Love Him Free (On the Market #1) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,85

him on his birthday.”

“Levi,” Simon breathed out.

“Dicked down and still a prude. How very much like you,” Levi chastised, then laughed when Simon’s cheeks went pink. Levi gave him another intense look, then shook his head. “It looks good on you, Si.”

Simon frowned. “What does?”

Levi grinned. “Love.” He winked, then turned on his heel and walked off.

Simon stood there like an idiot for far too long before remembering he had to close up shop. He checked his phone and found a text from Rocco saying the lines were impossibly long, but he really wanted pizzas from Enzo’s truck, so he was going to wait. Simon shot back a thumb’s up emoji, then began to pack everything up.

He was lost in his thoughts when he heard someone knock on the table, and Simon lifted his head, his eyes going wide in surprise because he most definitely recognized the man standing in front of him. He’d followed him online for years—enjoyed his videos for years.

He’d even hoped for the best when the guy swore he was madly in love with Rocco.

“Hi,” he offered. Eric was as pretty as ever, and smaller in person than he seemed in his selfies with Rocco. He was lithe and thin, but well defined in his tight designer shirt and jeans. He had sunglasses on his head, pushing his hair back, and his smile was straight, and white, and perfect. “You’re not sold out, are you?”

Simon licked his lips. “Um. Yes, actually. Sorry. My brother has a truck down the road though, if you…”

“The rugelach place?” he asked, mispronouncing the ch the way everyone did. “I saw it, but everyone was talking about your doughnut thingies.”

Simon’s guts were twisting in on themselves. “Ah. Sorry…”

“You don’t need to be shy,” Eric said. He splayed long fingers over the table and leaned forward. “You can’t hook Rocco by playing coy. That’s not his thing.”

Fear and confusion rippled up his spine. “Are you looking for him? Does he even know you’re here?”

Eric’s smile went wider. “So, you do know who I am.”

Simon shrugged. “I guess so.”

Eric gave him a calculating look, then lifted his hands and began to sign so swiftly, Simon had no hope of following. He caught a few words here and there, ‘…week…not pretty…last night…mine.’ But nothing else. When it was obvious Simon couldn’t follow, Eric sighed and shook his head, his face full of pity. “So, that’s a no on Deaf speed?”

Simon felt like collapsing in on himself. Rocco had never once made him feel like his signing wasn’t good enough, or fluent enough, even if he knew it wasn’t perfect. He never felt like there was a barrier, but now…

“I mean, of course he doesn’t care with his flavor of the week. I mean, it’s not important since this isn’t long term,” Eric said with a laugh. Simon’s eyes went wide, and Eric shot him a look of pity again. “You know that’s what this is, right? He does this every fucking time we break up. God, he took this little twink model who didn’t know his ABCs to the Caribbean a couple years ago when I threatened to move out. Spent a month making that boy’s dreams come true before he came home. He’s such a diva.”

And well…that wasn’t a lie. Simon had known that about Rocco since before they met. He’d seen the pictures on Twitter, had watched a couple of videos. But Rocco hadn’t looked at that guy the way he looked at Simon. He needed to believe that, even if his resolve was slowly cracking. “I’m not going to speak on his behalf, but it seems weird that you’re here a few days after posting your engagement on Twitter. To his agent.”

Eric drew his bottom lip between his teeth. “Rocco and I are both impulsive, and we can both get a little mean. He knows it’s not serious.”

“Does he?” Simon asked.

At that, Eric laughed. “When he got home from his little island getaway, he bought me a Porsche, sweetie. Then he sucked my dick until I cried, told me I was the most beautiful man he had ever seen, and he begged me never to leave him again. It’s just…our thing. It’s not personal. You seem really nice and this whole thing is so unfair. He shouldn’t dick you around like this.”

Maybe if Simon was a better person—or less anxious, or he had managed to start his therapy sooner—none of what Eric was saying would have mattered. But the guy was