s just your own advice, right?”
Wes looked pissed off and betrayed. “And say what? Sorry, guy, guess I miss you a lot? Guess I was full of shit when I said it would be okay if we went our separate ways?” He huffed out a frustrated breath. “Seems like the wrong thing to send over text.”
“Then call him up and say it,” Ramsey said.
“You remember what I said. What we agreed to, when you basically moved in here,” Wes reminded him in a hard voice.
Yeah, Ramsey remembered. He’d brought up Marcus, Wes’ ex, once, and Wes had lost his shit. It was the only time he and Wes had ever fought.
“Yeah,” Ramsey agreed, feeling guilty though he wasn’t sure that he was right to. It was just Wes’ wrecked face. The way he always looked like he was missing a part of himself, but knew he wasn’t ever going to be able to find it and put it back where it belonged.
The fight had been bad enough that Ramsey had actually felt the need to apologize, something he almost never did. But Wes had been so upset, despite that he clearly was dying to do what Ramsey suggested and contact Marcus, that he hadn’t felt like he had any other choice.
He also hadn’t had much of a choice when after the apology, Wes had made him promise that he wouldn’t talk about Marcus or make any other suggestions or interfere in any way.
Ramsey had already promised himself he wouldn’t interfere in a way he normally would, but Wes had extracted the additional promise that he wouldn’t even bring it up.
Because, Wes said, Ramsey had never been in love.
He’d never even dated anyone. How could Ramsey know it was “so easy” to just send Marcus a text if he’d never been there before?
Ramsey couldn’t say that was entirely why he’d suggested this whole fake dating slash fake liking charade to Nate, but it was definitely an added bonus.
If Wes thought Ramsey had similar feelings, for the first time ever, maybe the promise no longer applied.
Maybe he could get away with suggesting to Wes that he put everyone out of their misery by telling Marcus that he freaking missed him.
“You promised,” Wes repeated, more emphatically this time.
“I know, but—”
“No buts,” Wes said, and the look on his face was enough that Ramsey decided it was best to let it go. Tackle this another day, and in another way, maybe.
Wes sighed, picking up his shake again. “I know,” he continued, “you just want everyone to be happy the way you’re happy, but it’s just not happening, okay?”
Ramsey wanted to tell him that he wasn’t really particularly happy right now, but if he did that would undermine this whole thing, and what was the point of doing it if he 1) couldn’t get Wes off his back about Nate and 2) figure out a way to make it work to Wes’ advantage, or at the very least, convince him that this cold war between him and Marcus was very stupid?
So instead Ramsey agreed. “Yeah,” he said. “Really happy.”
Wes shot him a look.
“Okay, that was overstating it a bit,” Ramsey agreed. “How about fairly happy?”
“Better,” Wes grumbled. Then he brightened. “Text him.”
Ramsey finished his coffee. “That wasn’t even a question.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Wes agreed.
“I wouldn’t have told you about it if I thought you were going to be so bossy.”
“Yeah,” Wes said, leaning against the counter, “let’s talk about ‘it’.”
“You told me we didn’t have to,” Ramsey complained.
“That was before you started to refer to your feelings—or your whole deal with Nate—as an it.”
Ramsey rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what it is yet. We talked. We came to a . . .” An agreement to fake like each other. “We agreed that maybe what we’d been doing up to now wasn’t working.”
“It’s not a business negotiation,” Wes said incredulously.
“Of course not.”
“Then why does it sound like it is?”