“Yeah, some charm. Weren’t you with me when I met Hailey? That endedsowell.”
“But it was good while it lasted.”
“Right.” Weird that Coury hadn’t thought much about her, or any of their time together. The reason was sitting across from him. He pushed aside the notion he could drop Beckett off and come spend time with Liam. It was one night.
“Tonight, you might get lucky again.”
Coury didn’t look up this time. “Maybe.”
Just one night.
* * *
The crowd at the third party was worse than the first two. Drunker, louder, and less attractive. The room was dimly lit, the furniture well used by generations of sorority sisters. The overcrowding made it stuffy, all of which made for a pretty normal weekend frat/sorority party.
He’d never noticed hownotfun they were before.
Beckett, however, was happy. According to him, the sorority house had a better female-to-male ratio. Funny how heneveracknowledged Coury’s bisexuality.
“Yo,” Beckett tapped Coury’s shoulder and pointed. Two girls were looking in their direction. “Those two are interested.”
They were pretty. If he wasn’t emotionally invested in Liam, he might consider it. “Go you. Two at time.”
Beckett drunk-slapped his arm. “Doofus, I meant one for each.”
“Gonna pass, big guy. But go for it.”
“Dude, what’s wrong? Those two are smoking.”
“I’m leaving, remember?”
“Yeah, but this is a hook-up.”
“For you. I go to school here.” It probably wouldn’t work, but Beckett was drunk. “Go for it. Don’t let me hold you back.”
“You sure?”
That was the nudge Beckett needed. “Totally. I’ll chill here for a bit.”
“Sweet!” He took a step then stopped. “I’ll come back next week, and we can try again.”
“Great.” He flicked his fingers in their direction.
Coury looked at the red cup in his hand and set it down. The distance between him and Beckett sucked. They’d been wingmates forever. Hiding this affected how they interacted; everything about the night had been a lie.
And Beckett planned to do it all again next weekend.
He needed to convince Liam they had to tell Beckett the truth. Coming clean couldn’t be any worse.
* * *
Liam
The orange sponge ball hit the ceiling, and Beckett caught it in his left hand. Tossing it up again, he used his right to pluck it from the air.
Liam had returned to his room after his shower to find his brother camped out on his unmade bed. It reminded him of the good times they’d had growing up. Maybe Coury was right; hiding things wasn’t going to help.
“Does C-man seem off to you lately?”
