up anytime soon,” Kip says, not seeming remotely concerned about his boyfriend’s fate.
“True. He’s hot,” Jesse declared, his voice slurring slightly as he eyes Preston with a kind of appreciation that caused an uncomfortable twinging sensation in my gut.
Kip’s mouth curves into a knowing smile. “I know, right? Great in bed, too.”
“Yep, looks like it,” Jesse says with an approving nod.
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, shaking my head in annoyance.
“Oh no, we’ve made Web uncomfortable,” Jesse coos, his mouth forming a mock pout.
I roll my eyes. “Believe it or not, my brother’s sex life isn’t my favorite topic of conversation.”
“If Web had a sex life I’d probably feel the same,” Kip allows, smiling wryly.
Jesse, who’d been sipping on his glass of scotch, suddenly starts sputtering and coughing, prompting Kip to glance at him with raised eyebrows. I, meanwhile, can’t help the smirk of amusement that touches my lips.
“You alright, man?” Kip asks as Jesse attempts to recover.
“Yep,” Jesse gasps. “Wrong pipe.”
* * *
“Good news, man,” Chance says a little while later, coming up beside me and handing me a beer.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I’ve got those papers ready to sign. Jesse can do it before he leaves tomorrow.”
The words are like a punch to the gut. Hearing ‘Jesse’ and ‘leave’ in the same sentence is bad enough, but I’ve come to realize over the past few days that I really, really don’t want to sign those papers. I don’t exactly have a choice, though. What am I going to do? Pull a Ross from Friends and just stay secretly married to Jesse in the hopes he’ll fall in love with me?
“What is it?” Chance asks, eyeing me curiously. “I thought you’d be thrilled about this.”
“Are you still my lawyer right now?”
He shrugs. “I guess so…”
“I don’t want him to go,” I admit quietly, glancing down at my beer bottle and peeling at the label. “And I sure as fuck don’t want a divorce.”
There’s a long beat of silence before Chance asks, “Did something happen between you two?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“And what…you have feelings for him?”
I glance up at Chance, finally daring to admit what I’ve known for twenty years. “I’m in love with him, man. Always have been.”
19
From the private Facebook group ‘Finchley Locals Community Hangout’
* * *
Post by Hank Latham: I’m bringing sexy back!
George Goode reply to Hank Latham’s post: Yeah!
Charlotte Rowe reply to Hank Latham’s post: Oh good lord! Is there a way to block people from posting in this group when they’re over the legal drinking limit?
Genevieve Goode reply to Charlotte Rowe: That’d be the whole town, most of the time!
* * *
Jesse
* * *
“Hey, there’s my brother-in-law!” I startle for a moment at the sound of the slurred voice approaching from behind, but then I realize it’s Slater’s brother Axel, and let out a brief sigh of relief.
“You realize just because our siblings are married, it doesn’t actually make us family?” I say wryly as he throws an arm over my shoulders, showing the kind of affection you only see from Axel when he’s totally hammered.
“Eh, you’re part of the family,” he insists.
Well, I suppose we are technically cousins in law…
As the thought hits me, I scan the room for Web. I haven’t seen him since our earlier encounter with Kip and I’ve been wanting to talk to him. I know a wedding with the entire town in attendance probably isn’t the best place for a private chat, but there’s something that’s been weighing on me for a few days now and I need to clear it up before I can make the decision about whether I’m staying here or heading back to New York.
“Hey, have you seen Web?” I ask Axel.
He shakes his head. “Nope. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already called it. Not a big party animal, that one.”
Yep, he’s definitely an anomaly in the Goode family, alright.
I cast my gaze to the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms Rock’s generously allowing the wedding party to use for tonight. I didn’t see Web go up there, but he certainly could have at some point while I wasn’t looking.
“You know, it’s nice that you two are working things out,” Ax muses. “It’s been totally weird with you not being friends.”
I blink at him in surprise, because that’s basically the opposite of what everyone else has been saying. But then I guess Ax is older, so maybe he has a clearer memory of that time before high school when Web and I were inseparable.
“Thanks,” I say awkwardly,