Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
FINN
I lead Josiah down the hallway to the half bathroom and wave my hand like voilà. David and Melanie’s house isn’t some mega mansion, but it is a fancy suburban home that’s easy to get lost in during your first visit.
Not something I have experience with, of course.
“I’m sure Curtis could have shown me the bathroom,” Josiah says. His voice is perfectly pleasant, but it grates on me anyway. I’ve been trying to be a good boyfriend prospect all night, and while our conversations have been nice, none of them make me feel alive like they do with Curtis.
“Ah, yeah, I suppose he could have. Truthfully, I needed to get away from my sister watching me constantly.” That, and Kingdom Hearts was mentioned right in front of Curtis, and I wanted to die.
He hasn’t immediately called me out over it, and with how popular that game was, it could easily be a coincidence, but I’m not about to rely on that.
“I don’t know why she’s bothering to try and set us up when you’ve got him in there.”
That’s uncomfortably close to the truth. “Curtis? Yeah, it’s … not a good match.”
“Forget matches. That man is …” Josiah pretends to drool. “Tell me you’ve slept with him.”
“Never.”
The look Josiah gives me makes it obvious he doesn’t believe that. “You know Gunner, and you’ve never tried to put all those videos into action?”
The blood drains from my face. “You know about Gunner?”
“Am I a man with a pulse and an internet connection? Of course I know about Gunner. I clocked his tattoo the second I walked in here. And he’s chilling in the living room, playing Pictionary like he didn’t just upload a video stretching out his hole for the camera.”
I frown at his flippant attitude. “I’d guess every person in that room has had sex. It’s not a big deal. He has a life outside of porn.”
“Yeah, but no one else in that room has uploaded video for people to get off over. Guys like that …” Josiah pauses like he’s trying to figure out how to phrase whatever is coming next.
“We’re the guys who you start a relationship with.
Men like him know they’re hot, and in a relationship, they’ll always come first.” He chuckles to himself.
“Probably literally. You know that he’d be the type of guy to use doing porn as an excuse to cheat. ”
My teeth are grinding together, and it probably started around the time Josiah was gearing up to generalize Curtis. It’s highlighting everything Gunner was wary of in his messages: when people look at him, all they see is sex.
“Gunner does all of his videos solo, and Curtis would never cheat on anyone. It’s his job, no matter how he does it, and if he did want to date, that’s a conversation for him and his partner and no one else. You don’t know anything about him, and now you’re pissing me off.”
Josiah actually scoffs. “You’re getting defensive over someone who wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
It’s right on the tip of my tongue to tell him exactly what Curtis and I were up to before he got here, but none of it is his business.
Curtis isn’t a relationship guy, and that’s okay.
He’s living his life the way he wants to live it, and no one gets to judge him for his choices.
“Hurry up and use the bathroom, or you can make your own way back.”
“I’m trying to look out for you. It’s obvious you feel something for him, and I’m warning you how stupid you’d be to want more than sex.” Josiah disappears into the bathroom, and it’s not a second too soon because Curtis comes around the corner.
“Tell me you didn’t get lost again?”
My jaw drops. “They told you about that?”
“They told everyone about that.” His smile is relaxed, no hint of suspicion behind it, but I’m so on edge from him figuring it out and my conversation with Josiah that I can’t return it. “It’s not a big deal. Still didn’t make your list of things to turn me off.”
Having people know I got lost in my own sister’s house is a whole lot less embarrassing while I’m mad. I glare at the bathroom door. “He’s a dick.”
Curtis glances from the bathroom to me and back again, then lifts his hand in a girthy circle like I did earlier. “Your come-on didn’t work, then?”
I squeeze my lips tighter. It’s not like I can tell him everything Josiah said without confessing that I know about Gunner.
For the first time since I met him, I actually hate this.
“He’s not … kind.”
“Kind?”
I give a determined nod as the toilet flushes. “I don’t like him.”
The door opens before Curtis can respond, and Josiah’s face immediately lights up at seeing him. His gaze flicks between us, an idea forming behind his eyes.
“You know, David only mentioned Finn being here tonight, not that there’d be two single gay guys.” He lifts his hands in a shrug. “Straight people are so limited. If you wanted to ditch the rest of the games, the three of us could go and have our own kind of fun.”
My cheeks heat with that suggestion because even though Josiah is kind of a dick, he’s still a good-looking guy.
