and—”
“How long?” Gray asked, raising his voice.
“Only a few weeks.”
“A few weeks? Are you fucking kidding me?”
This wasn’t going well, but Charlie pushed on. “There’s more.”
“More? More than you fucking my ex?”
Charlie fought to keep his voice level even though Gray was yelling. “Yes, Gray. Your ex. He’s been your ex for more than six years now.”
Gray put his hands on his head, turning away, cussing up a storm.
“He came back here because he’s donating a kidney, and he needed somebody to grant medical power of attorney to.”
“Why you?”
“Why not me, Gray? I’m an RN. And we were friends. You knew that. It’s not like our friendship was a secret.”
“Have you been in touch with him all along? Have you been seeing him behind my back all this time?”
“No. I hadn’t heard from him until he showed up a few weeks ago.”
“Sure didn’t take you long to jump into bed with him, though, did it?”
“I guess it didn’t.” He took a deep breath, gripping his hands together on the table in front of him. “But it wasn’t the first time.”
Gray whirled on him. “What?”
“It happened one other time, right at the end.”
“Fuck!”
“It was only once. That last night. You had a fight, remember? You spent the night at Phil’s house.” Gray glared at him, and Charlie forced himself not to look away. “And Jonas spent the night with me.”
Gray gulped. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet. “My best friend sleeping with my boyfriend behind my back. Are you fucking kidding me? Could you be any more cliché?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I wanted to tell you, but then Jonas moved away, and there didn’t seem to be any point. I felt guilty—”
“Ha!”
“But I figured it was in the past. You and Jonas were done by then. We both knew it—”
“So why not go ahead and sleep with him, right?”
“Gray—”
“Shut up! I can’t even stand to look at you right now!”
And as if to prove it, he turned away, swearing under his breath.
“He’ll be here a few more weeks,” Charlie said, pressing on. “I’m going to the hospital with him when he has the surgery. But before that happens…” He braced himself. “We’re getting married, Gray.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gray was back to yelling now. “You tell me you haven’t been seeing him all this time, but now you’re marrying him?”
“It’s a formality only. It gives me power of attorney. Once the surgery’s over, we can get it dissolved.” Although whether or not they would remained to be seen. “The marriage doesn’t mean anything, Gray.”
“And the sex? I suppose you’re going to tell me that doesn’t mean anything either, right? That’s it’s just a bit of fun between old friends?”
Charlie swallowed hard. “If it didn’t mean anything, I wouldn’t be telling you now.” His hands were shaking. His heart pounding. But he had to say it all. “The reason we decided to come clean is because it does mean something, Gray. It means a great deal, if I’m being honest. It means enough that I’m willing to risk pissing off my best friend in the world.”
“So that’s it? You’re choosing him over me? That’s what you called me here to tell me?”
The words seemed to echo in the room. This was Charlie’s worst nightmare come true. He fought the lump in his throat.
“No, Gray. I called you here to tell you that I don’t want to have to choose. I’d like to think we’re all mature enough to handle this like grown-ups.” Gray at least wasn’t arguing. He’d stopped yelling. “You have Avery. You don’t love Jonas, Gray.” Another deep breath. “But I do. And I’m asking you to accept that.”
Gray slammed his hand onto the table, leaving the napkin with Jonas’s innocent little drawing lying between them on the table.
“Go to hell.”
And with that, Charlie’s best friend in the world turned and walked away.
Chapter 14
Jonas knew, the minute he found Charlie mixing some kind of dough in his kitchen, that the meeting with Gray hadn’t gone well.
“I take it he didn’t smile and give us his blessing?”
Charlie’s eyes were red. “He didn’t punch me, so I guess that’s something.” He began pouring the batter into a bread pan. “How’d it go with Avery?”
Jonas leaned against the fridge, pondering. “Not as well as I’d hoped, but better than I feared. He started out angry, but then he calmed down. He listened, at least. Said he’d think about it.”
Charlie slid the pan into the oven