Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Tommy
Tommy made it through exactly three conversations before he needed air.
Someone’s aunt had cornered him near the buffet with a story about when he was ten and fell into the neighbor’s koi pond. He nodded in the right places, laughed when she laughed, but the smile stretched thin across his face like it was being held there with tape.
Logan noticed before Tommy said anything.
Of course he did.
His hand shifted slightly at Tommy’s back, a quiet check-in.
“You want air?” Logan murmured.
Tommy nodded once.
“Yeah.”
Logan squeezed his shoulder, steady and grounding.
“I’ll be inside,” he said. “Text me if you want backup.”
Tommy gave him a quick smile and slipped toward the back door before anyone else could stop him.
Cold night air hit his face immediately.
The patio lights glowed softer than the house behind him, string bulbs swaying slightly in the February breeze. From outside, the party noise dulled into muffled laughter and music humming through the glass.
Tommy walked to the railing and braced his hands against the wood.
He exhaled slowly.
His pulse was still a little too fast.
Not from the crowd.
From the moment across the room.
From the way Chase had looked at him.
Tommy closed his eyes briefly.
He thought about the hotel.
About the moment their eyes had met.
About the way his body had reacted before his brain could decide how to feel about it.
The sliding door opened behind him.
Tommy didn’t turn.
He already knew.
“You always used to come out here when the house got loud.”
Chase’s voice was quieter outside.
Less polished.
Tommy huffed a breath.
“I didn’t hide,” he said. “I strategically retreated.”
Chase stepped beside him, forearms resting on the railing like he’d done it a hundred times before.
“Still hate parties?” Chase asked.
Tommy shrugged.
“I don’t hate them. I just… don’t breathe well in them.”
Chase nodded faintly.
“Yeah,” he said. “I get that.”
Tommy glanced sideways at him.
“You?” he asked. “You always thrived at these.”
Chase’s mouth curved slightly.
“That’s the performance.”
Tommy blinked.
“Performance?”
Chase nodded once, gaze fixed out into the yard.
“Smile. Shake hands. Be impressive. Be agreeable.”
Tommy studied him more closely.
Up close, the seams showed clearer.
“You don’t like it?” Tommy asked.
Chase hesitated, then exhaled slowly.
“I don’t dislike it,” he said. “I just never chose it.”
That landed heavier than Tommy expected.
“My dad picked every sport I played,” Chase continued quietly. “My mom picked how I dressed. Every decision was… pre-approved.”
Tommy leaned back against the railing.
“I always thought you had it easy,” he admitted.
Chase turned toward him fully.
“I always envied that you had freedom.”
Tommy laughed under his breath.
“Freedom?” he echoed.
“You wore what you wanted. Said what you wanted. You didn’t care if people approved.”
Tommy looked down at the deck boards.
“I cared,” he said quietly. “I just didn’t know how to fake it.”
The sliding door opened behind them.
Tommy tensed automatically.
An older woman stepped halfway out, drink in hand, scanning the patio until she spotted Chase.
“There you are,” she said warmly.
Then her gaze shifted between them.
Her smile brightened instantly.
“Oh! And you must be the boyfriend.”
The word dropped between them like glass.
Tommy froze.
“We’re, ” he started.
But she waved him off.
“Adorable, you two,” she said. “You look very happy together.”
The door slid shut before either of them could respond.
Silence rushed back in.
Tommy stared out at the dark yard.
“You didn’t correct her,” he said after a moment.
Chase leaned back against the railing.
“Neither did you.”
Tommy huffed softly.
“Yeah. I was surprised.”
“So was I.”
Another quiet beat passed.
“That could’ve been awkward,” Tommy muttered.
“It probably should’ve been,” Chase admitted.
Tommy glanced at him.
“But?” he asked.
Chase’s gaze drifted back to the yard.
“But it didn’t feel wrong.”
Tommy’s chest tightened.
“You barely know what this is,” he said carefully.