Sex with him and Curtis would be an experience for sure, but knowing that he only wants Curtis for Gunner sours the entire suggestion.
That and I have no doubt I’d be left out.
When it comes to the three of us, I’m the most unattractive, but at least I have my personality over Josiah’s.
That’s important for sex.
“Sorry,” Curtis says, sounding genuinely like he means it. “If I let myself go anywhere near a naked Finn, I’d probably forget anyone else exists. Doesn’t sound like fun for you.” He claps Josiah on the shoulder and passes him, locking the bathroom door between us.
My skin gets all prickly at the thought of us naked. At having Curtis’s complete attention.
I have nothing else to say to Josiah, so I turn to lead him back to the living room, when he catches up and grabs my arm.
“I’d be okay with that, you know? If you two fucked and I watched.”
I tug my arm out of his grip. “If you want to see Gunner naked, you need to pay for that privilege.”
“I’d pay to watch both of you. Name a price.”
I legitimately don’t believe this guy. Since there’s no deterring him, I keep walking, and when we get back to the living room with jokes about me being lost, I send a long glare Melanie’s way.
We’re going to have a very serious conversation about her constantly setting me up.
Because if Josiah is a mark of the men out there, maybe I’ll join Curtis in the no-dating world.
Life where it was me and Gunner and my hand was so much simpler than this.
My phone vibrates in my pocket—I was smart enough to turn the sound off before the night started—and I turn away from Josiah so he can’t read over my shoulder before I pull it out to check the screen.
New message: Gunner.
I quickly glance around the room, but he’s still absent, so I hurry to open it to see what he could possibly be texting KingdomHearts from the bathroom.
I’ve been thinking about you. And that video. I might have a business proposition for you.
A business proposition?
KingdomHearts
What does that mean?
Gunner
It means I wasn’t lying when I said you should do porn. I just rewatched a few seconds and other than getting more vocal, it was really good.
He just watched it? Like, he’s in the bathroom, looking at my dick?
Goddammit, I stopped myself from watching today’s video, knowing I was going to see him tonight.
I missed hole stretching to be able to look him in the eyes, so I’m taking this as proof that the Kingdom Hearts thing went right over his head.
Curtis still has no clue.
Gunner
Sorry, have I scared you off?
KingdomHearts
No. No way. I have no idea what I’m supposed to reply knowing you watched it again and really did like it.
Gunner
The next time I upload a video, I want you to watch it knowing I’m getting off to the images of you fucking yourself on my dick.
Holy fuck. My phone slips through my fingers and clatters to the floor, and I scramble after it before anyone can see my screen. My heart is thundering rapidly, and while Gunner’s messages have always been sexual, they’ve felt more professional and friendly than … this.
KingdomHearts
Was that your proposition?
I’m holding my breath, waiting for a reply, when Curtis walks back into the room.
Where I’m currently on my hands and knees.
“Finally!” David says, throwing his hands up.
I hurry to shove my phone back away before he can see it, knowing I won’t get a reply now, and aim for casual as I take my seat. But how the hell am I supposed to focus on being normal when Gunner is sending me such slutty messages?
Curtis throws me a friendly, innocent smile with no clue what he’s doing to me.
“I had a thought during my very long piss and have decided we’re splitting up the teams. You couples are always together, live a little!
So let’s go … David and Sully, Melanie, Angie and Josiah, Ben and Dolcie, and … huh. I guess me and Finn.”
“Ah, Curtis—”
His loud clap cuts Melanie off. “Sounds like a plan.”
I’m trying to get the butterflies to calm the fuck down as Curtis approaches.
He pauses in front of Josiah, who perks up at the attention. It doesn’t last long. “You’re in my seat,” Curtis says.
In his commanding Gunner voice.
It takes everything in me not to melt.
Josiah reluctantly stands and joins his team on the other side of the living room as Curtis flops down beside me. He props his elbow on the back of the couch and leans in to drop his voice.
“Sorry to break up your date.”
“No, you’re not.” It’s a mission not to sound cocky.
“Am I that transparent?”
“Only to everyone in this room.”
He takes a moment to study me, not in his usual flirty way, but more like he’s curious. “Just when I think I have you all figured out, you keep on surprising me.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“I don’t know yet …” He turns back toward the game, but under the sound of David explaining Scattergories, he mutters, “But I do know you deserve someone kind.”
A pleasant shiver races down my spine and into my gut.
Between Gunner and Curtis, I really think this man might kill me.