Chapter 17
Rowan
He looked around himself, staring at the people sitting at the tables next to him and wondering if they could tell.
He felt eyes on him, almost scanning him. He hunched his shoulders in and curled toward the table, nursing a mug of tea and convincing himself he was just paranoid.
They absolutely couldn’t tell.
Right?
How the hell would they be able to tell what he’d gotten up to the night before?
“So you’re having sex trouble.”
Rowan jumped out of his skin, wide-eyed and shocked as Ruben rounded the table and sat down unceremoniously. “Ruben, what the fuck!?”
The whole diner had turned his way at the loud declaration.
Ruben reclined in his seat casually, one arm over the back in shameless confidence.
He had a leather jacket on and a blousy shirt that exposed his chest more than it should for nine a.m. His hair was cut stylishly short and perfectly arranged, and his smattering of freckles only accented his dragon features, instead of overwhelming them like Rowan’s did.
Ruben was a heartbreaker and he took full advantage of that fact.
No one was safe from his wiles, and Rowan watched in real time as he threw a wink at a nearby mother and then one at her husband for good measure. They hurriedly turned away, both blushing.
“I regret this already,” Rowan mumbled into his hand.
“You called me for advice.”
Rowan looked up with a glare. “Which was poor judgment on my part.”
Ruben rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a prude. Order me breakfast and I’ll help you with your performance issues.”
“I don’t have performance issues,” Rowan said through gritted teeth.
Ruben eyed him up and down. “You sure? Big guy like you. Emotionally constipated. Lives to work. I figured you’d need help.” He made a crude jerking gesture with his hand.
Rowan reached across and slapped it. “Please stop.”
“If that’s what you do in the bedroom then I can help you find a specific crowd.”
“I don’t slap my dick!”
The whole diner was staring again, and Rowan cringed and hid behind his hair while Ruben laughed carelessly.
“I hate you,” Rowan whispered.
Ruben reached across and stole his tea, taking a huge gulp. “You say that to everyone.”
Rowan snatched the tea back. “Yeah, well, I really mean it with you.”
“But you haven’t left yet, so you must really need my help.”
That was unfortunately true.
“Order something first,” Rowan said, wanting to buy time so he could work up to it.
Ruben rolled his eyes before glancing over at the counter. He hummed contemplatively. “Is the waiter on the menu?”
“Ruben, I like this place. I don’t want a spurned conquest of yours spitting in my food because I remind him of you too much. Please stop making it impossible for me to go anywhere.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Tell that to the barista who kept giving me upside-down macchiatos.”
“You don’t like coffee, so that’s not the end of the world.”
“The cup was literally upside down! No matter what I ordered I always got that until he quit his job!”
Ruben squinted. “Wait, was that Brian?”
“His name was Oscar!” Rowan fumed. “I know, because he wrote, ‘my name is Oscar’ on every order.”
“Maybe I called him the wrong name. I’m sure I apologized!”
“Just order,” Rowan said through his teeth. “Nothing else.”
He got a huff and a roll of the eyes in return, but Ruben stood up in a waft of cologne and sauntered his way to the counter. He leaned one elbow on it provocatively and Rowan knew he wasn’t going to listen to a word he’d said.
The encounter went about as Rowan expected, Ruben flirted. The waiter giggled, completely flattered. A number was handed over.
When Ruben sat back down he held up his hands. “Hey, I didn’t ask for anything. They just gave it to me. It seemed rude to turn them down.”
Rowan resigned himself to finding a new diner.
“So what’s the damage, baby brother?” Ruben asked seriously, crossing his arms.
“I’m taller than you. Stop calling me that.”
“No can do.”
Rowan grumbled and looked out the window toward the street, brooding.
“Do you have a boyfriend? Do I need to protect your honor?”
Rowan whipped his head around. “He’s not my boyfriend!”
“Phew!” Ruben said. “It’s not as dire as I thought. Boyfriends are too complicated. Same with mates.” He shuddered.
It got Rowan’s scales up more than it normally did, and he couldn’t work out why.
The food arrived before he could say anything else, the waiter ignoring Rowan and flirting shamelessly with Ruben.
Rowan speared a mouthful of waffles. He was going to miss these when it all inevitably went to shit.
The waiter left reluctantly and then Rowan was brooding again, chin on his knuckles, elbow on the table. “How do you do it?” Rowan asked.
