Chapter 7 Cole
COLE
Oakley and I are standing outside Preston’s front door.
Last night, when Oak came and told me he’d talked to Jensen, I knew exactly what he was going to say.
When I lied to Oak and told him I had a blast at game night, I didn’t think he would run into the one person who would probably tell him how I really acted.
And I honestly shouldn’t have lied to him either, but it was impossible for me to enjoy myself when he wasn’t around.
I either drank too much and felt like shit afterward, or I completely shut down and just stayed quiet.
To be honest, they shocked me when they invited me to another game night.
I thought for sure they would have been like, ‘nah, he’s too much, don’t invite him.
’ And yet here I am once again, waiting for the door to open.
Except at least this time, Oak is standing right beside me, holding the bowl of homemade salsa I made for everyone.
He has a huge grin on his face as he bounces in place silently, and I know he’s so damn happy to be here with me.
The front door swings open to both Preston and Jonas, smiling at us.
Jonas is huge, almost twice the size of Preston.
Hell, I’m a pretty big guy, and Jonas is still huge to me.
He’s bulky and fit, and I swear any time I’ve seen him in a t-shirt, the sleeves look as though they’re going to rip from his muscles.
I’ve heard the stories Preston will tell everyone about being tossed around, and my mind drifts off to what that looks like.
Does he toss him over his shoulder? Or maybe he cradles him as they walk around the room, making their way to their bed?
Does he throw him down? Or pin him up against the wall? How does that work?
Oak clears his throat, and I glance at him before directing my attention to Preston and Jonas, who are staring at me.
“Hi,” I say squeakily, closing my eyes tightly.
“Thanks for inviting us. I brought chips and homemade salsa.” My cheeks warm up quickly, and I know without a doubt there’s a bright red blush on my face.
You can’t blame me though, with as much as Preston talks about it, it’s normal to wonder about it.
“Thank you both for coming.” Preston opens the door wide, letting us into their house.
Preston is such a great guy, and funny as hell.
I don’t get to spend as much time with him since he works at the bar, but anytime I’m around him, he’s always making me laugh.
And I love seeing how obsessed Jonas is with him.
Preston can’t even walk to the back of Peaches without Jonas rushing out of the office to see if he’s okay and checking in on him.
We follow Preston into their bright white kitchen, where it appears everyone else is already situated.
There’s a bunch of different food items on the marble-top counters, and a huge glass pitcher of margaritas next to the food.
Oak places the bowl of salsa down while I make my rounds, giving everyone a small hug and saying hi to each person.
Oakley offers everyone a general ‘hi’ before he walks over to the corner where Jensen and Jonas are standing and talking.
They get lost in conversation, my body relaxing, knowing that Oak has found his place in this small group.
“I want you to try this cheese dip I made,” Bash gushes, jumping off the stool and heading straight for me.
“I saw it in a social media video. The minute I saw bursting tomatoes, I knew I wanted to try it.” He grabs a small, toasted piece of bread, dragging it through the dip and handing it off to me, placing it in my mouth.
The flavors burst on my tongue, and I quickly reach around him for another piece.
“This is so good,” I mumble, trying to chew and talk at the same time.
“Thanks. Tristan said it was just okay, so I knew I needed the opinion of my friend who would tell me good things.” Bash rolls his eyes playfully, glancing over at Tristan who narrows his eyes.
“Hey,” Tristian cuts him off, walking over and standing next to us. “I didn’t say it was okay; I said it’s good, but I’m not a fan of the cheese. And that has a lot of cheese.”
Bash shoves Tristan’s shoulder, nuzzling him out of the way. “He was basically saying it’s shit, so screw him; he no longer gets to try any of my dips.” Bash stands in front of Tristan, trying to edge him out the way so I can no longer see him.
“Rude!” Tristan reaches over to Bash, snatching the lollipop out of his mouth. We both laugh when Bash stares dead ahead, his mouth opening and closing as if he hasn’t realized what just happened.
Bash snaps his mouth closed and squeezes his eyes, “Not the candy.”
