going to worry about getting too dressed up just to meet Riot and Leo for breakfast. I’m willing to bet they’ll both be dressed down as well.
Leo and Riot are already waiting for us when we get to the cute little cafe we agreed to meet at the night before. I spot them at a table in the corner, leaning in toward each other, both smiling. Riot says something, and Leo throws his head back and laughs, and my whole body warms up at the sight. Hudson bumps into me from behind, not realizing I stopped walking. He puts a hand on my hip to steady himself.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“Nothing’s wrong. Look at them.” I point. “They’re falling in love.” Just saying the words makes me feel giddy for them.
“You think?” Hudson’s voice sounds a little tense, his fingers flexing into my hip.
I glance over my shoulder at him, noticing his jaw is tight, and his eyes look sad. “Hey, love isn’t a finite resource. If he’s in love with Leo, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any left for you.”
“No, I know that.” He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I was just wondering if Leo will ever look at me like that again. We used to laugh together a lot.”
“Oh, Huds,” I sigh, my heart aching for him.
Riot’s gaze leaves Leo, and he spots us across the cafe. He lifts a hand to wave us over.
“We ordered coffee for both of you,” Leo says when we reach the table.
“Thanks.” I give them each a quick peck on the lips, not bothering to wonder what anyone watching might think. They should be so lucky to have three incredible boyfriends like I do.
“How are you this morning, Hudson?” Leo asks, sounding a little stiff, but I’ll give him points for the effort at least.
“Hungry,” Hudson answers.
“I swear, I’m still full from all that cake we ate last night,” Leo complains, putting a hand on his stomach.
“Amateur,” Riot teases. “I brought home a dozen cupcakes and ate half of those after we worked off the calories from the cake.”
I laugh, stirring some cream and sugar into my coffee and taking a sip. “Sounds like a fun night.”
“It was,” Leo agrees, looking over at Riot with a dopey smile.
“Hey, I never had the chance to ask how it went looking at that apartment the other day.” Or more accurately, I had the chance, but I didn’t want to hear him tell me he’s moving out until I had Riot and Hudson with me for emotional support.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that,” he says, clearing his throat. My stomach drops, and I clutch my coffee mug harder, bracing myself for him to say it. It won’t be as bad as when he moved to New York, he’ll only be a few minutes away.
Before he can finish what he wanted to say, the waiter comes over to take our order. I bounce my leg under the table, anxiously waiting for everyone to order so he’ll go away and Leo can drop the bad news on me.
“You were saying?” I ask as soon as he walks away.
“Um, yeah.” He glances over at Riot who gives him an encouraging nod. “This is something I wanted to talk to you about personally, but I’m glad to have Hudson and Riot here to share their thoughts and feelings on the subject too.”
“Did Riot like the apartment?” I ask, not totally understanding what he means by needing to hear their thoughts on him moving.
“It’s not about the apartment I saw exactly,” he explains. “The thing is, I hated living alone when I was in New York, and I’m not particularly anxious to do it again.”
My pulse kicks up, and I lean forward. “What are you saying?” He can’t mean what I think he does. Can he?
“I know it’s a little messy since we’re dating, but I want to keep living with you.”
“My place is pretty small,” I hedge. Surely the place he looked at yesterday blows my dump out of the water.
“I was thinking maybe we could look at a bigger place together. We can even make it a two bedroom, that way you still have your space if you want alone time with Riot or if Hudson wants to spend the night.”
I glance over at Hudson to gauge his reaction to the news. His expression is conflicted, but not particularly upset. This information doesn’t seem to be new to Riot, so I’m guessing they talked about it