Chapter 6
SIX
SUTTON
After eating, we sat in the cozy sitting room, Jayden on the sofa and me in the armchair. This small house really was a nice place, completely unexpected, and I appreciated Nate organizing the refuge for us.
“So,” I started, “what do you think we should be?”
Jayden’s sleepy gaze was on me. Between a belly full of food and his painkillers kicking in, he looked close to passing out again. “Not willing to let anything come between us again.”
My pulse kicked up at the honesty of his words.
It didn’t matter that his tone was groggy and that he was even more forthcoming when high on meds.
He always, as in always, gave me his truth.
Sometimes he had a weird or backward way of expressing himself, but from day one, he rarely held anything back.
I snorted internally. Well, beyond me not being his first kiss with a guy.
And hadn’t that news been a punch to the nuts.
Jealousy was never a pretty emotion, but fuck if a shroud of green hadn’t blanketed my vision for far too many moments when he’d told me about Mark dickwad Lonsdale.
Okay, I’d met the guy a couple of times when hanging out with Jayden in college, and he wasn’t a dick, but still, Jayden had been the first man I kissed, and there wouldn’t be another.
And that there was the crux of my jumbled emotions.
Aware he was waiting for a response, I nodded. “Me neither.”
“So we what, apologize for the misunderstanding? Explain we’re not in a romantic relationship”—nausea twisted in my stomach and tightened my chest at his words—“and that we’re a hundred percent behind the LGBTQ community…?”
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath to center myself. He was right. We had to do this. Clear up the mess I created.
It didn’t matter that our kiss had rocked my world.
It didn’t matter that his mouth on mine had opened me up to a next-level, mind-blowing collection of emotions for Jayden.
It didn’t matter that my love for my best friend had morphed into so much more than I’d ever envisioned.
“Yeah. We need to touch base with our agents and probably the club PR. Not only will they want to navigate us through this, I imagine they want an update on your health.”
“That first, then our parents?”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
A slow smirk formed on his mouth, the action dragging my eyes to his lips. “You know my mom’s going to lose her shit at me and be all levels of pissed that we’re not getting married, right?”
I dug deep and pulled forth a light chuckle. “You know it, and you know my mom will be the same.”
“Damn straight. I’m a catch.”
I raised my brows, my shoulders relaxing into the banter, enjoying the familiar ground with Jayden. “That right? I would have thought I’d be the catch in this relationship.”
A part of me wanted to smack myself and beg my mouth to shut the fuck up. Each word tasted bitter, which conflicted with the peace bantering with Jayden gave me.
“Well, you know, Momma always told me to marry up. Go for someone smarter than me.” He winked. “Heck, she really is going to be so pissed off.”
Sadness attempted to settle over me. Another version of us, maybe this could have happened, but I’d take Jayden anyway I could. No way would I put our friendship in jeopardy again.
“They’ll all cope,” I offered.
His mouth twisted, not seeming convinced. “Okay, cells on.”
We switched on our cells, our phone services connecting to the Australian towers. It took a few beats, and then the notifications started. And they didn’t stop for at least ninety seconds. Jayden’s brows shot progressively higher as the alerts sounded, his gaze meeting mine.
“Fuck. This is crazy.”
I winced. “We need to deal with this together. Perhaps check a few messages, then whoever we talk to, do it on loudspeaker so we don’t have to repeat ourselves too much. Fuck, maybe we should just do a conference call or something.”
Jayden’s groan caught my attention.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “Just exhausted already.”
Guilt flared to life in my chest. He was meant to be healing. Part of that was making sure he was relaxed, yet here I was, causing a mountain of work for him.
“Sorry, man. You know, I can deal with all this. This was my doing.”
With a shake of his head, two lines appeared between his eyebrows.
“No chance. We do this together, Gale.” Once again my heart flipped.
This time at the soft use of my first name.
“Last season I did almost everything by myself, and I don’t know about you, but it was a stinking pile of dung.
I’m so used to you being at my side, with me every step of the way, usually dealing with the aftermath of one of my grand schemes.
” He quirked a smile at me, and the pain that had blossomed at his words eased some. “We do this together, okay?”
Allowing my heart to settle in my chest, I edged back in the armchair, my cell still in hand. “Codependency isn’t something I’d usually support people bragging about.”