Tristan pops the lollipop back into his mouth, and they both smile. “It’s like you’re a baby who needs a pacifier.”
“It’s better than him walking around with a dick in his mouth,” Declan replies before stopping and looking at us. “Actually, that might not be true. I would love to have a dick in my mouth. Not where you all can see, but you know what I mean.”
“Ew. No, Declan. Anyway, who wants to play poker? Or are we starting with Chameleon? I’m down for whatever,” Lennox asks, apparently ready to get the night started and ignore whatever the hell Declan just said.
I don’t understand why Declan talks about sex so much, but I don’t even question it anymore.
If there’s a sex or dick joke that can be made, you can count on Declan to make it.
“Chameleon. I love seeing people embarrass themselves when they don’t know what’s going on,” Preston responds excitedly, tapping his palms against the counter in rhythm.
“I’ve never played that,” I tell them all, sneaking another piece of the dip with bread. “Is it hard?”
Preston grabs a cup and fills it with some of the strawberry margarita. “No, it’s like an imposter. Everyone except one person knows what the word is, and we have to say something similar to what the word is to figure out who doesn’t know what the word is.”
“Oh, that sounds fun. Let’s play.”
We play a few rounds, and luckily, I only have to be the Chameleon one time.
Damn, it’s hard to be an imposter. Trying to guess what the word is based on what other people are saying.
Bash is constantly making drinks for everyone, with no one going more than a few seconds without a cup in their hands.
After Preston packs up the game, Bash takes out the deck of cards and starts shuffling them.
Lennox, Preston, Tristan, and I duck out of the strip poker game, leaving the rest of them to play.
Everyone else loses their clothes quickly, and it isn’t long before most of them are nearly naked.
Oak is down to his briefs and one sock; Bash still has his pants on; Declan’s wearing a thong and his socks; Jensen is in his briefs and T-shirt; and somehow Jonas remains mostly clothed. He must be kicking everyone’s ass.
“Sometimes I wish Jonas would lose so that he could strip in front of everyone,” Preston sighs, placing his hand under his chin as he stares at Jonas.
“Don’t you get to see him naked every day?” I ask, laughing when Oak stands up and rips his sock off his foot. Uh-oh, someone is about to get naked.
“Well, yeah, but it’d still be nice. That way you all could see what I see. He’s so damn gorgeous. I’ve told him so many times, he needs to get up on stage for one night, just to show off. But you all know him. There’s no way in hell he’ll do that.”
“I don’t know,” Lennox adds. “I think I’m too jealous to let you all see Jensen naked. The second he tries to pull off that shirt, I’m cutting him off. No eye candy from him tonight.”
We all laugh, knowing Lennox would rush over there in a second to make sure Jensen keeps his clothes on.
The game ends before anyone gets completely naked, much to the chagrin of Bash and Tristan, who were hoping to get a little eyeful.
Lennox connects his phone to the Bluetooth speaker, and he and Declan sing loudly to Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey.
Oak walks over to me, lifting his hand in my direction, “Wanna dance?”
“Here?” I ask, bewildered. “To them singing?”
Oakley tosses his head back, laughing, and grabs my hand, pulling me to my feet. “Yeah, to their singing.”
We dance around the living room while Lennox and Declan sing their hearts out. Once their song is done, Preston takes a turn singing a Taylor Swift song, which causes everyone to sing along loudly. We spend the next few hours hanging out and having fun before we call it a night.
“That was fun,” Oak says, walking into our apartment. He kicks his shoes off, and I’m about to roll my eyes when he leans down and places them against the wall. Wow, I’m shocked. I’m about to say something about his shoes when he adds, “We should do a game night here. Would you be okay with that?”
“Yes,” I respond excitedly. “I can ask the guys if they wouldn’t mind doing the next one here. Oh my god, that would be so much fun. I already have a ton of ideas.” Reaching forward, I place a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for coming. It means everything to me.”
Tonight was perfect, hanging out with everyone and Oak.
“You live here by yourself?” I ask Bash the next day when he opens the door to his apartment, letting me inside. “I can’t believe I haven’t been to your place before.”