Chapter 31
A COUPLE DAYS LATER, Riley and Josh were gathered at Cole and Elena’s place. Cole had moved into Elena’s house earlier that month, and they’d invited Josh and Riley over to watch football and “share some big news,” whatever that meant. With Cole, no one ever knew what to expect.
They were going to have a low-key night watching NFL playoffs with lots of food, so Riley and Josh figured it would be a good time to let Cole and Elena know they were officially dating.
When Riley and Josh walked in with foil pans filled with multi-flavored wings, Cole and Elena were turning the giant coffee table into a smorgasbord of finger foods.
Cole’s dog, Wrigley, darted toward them to say a quick hello.
He received pats from both Josh and Riley and ran back toward the food.
The retriever would be on clean-up duty tonight and would take care of any messes for them.
Josh and Riley found a spot on the table for their wings next to nachos, dips and soft pretzels.
“Are you ready for some football?” Josh sang loudly to the room, eliciting cheers from their friends.
They had some time to eat before the game officially started, and Josh settled on the big sectional couch next to Riley.
The couch fit all of them snugly around the coffee table, making for the perfect viewing experience.
There was plenty of room for more, but Abby and Emilio were off traveling the world, while Avery and Hailey were stuck going to a family function.
Who planned events during football games?
Josh raised his eyebrows in Riley’s direction, silently asking if it was the right time to tell them that he and Riley were officially official.
Riley smiled and nodded in response, then cleared his throat.
“Hey, we have a bit of an announcement,” he said, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Riley and I are boyfriends!” Josh shouted, raising their joined hands above his head.
Shouts of congratulations rang out from Cole and Elena, who were seated on Josh’s side, snuggling in the corner of the couch. They sprang upright at the news.
Elena pulled Josh in for a hug from her spot next to him, muttering, “I knew you two would figure it out,” into his ear before she released him. Cole reached over Elena with his glass to clink it against Josh and Riley’s.
“Aw man, I don’t even have confetti ready for you guys,” Cole said. “That would have been a blast.”
He playfully elbowed Elena and gave her an exaggerated wink.
“I told you, you’re not setting off confetti cannons in my house,” Elena snapped. “I already have to deal with your socks everywhere.”
“It was only twice!” Cole said, the words tickling part of Josh’s brain, but he wasn’t sure why. “That reminds me. We’ve got our own reveal for tonight. But first, a congratulatory picture.”
He held up his phone and pointed it in Riley and Josh’s direction, apparently wanting a photo to commemorate the night. Josh leaned into Riley, who threw his arm around Josh’s shoulders and they smiled into the camera.
Once Cole took the photo, he played on his phone for another minute before Josh felt a buzz in his pocket.
As he pulled his phone out, he realized Riley was doing the same thing. Maybe Cole had sent them the picture in their group chat.
When Josh looked at his notifications, however, the only thing there was a new email from CJ Rollins, who’d thankfully been quiet recently, but had sent them an email with the subject line, Surprise.
“Fucking CJ Rollins,” Riley muttered, likely looking at the same email notification.
When Josh opened it, all he saw was a picture of Riley and him sitting on Elena and Cole’s couch. The photo Cole had taken seconds before.
“What?” Josh muttered. “How the fuck did he get this picture of us? Cole just took it.”
He turned to Riley, surprised to see him frozen and staring at Cole.
“Motherfucker,” Riley whispered, his voice rising to a shout as he continued. “You’re CJ Rollins?”
Josh thought for a moment and gasped as he connected the dots.
“What? Really?” he said as he turned to Cole. The man sat there with a wide grin on his face.
“Yup, I use the pen name CJ Rollins to write romance novels.”
Josh was in shock and didn’t know what to say, until he was broken from his stupor when the weight on the couch shifted.
Riley stood wordlessly, everyone’s eyes on him as he stalked around the coffee table, not stopping until he stood in front of Cole.
He calmly and quietly took Cole’s beer from his hand, placing it lightly on a coaster between the food on the coffee table, and turned to him. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and unleashed his fury, whacking Cole and shouting between hits.
“You motherfucker.”
Whack.
“I thought we were being stalked!”
Whack.
“You made me think,” whack, “that you were gonna,” whack, “hurt Josh!”
Cole doubled over in laughter as Elena smiled at his cotton-filled beating.
