Chapter 12
Reece
“What the hell?” I felt a looming sense of dread as I watched Houston storm out.
When Eli mumbled a low, “Shit,” I knew he was to blame.
“What did you do?” He’d been goofing off on his phone after drinking his beer too quickly, and Hannah and I were just ignoring it. She was venting about her last date, and I was just doing my best not to glance over at Houston. Obviously, I should have been keeping a better eye on Eli.
“Nothing.” His face said he was lying.
“I’m not a moron. And besides, you look guilty as hell.” I slouched back in the seat and just glared at him.
He finally started to look remorseful. “It got out of hand. I was trying to help. Honest.”
That sounded bad. “Did yourhelpinvolve Houston?”
“Yes.”
“Did it involve oversharing about me?” I knew it was a stupid question as soon as it came out of my mouth.
“Yes.”
Hannah scoffed. “You’re a moron.”
“Eli.” It came out sad, and not as angry as I’d intended. “Show me.”
He slowly handed over his phone. Scrolling through the texts, I just groaned. “Fuck, Eli.”
He’d laid everything out in stupid text messages that looked like internet memes. Part of me said he was going to have to show me how he did it, but a bigger part was frustrated. Houston knew everything.
Everything from my crush to my submission.
“There’s shit you don’t know. He probably thinks this was just making fun of him or something.” Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back. “I’m going to have to find a new apartment. He’s going to think I said something to you guys, and he’s going to hate me.”
“Said something about what?” Eli frowned. “You didn’t say he was in the closet or something like that. This is a fuckin’ gay bar.”
“Not about that. It’s other stuff.” I wasn’t even sure what to say. I’d done my best to respect his privacy, but it’d just made things worse.
“What other stuff?” Regret was clear in his voice, but his natural curiosity couldn’t be suppressed.
Jake’svoice broke in. “He wears panties and stuff like you. And after that stunt you two pulled, he thinks everything is going to be too much for Reese because he wasn’t even sure Reece was into guys.”
“Huh?”
Jake gave me a look like I was a moron. “You just talked about girls, dumbass. How was he supposed to guess you liked guys too?”
Privacy seemed to be thrown out the window, so I just shrugged. “I thought it was obvious when I walked in on him almost naked.”
“When was that? You’ve been holding back.” Eli’s regret had vanished once the story had gotten good again.
“The first night I moved in. It was a mix-up, and I thought he said to come into his room. He was changing clothes and god, he was wearing a pair of panties like the ones Lane was wearing in that first photo shoot you guys made me sit through.” Even the memory was enough to make my cock stir.
“Those are fabulous.” Eli nodded. “Houston has a great ass; those probably looked hot as fuck. Did you see what he was packing?”
“No, he was facing his dresser. Andthat’soversharing.” Fuck. Houston probably hated me.
“You two need to do more talking and less assuming.” Jake was still looking at me like I had the IQ of a turnip. “He thinks those two geniuses ruined things and doesn’t really believe that Eli knew enough to be honest about what you like.”
