17. Kingston #4
Riley twisted his hands together and squeezed them until the skin went white. “All the goddamn time.”
Kingston waited—letting the silence sink in before he spoke the words that he knew Riley didn’t want to hear.
“You’re in love with Jake. Probably have been for a long time,” said Kingston. “You just got tangled up in all the thoughts spinning around in your head, and now that he has Allen and he’s happy, you’ve given up.”
Riley gave a sarcastic huff and shook his head. “You figured that out in the three times you’ve seen us together?”
Kingston didn’t want to come out and say that he clocked it the first time he’d met them at the rink for Jake’s beer league game, but they had been pretty obvious.
“I had friends in Edmonton,” said Kingston.
“One of my teammates, who was dating his two childhood best friends—a guy and a girl. I guess they were some fucked up love triangle until the girl got tired and told them to kiss each other, or she wasn’t kissing either of them.
You three gave off the same vibes, so I made a guess. ”
That caught Riley’s attention, but every part of him was still too tense. “Three of them? Together?”
Kingston raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never heard of a poly relationship? They’re doing great, by the way. Very happy. They text me now and then.”
“And what does this have to do with me?” Riley asked, and Kingston could already hear the attitude bleeding into his voice.
“Christ, it’s not that deep, Evans. I’m just saying that there’s no reason to be so depressed when those two are dropping hints that they’re okay with you joining them.
” Kingston pushed onto his feet, needing to take the higher ground to gain some semblance of control.
“Stop thinking and try to have fun for once. I’m not a long-term option for you, and you know it, so what’s the harm in messing around with these guys when they could be your endgame? ”
Riley had gone pale, but he wasn’t denying it—just as Kingston knew he wouldn’t.
“Get up,” Kingston ordered. “We’re either going to the bedroom with them, or we’re going back to our place, and I’m tying you to the goddamn bed and riding your dick until you cry. You seem like a crier.”
Riley got up and looked ready to fight, but he wasn’t swinging yet. “Shut the fuck up. You know I’m not.”
Kingston didn’t care anymore. He was done talking—had been since he realized Jake and Allen were going to watch him get fucked.
Why was he the less panicked one between them when he had never had a threesome before, and had been one hundred percent straight until very recently?
Unlike Evans.
“Hey.”
Fingers curled around Kingston’s wrist, halting his march to the bedroom.
Clenching his jaw, he allowed Riley to spin him around, forcing their gazes to meet.
They were the same body weight with five inches of height difference, and Kingston never felt small whenever Riley held him, but there was something different about the way he looked at him now.
“If I have to admit to my bullshit, then you have to admit to yours,” Riley murmured, touching his thumb to Kingston’s bottom lip. “You are an option for me. I wouldn’t be fucking you if you weren’t.”
Kingston was impressed by Riley’s boldness, especially since their clothes were on and no dicks were being touched. And as much as he tried to write Riley’s suggestion off as a joke, he couldn’t deny the way his heart stuttered, and his insides went squirmy.
He hated the feeling of hope. Hope was designed to make a person feel lighter, just so it hurt more when reality knocked them down, and Kingston was well-acquainted with the fall.
Riley said pretty things, but none of them would last. How could it when they were like water and oil?
Kingston didn’t say any of this out loud because that wasn’t who they were. He defaulted to teasing and antagonizing because that was easier. That was them.
“I’ll get back to you on that after you actually fuck me instead of threatening me with it,” he said, giving Riley a rough pat on the cheek. “And even then, if the sex is bad, I’m switching back to women.”
Kingston ducked out of Riley’s arms and walked away, laughing when stuttered curses followed him to Jake and Allen’s bedroom. Fucking with Evans would never get old, especially if he kept spewing romantic shit like that all the time.
Jake was lounging on the bed playing on his phone when Kingston joined them, but Allen gestured at him from the doorway of the attached bathroom before he could think about getting comfortable.
“Where’s Riley?” Allen asked, standing on his tiptoes like that would help him see behind Kingston’s height.
Kingston shrugged. “Diarrhea again. He’s had it all day.”
“Fuck you, Sloan! I have not!”
He could tell Allen was fighting not to smile, but it was hard when Riley barged into the room like a wounded buffalo, breathing heavily enough to draw Jake’s attention away from his phone.
“You two are a lot,” Allen mused.
They were, but as selfish as it seemed, Kingston couldn’t help but wonder if a lot was just enough for the four of them.
Hope was a bitch.