Wrigley ran to Cole’s rescue, pulling on one of Riley’s pant legs, growling at the man who dared try to hurt his owner.
Riley continued with his assault, so Josh ran to his side and pulled him off Cole.
The man held out his hands to try to ward off any further attacks, his laughter fading as he took in Riley’s anger, and Wrigley jumped onto the couch and settled one of his paws on Cole’s lap, glaring in Riley’s direction.
“Really, man, I’m sorry for freaking you out,” he said, his apology sincere.
“I wanted to tell you, and I thought this would be a fun way to reveal my secret identity. I kinda thought you’d figure it out.
I didn’t mean to scare you. I even told Garrett about it ’cause I figured you’d ask for his help at some point.
I hoped he’d make you feel okay with it. ”
Josh still had his arms wrapped around Riley, one of his hands plastered across his chest so he could feel his heart racing.
It was true that they were freaked out at first, but Josh had felt a lot better about it once they heard from Maritza. She—
Josh cut off his own thoughts as the realization slammed into him.
“Maritza Shaw said she was CJ’s girlfriend,” Josh said, thinking out loud.
“But Elena is Cole’s girlfriend. Holy shit, are you…
” He trailed off, unable to finish the question, Elena’s smile growing as she watched him process everything.
He aimed an angry look at Cole. “Are you cheating on Elena with some other author?”
The smile fell from Elena’s face and Cole’s laughter turned into a cough.
“No, Josh,” Elena said, her tone softer than usual. “I’m Maritza Shaw. I use that as an alias to write my books.”
Josh’s mind was exploding with all this information.
“So you both secretly write romance novels under different names,” Josh said, making sure he understood.
Cole smiled, wrapping his arm around Elena. “We were talking to each other online under our author accounts for so long before we realized who we really were.”
Riley finally stopped pulling away from Josh and settled in his arms. Josh trusted he wasn’t going to attack Cole again, but he didn’t want to let go of him yet. Or ever.
“That must have been a fun surprise,” Riley said, his body shaking with laughter.
“Yeah, didn’t see that one coming at all,” Elena said, her eyebrows lifting for a moment at the memory.
“Okay, so Cole is a secret romance writer,” Josh said, talking himself through the realizations. “Elena is a secret romance writer. Any other big reveals for tonight?”
“Nah, I think we covered everything,” Cole said, beaming.
Josh smiled as he guided Riley to the couch and they plopped into their seats.
“I still can’t believe you were CJ Rollins this whole time,” Riley said, slightly dazed. “Wait, did you actually write a book about Josh and me?”
“Oh, no, that was just for the reveal,” Cole said, but Josh could tell he was hiding something.
“What is it you’re not telling us?” he asked.
“Well, I might have written a book about you guys years ago, but you were the inspiration. It wasn’t really about you.”
Elena snorted and broke out in laughter. “Don’t lie to them. Worth the Weight is about two gym buddies who lived together and worked together and took forever to realize they weren’t straight.”
“That could be about anyone,” Cole argued, and Josh stared at him until he continued. “Okay, maybe it was a little about you, but let’s call it wishful thinking. I knew you guys would get there eventually.”
“I guess we can’t fault you for that,” Riley said as he settled his arm across Josh’s shoulders, pulling him in tightly against him. Josh sighed as he wiggled in his favorite spot in the world.
“Nah, you were totally right,” Josh added.
“So, you forgive me for pranking you?” Cole asked nervously. “I really thought you would have figured out it was me.”
Riley let out a deep breath. “We forgive you.”
Josh had no problem letting Riley speak for him on this one. No one knew him better, after all.
“But we still expect to be paid for the work we did on this fake book you made us design graphics for.”
“No worries there. It’s a real book, I just need to send you the real blurb, which isn’t about you two at all,” Cole said. “Get this, it’s about a veterinarian who falls for a taxidermist.”
“Sounds… riveting,” Riley said, and Cole merely smiled, his attention snapping to the television as the game started.
Josh leaned closer to his boyfriend—he was so excited for him to be his boyfriend—and whispered in his ear, “We don’t have to read the books now that we know the authors, right?”
Riley chuckled and dropped his forehead against Josh’s.
“If we do, it will be together,” he said, dipping his chin so he could reach Josh’s lips, giving him a soft kiss that warmed his whole body.
Together sounded pretty good to him.