The smile he gave was so smug he looked all levels of hot. “You know better than most I’m all about crossing lines.” He waggled his brows, and I huffed out a laugh. Of course I knew that. It was one of the things that endeared him to me while driving me insane.
“Okay, whose voice messages shall we listen to first?” He glanced down at his cell and clicked a few buttons. “It says I have fifteen.”
I didn’t bother to check mine since he already had his open. “Go ahead.” I gestured toward his phone.
“Here goes.”
“Give me a call when you can. We’ve received your medical details. I’ve spoken to Coach Brentworth and have calmed things down there. We have time before training, so no one’s worried at the moment. Rest up.”
I recognized Greg’s voice easily. He’d been Jayden’s agent for years now.
“Jayden. A heads-up would have been good, man. Call me ASAP.”
There were three more messages like that from Greg, and Monty, our team’s PR guy.
“Jayden, it’s your momma. You need to get your hiney on the phone or get Gale to call me if you’re busy sleeping and recovering, but baby—” A distinctive sniff followed, and Jayden’s mom’s voice filled with emotion.
“I don’t know why you didn’t tell me, but I’m so proud of you, baby.
Your dad and I love you. We’re so happy for you both.
I’ve already spoken to your aunt Sammi, and we think a spring wedding would be perfect. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
“Fuck.” Jayden’s gaze slammed into mine, and we both winced. “I expected it, but shit, when she knows the truth, she’s going to chase me around the damn house in that chair of hers with a broom and tan my hide.”
“Seriously, man, one of you needs to call me. It’s about your endorsement with Axle.
They’ve pulled out of your renewal contract you were meant to sign off next week.
I’ve already scoured the contract, and there’s fuck all we can do about it.
We both can guess why that is, which they’d never admit, of course. Call me.”
Surprise at hearing the voicemail from Greg zipped through me. That surprise was quickly replaced with anger, especially at seeing the wide-eyed shock on Jayden’s face.
“The motherfuckers,” he spat. I clenched my jaw, my back molars grinding. “I should have pulled out myself or never signed up with the bastards in the first place.” We made eye contact. “And don’t start with an I told you so.”
I raised my hands. “Hey, there’s no point in any of that.
You signed because the brand made sense so you could support Bounce Your Balls charity.
” At the time, Jayden had hemmed and hawed about the sponsorship.
The company’s ads tended to be on the cusp of cringeworthy but not quite pushing over the edge.
The final decision was their over-the-top masculine ads targeting men while also encouraging them to check their balls.
Axle had agreed to 5 percent of sales going toward a testicular cancer charity as part of the sponsorship deal.
Jayden donated every single cent of his payment to the same charity.
“Fuck, this is all my fault. I’m so sorry, Jay. ”
“Don’t.” He shook his head, eyes blazing. “This is all on them, and apparently being gay or bi or whatever isn’t masculine enough for their bullshit brand.”
“Of which you’re neither,” I said, trying to be reasonable despite the growing frustration in my gut.
“That’s beside the point. If I was bi, so fucking what. I know the brand is about being a babe magnet. Being bi wouldn’t change that.”
I kept my mouth shut, not sure anything I could say would help this conversation at all. The whole body deodorizer range targeted uber masculine men who played the field… and with their balls. Jayden had supported that brand because of the charity deal he’d struck.
“I know they were a bit on the cusp of sexist,” he admitted. There was no argument from me, but his heart had absolutely been in the right place. It always was. “But who do the assholes think they are?” He shook his head. “And fuck, the charity money.”
The contract was worth five million, so it wasn’t exactly pocket change, especially to the charity.
“Just talk it out with Greg. See what he has to say.”
“I’ll fucking sue the bastards for prejudice.” Pink-cheeked and eyes still blazing, he looked so fucking sexy like this. Full of passion and indignation.
“But our being engaged isn’t true, and you’re not bi or gay.” The obvious needed to be said, but Jayden wasn't always the most rational when he got like this, full of indignation.
“I don’t give a shit. They don’t know that. And that’s not the point.”
While I wholeheartedly agreed, I wasn’t sure that there'd be anything to pursue based on the short message Greg had left.
“You want to listen to the rest of the messages?” I asked, my tone calm, trying to cut through some tension. Anger wouldn’t be doing his head any good. He was meant to be relaxing.
“I suppose.” The tone of his voice had changed. He sounded almost forlorn, which didn’t sit right.