Fake Friends - Saxon James Page 0,21
shouldn’t be much of a surprise.”
I almost choke on my pizza. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that word from him. Even with all our conversations about how much he was struggling, even with all the lust-filled looks he threw my way, he’s never come out and called himself gay.
Leon suddenly looks uncomfortable. “Yeah, well. If it helps, I’m not in the business of outing people. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Rowan nods, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Cool, well, I’ve seen enough of myself for one night.”
I’m hit with the strongest urge to get him to stay. What I do though is watch as he jumps up and rinses his plate, then puts the remaining pizza in my fridge.
“All right, I’m off. Circus, could you send me one or two of those? Preferably sans raging hard-on. Thanks, man. Night, Leon.”
Then he’s gone so fast I can’t even answer him.
We’re quiet until we hear the door close.
Leon lets out a long breath as he leans forward and sets his plate on the coffee table. “I hate to say it, but he makes a good pizza.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I overheard Tanner on the phone and put two and two together.”
“So you came over.”
“I know you.” He pins me with his most brotherly look. “I care about you. And I know you don’t have limits when it comes to him. So while I want to say sorry for showing up here, and I sort of feel like a dick, I’m worried.”
“I don’t know what you think is going to happen.”
“You’re telling me if he’d tried to kiss you tonight, you would have stopped it?”
“Yes.” No. And I hate myself for it.
“You don’t need to lie to me. All you need to say is, ‘Leon, I’m a pathetic little man who has no control when it comes to Rowan Harvey and his dick.’”
“Ah, but it’s been years since I’ve seen his dick.”
Leon snorts and taps my laptop, bringing the image back on screen. “Bitch, I’ve seen his dick after looking at that picture. And I swear to God if little dudes like you two were my type, even I’d want a piece of that.”
“Little?” I zoom in on Rowan’s chest. “You call that little?”
“Eh. He’s got nothing on the men I fuck.”
“You scare me.”
He laughs and shoves my face. “Real talk. Do you want to fuck him?”
There’s no point lying to Leon. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Why? It’s a simple question.”
“Is it though? Like he said, there are three people who know he’s gay, and those three guys were sitting in this room. That’s a lot of baggage. And the last thing I need is another broken nose.”
“Hey, I’m not saying I ship it,” he says, holding up his hands. “All I asked about was sex. You don’t need to date the guy.”
That’s true.
“Maybe before he leaves, you two need to get your freaky shit on, and then you’ll both have the closure you never got.”
“I want to say that’s not a terrible idea, but I’m very worried it is.”
“Okay, well, you make the call. Do you want me to keep cockblocking you? Or just let this train wreck play out?”
“Why are you assuming it’s going to be a train wreck?”
Leon hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “Because news flash. Rowan? Still a mess.”
“Yep, no arguments from me. But we both know I’m a bit of a mess too.”
He reaches over and slings an arm around my neck, then presses a whiskery kiss on my head. “Just warn him, if he messes with you again, I’ll break his scrawny ass in half.”
“Mmhmm.” I hold back my smile. “You’re a big, bad wolf. We’re all so scared.”
Leon hangs around for a while and watches a movie before he leaves. I’m itching to check my social media the entire time, but he’s put a hard ban on me touching my phone when we’re together.
So the minute he’s out the front door, I pull out my phone. I have a deposit notification for the fifty thousand, minus my manager’s fees, which means the brand must have already started sharing some of the images. I log into my account.
My suspicion is correct.
They have.
And that shit is going crazy.
And because I have zero self-control, I might as well throw gas on this fire.
I go back to the kitchen, pull out the pizza box, and put mine and Leon’s used plates in front of it, along with two half-empty beer bottles.
Then I