Glancing toward the back of the camper, he’s still in bed, but he’s awake, scrolling through his phone. Boone sits up when he sees me and, of fucking course, he’s shirtless. Offering me a weak smile, he drops the phone in his lap, like he somehow knows exactly what’s about to go down.
I groan, looking away. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I mutter, “Can you put some damn clothes on? We need to talk.”
Five minutes later, he’s fully dressed down to the socks on his feet and propped up on his bed, while I’m sitting a safe distance away at the table. The air in here is tense, and I don’t know where to start, so I just kind of…wing it. “Listen, this is really fucking awkward, but we have to talk about what happened last night.”
Boone nods. “Yes, we do.”
“It cannot happen ever again,” I blurt out.
His gaze snaps to mine, and a look crosses over his eyes. It’s one I can’t place, but if I had to guess, I’d say he wasn’t expecting me to say that. Maybe he didn’t expect me to be responsible and put a stop to it.
Hmm, wonder where we got that idea, dipshit. Maybe when you dropped to your fucking knees like a hungry little slut and gobbled him up like you were starving.
I clench my jaw, forcing myself to hold his gaze while I wait for him to respond. Thankfully, he doesn’t make me wait long.
“I completely agree with you,” he says. “I think it was a lapse in judgement on both of our parts, and I think it was something that needed to happen, was bound to happen, but we can’t do it again. It’s too messy.”
“Jade’s the only family I’ve got,” I say. “I can’t do that to her.”
“Me neither. We may not be married anymore, but I’d never want to hurt her intentionally or cause any sort of a rift between you two. Not only that, but I respect you, and I’d never want to do anything to make situations harder for you.”
I nod, a sense of pride filling my chest at hearing Boone say he respects me. Especially after he so kindlydisrespectedme in the best way last night.Stop. It.“Okay, glad we have that settled.”
“But I’d still like to be friends,” he goes on. My chest aches hearing him say that. “And don’t even think about trying to sleep in that damn tent again. There’s no reason we can’t be mature about this and sleep in the same area without mauling each other.”
I want to fight him on this. Want to tell him he’s wrong, and that wecan’t, but for the sake of beingmature, I nod. “Okay, yeah. Besides, we got it out of our systems. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”Lies.
Boone nods, a small smile tugging on his lips. It doesn’t reach his eyes, and I have a feeling he knows how full of shit we are just as much I do. “Glad that’s settled.”
The crew heads back home for Stampede Days in a few weeks, and this is for the best. Even if it doesn’t feel like it. There’s no way I can live in the same house as Boone and Jade, while trying to hide a secret relationship. Not that we would ever be in a relationship, but this is for the best. I’m also going to need to find my own place when the season is over. I can’t live with them anymore. It’s too weird. But I also don’t have the time to find a place when we’re home for the week either.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I glance back over at Boone. “You know, even though we aren’t going to hook up anymore, I’m here if you want to talk things out.”
His brows scrunch together. “What do you mean?”
“I could be way off base, but I’m assuming you’ve never hooked up with a guy before, and if you’re kind of freaking out or you’re confused, or whatever, you can talk to me. I won’t make it weird. I know you have Shooter, Sterling, Colt, and literally any other queer man in our town, but I’m here too.”
I’m half expecting him to tell me to fuck off. Truthfully, I don’t know why I even said that. For all I know, I’m not his first queer experience, and I just made an ass of myself.
Surprising me, he asks, “How’d you know?”
Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I say, “Just a feeling I had. And with how close you and the guys are, and how open they are with their sexuality, I figured it may have come up if you had also, you know, been there.” My pulse kicks up when I realize how fucking ridiculous and ignorant I sound. “Not that you owe anybody your sexuality, and not that everybodyhasto come out just because their friends are out. Fuck, not saying?—”
“Grady, calm down.” Boone breathes out a laugh. “You’re rambling, but I know what you mean.”
“Oh, okay.” I exhale. “Well, good.”
Boone shifts, and he suddenly looks a little more…sheepish? Uncomfortable? “The truth is, I didn’t know.”
“Oh…when did you realize?” Even from all the way over here, I can see the color stain his cheeks. “You don’t have to tell me, Boone. I’m sorry for asking.”
“No, it’s fine.” He glances over at me, but only for a moment. “I think it mostly occurred to me that I may not be as straight as I originally thought when, uh…you caught me that night. In my room.”
Heat floods my body, pooling low in my groin.Fuck,I did not intend for this conversation to go here. “You liked it?” My voice doesn’t even sound like my own.
He nods. “Looking back in hindsight, there were things that I noticed or felt before that night that should’ve been a dead giveaway, but I was oblivious.”
I’m trying not to read too much into everything he’s saying. Just because he’s having his queer discovery now because of something that has to do with me, it doesn’t mean anything. And it certainly doesn’t change our situation. Pushing past that, I ask, “How are you feeling about it all?”