“I was born with natural charm. Ask Mom.” Ruben grinned.
“No. I mean the whole ‘new guy every day, keep it casual, no ties’ thing,” Rowan said.
Ruben grew serious, reaching across for the hot sauce to slather onto his eggs. “It suits me. I don’t want to be tied down yet.”
“But when we were younger you didn’t think that way. What changed?”
Ruben smiled, looking lost in thought before he shook it off. “I grew out of looking for fairy tales, that’s all.”
It wasn’t the answer Rowan wanted to hear. Because deep down…he wanted that.
The fairy tale. The mate.
He’d never done anything casual in his life. His whole life was steeped in responsibility.
“Get it off your chest, Rowan.”
“There’s this guy… We slept together last night and now I don’t know what to do because we need to keep seeing each other.”
“Well did you agree to keep it casual before you did it?”
“It just happened. There wasn’t really a lot of talking.” Rowan felt himself blush.
“Horny dragon.”
“Ruben!”
He snickered. “Just talk to him. Establish the parameters. Hookups happen all the time. Maybe he’s not even bothered.”
Which rubbed Rowan the wrong way. Was Milo agonizing over this like Rowan? Or was it a ships-in-the-night situation for him and it hadn’t even crossed his mind?
“He wasn’t there this morning when I woke up.”
Ruben brightened. “That’s good news. He knows the one-night stand etiquette. I think you’re all good, honestly.”
Rowan swallowed hard, losing his appetite.
Ruben noticed. “Unless, of course…you don’t want that.”
“I don’t know. The whole thing is confusing. He drives me insane!”
“Those are the hottest ones,” Ruben said sagely.
Rowan scowled at him and bared his teeth. “Don’t go near him.”
Ruben laughed, holding his hands up. “Calm down, baby bro. I don’t even know who your mystery man is. How am I going to claim him, huh?”
Rowan continued to glower.
“It sounds like you’re not ready for your little tryst to end, so why don’t you suggest something casual?” Ruben took a bite of sausage.
“How?”
“Well, you open your mouth and words come out,” he said dryly.
“How illuminating,” Ruben growled. “I meant how do I suggest that when I don’t even know if that’s what I want?”
“I don’t have the answer to that, Rowan. But your freak-out over a tiny hookup is amusing me to no end, so do keep me updated.”
“What if he brings it up?” Rowan asked frantically. “What do I say? Or what if he doesn’t? How am I supposed to act?”
“Rowan, I’m gonna hold your hand when I say this.” He did not reach out to hold his hand. “You’re a moron.”
“That’s not helpful.”
“I didn’t say I was gonna be helpful, it’s just a fact that needed to be stated,” Ruben replied. “Did you like what happened between the two of you?”
Ruben flushed, the phantom warmth of Milo’s cock on his chest bringing memories too impolite for public thought to the surface.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Ruben said. “Would you mind if it happened again?”
“No,” he mumbled.
“Then it doesn’t have to be more than that. You said you had to keep seeing him. You said this time it just happened with zero talking about it. It sounds simple to me.”
“What, just wing it?” Rowan asked.
“You’re a dragon. Should be easy.” Ruben winked. “You keep seeing him for whatever reason you need to. And if things end there again, enjoy it. If they don’t, then they don’t.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Rowan nodded.
“You don’t seem relieved,” Ruben said after a moment, and Rowan looked up.
“I just… I expected, like…”
“A flowchart,” Ruben finished for him.
“I guess.” Rowan shrugged.
“Well you won’t be getting one. People are simple at their core. If it feels good, do it until it doesn’t anymore.”
“I wish I was as unburdened by common sense as you are,” Rowan said.
Ruben stuck his fingers inside a small vase at the center of the table and flicked filthy water at him. “Fuck you.”
Rowan kicked his shin with the toe of his boot. “Fuck you too.”
“Asshole.”
“Jackass,” Rowan replied, picking up his mug and taking a sip.
Ruben did the same.
And they sat in silence for another half an hour before parting ways with Rowan no less anxious than he had been before meeting Ruben.
He had no clue why he’d thought Ruben could help, but there was a part of him that had settled after the conversation. At least a tiny bit.
Maybe nobody would mention anything again and they’d be just fine.
Notes:
Totally. Because Milo’s not a talker or anything.