fucking with us, or are you really dating all three of them?” Seph asks, leaning forward, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as they dart between the four of us.
Bishop blushes. “Um, yeah, I am.”
“Really?” Alex perks up. “Like a gay harem?”
“A what?” Elijah asks.
Alex lets out an annoyed huff. “I told you, you need to take a break from studying once in a while to read the porny books I sent you.”
Now it’s Elijah’s turn to blush. He leans into Pax who chuckles and puts an arm around his boyfriend. “We have been reading them,” he says, waggling his eyebrows at Alex.
“Ooo, like out loud together? Do you act out the dirty scenes?” He practically drools.
“Please kill me,” Elijah mutters, burying his face in Pax’s shoulder.
“I don’t know what a harem is exactly, but we’re just four adults in various relationships with each other. It’s not as scandalous as you might think,” Bishop assures them. I reach under the table, putting a hand on his thigh and giving him an encouraging squeeze.
“Sounds hot,” Alex declares with a shrug, picking up the drink in front of him and taking a sip.
The waiter comes over to take our orders, and after that the conversation turns to the group getting to know more about me and Leo since we’re the newcomers. There’s a comfortable, close-knit quality to them that puts me at ease, and before long I find myself laughing and joking with everyone.
“This is nice,” Seph says, nibbling on a French fry. “Now that everyone is partnered up, we hardly ever get together anymore.”
“We need to make time to do it more,” Hudson agrees.
“Theo’s moving to town next month. The more hands to help, the better,” Pax volunteers.
“Helping your brother move is not what I had in mind, but I think I can work with that,” Seph says, tapping her chin. “I’ll have to think about what kind of dinner party goes best with moving.”
“Did Theo find a place yet?” Bishop asks.
“He’s moving in with me,” Alex answers. “My rent went up, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but then Elijah talked to Theo, and it looks like we’re going to be roomies.”
“You’re going to have so much fun living with Theo; he’s the best,” Elijah says. Pax presses a kiss to his boyfriend’s head.
As we finish our meals and order some drinks, Leo stands up and leans over beside Hudson. I can’t hear what he says, but Hudson gets up from the table and tells everyone they’ll be right back.
Bishop watches them with a hint of concern, but Hudson shoots him a wink before following Leo out. The confident swagger he walks with is at odds with the man who was worried about the feud with Leo before they showed up.
“God, I hope those two work their shit out,” Bishop says quietly, reaching for my hand and twinning our fingers together.
“Me too,” I agree, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Chapter 18
Leo
Hudson is right behind me as I lead the way outside, my adrenaline pumping even though I’m doing my best to stay calm. I promised Bishop civil, but it’s more than that. This thing is complicated enough without a decade of resentment simmering in the mix. If there’s a chance we can work this out, I owe it to Bishop and Riot to at least try.
Once we’re outside, I turn to Hudson and take a deep breath.
“Look, I know Bishop wants us to bury the hatchet,” I say, standing toe to toe with him, our eyelines level as the warm night air wraps around us. “And if that ever has any hope of happening, I need to know the truth. What was so goddamn important that you couldn’t mail my scholarship application in time?”
Hudson winces, a hint of color creeping into his cheeks. Whatever it is, he’s embarrassed by it, but that doesn’t make it forgivable. My entire future was riding on that scholarship. If I’d gotten it, I wouldn’t be buried under student loans right now. I might actually have a little breathing room with my finances. He was supposed to be my best friend; I should’ve been able to trust him with this.
“It’s only going to piss you off worse. If you really want to make Bishop happy and squash this issue between us, why don’t we leave the past where it belongs?” he suggests.
“We will leave it where it belongs,” I agree, taking a small step forward. “As soon as you tell me what