“I know what it isn’t.”
Tommy waited.
“It doesn’t feel casual,” Chase said. “Not the way tonight started. Not the way you look at him.”
Tommy’s expression softened despite himself.
“And what does that have to do with you?” he asked.
Chase smiled faintly.
“Honestly?” he said. “I’m still figuring that out.”
Tommy snorted quietly.
“At least that’s honest.”
Chase nodded.
“I’m not trying to step into something that already works,” he said. “I just don’t want to pretend I didn’t feel anything either.”
Tommy studied him longer now.
“You’re very calm about this,” he said.
“I’m trying to be respectful,” Chase answered.
A breeze lifted Tommy’s hair.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then Tommy said quietly, “You always made things complicated when we were kids.”
Chase smiled.
“You always made them simple.”
Tommy glanced at him.
“That’s not a bad thing,” Chase added. “You decide what matters and move toward it. I’ve never been very good at that.”
Tommy shook his head slightly.
“You were always beating me at everything,” he said.
Chase’s expression shifted.
“I didn’t try to beat you,” he said quietly.
Tommy frowned.
“What?”
“I didn’t try,” Chase repeated. “I just didn’t know how to stop competing.”
The words hung between them.
Tommy’s pulse quickened slightly.
“You know what I used to think?” Tommy said.
“What?”
“I thought you had everything figured out.”
Chase huffed a breath.
“Yeah,” he said. “That was the goal.”
Tommy studied him.
“Did you?”
Chase didn’t answer right away.
“I almost left the hotel when I realized it was you,” he said instead.
Tommy blinked.
“What?”
Chase nodded.
“I didn’t expect that.”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
Chase turned toward him fully now.
“Because you looked more like yourself than I’ve ever seen you.”
Tommy’s brow furrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“You weren’t competing,” Chase said. “You weren’t guarded.”
His voice dropped slightly.
“You were just… there.”
Tommy swallowed.
“And you liked that?”
Chase didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah.”
Tommy’s pulse kicked harder.
“Why?” he asked.
Chase stepped half a pace closer.
Not crowding.
Just closing the distance.
“Because I’ve spent my whole life trying to win,” he said.
His eyes held Tommy’s.
“And you’re the first thing I don’t want to compete for.”
The patio door slid open.
Both of them turned.
Logan stepped outside.
His gaze moved from Tommy to Chase and back again.
“Everything good?” he asked.
Tommy nodded.
“Yeah.”
Logan stepped closer, resting his hand lightly at the small of Tommy’s back again.
Grounding.
Chase met Logan’s gaze.
“I’m not here to compete with you,” he said calmly.
Logan studied him for a moment.
“Good,” he said.
A quiet pause settled between the three of them.
Then Chase rubbed the back of his neck with a small laugh.
“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I’d be lying if I said the other night wasn’t incredibly hot.”
Tommy groaned softly.
Logan laughed.
“That’s one way to summarize it.”
Chase glanced between them.
“It was my first time doing anything like that,” he admitted. “Honestly I almost didn’t come.”
“I could tell,” Logan said easily. “You were more careful than the others.”
Chase nodded once.
“I appreciated that,” Logan added.
The comment landed deeper than expected.
Chase exhaled slowly.
“So… is it something you’d ever do again?” he asked.
Logan looked to Tommy.
Tommy felt both of them watching him now.
The night air moved quietly around them.
“Not like that,” Tommy said carefully.
He glanced between them.
“But maybe… with someone we trust.”
Logan’s hand tightened slightly at his back.
“Someone intentional,” Logan said.
Chase nodded slowly.
Tommy realized suddenly he was standing between them.
Not deliberately.
Just… there.
And for the first time in his life, standing between Chase and someone else didn’t feel like losing.
It felt like possibility.
The patio lights swayed faintly above them.
Inside, the party went on like nothing had changed.
But Tommy knew something had.
And this time, for once, he wasn’t trying to win.
He was just trying to see what happened next.